Meadow Run, DHALO, 4/12 and 4/13...WHAT A WEEKEND!!!

B

Buzzmaker29

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Oct 2, 2006
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First let me say that I was unable to fly fish because my girlfriend accidentally snapped the tip of my rod in the car door when we returned home to Fayette County Fri night from DC...so it was a weekend of spin fishing with some improvised fly-tying (tied jigs). Anyway, what a weekend! Took my little sis on Sat starting at the mouth. Caught a 22" Tiger around 8 am (pic #1). Water flow and color was perfect as was the 60+ degree air temp. Ended up catching around ten, and we stopped just below the Big Hole.

Sunday was maybe the best day I have ever had on the stream in 7 years in terms of quality of fish. My buddy and I started at the Big Hole and on the third cast I caught this 23" Brown (pic #2). But a little further upstream I hooked into the biggest trout I have caught in quite some time. I hooked into this 26" Rainbow which I (actually this was a tag team effort...we had no net, very, very light line, and almost no safe area to land the beast) fought for well over 20 minutes and it ran us 150 yards down stream. Think Brad Pitt in A River Runs Through It. This was no recent stocker. It was in perfect shape and brutally strong. I was not able to horse the fish in and she would not tire. It was unreal. It ran and ran downstream into areas that we had no shot of landing her. Those of you that fish this great stream know that it can be tretcherous in spots to wade, let alone get to a fish. Long story short I handed my buddy my rod to scale over a rock and continue to follow the pig downstream where I leaned on a boulder over white water and was successful in grabbing her tail and getting her out of the water for a quick pic (pic #3). I was shaking for a half hour after.

We ended up catching several other quality fish (pic #4 - 19" brook, pic #5 - 25" palomino).

The water again was perfect on Sunday with an air temp around 40 with occassional rain showers...we saw 4 other fisherman.

My favorite place when I come home.











 
BuzzMaker,

Glad you had a nice outing. Those fish are amazing. So you went for the circuit (brown, bow, brook, tiger, and pali).

I was there Saturday from about 9AM to 3PM. I thought the fishing was so-so at best. We managed 13 trout between 5 of us and I saw probably 20 other fishermen. I think the recent cold front put a damper on things Saturday. Looks like I should have gone back Sunday.
 
Nice fish!!! But you could at least smile if it makes you happy!!!

Actually I just remember what your gal did to your rod...forgiven... :-(
 
Buzzy, nice fish but since you caught them with hardware they don't count here. :-D Just kidding, thanks for sharing. Those are some great examples of fish porn.

ps, I edited the size of the pics so scrolling isn't necessary. Plus those fish were looking just too damn big!
 
Nice!

I have gone whole seasons without catching fish that large.

Glad too see it was the DHALO section so others can experience what you have. Too bad it was a spin rod- had to get that in. Good job man!
 
Wow, Meadow Run sure looks like a cool stream. All the fish in it are huge! I can't wait to get all my buddies together and check it out. I've got a lot of buddies. Thanks Paflyfish, you sure help take the work out of scouting. Keep the reports coming!
 
SlateDrake,

You've been a member for a year and a half and your first post is to dump on someone for sharing information. Shame on you!

Why do you even come to the site? Let me guess, information...

Its not like special regulation areas are some great secret.
 
He's worried about all the other "slatedrakes" who lurk for info but contribute nothing...
 
Trust me I don't need your info. I fish 250 days a year and see alot in my travels. The scenario I described above is exactly what happens as a result of internet posting. Your quest for kiss and tell gratification does have an effect on fishing pressure. Disagree if you will but I'm right. See ya out there.
 
And when everyone is chasing the big stockers, I'll have a wild stream to myself because of it. I call it the law of conservation of fishermen.

Peace out slate. Enjoy! We'll keep posting the free info for ya... feel free to chip in when you want. We don't bite.

Awesome report, buzz.
 
I believe that internet postings can have some detrimental effect by increasing pressure on sensitive wild trout streams in certain circumstances. But Slate's complaint in this case is taking an absurdly hard line, in my opinion. This is a stocked stream with little or no natural reproduction. I'll take Buzz's word about the rainbow, but most of these fish were apparently relatively recent stockers (brood fish). (That's not a knock on Buzz's achivement. Those are still fun fish to catch, and he had a great day by any standard.) And someone else reported that, as one would expect on this well-known special regs area, there was already lots of pressure. Finally, since stream reports like this are a fact of life, don't you WANT anglers to tell their success stories about the popular special regs areas? It concentrates pressure from anglers who, you have to presume, don't mind the company in fewer spots while leaving less pressure on other waters for those who want solitude.
 
Let's get some perspective. Look at the number of views that this post has gotten - 617 or something last time I looked. I'll bet at least half of those are people checking back to see what the new replies say (if not more). I know I'll check posts as new replies come in. So now we're down to less than 300 people. Of those, I'll bet more than half aren't even from the western PA area. So now we're down to 150 or so people that might actually consider going to the stream.

Of those 150 - how many actually will?

Ask yourself how often you read a post and rush out to that stream.

The point is any post on this site isn't going to cause a stampede. Especially when it's about an already well known area.

I enjoyed the post - it's nice to know somebody is out there fishing when I can't be.
 
So this is why there were 30 guys down in there on Sunday. Come on people! paflyfish, please take this stream report section down! I've been fishing Meadow for years, and typically I might see 3 guys down in there. This weekend was like opening day on every other well known put n take. The first thing that popped in my head when I saw all the cars was "oh no, someone blabbed online". This was the first place I looked, and wouldn't you know it. Here we are.

Please people, keep the info to yourself. We don't care how many fish you caught on X stream on X date. Just take pictures and post them without specifying where. Do you not think about what this could do to the stream? You've got thousands of people cruising these boards looking for the "hot" water.

Unbelievable.
 
That's completely ridiculous. If you have been fishing Meadow Run for "years" and never encountered more than 3-4 anglers in Late April, then you are one lucky angler. By the way, you were there on Sunday contributing to the crowds, weren't you? I can't be sure, but it seems odd that you would check the stream reports after going fishing to see why it was so crowded. Is this really the sequence of events or are you just saying this to support your belief that internet posts are ruining your secret streams?
 
highsticker-

I have mixed emotions on Stream Reports. I enjoy reading about folks outings especially when I could'nt get out myself. I get as much out of what happened to folks (like them catching bats or posion ivy, taking wrong turns etc...) as I do about people's catches or successes.

(agree with ezpickens post from above) Heard alot about Muddy,Valley,Mountian Creeks etc... but I have never thought I was even close to jumping in the car and driving 3-4 hours to fish somewhere.

The report is from some guy using a spin rod in a DHALO area. If there was that many people there- good for the rest of us on open water or class A waters. Let the lemmings go there. As Will Farrell says "More for me and you".

It is funny that your last post was publically asking for information on the Loyalhanna back in November after the DHALO area was stocked. If it was that big a deal- you would have thought you would PM someone.

Not saying your right or wrong just observations of mine.
 
I never look at stream reports before I go out. Typically, the only information I look at is USGS data and the weather channel. I really don't care what other people are catching or if they're catching them. That's assuming the person posting is honest, and they know what they're doing.

Yes, last year, my buddy and I fished meadow a week after the last stocking and we even talked on the way over about how crowded it would be. We literally saw 3 guys from the slides to the cascades.

I was going to Meadow Sunday regardless of any internet postings etc. I was actually there last Sunday too (blown out). It's one of the closest streams to me, so I'm there almost every weekend until the water temps get high etc. So yes, I contribute to the crowds. There have been days when there were a lot of people down there, and I always wonder why one weekend will be fishermanless and then the next have 20 guys.

I asked about the water levels on the hanna last fall, not whether the stockies were hitting.

I'm entitled to an opinion, and my opinion is that these reports are worthless. While some people don't jump in the car based on these reports, some do. A lot do. Look at Erie in the fall. As soon as the boards start rumbling, and the reports in the Post Gazette get published it's a stampede to the tribs. I don't like magazine articles either. Maybe you do, that's fine. I just don't think they do anything but drive people who wouldn't have thought to go someplace to go there.

I love my wild streams too, and I can say that I've never seen anyone else fishing them. While I love catching wild browns and brookies on a 1 weight, I like catching bigger fish too, so I fish in the more public places. I just wish they'd stay a little less "front page". Meadow used to be really vacant. It's gotten more press lately. You can't deny that before the boards and internet reports, streams like Meadow didn't get near the attention they do today.
 
highsticker wrote:


Yes, last year, my buddy and I fished meadow a week after the last stocking and we even talked on the way over about how crowded it would be. We literally saw 3 guys from the slides to the cascades.
Click to expand...

Perhaps because it was 30 degrees colder last year during that week...

Couple months ago you were thanking me for a report and promising to post your own..remember this?

Re: loyalhanna?


It was lower three weeks ago when I fished it and there were a lot of fish stacked up where there was water. They should have spread out a little by now and hopefully taking more than the egg patterns they wanted back then.

Posted on: 2007/11/22 11:49
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highsticker

Re: loyalhanna?

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thanks! I'm going to hit the DHALO tomorrow morning and see how it goes. I'll let you know.
Click to expand...
 
Again, I asked about the Loyalhanna's water level, not whether people were catching fish, or to show me pictures of fish.

Here was my question:

anyone fish the project on the Loyalhanna lately? I'm going to give it a whirl on Sat. I only live about 20-25min from it, just been fishing everywhere else instead. I know it was low earlier in the fall, but we've got a fair amount of rain lately.
Click to expand...

I didn't post a report because I didn't go. Shame on me. Maybe if I went I wouldn't have posted how well I did anyway.

Regardless, there is a difference between reporting that you had a good time, and selling the stream. Some of these reports resemble a sales pitch for a private fishing club more than a report to help people catch fish.

You're obviously trying to pin me as a hypocrite for asking about water levels and then condemning someone for posting a report. I see two different things when I look at my question last year and this post. Asking if a stream is fishable in terms of water level and flat out "selling" the stream seem very different to me.
 
What has the sport come to when one of our greatest pasttimes has become such a source of disdain for some of us?

BSing, bragging, telling fish stories... all of it is part of fishing. Sure, it can be a little abrasive sometimes, but it's what we all do. Refuse to admit it if you wish, but I don't deny it.

This report was selling fishing on opening weekend more than it was selling any particular stream. I found it enjoyable.
 
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