Letort, Big Spring, Cumberland Co, 12/28/09

[Fishidiot]

It seems it's been awhile without any fresh reports so here's one:
Met up with 3wt7X today for a go at our usual spots in the Cumberland Valley. With the recent snowmelt and precip, fishing opportunities were limited - most of the local creeks were blown or rolling at best. But, of course, the classic limestone streams are almost always dependable regardless of weather conditions. Letort and Big Spring were clear with water temps in the low 50s despite air temps well below freezing and snow flurries. We started in the upper FFO water on Letort. We moved/caught a few fish but the catching wasn't great. Even saw some BWOs in Scott's Meadow and a couple fish rising to 'em but I couldn't close the deal on those fish. The photo shows 3wt with a nice brown from Letort. After a bite to eat, we headed west to Big Springs and focused there on the FFO section below the "ditch." While I've mostly caught brookies there this year, today we got mostly small rainbows - mine primarily on a high sticked sow-bug. The photo shows one little fella with striking colors. Anyway, it was a nice day of fishin even if the catchin wasn't great.

 

[MattBoyer]

I can't wait until the days get a little longer. I get off work at 4 or 4:30 on my morning shift days and I'm 300 yards from the Letort! I actually have to drive over it on 81 every day and it is simply killing me to have not fished it yet. Thanks for the pics and the report. Later in the year if you are getting out in the afternoon shoot me a PM a day of so in advance and I will bring my gear to work.

Boyer

 

[Acristickid]

Good for you on getting out. The weather outside looks frightful around here as the song says.

 

[dryflyguy]

That open water - with even a few risers - sounds very nice right now.
Nice going guys

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Better than not fishing :-D

Good report thats a nice brown 🙂

 

[3wt7X]

Dave,
Thanks again for sharing that cold day on the stream. It was pretty nice getting out and it even got warm enough during the nicest part of the day to prevent the guides from freezing. I would note that the fish were, for the most part, very tight to cover. The exception being the few risers that we spotted. There were several aggressive fish willing to chase and strike a fly, as Dave stated, but it was pretty slow throughout the day. The Letort is a funny girl. All day, I focused very hard on getting good presentations and approaches and then I get blind sided with a strike (the brown shown) as I looked upstream to spot a riser that Dave called out. Go figure.

 

[BelAirSteve]

Nice report. Amazing color on that rainbow.