A time not forgotten.

[Squaretail]

Back in August I had kind of a farewell trip with Nomorecornchuckin' as he had to go off for some classes until now.
He took me to a stream Sal showed him and there was no question why it was a preserve. It was so small in size but the surroundings were almost dynamic.

It was very peaceful and quiet except for the occasional hiker.

It was a very steep gradient and was almost pocket after pocket. In some places, it was.

We didnt catch one fish out of the very largest pools.

You can almost tell by Nomos expression, "You want me to fish in there?".

We were kinda stuck going up the ravine so we had to go thru there anyway.

Chicky makes her run through.

Nomo does his impersonation of the "long rod".
Never ask to use his rod. :lol:

Find the right pocket, catch a fish.

Not large, but plenty rewarding. This was one of the biggest of the day.

I didnt know this stream was fingerling stocked, it doesnt seem to need it.

Heres a true stream born from there.

When I say I love this stream, its no stretching of the truth. Its small and intimate, yet has a contour and surroundings that could employ an artist for a lifetime.
What a great fish, with my friend since I was born.
Hope everyone had a Happy Holidays and this can help get you thru the winter.



Aaah...the heck with it. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.

 

[whheff]

Very nice.

 

[Alpabuck]

Nice pic's!

 

[gulfgreyhound]

Great pics of a gem of a stream.

 

[albatross]

Another amazing photo essay. Thanks Dan!

 

[1wt]

Beautiful place, but my 1wt Superfine might be too big for that tiny stream.
Maybe a OOO wt would be the best there!
From the looks of the stream bed it looks like the drought has almost dried up the tiny creek.

 

[osprey]

I just love fishin little streams like that , there are hundreds of lil gems like that in Pa. all with little pressure and most loaded with small but beautiful and feisty fish , one thing about your pics is the wild brown trout......in my travels most of those type streams hold brookies with an occasional brown , your pics are all , from what i can see , wild brownies. The pics of some of those chutes and pools remind me of my favorite Breastworks run in Somerset county , the difference once again is the brownie vs. the brookies. REAL NICE PICTURES.........MAKES ME WANT GO NOW , BUT...........IT'S SNOWIN AGAIN..........THANKS FOR THE GREEN SQUARETAIL

 

[Fishidiot]

Beautiful!

 

[Acristickid]

Nice pics. Out it in the east you guys seem to find little streams that do not seem totally brush covered like many around here. But maybe I just have'nt looked enough. Anyways nice looking stream.

 

[pete41]

One great thing about the Va. streams-much more open.

 

[Maurice]

Dan,

What makes you think that crik is stocked with fingerlings? Just curious...I have no idea what crik that is BTW.

Maurice

 

[osprey]

Akid..........are you in the western part of the state? if you are then...............you just haven't looked enough. Potter county comes to mind when i think of the mother load of this type of stream , seems like you can stop and check out just about any little trickle and it will have a few trout in it , not to mention the beautiful surroundings. I guess to be technical Potter county is in the Central part of the state but it's just the tip of the iceberg , LOOK HARDER you'll be glad you did.

 

[Acristickid]

O- usually when I drive 5 hours to go fishing- it's not looking for 5 foot wide streams. My expereince is in the Laurel Highlands and I know about dozen or so streams there but I am not much of a small stream guy.

 

[Maurice]

Paul, I figured you were speaking of the Laurel Highland wild trout streams. The geography is different there than it is here. Your small wild trout streams are typically up on the slopes with rhododendren choking them under a hemlock canopy. Once they hit the valley floor the area is usually populated and the remoteness and wild trouts go away.

Here in the SC pa, susquehanna valley region, off the mountain slopes we see the streams tumble quickly from farmed and sparcely populated plateaus into forested valleys. Kind of an inverse population ratio, Anyway, the reason the stability and vegetative density is different is because the storm run off is more volitile here because of the farmed plateaus and rolling hills where the watersheds start. The valley floors, once the water hits them are scoured of bank vegetation, width/depth ratios are upset and you end up with streams that seem shallow and empty as 1wt put it....except where you have natural bank stability like big boulders or plunges that localize the scour and generate large or deep pools.

We do have some places like the Laurel Highlands farther west near the foothills of the Appalacian range.

 

[Acristickid]

Mo- so your saying not only do we not have spring creeks, the large, medium and the small streams stink too. Ha.

Gotcha- thanks for the explaination.

On the plus side- still have better trout fishing than most of the country.

 

[salmo]

I loved it. What a great trip and great narrative.

Salmo

 

[Squaretail]

I'm sorry Mo. I guess the shot doesnt show it as good as I thought. Besides the questionable color difference, you can see the clipped tail on the top fish of the two consecutive fish pictures, which from what I know, seals the deal.

 

[pcray1231]

The difference between those browns is striking, but both look wild to me. If you say a fin was clipped on the top one, I believe you. Fingerlings often look wild. He's certainly got all the signs of a wild one.

Acristic, I know this doesn't help a whole lot, but the NW part of the state (Forest, Warren, Elk, Mckean, etc.) counties have plenty of brookie fishing in relatively open environs. Thats 2ish hours, maybe 2 and a half. The brookie fishin there is every bit as good, perhaps better, than central PA, but it still doesn't quite match Potter County.

 

[Squaretail]

Look at the bottom of the tail, you can see it.

 

[Maurice]

Dan,

It's common practice to clip fins during electroshocking surveys when using the two pass method to ensure the fish are not counted twice. Has that stream been surveyed in the last year? Also, some "anglers" clip fins on fish they catch too. And, I find it highly unlikely that a stream that small would have fingerlings stocked in it. Especially if it has wild browns.

There is no question in my mind that fish is wild.

Fin clipping of fingerlings is usually done to the adipose fin. The caudal fin grows out too quickly to be used for multiple year identification.