Planning

I'll be heading to Pennsylvania for a few days mid-May. Usually when I go to Pennsylvania, it is to beat our season. We go in mid-April, just a bit early for the good fishing but better than no fishing back home. This year, a good friend from Idaho will be in PA visiting family, and of course fishing along the way. I hope to meet him on a lovely freestoner called Slate Run. I'd like to fish that stream, and her sister stream, Cedar Run, and perhaps Kettle Creek as well. I've fished these streams from time-to-time over the years, and I really enjoy fishing this lovely landscape. These streams are about a 6 hour drive south from my home in Toronto.

On other trips to Pennsylvania, I have enjoyed fishing around the State College area. There is Spring Creek, right near town, a stream with a checkered history that holds plenty of good trout. This stream has suffered from nasty industrial pollution over the years, and as a result became a catch and release fishery in the interest of public safety. The mayfly hatches never fully recovered, and I have learned to always bring plenty of little white midges and a few ants and beetles along. This stream doesn't blow out easily, so if I'm in Central PA and there is a lot of rain, I head to Spring Creek. Penns Creek, on the other hand runs chocolate milk after a rain, at least in my experience. It's a nice big stream though, and fun to fish. I really like Big Fishing Creek too, although it gets a lot of pressure all the time. If you don't like company, avoid the Narrows stretch and explore some of the other water on this river.

Here in Ontario, our trout season opens last weekend of April, which is normally before the streams get good. I'll fish a local stream, just to get back on the water again. If I catch a trout or two, I'll be very happy. Meanwhile, I'll get to see what this snowy winter has done to the river. Will there be new logs down? New pools? Every year, things shift around a little. For several years, I fished a short but very productive stretch that was mostly ignored by the regulars. One of the local organizations chained a couple logs in there a while back, with good intentions to enhance the run. It hasn't been as good since. I guess the lesson learned is that sometimes leaving well enough alone is the best idea.

I see development creeping closer to the Credit River each year. The green drakes have suffered a catastrophic decline due to who knows what crap that has made its way into the system. I wonder if the snow melt will help refresh the stream? I fear that eventually development will suffocate this treasure. Last season, I had a good spring there. I mostly stopped fishing it in the heat of summer and came back for an isonychia emergence that was lame at best. I'm really hoping for a cool, wet season!

Meanwhile, I've cleared off my tying desk out in the Secret Lab and fly tying starts this week. Spring is in the air.