Letort, Big Spring and Falling Spring - Cumberland Co, 06/14,15,16/09

[Maski]

Hi all,

I have been fishing the Letort, Falling Spring and Big Spring creek during 3 days and it was just fantastic.

I have once again been very lucky, both on the Letort and on Big Spring. On Big Spring: 12 fishes including 3 rainbows above 17 and a beautifully colored 19 and a 15' brookie. Only 3 were caught with a streamer, all the other ones with dry flies and sight-nymphing with very small nymphs. The second evening has been the best one, with a few caddis on the river and fishes coming up quite often.

I am on one of the pictures thanks to a fellow fisherman : thanks to him if he is a PA Flyfish member !

But the best of the best is this 20' caught on Letort with a big nymph (black and brill stonefly on H10) . The fish was hidden behind weeds but its tail was visible from the bank. He took the fly on the first cast and the fight has been just incredible.

I have also caught several other browns on Letort with my "usual" streamer and small nymphs. The one on the lower Letort is probably a stocked fish.

I have also caught a mud sucker on a very big h8 nymph after 30min of unsuccessful tries. This fish is a very very poor fighter and I have landed him in less than 30sec! It was just for fun and I think I will not try it again 🙂

In a nutshell it was heaven except on Falling Spring where I have only caught small fishes.

Bye
Jef

 

[Maski]

I just want to add a very warm thanks to Dave Weaver who has taken the time to show me the rivers. Even if our trip to west Maryland has not been very successful on Saturday, it was GREAT to fish with him. I hope we will be given the occasion to fish again together on these beautiful PA rivers.

Jef

 

[mute]

Wow, just wow

 

[JakesLeakyWaders]

Love the pics man, nice perspective. Those are all probably similar to fish that I've occassionally seen in those waters but never managed to catch. It is one of my goals to be able to fish the limestoners more effectively. I think maybe the key is to remember to bring a cigar or two. ;-) ;-)

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Bravo 😛int:
Great fish guys! Oddly enough i was just talking about another trip to the Letort in a few weeks :-D Great fish again guys and awesome pics.🙂

 

[Acristickid]

Nice pics.

 

[tomgamber]

Now that looks like a fun 3 days...good pics..

 

[jayL]

Great report.

 

[wgmiller]

Maski,

You've got some "mad" skills!!! Great work and nice fish! That tiger brookie is just awesome. Heck, all the fish are just awesome!

 

[JakesLeakyWaders]

WGMiller,

That's what they are supposed to look like, it does have the red spots and blue halos with the wormlike markings as all wild brookies do. It is just that you seldom see them that large in Pennsylvania, which makes the wormlike markings more defined and noticeable. The fish is comparable to a wild trout you might catch a few hundred miles north of here. And yet still would be a notable catch in say Maine or Quebec.

I vote "no" on it's being a tiger or hybrid species of any kind.

I heard that you have to catch a "tiger" by it's "tail". :lol:

 

[wgmiller]

JLW,

Thanks for the heads up. That sure is one purty fish!

Looks like there is a site dedicated to tiger trout fishing: http://tigertroutfishing.com/

 

[Fishidiot]

Maski,
Great report! Darn, I wish I could have joined you again on Big Spring and Letort. You've definitely got those fish figured out. The pics are very nice. The rainbow in the net is beautiful as is the big brookie. The 20" Letort fish is incredible. I know guys who have fished Letort for years and never hooked a fish like that. You ought to have quite a nice scrapbook on the Cumberland Valley by the time you head back to France (might make a nice article in a European fly fishing publication).
The trip out to the Savage River was nice and the fishing okay but I expected we would do better. As for Falling Springs, keep at it. FS has been good to me over the years and I have usually found it just a bit easier than Big Spring and Letort. Hopefully we can have another crack at these fish again soon.

 

[JakesLeakyWaders]

I just noticed, the size of the tail on that twenty incher. That is one big powerful looking tail. I am waiting for Maski to type a whole chapter worth of the intricate details of the fight, as if he were Ernest Hemmingway.

Maski is definately world class status if you ask me. I was waiting for him all spring to get over here and see what kind of success he would have on this side of the pond. I remember thinking what happened to that guy who said he was from France. When I see his name pop up I check out the posts without hesitation because he is a visitor here and it is exciting.

It's nice to see that he is having a great time on the water and that some people are reaching out to make his stay more enjoyable. I feel priviledged to know that there are people on this site who are so willing to help others and represent the area and show some hospitality. It makes me feel good.

Maski,

thanks for the posts

WgMiller - that was a nifty link on the tiger trout species

 

[Maski]

Hi JakesLeakyWaders,

I am not Hemmingway so I will not even try to write a story on this catch!

All I can say is that I was using the only rod I have here with me, a Sage Z-axis - 8'6 - WF5 and a 5x leader. To give you an idea of the size of the fish, the reel is an Abel Super IV. The fly was a black imitation of snail (or scarab, depending on your imagination), not too heavily weighted.

The fish was in a "pocket" of water, partially hidden behind weeds. Only his tail was visible from the bank and he could not see me because of the weeds he had above the head under 1m-1m20 of water.

He moved 50cm to take the fly and started escape into the weeds. But these were very dense and he does not really managed to enter it and I quite rapidly pulled him above the weeds in 15-20 cm of water. Most of the fight has taken place above the weeds and the game was to impeach the fish to join a bunch of branches on the bank, which was possible with the 5x but would have been really difficult with a thinner line.

The day before I was walking along the river at dusk looking for fishes coming up but saw nothing except a very very big one, surely above 25, but which was not feeding. Dave: maybe next time ?...

Bye
Jef

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Jef,

Sorry I missed going fishing with you guys. I really wanted to. Im glad such a skilled fly fisherman, from another country, came to our country and fished the Letort. It has so much history and its fish are very tough. Kudos to you for doing so well. I promise if there is a next time, i will go. I have a feeling i would learn volumes watching you.

 

[ryguyfi]

First of all bravo... Nice fish and thanks to Dave for being a good host and giving a good reputation to those of us fanatics on this board.

Second... does anyone else think it's ironic that within 2 months of the "biggest native brookie in PA" post that this large native and pcray's recent expidition to Oil Creeks tribs both produced large native brookies of the 12"+ category?

Ryan

 

[JakesLeakyWaders]

Yeah and I still never made it back to my beaver dam lake. Although I'm doubtful I can find a brookie to top that one, as far as wild brookies go. Although I was quite pleased with the 5 inch trophy I caught in a miniature trickle of a stream last week in just inches of water. 🙂

I really should post the pic.....no, maybe I better not. :roll:

 

[dasofas]

Just when you are starting to feel good about yourself from an angling standpoint, Maski goes ahead and bluntly kicks you in the ding ding. All kidding aside, great report and great fish. Jealousy rears its ugly head in many ways.

 

[troutbert]

Maski,

Great catches on very tough streams. Put on a clinic for us! Maybe next weekend?

 

[littlejuniata]

Great fishing and pics Maski. Vince and Charlie wil be proud of you