Reports

December 14, 2014

Weather wasn't too bad during the week.  Weekend fishing was productive using stickbaits.  This is the time of the year when bigger usually is better.  You might not hook-up to many fish, but the one's you trigger a strike from, will be worth the effort.  Odds are, you might locate a rather large fish who refuses at the last second.  But now you will know where the fish lives.  

December 7, 2014

Fishing was very productive this past week.  A crawfish pattern did some real damage the other day and I was able to land a nice 17-inch stockie brown trout.  Fished Little Lehigh this afternoon and was able to fool a couple of fish, but not many.  Swinging streamers was the ticket today.  Saw a few Blue-Winged Olives today fluttering around along with plenty of midges.  Check out the crawfish pattern on Vin's Bug Shoppe page.  

December 2, 2014

Last few trips, the Wooly Bugger has been the ticket.  Beadtail Caddis in Emerald has fooled a few fish also.  Waters are getting cold so please dress appropriately and keep those toes warm.  Walking around with bricks as feet is not fun.  Keep that box of midges at the ready.  

November 12, 2014

Creeks are a mere trickle, but you can still find fish.  It is not easy fooling fish under these conditions, but it sure is fun just being out and about.  Rain is needed to get the leaves flushed out of the system and the spawn going.  Small stuff was the ticket today.  Had a swipe or two at a dry size 18 BWO.  Walt's Worm landed a trout and few chubs and fallfish.  Fishing the tiny Hildebrandt Spinner has been the hot ticket for the last two months.  I'm not sure you can fish it wrong.  Jig it, retrieve it, let it fall slowly--you just can't go wrong.  

November 11, 2014

Veterans Day

November 9, 2014

Happy 10th Birthday Zoe !!!

Spent the day with N8 and Fuzzhead trekking around some wild brown trout waters.  Very productive day in knowledge gained and fish landed.  Exceptional day today as Nate was able to land a few trout on dry flies.  The rises were pretty cool and most awesome considering it is November.  I was tossing around the Hildebrandt Spinner and did some damage.  The ultra-light spinning outfit I am using is a blast to fish.  The wild browns are still on the move and getting ready for the spawn.  We had a very cool Mink encounter and there were way too many TICKS.  All the fish were fat and healthy.  

October 19, 2014

Last week all it did was rain.  This week, we are back to fishing some skinny waters that are very clear and loaded with leaves.  After a rain event, get out the big flies and big lures.  Start tossing around meaty treats.  You might just hook into the largest fish of the year.  

October 12, 2014

Spent the day with Nate traveling in search of Brook Trout.  We found a couple of them and even had a few take a dry fly.  Waters are very cold but the fish were active.  We had to move around and found fish here and there.  Great scenery and the fish, for the most part, were cooperative.  Nate landed a few wild Brown Trout fishing buggers.  BWOs started to hatch around 1-2pm.  The fish did not take the adults.  I put on a BWO emerger and the fish were taking that, a size 18 tied in the style of a John's Spring Creek Pupa.  Great little fly that has landed fish all over the Commonwealth.  There are still plenty of active crickets and grasshoppers around.

October 7, 2014

Last few days have been fun.  Fishing with a very small Hildebrandt spinner.  Many fish landed and even more hooked.  Bugs galore this past Sunday and the fish took notice.  Waters are all still very low.  Salmon River has reports of fish finally showing up in good numbers.  Erie probably needs some water.

October 1, 2014

Creeks are all very low but water temps are on the very cool side of things.  Fishing early or late is your best bet at fooling any fish:  trout, smallie-- whatever fish you want to catch.  The stream bank below the 2nd Red Covered Bridge on Manatawny Creek has been scraped clean.  No more over-hanging tree branches to keep the water cool and the fish happy.  It has been decimated.  I'm sure there is a good reason behind what was done, but removing all the shade trees was not a good idea.  

Salmon River is on the slow side of things with only a trickle of fish being in the river.  Walking, walking and walking some more might help you find a fish or two. 

Check the PFBC website as a few streams and lakes will be getting their FALL / WINTER stocking shortly.  

Still time to order some Death Stoneflies, DSS streamers or egg patterns for your annual trip to Pulaski.

Lake Erie tributary fishing for STEELHEAD should be getting busy toward the end of October/early November.  But remember, without rain  --  there will be no water in the creeks and the fish will stage at the mouth of any given stream.  So, get those orders in for egg patterns, stoneflies and streamers.

Picture of Manatawny Creek below the 2nd Red Covered Bridge

September 23, 2014

I've been seeing more and more of these critters as of late.  All sizes and all colors.  Go grab some foam, deer hair, rubber legs and crystal flash and tie some up.  

September 15, 2014

Welp, haven't been posting reports from the summer months !!   There were a few awesome days fishing for panfish and smallies.  Tying plenty of Salmon flies the last two weeks, so keep the orders coming.  Fished for a little yesterday evening.  Landed a few Bluegill, Redbreast Sunfish and sub-legal Smallies on a foam hopper.  Then I noticed a few Hebes hatching.  Tied on a size 18 Sulphur and landed a nice little wild brown.  Rolled a nice sized trout on a micro-CDC caddis pattern.  The air is crisp and cool, water temps are perfect for feeding fish.  Get out there and Live to be On The Water.

June 10, 2014

Busy, Busy, Busy.......      Have not had much time On The Water the last few weeks--  School is coming to an end, baseball is still going strong and softball ended this past weekend.  Evening bugs should be Slate Drakes, Sulphers and Cahills.  Caddis are still doing their thing and shortly there should be those miniscule treats hovering above the riffles.  Local Oley Valley wild trout streams have been fishing well and the fish are willing to blow-up your terrestrial patterns.  Still working on finding another camera.  Lugging around the camcorder to take pictures is torture.  Plus, it isn't waterproof nor shockproof. Smallies should really be on the prowl and the season opens this weekend. 

May 26, 2014

The last few weeks have been pretty good with exception to when the waters were raging.  At the moment there are many bugs on the water:  Sulphurs, Cahills, Slate Drakes, Caddis, Craneflies, Midges.  Fishing a Half N Half Sulphur emerger pattern in the afternoon has proved to be spot on.  There are spinners already in the air, so be prepared to fish into the darkness.  Move around and fish new sections of your favorite stream.  Find some bugs hatching, match it and have fun.  Fish nymphs in the morning or swing a sculpin. My Bottoms Down Emerger fly has kicked much fin the past 2 weeks.

April 22, 2014

Happy Earth Day !!!

Local wild trout streams are fishing nicely with all sorts of bugs hatching.  BWOs, Spring Blue Quills, Little Black Stoneflies, Caddis, Midges and Hendricksons can be found.  Mid-afternoon and early evening are good times to be OnTheWater.  Manatawny Creek is also fishing nicely but the temps are still on the cold side.  There are many different wild flowers blooming and add to beauty of Oley Valley.

April 9, 2014

Could it be that Spring has finally sprung?  There is some topwater action to be had by tossing some BWOs, Little Black Stoneflies and smaller caddis.  Fishing globugs, caddis larva, wooly buggers or standard nymphs should fool a few fish.  Nice and Sunny today.  

April 1, 2014

Plenty of action on the surface today.  BWO, Quill Gordon and Little Black Stonefly all worked well.  Water is cold and the fish came up off the bottom to take the flies.  Great time soaking up some sun.  Hopefully winter will finally go away.

March 16, 2014

Fished the Little Schuylkill River with Nate.  Water was up and very cold.  There was a one fly competition going on.  We still managed to tag a few fish.  It was cold and the guides were continually icing up.  Love my PINK LARVA LACE worm.  

March 03,2014

Fished the Little Lehigh with Nate and we really had to work for the fish.  I spoke with one Jersey guy who stated that his crew fished yesterday and they landed 70 trout between them.  All near the bridge by the fly shop.  We fished below all the way to the bottom of the special regs area.  I was tossing meaty treats early and only moved one fish.  Flies that worked were smaller flashy stuff.  Saw some risers but could not get them to commit fully although I did have a swipe or two a BWO emerger.  It should be getting warmer over the next week.  Get the bugs out of the box and tie them on.  The fun is about to begin. Tie up some BWOs sizes 14-20, Caddis, Little Black Stoneflies, Midges, Spring Blue Quills, Quill Gordons, Hendricksons --  get prepared now for what you will need come late March and April.  

February 24, 2012

Wrestling tournament this past weekend and one of our wrestlers was telling me about the nice crappies he and his dad caught while fishing Ontelaunee Lake.  They were at Peter's Creek cove fishing shallow water using jigs and waxies.  This is the first year they have tried ice fishing.  Nice Crappies Walter !  I'm sure they will taste awesome !!  Stay warm, stay safe and remember, there is no such thing as Safe Ice.

February 18, 2014

Took the rugrats to Antietam Lake for a few hours in the afternoon.  They landed a few Yellow Perch and Bluegills and my son lost a trout.  Small glo-spoons tipped with waxies was the ticket.  There was a boatload of snow and slush to walk through.  The lot is plowed and a few vehicles can park there.  The kids had fun being dragged around the lake in the sled.

February 17, 2014

Spent the day with Nate exploring some new waters but finished at the Little Lehigh.  Before a line was even cast, a Bald Eagle took flight out of a tree no more than 20 yards from us.  We fished the water hard and had nothing to show for it.  Nate saw a few fish skitter away after being spooked.  The snow was over my knees and a pain in the keester to walk through.  After a few hours without even moving a fish, we decided to head for the Little Lehigh.  Fishing wasn't much better there.  As we pulled into the lot at the Fly Shop, there must have been about 12 anglers on the bridge or next to it.  Guess we didn't get the invite.  We worked our way upstream with nothing doing.  Finally, a fish was landed on a  Woolhead Sculpin.  We decided to fish further down the road and things changed a bit.  All of a sudden, it was one fish on after the other !  One cast after another with a fish on.  Then it stopped and it was back to the grind.  As it was time to leave, somebody flipped a switch again and it was one fish after the other.  I snapped two large fish off !!!  What a great way to end the day.  I didn't see any Little Black Stoneflies, but the Robins were certainly feeding heavily on the opposite shoreline in the snow.  My guess is they were gobbling up Little Black Stoneflies.  Also, saw a Red Fox on the snowy walking path while at the Little Lehigh.  It was a great day.  Persistence paid off in the end and Mother Nature certainly put on a show today. 

February 02, 2014

Spent nearly the entire day at Antietam Lake.  The bite was slow, but a few fellers were into fish.  Lots of slush and water on top of the ice.  Ice thickness varied from 4-7 inches.  Managed a good number of bluegills and yellow perch in the 8 inch range and a few dink pumpkinseeds.  A few trout were landed by other anglers who were fishing minnows under tipups.  I stuck to fishing the bottom with Tung Ice Jigs tipped with a wax worms and glo ice jigs tipped with plastics and wax worms. 

January 05, 2014

Took the kids to fish the Tully on Thursday, but it was ripping.  The kids cast some spinners, but no takers.  Today, headed outside of Berks County with Nate to find some open water.  It was frigid and frozen.  We found some open water and landed a few fish in less than 3 hours On The Water.  Egg patterns, Pheasant Tails and Sculpins did the damage.  You can't catch fish if you are on the couch.  As always, Live to be On The Water.  Not a bad first effort of the season.