sarce
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2013
- Messages
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Wow, what a day...
My gf joined me on this trip and used her spinning gear, though she took a few casts with the fly rod too. We left State College around 2 pm during the flooding downpours and ten minutes down the road, the sun broke out and the road showed no evidence of rain. Our first stop was actually on the frankstown branch. The river was low and clear but one of the small tributaries had been hit hard by a storm before we arrived and was dumping lots of cold (upper 50s/low 60s), muddy water into the river. Before I even had my fly rod rigged up, she caught a 16" wild brown on the spinner on the edge of the muddy water. That would be the only fish she caught there, while I managed two 10-11" smallmouth bass on a #6 white woolly bugger.
A wicked storm forced us to move so we chose to stop and eat dinner in Huntingdon while we waited for it to pass. Around 6:30 we arrived at the Point access area at the mouth of the Raystown Branch. The raystown side was crystal clear while the Frankstown side started to get murky from the storm. Raystown side was running around 80 degrees according to the USGS gage, Frankstown was noticeably colder, probably low 70s.
I tried a popper for a bit with no luck. Switched to a chartreuse over white clouser and started picking up a few small bass, sunnies, and fallfish. The gf had the same luck with the spinner but caught an awesome 13" bass in the mix.
Around sunset, we noticed some fish jumping in one shallow area so we started casting at them. It turns out it was a school of smallies busting minnows. All hell broke loose and combined we landed 11 bass in the next 25 minutes!!! I got the biggest out of this school at 12". That fish took two minutes to land on a 6 wt and believe me, I was taking the fight to the fish and getting nowhere! Most were 9-10".
It was by far the best bass fishing I have ever encountered. I know the gf had fun too and I really couldn't have asked for a more perfect trip before I move out of State College!
I do have some good video footage from the evening, but I am super busy this week. I will try to post it when I have time to edit it down to a few minutes.
My gf joined me on this trip and used her spinning gear, though she took a few casts with the fly rod too. We left State College around 2 pm during the flooding downpours and ten minutes down the road, the sun broke out and the road showed no evidence of rain. Our first stop was actually on the frankstown branch. The river was low and clear but one of the small tributaries had been hit hard by a storm before we arrived and was dumping lots of cold (upper 50s/low 60s), muddy water into the river. Before I even had my fly rod rigged up, she caught a 16" wild brown on the spinner on the edge of the muddy water. That would be the only fish she caught there, while I managed two 10-11" smallmouth bass on a #6 white woolly bugger.
A wicked storm forced us to move so we chose to stop and eat dinner in Huntingdon while we waited for it to pass. Around 6:30 we arrived at the Point access area at the mouth of the Raystown Branch. The raystown side was crystal clear while the Frankstown side started to get murky from the storm. Raystown side was running around 80 degrees according to the USGS gage, Frankstown was noticeably colder, probably low 70s.
I tried a popper for a bit with no luck. Switched to a chartreuse over white clouser and started picking up a few small bass, sunnies, and fallfish. The gf had the same luck with the spinner but caught an awesome 13" bass in the mix.
Around sunset, we noticed some fish jumping in one shallow area so we started casting at them. It turns out it was a school of smallies busting minnows. All hell broke loose and combined we landed 11 bass in the next 25 minutes!!! I got the biggest out of this school at 12". That fish took two minutes to land on a 6 wt and believe me, I was taking the fight to the fish and getting nowhere! Most were 9-10".
It was by far the best bass fishing I have ever encountered. I know the gf had fun too and I really couldn't have asked for a more perfect trip before I move out of State College!
I do have some good video footage from the evening, but I am super busy this week. I will try to post it when I have time to edit it down to a few minutes.
