After originally planning to fish Big Spring I arrived to see quite a few other folks already fishing. I decided I would head over to the Letort and fish from the Cumberland Valley Trout Unlimited parking lot up to the quarry from about 3:30-7:30. The temperature was about 90 degrees and it was overcast with the sun peeking through sporadically throughout the day.
While fishing I kept finding myself saying "I hate this place. Why did I come here"? The truth be told I do not hate the Letort but have the absolute and utmost respect for it. It is a tough stream to fish not just because the fish are finicky and tough to catch but also because the banks are like quicksand and you can pretty quickly find yourself scrambling to get to solid ground, easier said than done.
I fished some different terrestrial patterns such as ants, beetles and grasshoppers with no takes. I then switched to a sculpin pattern that I came up with that has been surprisingly bringing many large fish to net on the limestoners. I caught three fish in the 3 hours that I fished. One of the browns I caught swam downstream from under some brush along the banks to take the sculpin.
Another slammed it as I was shaking my rod tip to give it some action. It was about a 16 inch fish and it immediately swam underneath a weedbed. I began to move downstream of the fish so I could pull it out of the weedbed and stepped into a very muddy section of the creek. I fell and dropped the rod with the fish still on and was trying to get up, man was it difficult. I was able to get up and finally net the brown.
They say Letort fish are memorable and thats the truth. I finished fishing and walked all the way up the gravel path that runs past the quarry. I decided to walk the road back to the car. I absolutely did not want to walk along the stream to get back to the car because I was pretty tired. I should not have wandered so far from the car. Just in case anybody else gets this idea its probably a better idea to just man up and walk the stream back to the lot. It took a really long time to get back to the lot taking the road.
While fishing I kept finding myself saying "I hate this place. Why did I come here"? The truth be told I do not hate the Letort but have the absolute and utmost respect for it. It is a tough stream to fish not just because the fish are finicky and tough to catch but also because the banks are like quicksand and you can pretty quickly find yourself scrambling to get to solid ground, easier said than done.
I fished some different terrestrial patterns such as ants, beetles and grasshoppers with no takes. I then switched to a sculpin pattern that I came up with that has been surprisingly bringing many large fish to net on the limestoners. I caught three fish in the 3 hours that I fished. One of the browns I caught swam downstream from under some brush along the banks to take the sculpin.
Another slammed it as I was shaking my rod tip to give it some action. It was about a 16 inch fish and it immediately swam underneath a weedbed. I began to move downstream of the fish so I could pull it out of the weedbed and stepped into a very muddy section of the creek. I fell and dropped the rod with the fish still on and was trying to get up, man was it difficult. I was able to get up and finally net the brown.
They say Letort fish are memorable and thats the truth. I finished fishing and walked all the way up the gravel path that runs past the quarry. I decided to walk the road back to the car. I absolutely did not want to walk along the stream to get back to the car because I was pretty tired. I should not have wandered so far from the car. Just in case anybody else gets this idea its probably a better idea to just man up and walk the stream back to the lot. It took a really long time to get back to the lot taking the road.
