View from the bench...

The local stream is getting a fall stocking tomorrow. Time to get busy. Nuff' said.

Things are warming up

I'm thankful the snow is finally out of here! It's been in the 60s almost every day and even hit 80 yesterday.

I've been sneaking in fishing trips any time I can...

10 minutes while running some errands to cast to rising stickies with dry midges...

Heading out in the evening for the same stockies and realizing the panfish are waking up..

And some quick 15 minute trips to a small lake near my office on my lunch break for some cruising carp..

It's been awesome to finally get to target some non-trout species. Now i just need to find some bass.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have about 50 hours of yard work ahead of me. At least I have some cold friends to help me out. Happy Saturday.

stocked fish, fiberglass, and birthday candles

Where to begin...I guess I'll begin with yesterday. They stocked the creek behind my house the other day with big fat stupid rainbows. I was able to sneak out in the evening before the upcoming onslaught of worm dunkers wading around in chunks of floating powerbait. I picked up quite a few slabs on a black bugger, including this nasty big guy with a hooked jaw.



 I also made it out later into the night and was hitting fish on a slow glassy pool with a size 4 foam stimulator at 10pm! It was one hell of a fun night. All fish were released in hopes of me finding them again in January when I'm bored and don't feel like driving 45 minutes for trout.

Then today came, and I unfortunately turned 37. I used to look forward to birthdays, but now they just depress me. Late 30s came way too fast. I did however get some sweet stuff including a new tippet post with floatant holder, a pair of New Balance 574s, and even some cash. I had the family over tonight for dinner, and to top off the night, my step-dad walks over, says happy birthday, and hands me a rod tube. Turns out it was his  Fenwick FF805 fiberglass rod he bought in the mid 70s, in MINT CONDITION. I almost teared up. I know this rod means a lot to him, and I was honored that he wanted me to have it. I'm going to take damn good care of it, and try to sting some fish with it this weekend.

Speaking of fiberglass, shout-out to Cameron over at The Fiberglass Manifesto for the badass bonus goodies that came with my T-shirt. My favorite fishing hat needs a TFM patch on it.

It's Saturday night and I'm going to drop some science on you.

There was recently a post over at PA Fly Fish with some guy complaining voicing his opinion about how they stock too far ahead of the season opener. I for one like when this happens because the fish get more spread out.

A little way into the thread, someone posted a link to a study done by the PFBC regarding movement of trout after they were stocked. I just found this to be a really interesting read and I thought I'd share it. I can't believe one rainbow traveled over 120 miles.

I'm going to paste the article(sorry if the formatting is a little off), but you can view the original PDF here.

"Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission

Harrisburg PA www.fish.state.pa.us

Factors Influencing the Post-Stocking Movement of Hatchery Trout in Streams By PFBC Staff

The Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission stocks more than 2 million hatchery trout annually in waterways throughout Pennsylvania before the start of the trout season. These trout provide some great recreation for anglers in the spring and early summer. Many anglers will have good success in most waterways, particularly on opening day. But some anglers, like those from the northeastern part of the state, have reported poor luck in the past few years. We’ve heard many explanations, including poaching, poor weather, poor fishing technique and moon phases. Most anglers believed that the trout were just not there anymore.

The Commission had suspicions that these anglers could be right. We decided to look at the problem by investigating a stream in which anglers reported poor success. In 2003, fish were stocked into the East and West branches of Dyberry Creek, Wayne County. Our fisheries biologists then went back and used electrofishing gear two days later to capture the trout. Indeed, the trout were not there! These results along with waterways conservation officer observations and angler complaints about other streams suggested that this problem could be widespread in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Where did the trout go and why did they leave? Some blamed high spring flows, but studies show that trout stay put during floods. They take up positions behind boulders, logs and eddies away from strong currents. Others blamed our hatcheries. It is true that the freestone streams in northeast Pennsylvania are stocked with trout raised in limestone facilities from the central part of the state. Could it be possible that trout raised in a fertile limestone facility would want to seek those conditions when stocked into a freestone stream environment? We found this not to be the case. The Dyberry Creek electrofishing study included fish that were stocked from limestone and freestone hatcheries. The fish that remained after the stocking were evenly split between the two sources. Another Commission study showed that limestoneraised fish actually outperformed freestone-raised fish when placed into an acidic freestone stream.

The hatchery water source did not appear to be the problem in this case. Water temperature could be a factor. Some studies have shown that hatchery trout move downstream when stocked into water colder than 10°C (50°F). Water temperature is usually below 50°F in many of the streams we stock in northeastern Pennsylvania during the preseason. Cold water could be the problem, but it doesn’t explain why we were successful with trout stockings in past years. Temperature acclimation could be a piece of the puzzle. Scientific studies have shown that trout will adjust their metabolism based on the temperature they routinely experience. Trout accustomed to cold water will perform better than those accustomed to warm water when suddenly exposed to very cold temperatures in the laboratory. The trout acclimated to cold water will have lower activity rates and lower mortality.

In the spring of 2005, fisheries biologists decided to test the effects of temperature acclimation on stocked trout movement. We wanted to find out where trout go and if trout acclimated to colder water temperatures show less movement out of stocked areas than trout acclimated to warmer water temperatures. The study took place on Wysox Creek in Bradford County and Tunkhannock Creek in Susquehanna County. Hatchery trout movement was measured using several techniques, including tagging, radio telemetry, electrofishing and a creel survey. Over 4,000 hatchery trout were anesthetized and then tagged before they were stocked into either stream during the preseason. The tags consisted of a piece of colored laminated plastic. They were attached to the trout just below the dorsal fin. Tagging mortality was minimal. Each tag had a small unique identification code and a telephone number. The public was then informed about the project. Anglers were asked to call the telephone number if they caught any tagged trout. Information was collected, including the species of trout caught (brook, brown, rainbow or golden rainbow), date of catch, stream where caught, tag color, tag number and whether the fish was kept or released. The color of each tag told us which stream the trout was stocked in and whether it was acclimated to cold or warm water temperatures. The tag number told us the species of the trout that was stocked.

The trout came from one of two Commission hatcheries, Benner Spring (control fish), Centre County, and Oswayo (treatment fish), Potter County. The mean water temperature was 9.9°C (50°F) for Benner Spring and 7.65°C (46°F) for Oswayo. This might seem like a small difference in temperature, but laboratory studies have shown that a few degrees are enough to alter fish behavior. The stocking temperatures in both streams were significantly lower than the water temperatures from both hatcheries. Fish were stocked in Wysox Creek on March 7th, which had a water temperature of 1.7°C (35.1°F). Tunkhannock Creek had a water temperature of 0.3°C (32.5°F) on March 8thwhen the fish were stocked there.

Twenty five trout were also surgically implanted with a small radio transmitter. The trout came from either Benner Spring hatchery (control) or Oswayo hatchery (treatment). Two fish of each species (one from Benner Spring and one from Oswayo) were then released at each stocking point on Wysox Creek and Tunkhannock Creek. Wysox Creek received four rainbow, four brown and four brook trout. Tunkhannock Creek received five rainbow, four brown and four brook trout. The signal from the transmitters was then tracked using a receiver. In the spring of 2005, fisheries biologists monitored the movement of the radio-tagged preseason stocked trout in both streams with radio telemetry equipment. The radio-tagged fish showed little movement for the first few days of the study. Most of the rainbow trout from both creeks left their stocking points and headed downstream after the third day. Several rainbows were never found again. One rainbow trout from Tunkhannock Creek was found nearly 13 miles downstream from its stocking point. And one rainbow from Wysox Creek was found 123 miles downstream in the North Branch of the Susquehanna River.

Brown trout movement varied more. Most brown trout stayed at their stocking points for at least seven days. When they did move, they usually didn’t travel that far. The longest traveler was a brown trout that moved 6 miles. Only one brown trout found its way to the Susquehanna River. And one brown trout moved slightly less than a mile upstream. Brook trout stayed at their stocking points for the longest time. Almost all the brookies remained in place for a minimum of 10 days. The exception was a Tunkhannock Creek brookie that began moving after a week. Brook trout movement ranged between 0.5- mile and 11.6 miles with the greatest movement occurring in Tunkhannock Creek. One Tunkhannock brookie moved about 7.5 miles downstream before ascending another creek. It was the only time during this study that a trout entered a tributary stream. By the end of the preseason period, three of the 12 radio-tagged trout (two browns and a brook) remained in the stocking limits of Wysox Creek and three of the 13 radio-tagged trout (two browns and a rainbow) remained in the stocking limits of Tunkhannock Creek.

Statistical analysis of the radio-tagged trout showed that initial movement away from a stocking point was associated with species instead of hatchery. Rainbow trout left first (three days), followed by brown trout (seven days) and then brook trout (10 days). This movement pattern seemed to coincide with visual observation of large groups of trout disappearing from stocking points after seven to 10 days. It was predicted that control trout (Benner Spring) would choose warmer water temperatures than the treatment trout (Oswayo), but this did not happen. In one case, a rainbow acclimated to the cold Oswayo hatchery water actually chose warmer temperatures than the other trout acclimated to the warmer Benner Spring hatchery water. Tracking demonstrated that there was no immediate downstream movement in response to cold stocking temperatures. Only six tags out of over 4,000 tagged trout were returned during the tagging part of this study (a 0.001% return rate). A formal creel survey at Wysox Creek recorded only three trout caught from a preseason stocking of 2,000 trout.

The number of trout present in the streams during the electrofishing study and the number of angler tag returns (0.001%) were too low to permit statistical analysis on the performance of cold acclimated trout. Nevertheless, it was still apparent that most of the hatchery trout either perished or left the stream section after they were stocked. The results of this study suggest that temperature acclimation was not a factor in hatchery trout movement. Control and treatment trout did not exhibit immediate downstream movement in response to cold stocking temperatures, although they eventually did move downstream. The control and treatment trout did not choose different temperatures. Finally, the treatment trout were not expected to move because they were acclimated to colder water temperatures. This was not the case because they moved just as often as did the control trout, which were acclimated to warmer water temperatures. It is apparent that other factors or a combination of factors could be involved in movement of hatchery trout. Two factors that might come to mind are water chemistry and high flows. Water chemistry and flooding did not cause trout movement in this particular study. The worst pH we found during the entire preseason period was 6.8 following heavy rains and snowmelt. The radio-tagged trout also did not move during the two floods we experienced in the spring of 2005.

This study did not help us discover the cause of the trout movement problem, but it did give biologists some ideas on how to prevent it. In 2006, we stocked streams in northeastern Pennsylvania as close to opening day as possible, particularly problem waterways like Wysox and Tunkhannock creeks. We also changed the species composition of trout that were stocked during the preseason. Many streams in the

Northeast did not receive rainbow trout during preseason stockings. In 2006, we also decided to take a more extensive look at the trout movement problem. Biologists from across the state completed electrofishing studies on as many preseason stocked streams as possible. Electrofishing took place between 10 and 20 days after stocking and before opening day. Biologists shocked at two direct stocking points on each stream and estimated the percentage of trout that remained at the location. We measured as many variables as possible and correlated them to hatchery trout residency. The variables we considered were associated with the hatchery environment, the trout, the stocking process and the stream environment.

We considered more than 20 different variables, but none showed a strong correlation with trout residency (the number of trout remaining at a stocking point). There was a trend for better trout residency in waters with better physical habitat such as undercut banks, log jams and boulders. Some other factors that influenced residency were stream pH, bank stability, bank vegetation, stream width, stream velocity and stream depth. But all of these factors do not statistically explain why trout were not staying at their stocking points. We did learn that the problem of trout movement was not just limited to the northeast. Streams with poor trout residency existed statewide. However, there were concentrations of streams with poor residency in the northeast and northcentral portions of the state. Acidic water chemistry may have explained some of the movement problems in the northcentral part of the state. The full report is available at the Commission’s website, http://sites.state.pa.us/ PA_Exec/Fish_Boat/afm.htm

All of these studies have not really explained why trout leave their stocking points. We know they are Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission Harrisburg PA www.fish.state.pa.us leaving, but we just don’t know why yet. Research on the problem will continue in 2007. In the meantime, we are addressing the problem in several different ways. As mentioned above, some streams will not receive rainbow trout in their preseason allocation. We are also trying to stock as many streams as close to opening day as possible. Part of this effort includes the new regional opening day concept that has been implemented in 2007. Select counties in southcentral and southeastern Pennsylvania will now have an opening day two weeks earlier than the rest of the state, March 31 in 2007. Other areas of the state will remain the same with the mid-April trout opener. "

So that's where all your stocked fish go. You can't argue with science!

I'd post some of the new bugs I'm working on, but I'm too busy getting the fly boxes ready for an all day trip to a tailwater stream tomorrow. Full report when I return. Who needs football when you have wild brown trout?

So, I have to edit my "About Me" section

I turned 36 today. 35 is ancient history. I don't really get depressed about it like some people. But I guess it's officially upper 30s now so that's kinda creepy. Here's the cake that Michael picked out for me. I doesn't really make much sense because I want nothing to do with Basketball or Football, but he got it for me so I loved it.




Anyway, here's a recap of my day that I took off from work:

1.I took my 2 year old son to get a flu shot. He didn't even flinch. On the way out he said "Dad, why did that lady give me a needle? It didn't hurt." He took it like a champion. I then proceeded to get him ice cream at McDonalds at 10:30am because that's the kind of dad I am. (don't judge, it's my birthday)

2.I got a ton of cash and gift cards so I went to Cabelas to get a new switch rod. They didn't have it in stock and are ordering it. I have a 12 foot 8 weight coming my way on Friday. Watch out Salmon River. I'm going to make you my bitch.

3.I made a quick 25 minute stop at the Little Lehigh on my way home. I bagged one 15 inch bow and I didn't feel like taking a picture of it. The rest of the fish were assholes and wouldn't take anything. I did see some olives though, which was encouraging.

4.I headed back home to assist with stocking the local creek behind my house. They barely put any fish in, they skipped half of the holes that would be best suited for trout, and they were almost all 8-10 inch rainbows. There goes my local winter fishery. I must say, it pissed me off because that stream has pretty much been DEVOID of other fisherman all summer, and now I see idiots with snelled hooks and powerbait littering up the place. I did pick up a few mutants on a black bugger one my way home at a spot that was stocked two hours previously, but again, I didn't feel like taking pictures.

5.THIS GUY IS MY HERO TODAY.


6.My iPhone died not once, but TWICE, from the 80+ Facebook notifcations telling me that people posted "Happy Birthday" on my wall. I appreciated it, but I think that some people ONLY use Facebook to say Happy Bday to others. Speaking of iPhone, well played Apple. You lost me as a customer. I held off on getting a new phone for 6 months in hopes of a new amazing phone and you release a 4S?!?! I'm going Android!

Anyway, it's been a long day, I have quite a few beers in me, and I'm off to bed. Night.

Brook trout are beautiful and all, but...

You can't rule out little sunfish like this that are full blaze in their fall coloring. He wasn't big, but I took a few seconds to really admire him. Gorgeous fish.

I realized today that I usually only hit the local stream just out of convenience when I don't have time to make the 45 minute drive to water cold enough to hold trout year round. That made me think about how much I'm going to miss having a fun little fishery that's less than 2 minutes away.

The leaves are starting to drop and the fish are slowing down. Yeah, I caught a few small panfish and a dink largemouth this evening, but the big ones are down deep and not wanting to budge. Seeing all the plant life starting to die off is depressing. On the upside, at least the stretch that runs behind my house is one of the only places in my county that's getting a big fall trout stocking this year. The good news is that barely anyone fishes it in the fall and the fish tend to not spread out as much as they do in the spring. That will get me through from October-January, and then the kids will be playing ice hockey on it until March.

Farewell summer.

Back in business with a new caddis pattern

Well, I had a minor surgery today, which lead me to pass out on painkillers most of the afternoon so now I'm wide awake with a very sore mouth. I sat down at the vise to see what I could come up with.

I caught a video a while back of Aaron Jasper tying his cased caddis jig hook pattern so I thought I'd try it out. These turned out pretty cool. I'll let you know how they work.

Dohiku barbless jig hook, size 14
Ultra Chenille - chartreuse
Wood Duck (I actually used real teal flank for this)
Dubbing - mix of grey squirrel and fox squirrel
Copper ribbing
Tungsten black nickel bead



Of course, I'll need to actually fish before I can try them out. Our trout streams are still feeling the effects of the 2 inches of rain we got in about 4 hours on Saturday. This sucks. Although, they are stocking tomorrow again behind my house. Maybe I'll make it out for an evening trip for easy pickings. It all depends on what time this little guy decides he's ready for bed.

Volunteering to stock

Before I get started with this post, I just want to say that I am 100% against stocking any streams that contain wild fish. What you're about to read about is a stocking of a stream that is just short of boiling hot once it gets into July, and most of the fish have long been dinner by that point, and have allowed hundreds of kids the chance to catch their first trout.

That being said, I decided to volunteer today and help stock the stream that runs behind my house. There's about a 3 mile stretch of it that is stocked. There were thousands of fish, ranging anywhere from 7 inch rainbows, to 20 inch palaminos, to 9-10 lb brown trout. Some of them were CHUNKS!

I've never helped do this before so it found it quite interesting. We met at a parking lot in Quakertown. There was a big stocking truck with a really cheesy logo on the back of it, and a game warden. I love how the picture shows tons of brookies being stocked, yet there wasn't one brookie in any buckets I saw today.


There were about 3 or 4 other cars there waiting to help stock as well. It was mostly older guys with their grandsons, and a few teenage guys. We followed the truck to the stream and by the time we got there, the trail of cars had tripled. By the third stocking spot, it was pretty much a parade of people lining up to get a bucket of fish and dump them in the water.

The good thing was that I only saw one fish die the whole afternoon. The bad news was that it was a 5 lb palamino. I feel bad for those things. They are sitting ducks. Even in the murky water, they could be spotted 30 yards away.


Besides seeing 10 lb fish being dumped into a stream literally 200 yards from my back door, the other awesome thing I saw was how fast these fish adapt to their environment. At the last stop I went to, they were dumping in a ton of huge fish into this really deep slow run. While I was handing buckets down to people, I had two little black stoneflies land on my hand. Sure enough, two minutes after the fish were dumped in, they started rising. Seeing monster fish going apeshit on the surface after tiny stoneflies made me want to grab my 4 weight from the back of my car so badly, but I have to wait until 4/2.


I have so many more things to post right now. I have a bunch of new bugs to show off, my son tied his first fly today, and I tested out making a UV mono sighter for euronymphing. But, it's 2am, and with daylight savings time, that means 3am so I gotta get some sleep. Here's a few more shots of today's stocking.

Lots of things to do

Well, it's Friday night and I'm making my list for tomorrow. The Fly Fishing Show Expo will be in Valley Forge PA.



I'm pretty excited for it. There's tons of materials I want so I can tie some warm water flies, and I'm running low on tungsten beads and hooks. I'm also most likely going to pick up an automatic bobbin. It's $100, but it looks too damn cool to pass up.

Also, I was actually in Valley Forge today at the KOP Mall and I decided to drive along Valley Creek to check it out. I was amazed by the amount of wild browns I saw when I walked along about 50 yards of water. For a stream that is not stocked at all, it had a very decent amount of fish. I might have to wet a line there early in the morning before the Expo tomorrow.

Coming up next weekend, I'm going to be volunteering to help stock the East Branch Perkiomen Creek. I thought it would be really great to help out the fish and game commission see where the biggest fish are dumped since the stream runs about 150 yards away from my back door. But in all honestly, it should be a pretty cool experience. Opening day in PA is only 4 weeks away.

Then that following Tuesday, I start my first fly tying class. I'm case you cant tell by my shitty fly patterns, I've only been tying for just over a year, and I'm pretty much all self taught.

LL Bean is holding classes hosted by George Macaig, who's one of the guys you see tying at the Fly Fishing expos. The classes are free as are the materials, you just need a vise and tools. I think it's like a 30 week class, so I'm hoping to learn a lot.

Fast forward to April 2nd, opening day is here. There's a childrens trout fishing tournament about 15 minutes from here. They dump tons of stockies into this little pond, and there's contest for kids to try and catch the biggest fish. I'm really hoping to get my son into a nice rainbow for his first trout. He turns 2 the next day and my goal is to make sure he lands a fish before that. I'm more excited about this than anything I've mentioned above! Then we're heading home because my wife is apparently organizing the biggest birthday party a two year old has ever seen.

Well, that's about it. I'm going to snipe some people in Halo Reach, finish my beer, and prepare for fly fishing mayhem tomorrow. If anyone of my readers are planning on attending the show, drop me a line here if you'd like to meet up over a beer. Happy Friday.

Stockies on the EB

Well, it's Saturday. We did buffett at the diner for breakfast, trip to Home Depot with my son, and picked up a Christmas tree. The afternoon was spent trying to get a 9 foot tree to stand up straight inside a tree stand that was way too small to hold the weight of the enormous Douglas Fir. After running some hooks and rope all over the damn place, the tree is standing. (complete with lights and various things hanging from it)

I needed a break and once my son went down for a nap, I headed out to the East Branch for an hour of fishing for stockies. The water was stocked on 10/4 by the PFBC, but only 600 trout were stocked in about a five mile stretch of water. Over half of those were taken out by the worm dunkers, and after listening to Tom Rosenbauer's 10/28 podcast saying that in most cases, stockies only survive a few weeks, I wasn't expecting much.

But, with limited time and a small chance to catch fish, I made the 100 yard trek down to the stream. I tied on a streamer and started roll casting along a bank near a deep pool. Mr. Rosenbauer was wrong. A 12 inch rainbow took the streamer. He was definitely stocked, but started to gain back some wild color. It was still nice to catch a trout less than a stone's throw away from my house. I released him to hopefully catch him again in a few weeks.


As for the fly that he took, it's a new one I tied up that I was going to test up at the Salmon River for steelies, but never got around to it. Real simple green and black streamer with no hackle. Sometimes less is more.

Size 14 Mustad 2xl streamer hook (weighted with lead)
Killer Caddis glass bead
Ice Chenille - Peacock
Black Marabou