ive been out to my local central pa stream and many of its tribs 4 or 5 times this year and all i have to show for it is 4 native brook trout. ive been skunked at the little j 3 times in a row! 2 times it was cold and snowy but last sunday was 70 degrees and there was stoneflies hatching like crazy on the tribs. 0 fish. i still have a great time being out fishin, but it gets frustrating. anybody else experiencing this?

Just the ups an downs of fly fishing. Last fall/early winter I went about 2 months of skunkings. Probaly 15-20 outings. But my luck turned around it always does. All I can say is just enjoy your surroundings and have fun, no matter if the fish are hittin or not.

No lol, but atleast you live in C. PA. It will come around. Enjoy fishing the little J, I enjoyed the surroundings almost as much as the fishing.

Its early still. Hang in there.

Yes..hang in there...in a couple of weeks the fishing will be great and there will be lots of dumb fish to catch (those are the kind I need).

I've been on a skunking streak as well. I think I caught 5 trout this year so far.

Yeah hang tough...the skunk can be a streaky fellow. It starts to mess with your head and affect your confidence, but you know what you're doing, so just keep after it. IMO the best way to get rid of the skunk is just fish the flies and techniques you have the most confidence in and are most comfortable with, regardless of what's happening on the stream.

I was the benefactor of a training conference at work wrapping up early yesterday so I was able to get home in time to sneak out for an hour. Took home my usual skunk courtesy of the Quittie DHALO section...and it was just stocked last week! Had a nice fish on, but never even got it up out of the depths to see what it was before it threw the hook. My last several trips out I've lost over 75% of my hooked fish to poor hooksets or just plain weird stuff like the fish wrapping the tippet around a small twig and shaking off. It happens, don't let it affect ya.

Your watershed may have been hurt worse than some others with the floods last Fall too, or it may just be in a bit of a down cycle now. If it fished really well last year with lots of nice sized Brookies, it makes sense that it may fish poorly for a year or two once most of that good year class dies off. Normal ebb and flow of small wild streams.

As far as the stoneflies go...I see them all the time in the Winter on many of the streams I fish and the fish never seem interested in them, even on warm days. Not sure why that's the case, but I'm not suprised you struggled even though they were hatching like crazy.

Although the thermometer would beg to differ, it's still Winter, and fishing is still tough. Give it another month and things will pick up.

My experience as well. I've been out more this winter than the last 5 winters combined and caught fewer fish. I'm chalking it up to the relatively low water that's gin clear and still in the low 50s. On the days when the BWOs have been consistently hatching, I've caught a few but on the whole, I've been skunked more times than I'd like to admit. However, as most of us know, a day fishin' and not catchin' is better than a day behind a desk. Rain would help, I think, and the passage of time to the early season caddis hatches.

I will say this. All 5 of my trout have been wild, two of them coming from a legendary CV spring creek. I guess its not THAT bad.

Getting skunked on freshly stocked water though, it makes me feel like a BAD fisherman!

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Yeah me too...It's always been that way with the Quittie for me though...even spin fishing. I can't seem to consistently figure out where the fish are in that stream. The only time I have any success there is during the Summer with active risers. I'll stop there at dawn for an hour or so in the Summer and pick off a few risers on ants or sulphurs and then head off to a wild stream for the rest of the day.

Quittie aside, this Winter has been very good fishing for me as compared to the average though. Both in terms of number of outings and fish caught. I've had a few skunkings, and a few Chub/Fallfish only trips, but more times than not I've brough at least a couple trout to hand. Mild weather the primary factor there I'm sure. I agree with mcneishm though...some legit rain wouldn't hurt things right now, especially one of those soakers that comes up from the south associated with a warm front.

I take a skunking personally...I'm into the whole scenery thing, but if that were the case I'd go hiking or drink beer around the campfire. Its especially sucky in the winter...
I had a down spell and got into a few consecutive skunks...then I was rewarded with consecutive banner days...
I can remember some skunk days almost as well as great days, they really stay with me...

I'm like Phil and unfortunately I take getting skunked personally. But it comes with the territory and may have little to do with you. It is amazing how one 5 incher can change your entire report from an outing. "How you do?" - Well, I didn't get skunked! No need for any more detail.

Your turn will come. Hang in there.

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Man, I hope you didn't read SBecker's post on his trip to the Little J this past week.

I feel your pain. Even as a beginner with no logical reason to think I should expect to catch a fish, it's annoying to not at least turn one over or see a rise to your fly.

Batting o for 4 on the Lackawanna, 0 for 3 on McMicheal's creek and 3 for 3 on the Little Lehigh.

Keep on after the little buggers!

Dave

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