The local TU banquet was held at the Marine Corp in Chambersburg, PA on Saturday evening October 19. Consistent with the last few years, we reserve 2 tables for family and friends. We look forward to this event every year as it is a good time to exchange fishing stories, get updated on TU activities, win or take chances on prizes and share a family style meal. This is a great cause and worthwhile for fly fishermen to attend. Local landowners are also in attendance and are given recognition and appreciation for allowing us to traipse on their property. We should not take this for granted.

Also consistent with recent years, my brother-in law Ron Hill and his wife Lynn drive here from New Castle PA to attend. So, I am forced to entertain Ron by taking him fishing. The weather was beautiful on Sunday, the upper section of the Yellow Breeches was in good shape and the fish were actively rising to our flies – parachute adams, BWO, hopper. No monsters, but we quit after landing 24 wild browns, mostly in the 9-10″ range.

 We will be looking forward to next year’s event. Who knows, the big raffle prize may have our name on it and we may even land a big fish. There’s a first time for everything!

Tim Brookens on the Savage

Savage Colorful Brown

Tim Brookens and I made our second trip to the Savage River near Luke,  MD. The Lower Savage is tail water which flows from the reservoir for five miles and empties into the North Branch of the Potomac.

Savage River Outfitters (www.savageriveroutfitters.com) describes the “Savage” as a world class wild trout stream.  The brooks and browns are colorful and challenging to catch because of the many currents emptying into the pools making it difficult to get drag free drifts with dry flies.

Although we saw some blue winged olives and caddis, we saw very few rises, so our tactic was to try to dredge them up with caddis, parachute adams and attractor flies.  We managed to land 22 fish, mostly small browns and a few brookies.  The last fish caught was rising to small BWOs and was fooled with a size 20 parachute version.

We set up Tim’s pop-up camper at the camp site located right beside the river so we had easy access to miles of fishing.  If you don’t mind camping without electricity, this is the way to go.  The September weather made it comfortable for fishing.  Next year we plan on fishing earlier in the season when a hatch is on.  Can’t wait!

Hunter Haney’s catch on the “Cono”

11″ Native Brookie

Craig’s Brookie

The East Branch of the Conococheague Creek is located near Caledonia State Park. It is a small stream which flows out of Michaux State Forest. Trout Unlimited recently conducted a project there. Five structural habitat devices were installed to slow the stream velocity and to increase the protection for the native brook trout.

My son Luke and I started fishing the lakebed section of the Birch Run reservoir (drained years ago) last year. My son Craig and grand nephew Hunter Haney fished it this year. The brookies are abundant and casting is tight. Most of these wild beauties are the size of your hand, but there are a few surprises. Craig and I both caught “natives” around 11″ by using caddis and attractor flies in the runs and pools.

See the article on “Parnership in Michaux State Forest” from the TU summer magazine for more details.

Laylon Cox with 20″ Rainbow

Motion and Altra angler group

The South Holston River is tail water flowing from the South Holston Reservoir and the results are cold water, great hatches and healthy, abundant fish. The predominant bugs are sulphurs and there are plenty of them.

Our fishing group consisted of Ted Banakis (coworker), and a great bunch of guys from our distributor partner, Motion Industries – Randy Breaux. Harold Dunaway, Laylon Cox and Jay Carawan.  An even # of 6 meant we could go with 2 fisherman per guide and float the river in a McKenzie boat.

Each team had great success with an average of 30-40 fish per day.  Laylon Cox and Randy Breaux each landed 20″ rainbows on the first day. The typical fishing method recommended by the guides was to fish nymphs in the morning, break for lunch,  and then find rising fish in the afternoon and cast dry flies (sulphur duns) to them. The fish are all wild browns and rainbows…..beautiful, strong fish.

We stayed at the South Holston River Lodge (www.southholstonriverlodge.com) hosted by Jon Hooper (877-767-7875). Our package included lodging, a breakfast buffet each morning, shore lunch, guides,  followed by a dinner prepared at the lodge each evening. The accommodations are nothing less than spectacular. This is a definite “bucket list” experience for any fishing junky.

Tim Brookens with nice brownie

Fellow angler, Tim Brookens and I decided to try our luck on the Gunpowder last weekend. Because the Gunpowder is tail water flowing out of Pretty Boy Dam, the water stays cold and I mean COLD! The water temperature was 42 degrees and a haze of steam remained on the river all day with this cold water temperature contrasting 90 degree heat.

Before fishing, we stopped at the Backwater Angler fly shop (www.backwaterangler.com) located 5 minutes from the river for a Maryland license and information. They suggested fishing upstream from the Masemore road access and to use X Caddis. We took their advise.

Tim and I had a great time catching a dozen or so wild browns on Caddis as suggested. We saw some rises but quite a few were caught by blind casting in the shallow riffles. The fish we caught were in the 8-11″ range and with beautiful color as it is with wild brownies (picture above does not do it justice). A worthwhile trip!

Craig’s beauty

Codurus wild brown

My youngest son, Craig, and I fished Codurus on July 4 and caught 7 decent browns on attractor flies. The last fish of the day was a beauty – a 13-14″ wild brown caught on a Crackleback.

The “Trophy Trout” special regulation section is 3 miles long. I have found the best access points by driving through Porters Sidling on Porters Road off Rt. 116 between Hanover and York. We parked below a small Park and fished upstream from there. Craig’s beauty was caught behind the fire station near Porters Sidling in a stretch we never fished before but we wanted to try before heading home. We only fished this section a short distance….but we’ll be back!

The Lyman Run “hog”

One of the great things about fly fishing is the versatility. You have the flexibility of fishing larger streams (or rivers) with open casting or smaller “runs” or brooks with tighter casts.

Using the “Trout Streams of Pennsylvania” guide by Dwight Landis, Ron Hill and I like to explore different streams during our Pine Creek vacation giving us more options when thunderstorms stain Pine Creek. Last year we added Lyman Run to our list and the West Branch of Pine Creek this year…..fishing in the wild trout sections.. Both of these streams are in the Susquehannock State Forest.

Tim Brookens, Ron Hill and I decided to fish Lyman Run on our last day of vacation to go after Wild Browns and Brookies in the 8-10″ range as Landis’ guide refers to. But, every now and then you get surprised with a fish or two you just do not expect.  After several fish caught or lost in the 13-14″ category and a 17″ Brown (see picture above) landed, Lyman Run is officially on out “hot spot” list. We won’t be surprised about the quality of fish the next time!

Took Coder on Pine

Ron Hill – 19″ Brown

Took Coder, Ron Hill, son and Grandson

Colby Hill – Pine Creek Brown

Every June for the past 11 years, our family takes a vacation to the Pine Creek area. We stay at the Rough Cut Lodge which overlooks Pine Creek, along Route 6 near Gaines, PA. There are 3 generations of family who enjoy the outdoors, the scenery, rafting, cooking out and just being together. Some of us enjoy fly fishing Pine Creek and other local streams like Kettle Creek, Cross Fork, Allegheny River headwaters, Slate Run and Cedar Run. 

Pine Creek Hatches: You can see many different hatches while fishing Pine Creek -Over the last 10 days there have been Green Drakes, Brown Drakes, Caddis, Grey Foxes, Sulphurs, Slate Drakes and Blue Winged Olives. On some evenings, there were a blizzard of Drakes but the fish keyed were keyed in on the smaller variety of flies, which always makes Pine interesting and somewhat frustrating at times.

Blue Winged Olives in the rain: One of the most fun and productive days fishing was during a steady rain which lasted most of the day…Blue Winged Olives were the ticket!  My brother-in law (fishing partner) and I caught 18 nice fish during the rain in the morning and early afternoon. We were the only ones goofy enough to go in that kind of weather.

Fly Fishing generations: Another “cool” day was fishing with my brother-in-law, his son and grandson. Rises were sporadic but both his son and grandson caught several fish on Parachute Adams while spot casting for the occasional rise.

This year, like others, Pine Creek and the other local streams have rewarded us with some lunkers, some beautiful wild fish, and even some frustration….but a vacation our family always look forward to. If your fly fishing interests are larger streams, small or medium sizes streams, you can find it all here in Tioga and Potter County, PA. Put in on your “to do” list.

Tomorrow we are off to another adventure – Hammersley Fork in Potter County- a tributary to Kettle Creek. The weather is showing rain all day, but we are going anyway….only because we haven’t fished it before.

Cross Fork Brown

Cross Fork Wild Brookie

Sometimes a day on the creek is not about the quantity but the quality of the fish caught. Today was one of those days.

Cross Fork is a small free stone stream which empties into Kettle Creek in the village of Cross Fork. Ron Hill and I fished in the Catch and Release section in the morning with little action (a few small brookies) until……..Ron hooked into a 16″ Brown followed up by each of us catching another wild brown and 2 wild brookies in the 12-13″ range…all quality fish. We used and attractor fly and the Crackle Back to bring them to the surface,

The nice thing about Cross Fork Creek is that you rarely run into a fisherman. On the way back to the Rough Cut Lodge, we pass the more popular Kettle Creek with at least 20 vehicles parked along the project area. Ron and I had Cross Fork all to ourselves.