Long Pine Run, Franklin County, 07/03/09

[HBGMarine]

I had the day off work on Friday and finally made it down to Long Pine to do some hiking & fishing. This was my first time fishing targeting only native brookies and was a little rough but the scenery definitely made it worth wild. I started at the large pool below the waterfall and caught a bunch of blue gills & one small bass but no trout. From there I fished the entire way down to the road without landing a single trout. I missed two but couldn't get the job done. As spectorfly said, there were a lot of fish in the stream I just have an uncanny ability to spook fish 🙂.

After striking out I hiked back up to the car and drove back down to the main road to fish the old reservoir. Once again there were a ton of fish but I couldn't get any strikes. This area seemed like nice water and there had been some man made improvements to the stream.

All in all it was a great day to be out in nature and not catching any natives only hardened my resolve to catch one, more on that to come in the next post.......

 

[JeffS]

Did you kick that rock dam over after fishing that pool?

 

[HBGMarine]

Negative....should I have?

There was a beautifully colored brookie approximately 7" gorging himself on nymphs. I tried for about 45 minutes to catch it but every time I put a nymph in front of him he decided to feed off the surface. When I tied on a dry he went back to feeding on nymphs. It was neat to observe the fish feeding at such a close distance (6ft away).

 

[JeffS]

You may have broken your foot trying to kick that one over. From the picture, it looks like some decent time was logged by those that built it.

It looks like the dam prevents fish from moving up and down the stream so I would have kicked it over, but that doesn't mean fish aren't moving freely. I just have an issue with rock dams - especially ones that are built to create swimming holes or deep water for rope swings.

 

[jayL]

JeffS wrote:
You may have broken your foot trying to kick that one over. From the picture, it looks like some decent time was logged by those that built it.

It looks like the dam prevents fish from moving up and down the stream so I would have kicked it over, but that doesn't mean fish aren't moving freely. I just have an issue with rock dams - especially ones that are built to create swimming holes or deep water for rope swings.

Or placed every 20 feet for "trout rodeos" and never removed.

Birdsboro sportsman's club, I'm looking in your direction!

That pic of the waterfall is great. We've had some beautiful weather lately.

 

[JeffS]

jayL - have you kicked those dams down?

RockBeavers inhabit our streams every year. They build dams for a swimming hole, a rope swing, fishing contests, a kayak run, and numerous other pursuits.

More often than not these makeshift dams jack up a stream. Kick them over on your travels.

 

[tomgamber]

While I agree they probably don;t help the stream but you better make sure you know who built it and whether you are fishing on private land, open to the public for fishing. You could find yourself with a dam less stream and posted land. Just a thought. If you watched a couple kids build it during the day and they left and you took it out later...that's cool. But be sure you know you have some right to remove that structure.

 

[JeffS]

Good point Tom. I assumed the dam was on public property. Such dams are illegal on private property as well, but they should be dealt with in a different manner.