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
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