salvelinusfontinalis
Active member
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2006
- Messages
- 7,267
I woke up this morning and still had no idea where i was going to fish. It has been weeks since i have been out last and the itch was getting to me. I had plans to fish with Squaretail on Saturday but something came up on my end. I asked him if he cared to join me today but he couldnt. Wgmiller also couldnt get away today. I was going to hit one of the fresh stocked creeks but then i thought that just isnt my style. I needed either smart holdover trout or smart wild trout. Suddenly it hit me........Letort. Sorry guys you missed a very unique day. Sometimes everything works out right even when under less than desirable circumstances. Sometimes nothings perfect and yet so perfectly flawed.
I fished a lot of different sections of the Letort today. I will go over each one.
Class A Section 2 - 300 YDS ABOVE THE BRG ON T-481 (BONNYBROOK RD) downstream to READING RR BDG-
I arrived around 7 in the morning and the light was low. The air today was cold but very tolerable. I know that fishing in the winter gets better in the afternoons but i planned on being here all day. The Heritage section was as it always is, tough. Spooked a lot of fish but i did catch 2 wild browns around 7 inches on a Cress bug/ Scud tandem. The same one i use on Big Spring. The Heritage Section is so beautiful and so are the fish. The place oozes with history and i always feel so lucky just to be able to fish there. Im so glad the town of Carlise and its community have taken care of this stream and its trout. Then I remembered the downstream Class A sections that I have hardly or never fished and decided to move on.
Class A section 4 - E POMFRET STREET BRIDGE downstream
to POST ROAD BRIDGE-
I actually parked at Post Road and fished upstream around 8:30 am. I didnt see any posted signs but the sounds of the Army trumpts were loud and close. It didnt take me long to spook some fish and also hook into a few. This piece of water doesnt have the habitat that I expected. It still has aquatic vegetation but lacks good holding water. The vegetation isnt as thick as the Heritage Section as expected, but it still holds a good number of wild brown trout. These trout in this section I decided to do an experiment on. I was throwing a size 12 brown flashy woolly bugger at them and had good success. These fish obviously dont get the amount of pressure that the more "famous" stretch of water gets. They are still extremely wary and long delicate casts are paramount. I was throwing downstream about 30-40 yards at the edges of the stream. Then streaming upstream slowly through the center of the hole. Barely pulling any line and twitching the rod tip to make the tail of the bugger swim. As i worked my way upstream i realized i might be somewhere I shouldnt be and left promptly. I think all the fencing tipped me off. Im not familiar with this area so if i was in violation, forgive me.🙂 heres a few pics.
a small brown
another small brown
sorry these are a bit blurry the others came out better.
the stream
letort
spring house?
post road letort
post road letort 2
Needless to say i lost alot of fish due to the long casts but it was the only way. I couldnt approach the fish. When i got back to Post Road i look a short distance downstream and decided to hit another section.
Class A section 5 - POST ROAD BRIDGE downstream to MOUTH -
I actually parked off of Harmony Hall Drive and fished upstream a good distance. This is the section I have hit before but i didnt have the time I had today. When i arrived I think around 9:30 there was another guy Flyfishing right at the bridge slowly working his way upstream. He was concentrating on the edges of the stream where the weeds and grass make ledges for the trout to hang underneath. Interestingly this is what i did the first time i was here. I approached him from a distance behind him, as not to spook his fish and asked if he had any luck yet? He said he just started and asked the same question. Short conversation 🙂, i think we both had an agenda. I gave him some distance and almost immediately found a rising fish. I tied on a midge and in short order had that small brown hooked and lost him via long release. By now, the other fisherman was far ahead of me and I passed him again leaving him about 10 holes unfished. I also walked a good distance away from the stream, i was trying to be nice. This kind of stream, any disruption will ruin your fishing. That was the last a saw of him. There is a small tributary that enters the Letort here. Becareful crossing it! The silt is deep and I lost a wading shoe that I had to basically reach about a foot into the mud to retrieve :lol: Heres that trib:
Letort trib
I fished a good distance upstream from there and found some interesting things. The Letort is channelized through this section. Normally i would say this is bad but the old structures and semi falling down and leave a good undercut for the trout. Also it is helping the streambank from eroding into the stream. The only thing is, I had crossed the stream at one point which put me into jagger bushes so I had to get back across. When I approached this concrete wall again, my agility is getting worse with age, so I had to sit on it before getting in the water. What I didnt see, until it was too late, was the 18 inch wild brown trout in front of me. When my butt hit the wall I saw him. I got the feeling him watching me try to get my fat a$% down the wall was enough for him by the way he headed for Adams County with blazing speed. :lol: Once I was across the fishing was on. The vegetation is better here than it is at the Post Road upstream section. Some nice sized fish also. I had one large brown flow my brown bugger. The next cast I caught a tree and the bugger hung down into the water. I carefully and slowly lifted the rod tip so I could swing it off the brach without tangling myself up. When it got about 4 inches off the water that large brown (16-17 inches) Leaped out of the water and broke it off :-o I dont know what he thought it was but i stood there dumb founded. I also noticed that those rock wall structures maze throughout the fields you are fishing in. Any thoughts to what they were? Anyways the habitat here is good. The holes are fairly deep with lots of undercuts and the aquatic vegetation is decent. Becareful walking on those rock walls! I almost fell in twice. I landed a few fish and headed back downstream. Pics:
Harmony Hall brown
see the walls
Upstream of Harmony Hall Road
Letort
Upstream of Harmony Hall 2
Letort 2
On my way back downstream I saw another brown rising. I tied back on the midge (which i choose olive Btw) and caught him in one cast.
Letort Brown
Letort
Letort2
Sun on the Letort
I saw more fish rising but didnt see any bugs yet. I figured if it aint broke dont fix it.
Midge brown
Pretty brown on a olive midge
On my way out of this section back to Harmony Road I saw a monster brown which I spooked pretty badly. He had to go 24 inches. I really wanted to see that fish out of the water. When I got back to the car the other fisherman was gone. I thought of going to Big Spring but I never fished downstream of Harmony Hall Road and decided to do that instead. Iam glad I did and that guy shouldnt have left. The water in that section is alot like it is above. At least until you get downstream to Shady Lane. It was about 1:00 and I was at a large deep rifle and then I saw it happen. Loads of Baetids were coming off the stream and the stream exploded. It was like these fish knew they were coming. In that riffle in front of me were about 10 rising fish. I could see fish way downstream feeding, I could see fish way upstream of me feeding and I could see me tying on a Baetis but I left them all at home. What I did have however where those tiny olive midges and they did the trick!
trout
trout2
trout3
trout4
trout5
trout6
Almost all of the fish I caught during the next hour were small like the ones above. I didnt care it made for some exciting fishing! It was fast paced and aggressive. I have never seen this much activity on the Letort before. It was insane. Most of the big fish didnt partake though. Except for 2. One very large brown about 20 Inches long and another nice sized fish. I was casting to that brown and he did nothing but refuse me. Cast after cast nothing but refusals. He was too old and far to wise to fall for my olive midge offering during a baetis hatch. One of the drifts went passed him and this fish latched onto it. Leaping and leaping and leaping. Spooking the big brown away. *sigh* Still a nice fish by all means. Do you think its wild?
Rainbow
Ive heard of wild bows in the Letort. This is a class a section. Im not convinced but he had beautiful colors and good fins. His gill plate was really bright. Still I cant forget that feeding brown. Needless to say I wont leave my BWO's at home next time.
After the action died down And the fish stopped rising, I tied on a size 10 BH white crystalflash woolly bugger. And took these last few fish:
nice brown
nice brown2
nice brown 3
the stream
I fished a bit more downstream. By now I had the just around the bend syndrome. I missed a few fish via long release, had one snap me off and got tons of strikes. Those dinks just cant grip a size 10 bugger by the hook. Now it is 5:00p.m and the sun is slowing going down on the Letort and that was beautiful in its own right. On all accounts. I had a wonderful day fishing on the Letort. I got to see insect and feeding activity we all dream about on one of the nations most famous wild trout streams and now I was soaking in the wonderful scenery that nature was giving. Relishing on the day, I had to sit and just watch the beauty around me a few times while walking back to the car. What a perfect day with imperfect conditions. The wind, the wrong flies and the fading day. Perfectly flawed. Now the water was glowing with the sky and every once in awhile you could see the ripple of a sporadic rise in all the colors.
sun getting low
sun getting low2
lower yet
beautiful
🙂
Sorry for the long stream report. I just wanted to share the beauty of which was my day fishing. I hope you enjoyed it.
I fished a lot of different sections of the Letort today. I will go over each one.
Class A Section 2 - 300 YDS ABOVE THE BRG ON T-481 (BONNYBROOK RD) downstream to READING RR BDG-
I arrived around 7 in the morning and the light was low. The air today was cold but very tolerable. I know that fishing in the winter gets better in the afternoons but i planned on being here all day. The Heritage section was as it always is, tough. Spooked a lot of fish but i did catch 2 wild browns around 7 inches on a Cress bug/ Scud tandem. The same one i use on Big Spring. The Heritage Section is so beautiful and so are the fish. The place oozes with history and i always feel so lucky just to be able to fish there. Im so glad the town of Carlise and its community have taken care of this stream and its trout. Then I remembered the downstream Class A sections that I have hardly or never fished and decided to move on.
Class A section 4 - E POMFRET STREET BRIDGE downstream
to POST ROAD BRIDGE-
I actually parked at Post Road and fished upstream around 8:30 am. I didnt see any posted signs but the sounds of the Army trumpts were loud and close. It didnt take me long to spook some fish and also hook into a few. This piece of water doesnt have the habitat that I expected. It still has aquatic vegetation but lacks good holding water. The vegetation isnt as thick as the Heritage Section as expected, but it still holds a good number of wild brown trout. These trout in this section I decided to do an experiment on. I was throwing a size 12 brown flashy woolly bugger at them and had good success. These fish obviously dont get the amount of pressure that the more "famous" stretch of water gets. They are still extremely wary and long delicate casts are paramount. I was throwing downstream about 30-40 yards at the edges of the stream. Then streaming upstream slowly through the center of the hole. Barely pulling any line and twitching the rod tip to make the tail of the bugger swim. As i worked my way upstream i realized i might be somewhere I shouldnt be and left promptly. I think all the fencing tipped me off. Im not familiar with this area so if i was in violation, forgive me.🙂 heres a few pics.
a small brown
another small brown
sorry these are a bit blurry the others came out better.
the stream
letort
spring house?
post road letort
post road letort 2
Needless to say i lost alot of fish due to the long casts but it was the only way. I couldnt approach the fish. When i got back to Post Road i look a short distance downstream and decided to hit another section.
Class A section 5 - POST ROAD BRIDGE downstream to MOUTH -
I actually parked off of Harmony Hall Drive and fished upstream a good distance. This is the section I have hit before but i didnt have the time I had today. When i arrived I think around 9:30 there was another guy Flyfishing right at the bridge slowly working his way upstream. He was concentrating on the edges of the stream where the weeds and grass make ledges for the trout to hang underneath. Interestingly this is what i did the first time i was here. I approached him from a distance behind him, as not to spook his fish and asked if he had any luck yet? He said he just started and asked the same question. Short conversation 🙂, i think we both had an agenda. I gave him some distance and almost immediately found a rising fish. I tied on a midge and in short order had that small brown hooked and lost him via long release. By now, the other fisherman was far ahead of me and I passed him again leaving him about 10 holes unfished. I also walked a good distance away from the stream, i was trying to be nice. This kind of stream, any disruption will ruin your fishing. That was the last a saw of him. There is a small tributary that enters the Letort here. Becareful crossing it! The silt is deep and I lost a wading shoe that I had to basically reach about a foot into the mud to retrieve :lol: Heres that trib:
Letort trib
I fished a good distance upstream from there and found some interesting things. The Letort is channelized through this section. Normally i would say this is bad but the old structures and semi falling down and leave a good undercut for the trout. Also it is helping the streambank from eroding into the stream. The only thing is, I had crossed the stream at one point which put me into jagger bushes so I had to get back across. When I approached this concrete wall again, my agility is getting worse with age, so I had to sit on it before getting in the water. What I didnt see, until it was too late, was the 18 inch wild brown trout in front of me. When my butt hit the wall I saw him. I got the feeling him watching me try to get my fat a$% down the wall was enough for him by the way he headed for Adams County with blazing speed. :lol: Once I was across the fishing was on. The vegetation is better here than it is at the Post Road upstream section. Some nice sized fish also. I had one large brown flow my brown bugger. The next cast I caught a tree and the bugger hung down into the water. I carefully and slowly lifted the rod tip so I could swing it off the brach without tangling myself up. When it got about 4 inches off the water that large brown (16-17 inches) Leaped out of the water and broke it off :-o I dont know what he thought it was but i stood there dumb founded. I also noticed that those rock wall structures maze throughout the fields you are fishing in. Any thoughts to what they were? Anyways the habitat here is good. The holes are fairly deep with lots of undercuts and the aquatic vegetation is decent. Becareful walking on those rock walls! I almost fell in twice. I landed a few fish and headed back downstream. Pics:
Harmony Hall brown
see the walls
Upstream of Harmony Hall Road
Letort
Upstream of Harmony Hall 2
Letort 2
On my way back downstream I saw another brown rising. I tied back on the midge (which i choose olive Btw) and caught him in one cast.
Letort Brown
Letort
Letort2
Sun on the Letort
I saw more fish rising but didnt see any bugs yet. I figured if it aint broke dont fix it.
Midge brown
Pretty brown on a olive midge
On my way out of this section back to Harmony Road I saw a monster brown which I spooked pretty badly. He had to go 24 inches. I really wanted to see that fish out of the water. When I got back to the car the other fisherman was gone. I thought of going to Big Spring but I never fished downstream of Harmony Hall Road and decided to do that instead. Iam glad I did and that guy shouldnt have left. The water in that section is alot like it is above. At least until you get downstream to Shady Lane. It was about 1:00 and I was at a large deep rifle and then I saw it happen. Loads of Baetids were coming off the stream and the stream exploded. It was like these fish knew they were coming. In that riffle in front of me were about 10 rising fish. I could see fish way downstream feeding, I could see fish way upstream of me feeding and I could see me tying on a Baetis but I left them all at home. What I did have however where those tiny olive midges and they did the trick!
trout
trout2
trout3
trout4
trout5
trout6
Almost all of the fish I caught during the next hour were small like the ones above. I didnt care it made for some exciting fishing! It was fast paced and aggressive. I have never seen this much activity on the Letort before. It was insane. Most of the big fish didnt partake though. Except for 2. One very large brown about 20 Inches long and another nice sized fish. I was casting to that brown and he did nothing but refuse me. Cast after cast nothing but refusals. He was too old and far to wise to fall for my olive midge offering during a baetis hatch. One of the drifts went passed him and this fish latched onto it. Leaping and leaping and leaping. Spooking the big brown away. *sigh* Still a nice fish by all means. Do you think its wild?
Rainbow
Ive heard of wild bows in the Letort. This is a class a section. Im not convinced but he had beautiful colors and good fins. His gill plate was really bright. Still I cant forget that feeding brown. Needless to say I wont leave my BWO's at home next time.
After the action died down And the fish stopped rising, I tied on a size 10 BH white crystalflash woolly bugger. And took these last few fish:
nice brown
nice brown2
nice brown 3
the stream
I fished a bit more downstream. By now I had the just around the bend syndrome. I missed a few fish via long release, had one snap me off and got tons of strikes. Those dinks just cant grip a size 10 bugger by the hook. Now it is 5:00p.m and the sun is slowing going down on the Letort and that was beautiful in its own right. On all accounts. I had a wonderful day fishing on the Letort. I got to see insect and feeding activity we all dream about on one of the nations most famous wild trout streams and now I was soaking in the wonderful scenery that nature was giving. Relishing on the day, I had to sit and just watch the beauty around me a few times while walking back to the car. What a perfect day with imperfect conditions. The wind, the wrong flies and the fading day. Perfectly flawed. Now the water was glowing with the sky and every once in awhile you could see the ripple of a sporadic rise in all the colors.
sun getting low
sun getting low2
lower yet
beautiful
🙂
Sorry for the long stream report. I just wanted to share the beauty of which was my day fishing. I hope you enjoyed it.
