Fall and Winter Streamer Bite Coming Soon

The trout fishing will be heating up again as the air and water cool down this fall.  There will still be some bugs around in October, followed by some excellent streamer opportunities from winter-early spring.  Looking forward to some clients booking trips on the Allegheny and Clarion Rivers for October thru March.

Tourney Champs

   

       This years 2017 DAV Tournament Champs for the event held out of Wolf Run Marina near Warren, Pennsylvania.  After being in the hunt for the previous two tourneys I fished, Fred Ward and I were able to put a great bag of Kinzua Walleye together and win the day.  Also we recorded the "Big Fish" for the tournament which about doubled our payday.

Light Tackle Guided Trips for Walleye in PA/NY

       
        Our 18.5' Crestliner Fish Hawk allows us for great opportunities on the Kinzua Dam and Chautauqua Lake for Walleye and anything else that may decide to bite.  We target the walleye but frequently catch perch, smallmouth bass, white bass, pike, and an occasional musky.  We can accommodate 1-2 anglers per trip which also includes and the gear.  All that is required from the angler is proper clothing and a fishing license.  Lunches are included on full day trips as well. These are very laid back and relaxing trips that are perfect for just enjoying a day on the water.  Also, any fish that we keep with be cleaned and fillets put into zip lock bags for transport home.  You may just want to have a cooler with some ice to put them in afterward.

Beggining of the Clarion River season

    It has been a not so bad start to the season so far.  Water temps are still pretty cold but on the good cloudy days with stable flow conditions decent fish have been caught.  The first couple trips found that most of the fish were grouped up in their prime wintering spots.  Slower currents, deep water, and lots of structure.  As of late, the fish have been spreading out.  More are being caught in the faster current and shallower water.   A few bugs have been present.  Black stone flies and midges mostly.  Not enough for consistent rising but enough to make a trout attack once in a while.  

    We have been fishing mostly streamers so far.  Big and ugly has was the ticket early but a slimmer, shorter profile has been working best as of late.  We have stopped and ran some nymphs in some of the primary riffles with moderate success.  I am sure that a little more time and effort would produce more fish on nymphs, but I must admit that when they are chasing streamers and you get to see the entire follow and take, that I would much rather cast the big stuff. 
    

Warmer temps this week should help get the fish a little more active.  Hendricksons are right around the corner.  As much as I love streamers, I can not wait to cast a dry fly to a big rising brown trout.  More clients are starting to book trips now that the weather is breaking and I can not wait to spend more days on the water.  Hopefully this will be the start to a great season.

Fishing The Hardwater

     First trip on the ice this year.  Temps were in the negatives with the windchill for most of the day.  Fish would freeze before you could get your tip-up back in the hole.  We had a great day on the walleye along with a few nice perch and a couple pike.  Caught on nice walleye that measured almost 23 inches that I released.  She was a very fat female and it was evident that she was full of eggs.  Always have to look out for the future and let the big females go once in a while so that they may spawn.   I'm looking forward to getting back out on a little warmer day but do not see temps above the teens anytime in the near future.  Until next time!

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.

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.

First Day of Trout Continued...

While I was back at the lodge in the shelter of the valley and cover of the hemlock trees on the stream, Shane was on the river fighting the wind, high water, and horizontal rain.  Congrats to Mike for putting a some nice browns in the net and Shane for somehow keeping the boat under control in the gale force winds.  The river was flowing between 6 and 7 feet, which is about 2-3 feet higher than we like to fish it.  The fish can still be caught with some well placed zonkers under the brush.  Needless to say, they had the river to themselves.  I am getting a little jealous that I have not been able to get on the Clarion River yet this year but my time will come.  Hopefully when it is at least 15 degrees warmer and the fish are feeding on the surface.  Although anyone that knows me will tell you that I have no problem throwing big ugly steamers for these nice browns.  I have a secret box of flies that only few have seen that works for many situations.  Snook, pike, musky, walleye, bass, and big trout can all be caught on the same flies from this very special box.  It has Toothy Critters written in permanent marker on top!  I am sure that as water temps get warmer that it will be featured soon.  It will be dedicated to Jared from the popular blog: brooksbrownsandbows.

What a terrible first day of trout season...The weather that is!

The temprature was in the low 40s with rain and winds out of the North at 23mph and gusts over 40.  We had some guests that were willing to brave the conditions and it sure payed off!  These are just some pics of the bigger fish.  Many were caught in the 13-15 inch range.  I would like to thank the Suter family for spending the morning on the water with my Dad and I.

Stained Water+A Bright #2 Clouser=Fish On!

This is another post for the Big Flies For Big Fish series.  We got another great day to fish the Allegheny.  The water is still cold and the fishing a little slow but this fat bow could not resist the large easy meal swinging in her face!