Tuesday, September 27, 2011

More Tiger Trout Pics



     This is just an addition from the previous post.  Here are a few more pics now that you know what you are looking at.

What do you see in this picture?

     If you did not know that I was a fisherman and what you would assume to see in this picture, would you notice?  This is a Tiger Trout that a client caught on the Allegheny River today.  I can't explain how pretty the markings were on it.  You can see it for yourself!

Friday, September 23, 2011

Top Of The Hit List


       Finally....I found what I knew was a good spot and had some evidence of a good buck working the area.  I was definitely not disappointed when I checked the camera today.  This heavy 8-point is going to make a great addition to my bragging wall!!  I hope.  I like the way his main beams blade out at the tips.  I guess he was trying his hardest to be a 10-point.  He still looks good enough to me!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

No More Velvet


    Less than a month away and the bucks have just lost their velvet in the last week.  I have even had some pics of one working a scrape.  This is supposed to be the coldest week that we have had since the spring.  Can't wait to see what shows up on the cameras afterwards.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Getting The Itch


     Checking the trail cams has been getting me fired up for the upcoming bow season.  Got a pic of this nice 8-point last week.  Unfortunatley the time and date was off on the camera but the pic came from one night this past weekend.  Can't wait for the big boys to show up.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Favorite Time of Day

   








The fishing on the Allegheny has been slow with the water being so warm.  I accidentally fell out of the driftboat today when trying to jump out in fast water to slow down and it was like falling into a bath tub.  I wanted to stop the boat quickly and this was my only option.  In a hasty rush, I slid the oars into the boat and proceeded to jump out into the water only for my right foot to catch the side of the boat and send me face first into the river.  I popped up, gabbed the boat, and as if nothing had happened I proceeded to tell my clients where to cast.  The look on their faces was priceless.  We hooked a few small fish today but could not manage to get any to the net.  Even though the fishing was slow, it was a beautiful morning and an entertaining day...for the clients that is...It's not every day that you get to see the guide go swimming.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Weekly Trail Cam Photos














These are not anything spectacular but it is still exciting to go out and check the camera and see what is moving around.  I am getting an itchy trigger finger that wants to touch off the tru-ball release and let an arrow fly at a nice buck.  Just two more months till it is time to get in the tree stand.  I'm counting down the days on the calendar.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Last Years Archery Buck

Finally got my buck back from the taxidermy man.  If anyone is looking for a good taxidermist, I recommend Dan Bishop in Duke Center, PA.  He is as cheap as you will find anywhere and does excellent work.  Hopefully I will have another buck to take to him this fall.

Monday, July 4, 2011

Weekend Catch















     Despite the tough fishing conditions with the warm sun and a million canoes and kayaks, we still managed to catch some nice fish over the weekend on both the Clarion and Allegheny rivers.  Hoppers with nymph droppers on the Clarion and caddis emergers on the Allegheny.  Congratulations to John and Linda on some nice fish caught the last couple days and some even nicer ones that got away.  One giant jumping rainbow in particular on the Allegheny.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Tiger Trout
















While fishing with "Dutch" over the weekend on the Allegheny River, we hooked this trout that we could not identify until we got it in the net.  It was a Tiger Trout.  It was only the second one that I have had a client catch and the first one that I have ever seen on the Allegheny.  The only other one that I have seen was on the Clarion River.  For those who do not know, a Tiger Trout is a cross breed between a Brown and a Brook trout.  It was a nice surprise and a really nice fish!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Last Chance Riffle

After a good day of fishing on the Allegheny River, we managed to catch this nice rainbow out of the last riffle before the takeout.  We had a good day with some quality browns landed and some nice fish that got away.  This best fish of the day came after drifting the same small pocket for 20 minutes before finally getting a strike.  I guess persistence really does pay off!  Nice fish Phil.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

It's not just about the fish...



There is more that makes a trip than just the fishing.  Seeing the wildlife and landscape make a day on the water all worth it!

Allegheny Bows


Just a couple more fish pics from our day off on the water.  A couple of nice rainbows

Hook, Land, Pose, and Celebrate!




 Shane with a nice rainbow and the whole story captured in a series of pictures.  It was a good day to be off and fishing the Allegheny with Dave acting as our guide.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Better Late Than Never

Finally the Allegheny river is fishable.  We got down there on the first day that the river was down and it felt great to get the Helios Switch Rod back out.  The fish are pounding caddis larva as usual.  Every fish caught had a mouth full of bugs.

Friday, May 27, 2011

The Pictures Speak For Themselves!



This is a monster brown caught on one of my big black nasty streamers from the toothy critter box.  It was a very old fish.  It barely had any teeth left in its mouth.  Congratulations to John on his biggest river brown ever.  How about those colors!

Monday, May 23, 2011

Browns, Browns, and a big Rainbow?




Another day, another good catch on the river.  My dad was on the oars on this trip and it was an excellent day.  Some very nice brown trout and one big hook jaw rainbow exploded on streamers.  It is not that we do not catch rainbows on the river but they are usually not as nice as this one. The water is getting just about right and the fish are really turning on!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Luck of the Irish!



The pictures speak for themselves but I would like to thank Bob for traveling all the way from Ireland to fish the Clarion River with me over the last week.  The water was high and the weather for all but one day was tough, but we made it happen!  Once again...high water, big streamers, and BIG BROWNS!

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Opening Day of Pennsylvania Spring Gobbler



If I have learned anything about hunting big woods turkeys it is that once you think you have them patterned THINK AGAIN!  I really thought that I was going to be set up right in the birds bedroom this morning.  I even got there an extra half an hour early to prevent from spooking one out of the roost.  After sitting in the dark with forty minutes of anticipation behind me, no birds were gobbling.  Then I hear a faint gobble in the distance.  Upon inspection I realized that it was coming from the original spot that I wanted to hunt on opening day this year, but after scouting and not seeing any sign or hearing any birds I decided that I would hunt the far side of the valley that been home to birds all this spring and last.  Now I had a decision to make.  Did I really want to hike all the way back down one hillside, cross a stream with high cold water, and hike straight up the cliff on the far side?  The answer to that question is shown in the pictures above.  After making the long hike and my heart practically beating out of my chest, I caught up to the bird still gobbling.  I set up my decoy, got hidden, and made a few soft yelps.  Shortly after I saw the bird come around  the corner of the point in full strut.  A few seconds later he was joined by two jakes and all three began to run towards me after spotting the decoy.  They stopped at about 40 yards as the long beard went into full strut again.  They then advanced another 15 yards before I could finally get a shot at the Tom that would not result in me putting three birds on the ground.  The jakes finally moved off to either side and i split the uprights with 3 inches of #5 Hevi Shot!  It turned out to be the most intense easy hunt ever!!!  My only regret is that everything is so wet from the 40 days and 40 nights of rain that we have had made the bird not very photogenic.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

A Morning in the Turkey Woods




I made myself get up at the 4:15am alarm to go out and scout for Spring Gobbler this morning.  I located a few birds and took a few cool pics while in the woods.  The porcupine pic is dedicated to Jared from brooksbrownsandbows.