Wild Browns in December

A fishy plunge pool.

With the first day of Winter only 10 days away I would normally be piling on the miles in my truck and driving north to chase steelhead on the Lake Erie tributaries.  This steelhead season hasn’t been especially kind to me as far as the stream and weather conditions go.  To be honest…I’m a little burned out on making the drive and hearing, “oh, you shoulda’ been here yesterday,” or seeing Elk and Walnut Creeks looking slightly more turbid than chocolate milk and blowing their banks as they rush lakeward.  Not this time…this time I took a ride to a stream that will remain unamed in search of wild browns.

I started with the obligatory dry fly but the size 16 parachute Adams quickly froze up.  I don’t think I would’ve moved a fish anyway in the 36 deg. water.

Beautiful blues and reds on these fish. Definitely worth the drive.

I switched up to a dubbed olive nymph with a tiny pinch of tin shot about a foot up the tippet.  Going deep in the deepest holes proved to work out great.  It’s rare that I plan something and it actually comes to fruition.

Nice blue-ish spot behind the eye.

In the end it turned out to be worth the effort and, even if for just an hour or two, I felt like I knew what I was doing.

Fly fishing, clean cold water, wild trout, epic hatches…Pittsburgh?

Home sweet home.

First off, let me say, I love being a resident of Pittsburgh.  As far as big cities go, it’s rather small, with just over 300,000 residents so it’s not overwhelming. We have great neighborhoods, schools, food, sports teams, no less than three rivers, the list goes on and on.  So whats the problem?  Pittsburgh has to be the worst place in Pennsylvania to be a fly fisherman.  Sure there are stocked streams within minutes of the city but oftentimes I need more.  I need a wild trout fix.  So what’s a guy to do?  Usually, road trips.  Pennsylvania has some of the best spring fed streams and greatest hatches not to mention wild brookies, browns, and even rainbows.  Being a latecomer to fly fishing and tying, I’ve barely scratched the surface of what PA has to offer.  So it can’t be wild fish and limestone streams all of the time.  So what.  This blog is about making the best of it.