Creek Addict

It’s a nice feeling to have the water to yourself, knowing it’s packed with fish. That’s the reason we decided to hit up the Pequest at the butt crack of dawn again. That, and of course to catch a fish or two, and that’s exactly what we did. After only 20 minutes on the water both Nick and I already had our first fish in the net (albeit they were nub finned Pequest fish), and knew we could leave and at least not go fishless for the day. We stayed a little longer with me landing another nice spotted up bow and losing another. We were at the Pequest for about and hour total. In that time it went from being totally empty to packed. The other fisherman didn’t know what to think when Nick and I stepped out of the good water and decided to head somewhere else. Little did they know, we were off to greener pastures.

We decided to hit a few different parts of the Musky today, all of which proved to be productive. Nick and I netted our first fish literally out of the same hole. As he was releasing his first fish, I took a drift through the pool he had just caught one out of and pulled out a nice (nub finned) Bow. There was lots of good water in the stretch we went to, and if we had landed every fished we hooked, the day would have been stellar. There was more pressure on this section of the Musky, but nothing like the Pequest.

For the last part of the day, we decided to go back to the stretch of water we had fished the week before. We fished some new water and both caught a fish. I pulled a trout from right behind a school of suckers. Must be spawning season. We checked out more water below the sucker hole, and that’s where Nick pulled out his rainbow that seemed like he was ready to spawn as well. Nick must have grabbed the fish in his happy place, because it started splooging all over the place.

On the way back to the parking lot we decided to hit the sucker hole again. We netted so many suckers in about 30 minutes that I can’t even remember how many we brought to the net. I couldn’t not catch them, almost every cast in the pool got us a sucker. They were a lot of fun to fight, but man are they disgusting.

The spot where Nick netted that beast last week is right by the car, so he decided to give it another chance before we packed up and went home. He hooked in to what looked to be a nice 16-18 inch trout, maybe bigger, and the fight was on. The fish rushed to the fast water running along side the deep pool where the fish was laying, tearing drag as it went. Nick fought the fish for a good couple of minutes before it regretfully broke him off right at the fly. No need to say, the look on Nick’s face was pure disappointment. Not the best way to end a great day of fishing. When it was all said and done though, we just chalked this up as another great day on the water.
You catch some, and you lose some, that’s why they call it fishing and not catching, right?

Great markings for a nubby

Pequest fish.








Pequest nub bow.

Ugly ass thing, looks like it’s about to die.








Musky nub finned fish. Couldn’t get away from the nubs today.
















r="0" />Good color.








Good looking Musky bow.








Sucker lovin trout. Finally a fish with fins.








Splooge fish. He likes Nick.
















Nick pleased as pie during our euro nymphed sucker session.








This is my disgusted face. As disgusting as these fish are, they sure can put up a fight.

I’d like mornings better if they started later. I woke my ass up at 3:45 in the morning so I could pick Nick up at his place by 4:30. Today, we weren’t going to let anyone else be the first one on the river.

We arrived in the Pequest parking lot at about 5:30 and geared up in the dark. We hit the stream just as the sun started showing over the horizon. Our plan was to get at least a fish a piece and then go to the Musky and try not to get skunked. The first fish took us a little longer than expected, with me being the later of the two to land my first fish. Surprisingly the river was empty save for two other guys that we ended up talking with. One of the guys there actually caught himself a sucker, which I have personally never seen taken out of that river. It was pretty funny actually. He was just saying how he catches suckers in there all the time, before I could tell him I thought he was full of bull, he was hooked up with a sucker. With our goals attained, we stayed to shoot the shit with the guys on the river for a little bit then headed over to the Musky.

First, I have to say it just wasn’t my day. Nick, on the other hand, had a day no one could complain about. It started in a slow hole that Nick had fished before and caught big fish out of. He drifted his flies through the hole a few times, and within 5 or 10 casts he was hooked up and landed a nice little rainbow. The rest of the day was spent checking out other parts of the river. We saw stoneflies hatching, BWO’s coming off the water, and suckers spawning in the slow stretches of the river. Everything was pointing towards great fishing, but we just couldn’t find the fish. On the way out we decide to try the slow pool again. I drift my fly through the hole a few times and end up getting snagged on the bottom and losing my fly. As I go to reel in my line to tie on a new fly, my reel wouldn’t budge; the damn thing froze up on me. So, I decide to call it quits and sit on the bench to let Nick finish out his drifts. Nick walks down to the same pool I was just fishing, with the same fly I was using, and BAM, fish on. The fish comes up near the sur
face and I can tell this thing is a BEAST. I hurry down to the water to help Nick net the thing, and after about 5 minutes, we finally get him in. This thing must have been 25 inches and at least 7 pounds. The kind of fish that makes a guy’s month, that’s for sure. In the end all I got at the Musky was skunked, and a broken reel. But hey, at least I didn’t get skunked for the day, and I got to spend yet another good day in the winter sun on the river with a friend. If you tried to complain about a day like that, I’d call you greedy.
Nick with his trophy fish.

Look at that ugly jaw.

NOM NOM NOM

Pequest fish.

The small bow from the same hole that big fish came out of.

Can you believe this is Jersey?

What an awesome day!

The wife and I decided to take a guided trip on the Salmon river this weekend with guide George O’Brian from Trophy-angler.com. The morning greeted us with a balmy 4 degree air temperature, and a water temp just barely above freezing. We got the drift boat in the water and anchored up in our fishing spot before first light even hit the water. As we were waiting for sunrise George shared with us the tips and tricks a first time steelhead angler needs to know.

As the light finally started to show over the horizon we noticed people crowding around the spot that we had staked for ourselves. We decided to move down river and secure a different spot on the river before the people crowded in there as well. George couldn’t have made a better decision. The first hour or so of fishing was really slow with only one hook up by me, but as the sun finally hit the water, the day long bite was on.

There had to be 100 steelhead directly in front of the spot George had chosen. Alicia promptly stuck 2 HUGE steelhead that she lost, but from that moment, we knew today was going to be special. George tied on a black flashback stonefly to my 4 lb tippet and I was into my second fish of the day by the 4th cast. Five minutes later we had the fish netted, and I had a newfound respect for these magnificent fish. Pound for pound steelhead have to be the hardest fighting freshwater fish a man can find. I can’t even begin to explain the kind of rod bending, drag ripping strength these fish possess. If you’ve never hooked into one of these beasts, you need to book your trip right now!

The whole day we didn’t have to move once, we were hooking fish left and right. Total for the day we hooked 17 fish, with me landing 4 and Alicia landing 2. Everyone around us were amazed at the day we were having, and even more amazed when they found out it was our first time. A new steelheader can expect to land 1 out of 5 fish hooked, we were looking like pros keeping our ratio better than 1 out of 3! Something has to be said for George’s coaching and amazing ability to keep his clients on fish. If it weren’t for him, I’m certain our day wouldn’t have even come close to the type of day we had today.

Although I couldn’t feel my feet, I couldn’t have asked for a better day. Days like today make a guy question why in the hell he would ever want to drive back home.

This is the fish from the video on the bottom of the page.

Alicia with the biggest fish of the trip. A 14 lb colored up male.

Alicia and George before we left for home. If you’re looking for a guided trip up in Pulaski, George is your guy. You couldn’t find a nicer more knowledgeable guide if you tried.

Went to the Little Lehigh and the Saucon today with Nick. The morning started off great, we were in the parking lot before the first light hit and were the first ones on the river. It only took me about 5 minutes to hook my first fish. Everything went downhill from there. The warm weather started melting the snow, which raised the river and put it off color. The weather also put about 100 bodies on the river by noon. We decided to take a break from the crowds and try to hit the Saucon.
When we got to the Saucon the water was like chocolate milk. You couldn’t make a cast without getting tons of algae and river gunk on your fly. I fished the brightest nymphs I had, with no luck. After a frustrating hour of cleaning gunk from our flies we decided to go back to the lehigh.
The Lehigh was now filled to the brim with anglers. Up by the hatchery guys were standing shoulder to shoulder. From what I gathered, not many people were catching fish, but lots of people were fishing.
It was a pretty good day overall, the weather was nice, we were fishing, and we didn’t get skunked. I forgot to mention, Nick caught himself a golden brown at the Lehigh! That almost makes the $64 out of state license worth it. I’m sure you’ll be seeing some better posts from PA in the near future, as spring is almost upon us.