Trout Update #10: South Branch of the Raritan River

I went back up to the gorge today after conquering some car troubles and caught four stocked brown trout. All of the browns were landed on a green weenie, one of which I tied myself (no small feat for this novice fly-tyer). It was a relatively delightful evening overall: it stayed cool and there weren't many people at the Ken Lockwood Gorge. I left before dusk, however, because I needed to take care of some other car maintenance. Here are some pictures I took:



This was the first brown I caught. You can see the edge of the green weenie pattern I used to trick him. My technique includes "slapping" the fly down on the water to imitate the splash made by a falling insect. I don't dead drift terrestrials either. Instead, I flick it through the water and trout tend to follow it. Sometimes I even rip it away from a trout on purpose. This tends to make the trout hit harder on the next pass.




You can see that this second brown was a little bigger. It also had brighter spots and that tell-tale orange flair on its fins. While likely not a wild trout, this brown has clearly spent some time in the Raritan. A beautiful catch.







Not much to say except I really like the way this picture came out. Sweet Tiger Lily.









Here is a picture of a beautiful purple flowering raspberry.








Overall Total: 135


River Breakdown:

Raritan River, South Branch - 22 (13 Stocked Brown, 7 Stocked Brook, 1 Wild Brook, 1 Wild Brown)
Bushkill Creek - 17 (15 Stocked Brown, 1 Stocked Rainbow, 1 Stocked Golden Rainbow)
Pequest River - 17 (9 Stocked Brown, 6 Stocked Brook, 2 Stocked Rainbow)
Marshalls Creek - 16 (16 Wild Brook)
Beaverkill River - 10 (7 Wild Brown, 2 Wild Brook, 1 Stocked Brown)
Poplar Run - 9 (7 Wild Brook, 2 Wild Brown)
Faulkner Brook - 7 (6 Wild Brook, 1 Wild Brown)
Stony Brook - 7 (7 Stocked Rainbow)
Spring Creek - 6 (3 Wild Brown, 3 Wild Rainbow)
Brodhead Creek - 4 (3 Stocked Brown, 1 Stocked Rainbow)
Paulinskill River - 4 (4 Stocked Brown)
Penns Creek - 4 (4 Wild Brown)
Rattlesnake Creek - 4 (4 Wild Brook)
Mill Creek - 3 (2 Wild Brook, 1 Wild Tiger)
Stony Run - 2 (1 Stocked Brook, 1 Wild Brook)
Cherry Run - 1 (1 Wild Brook)
Lawrence Brook - 1 (1 Stocked Brook)
Musconetcong River - 1 (1 Stocked Brown)


Species Breakdown:

Brown Trout - 64
Stocked - 46
Wild - 18

Brook Trout - 55
Wild - 40
Stocked - 15

Rainbow Trout - 15
Stocked - 11
Wild - 3
Golden Rainbow - 1


Tiger Trout - 1
Wild - 1
Stocked - 0


Stocked Trout - 73
Wild Trout - 62


Trout 15+ Inches: 5


Angling Breakdown:


Fly Fishing Rod - 71 (32 Stocked Brown, 14 Wild Brown, 9 Stocked Brook, 9 Stocked Rainbow, 3 Wild Brook, 3 Wild Rainbow, 1 Stocked Golden Rainbow)

Spinning Rod - 64 (37 Wild Brook, 14 Stocked Brown, 6 Stocked Brook, 4 Wild Brown, 2 Stocked Rainbow, 1 Wild Tiger)


State Breakdown:
Pennsylvania - 73
New Jersey - 52
New York - 10

Catskill Pictures

Hey everyone (all three of you that read this blog), here are the photos from the Catskills trip I promised.






A nice photo of some Dame's Rocket flowers. If all invasive "weeds" looked and smelled like these, I would rather have them than native plants.










Me fishing in the Beaverkill's famous covered bridge pool. The bridge is almost one hundred and fifty years old. Apparently Theodore Gordon, a nineteenth century American fly fisherman, fished this spot extensively. He is credited with creating the Quill Gordon, one of the first American dry flies.











This is an excellent picture of a wild American orchid. Yes, we do have orchids. The flower is known as Pink Lady's Slipper. I think I've seen three or four in my life.












An excellent picture of the unnamed pond Jackie and I hiked a mile and a half uphill to reach. Alas, it didn't have trout in it. Instead it was full of nice sized largemouth bass and bluegill. On our walk we also saw a number of red efts.














I was lucky enough to catch a wild brown out of Faulkner Brook on our way back down from the pond.












Finally, a somewhat blurry picture of me fishing the world famous West Branch of the Upper Delaware River. Too bad I have absolutely no luck and my awful fly fishing skills get put on full display at this place...

Trout Update #9: Gorge

So I made it back to the gorge this past week for the first time in a few weeks. I arrived at around 5 PM, encountering high 80s temperatures and sun on the water. I initially tried nymphing with bead head pheasant tails, but this strategy quickly proved futile. I then switched to my go-to hot weather fly, the green weenie (inchworm imitation). I used this to catch one stocked brown. I also lost a bunch of fish, an occurrence that continued throughout the day. My frustration rose considerably and I didn't catch another fish until the very end of the night. One of the fish I missed was a sizable, 18 inch brown...

I did see a family of mergansers. The baby birds would submerge for minutes, swimming around underwater like giant fish. They were delightful to watch. Later that night, on my drive home, I saw a bunch of deer and a red fox. Not too bad. I also saw some cool flowers as well, including tiger lily and swamp rose-mallow. I've uploaded some photos I got before my camera decided to die:







My first brown, caught on the green weenie.














The beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, wonderful, amazing, stunning, gorge.
















The family of mergansers. It was getting dark when I took the picture, but if you click on it you can see them. This is also the pool that I fish extensively at the gorge.






Overall Total: 131


River Breakdown:

Raritan River, South Branch - 18 (9 Stocked Brown, 7 Stocked Brook, 1 Wild Brook, 1 Wild Brown)
Bushkill Creek - 17 (15 Stocked Brown, 1 Stocked Rainbow, 1 Stocked Golden Rainbow)
Pequest River - 17 (9 Stocked Brown, 6 Stocked Brook, 2 Stocked Rainbow)
Marshalls Creek - 16 (16 Wild Brook)
Beaverkill River - 10 (7 Wild Brown, 2 Wild Brook, 1 Stocked Brown)
Faulkner Brook - 7 (6 Wild Brook, 1 Wild Brown)
Poplar Run - 9 (7 Wild Brook, 2 Wild Brown)
Stony Brook - 7 (7 Stocked Rainbow)
Spring Creek - 6 (3 Wild Brown, 3 Wild Rainbow)
Brodhead Creek - 4 (3 Stocked Brown, 1 Stocked Rainbow)
Paulinskill River - 4 (4 Stocked Brown)
Penns Creek - 4 (4 Wild Brown)
Rattlesnake Creek - 4 (4 Wild Brook)
Mill Creek - 3 (2 Wild Brook, 1 Wild Tiger)
Stony Run - 2 (1 Stocked Brook, 1 Wild Brook)
Cherry Run - 1 (1 Wild Brook)
Lawrence Brook - 1 (1 Stocked Brook)
Musconetcong River - 1 (1 Stocked Brown)


Species Breakdown:

Brown Trout - 59
Stocked - 42
Wild - 17

Brook Trout - 55
Wild - 40
Stocked - 15

Rainbow Trout - 15
Stocked - 11
Wild - 3
Golden Rainbow - 1


Tiger Trout - 1
Wild - 1
Stocked - 0


Stocked Trout - 69
Wild Trout - 62


Trout 15+ Inches: 5


Angling Breakdown:


Fly Fishing Rod - 67 (27 Stocked Brown, 14 Wild Brown, 9 Stocked Brook, 9 Stocked Rainbow, 3 Wild Brook, 3 Wild Rainbow, 1 Stocked Golden Rainbow)

Spinning Rod - 64 (37 Wild Brook, 14 Stocked Brown, 6 Stocked Brook, 4 Wild Brown, 2 Stocked Rainbow, 1 Wild Tiger)


State Breakdown:
Pennsylvania - 73
New Jersey - 48
New York - 10

Trout Update #8: June

I apologize for the big gap in between posts. Unfortunately, this gap mirrors the relative lack of fishing I've gotten in due to a busy schedule. I do, however, have two fishing trips to describe: central PA and the Catskills.

Central Pennsylvania
I went out to the big limestone streams of central PA in late May in search of the famous green drake. I found more people than bugs, however. It seems that the drakes have quite the following: I met numerous people who take weeks off of work in early June/late May and travel to Pennsylvania trout streams looking for the big insects. Most people I encountered left dissatisfied. But as a guy at the fly shop said, "bugs don't follow a calendar." I did see one strong hatch come off of Penns Creek at dusk. It was followed by a strong sulphur hatch (must be the summer!). I managed to catch two fish that night, one on a stonefly nymph (smallish) and one on a size 16 sulphur (a nice 15 inch wild brown). I also caught a small wild brook on a spinner in a tributary of Penns, Cherry Run (below image).


The next day I went out to Spring Creek in State College and was able to catch six trout on a green weenie; all I did was fish under some trees and move the inch-worm like pattern ever so gently. And then boom! Three fish were wild rainbows (I love me a wild 'bow) and three were wild browns. Two were about 15 inches. Later that night I traveled back to Penns Creek with two of my former Bucknell professors. I caught one on a bead head pheasant tail nymph and another on a spinner. Both were nice wild browns. I ended my two day fishing journey in central PA with 11 trout - all wild.


Catskills
I took my girlfriend up to the Catskills to camp for two nights. We stayed at the Beaverkill campground (image below), a wonderful site run by the state of NY. The campground sits right on one of the more famous eastern fly fishing waters: the Beaverkill River. I was told the river was tough, but I found it to be very enjoyable, unlike its famous counterpart - the Upper Delaware. I spent three separate blocs of time on the Beaverkill, catching a total of ten fish - nine of which were wild. Bead head pheasant tail nymphs produced fish on the bottom of the river and sulphurs caught trout in the evenings on the surface. One was a 15 inch stocked brown, a big beautiful trout.



My girlfriend and I also spent time on the West Branch of the Delaware River and did not catch any fish. However, I did land 4 wild trout out of the Faulkner Brook, a tiny tributary to the West Branch. Overall, it was a delightful time in the Catskills. The Beaverkill now ranks very high on my list of all time favorite streams.


Unfortunately, the pictures of the Catskills are on my girlfriend's camera. Once I get them, I will post them. Until next time!



Overall Total: 129


River Breakdown:

Bushkill Creek - 17 (15 Stocked Brown, 1 Stocked Rainbow, 1 Stocked Golden Rainbow)
Pequest River - 17 (9 Stocked Brown, 6 Stocked Brook, 2 Stocked Rainbow)
Marshalls Creek - 16 (16 Wild Brook)
Raritan River, South Branch - 16 (7 Stocked Brook, 7 Stocked Brown, 1 Wild Brook, 1 Wild Brown)
Beaverkill River - 10 (7 Wild Brown, 2 Wild Brook, 1 Stocked Brown)
Faulkner Brook - 7 (6 Wild Brook, 1 Wild Brown)
Poplar Run - 9 (7 Wild Brook, 2 Wild Brown)
Stony Brook - 7 (7 Stocked Rainbow)
Spring Creek - 6 (3 Wild Brown, 3 Wild Rainbow)
Brodhead Creek - 4 (3 Stocked Brown, 1 Stocked Rainbow)
Paulinskill River - 4 (4 Stocked Brown)
Penns Creek - 4 (4 Wild Brown)
Rattlesnake Creek - 4 (4 Wild Brook)
Mill Creek - 3 (2 Wild Brook, 1 Wild Tiger)
Stony Run - 2 (1 Stocked Brook, 1 Wild Brook)
Cherry Run - 1 (1 Wild Brook)
Lawrence Brook - 1 (1 Stocked Brook)
Musconetcong River - 1 (1 Stocked Brown)


Species Breakdown:

Brown Trout - 57
Stocked - 40
Wild - 17

Brook Trout - 55
Wild - 40
Stocked - 15

Rainbow Trout - 15
Stocked - 11
Wild - 3
Golden Rainbow - 1


Tiger Trout - 1
Wild - 1
Stocked - 0


Stocked Trout - 67
Wild Trout - 62


Trout 15+ Inches: 5


Angling Breakdown:


Fly Fishing Rod - 65 (25 Stocked Brown, 14 Wild Brown, 9 Stocked Brook, 9 Stocked Rainbow, 3 Wild Brook, 3 Wild Rainbow, 1 Stocked Golden Rainbow)

Spinning Rod - 64 (37 Wild Brook, 14 Stocked Brown, 6 Stocked Brook, 4 Wild Brown, 2 Stocked Rainbow, 1 Wild Tiger)


State Breakdown:
Pennsylvania - 73
New Jersey - 46
New York - 10