Michaux State Forest Cumberland County 5/31/08

[Dances_With_Brookies]

I decided to do a little mountain trouting instead of the usual spring creek fishing on the valley floor. I took a ride about 20-30 minutes southwest of Carlisle, and headed straight for the Michaux State Forest. If you have a Delorme, get it out and trace all of the streams flowing through this area. I visited four different streams and none of them were named Mountain Creek. For the most part, the streams only average about 10 feet across so this kind of fishing may not be for everyone. The streams go through brush tunnels at times making the casting of as fly nearly impossible. The good is that if you do get a fly in there, the fish aren't too selective. I used a combination of #14 Blonde Humpies, Tennessee Wulffs, Goofus Bugs and Irresistables to land well over 30 fish. All but one were brookies; the other was a holdover brown that I think may have come up from the Breeches. The brookies ranged from 4-12"-I caught eight fish that were over 9" so the effort was definitely worth it. My buddy did equally as well on #14 Parachute Adams and Mr. Rapidan's. One stream in particular is a real gem as its fish are very colorful like those found in Shenandoah National Park and it was much wider and deeper then the other three. Its exciting to come up on a pool and see a 9" brookie fanning his tail and watching the surface. I saw this more than a few times to make me want to go back later this week. I also plan to hit a few other streams and do some further exploration.