Well Thurs last I was informed by my foreman that my services will no longer be needed at Bristol Aluminum . Thats fine by me cause I was ready to quit anyway the one main reason is cause the Abington HS cariculum did not include mind reading but aparently they had this course at Harry Truman high cause everybody there seems to ecpect you to be a mind reader . Well the truck was packed anyway so I stayed up at the camper for an unplanned extended trip being I had no job to come back to . This was a loss and a gain cause I lost my job but I now had more time to fish . I fished and caught at all spots ecept the Kish wich was Running in the high 60's thats my fault for fishing above the junctions of tea and honey creeks wich dump goood cold limestone water into the kish . I fished penns , fishing creek , spring and night fished the Bald eagel down in curtain no hook ups at the bald eagel ecept for my whole night rig wich got caught in an overhanging limb across the stream leader 2 night flies and all . That was the last night I night fished I managed 1 small brown at the match factory on spring .I floated my normal beat on penns but I got a late start and the risers were just shutting down when I started . I stuck a few but brought none to hand it was a nice float with only a few kayakers on the stream . I will have to check the flow for tesday cause thats about as low as I would want to float penns . I saw Dave one of the wetfly guys on monday night right before the storm hit he said he caught some but they were all small he was also using a Jim Downes Bamboo rod it seems the craze is catching on it must be nice to have the money to spend on cane I guess the video bizz is paying off for Dave I thought cane was for hirollers like Steve larson. Anyway the highlight of the trip came yesterday with a hi sun about noon I had secured permission to park at nearby lot wich allowed me acess to the downtown stretch of open water in Bellfonte . This stretch was closed for years by the town an was home to the town pets wich were giant handfed trout a local tourist attraction . There are feed machines up on the bridge and for 25 cents you get a handful of trout feed to throw in the creek and watch the town pets come up and feed some are close to 30 inches . This bridge marks the termination of the opwen water and you can now fish from the bridge downstream to Miles burg were it dumps into the bald eagel I was nyphing for maybe an hour with no takes I revamped my leader and made it longer this helped give me more time on the bottom I also changed flys with a waxworm latex fly followed by a scud followed by a cHARLY CRAVEN JUJUBEE MIDGE . i WAS WORKING MY WAY UP THE RUN AND THE BOBBER WENT UNDER NO BIG DEAL I THOUGHT IM HUNG UP AGAIN ECEPT THE SNAG STATED MOVING . Isaw a huge dark fish shaking its head out in the depths and I thought it was too big to be atrout but maybe a big Carp it was huge . I put the boots to it and it rose up and greyhounded and thats when I saw all the spots on its huge flanks this was the biggest trout I had ever hooked in all my years and travels including any brown up at Oak orchard I would guess it was closer to 30 inches than 20 inches possibly a state record we duked it out for awhile and I knew there was no way I could hold this fish with my wimpy 4 weight and 4x tippet but I gave it the old college try and I actualy had backed into a sidechannel on my side of the creek but he did not like that too much I guess the rocks must have tickeled his belly cause he shot out of there like a rocket all I saw was my bobber heading downstream and I knew if left this poll there was no following him down there in that white water so I tried my damdest to keep him in the neighborhoood but he had other ideas everything went limp and the bobber came flying back all 3 flys split shot and a good chunk of leader wereall gone all atached to the Moby of Belfonte . You all have to believe me when I say the proportions of this fish were more like a king salmon than a trout I have never hooked a trout that big ever this thing would have been an eye opener even in tira del fuego and to hook one on spring creek is mind boggling .But like Captain Ahab I will be back maybe the next dark of the moon I will go back with my night rig this is 12 lb tippet and 3/0 hooks .After this I kept fishing after I rerigged my setup I put on the greenweeny and a small red larva type fly more splitshot and fished my up the rest of the run to the bridge . Along the way I hooked and lost a few more one was pretty good but not as big as the beast . Up by the bridge a nice one came up and took a swipe at my bobber a nice fish maybe 20 some but not the beast I fished around for him awhile and did hook him for a second or 2 . I caught several average fish after the beast but it was anticlimatic even though they were nicely colored browns . I was going to quit at noon clean up the camper and head for the letort on the way home but I did not leave that stretch till after 3 . This water is unique and that makes it a good haven for big fish it is both fast and deep with some spots over youre head and lots of slower moving flats mixed in these are were I got my hookups . PLUS THE FACT NOT EVEN 50YDS AWAY THERE IS A BIG POPULATION OF GIANT BREEDERS THAT NO DOUBT MOVE DOWN BELOW AND TAKE ON A MORE NATIVE LIFESTYLE EATING BUGS AND STREAM FARE .
Sorry for your loss. On the upside your grammar and spelling are improving and you don't yell all the time, I take that as a gain. Maybe you can find work teaching English as a second language.
Loses and Gains
Posted - 07/10/2014 : 15:31:06
