West Branch of the Delaware River - Day 1

This was the first fishing trip without Spence by my side.  She held down the fort this weekend with the six month old twins while I took a fishing trip with a couple buddies....I know, I'm a lucky dude.

Needless to say we were pretty amped up.  Dave and I left early in the morning...say round 4 am to get to the Delaware in time for the afternoon hatch.  We picked up Tom in Bellefonte around lunch and rolled on. While we were driving, we happened to notice an entire hillside of ramps (aka wild leeks.)  We used some mountain stone to work enough out of the ground for our burgers over the next few days....But I would be back for more...
















We got to the Delaware River Club and were greeted with  20+ MPH brutal winds forcing us to at times to have to paddle crew style backwards just to go downstream from Balls Eddy down to Shehawken.  The wind forced most of the fishing to be streamers, which would have been fine if the streamer bite would have been on, but it certainly wasn't.

We did manage to get into about 10 fish into the boat on various nymphs, but none very big.  Not a banner day but a decent start. 




First fish to the boat.  A nice strong Delaware River rainbow.



Back at the DRC camp. Figuring out the next day's float over an IPA.



New Custom built 10' 5wt

I added a new weapon to the arsenal - a new 10' 5 wt from Dan Craft's Five Rivers company.   It's a Northwest Guide Series GXT.  I know....what a mouthful. 

Reviewed and regarded similar to a Loomis GLX or Sage Z-Axis this rod is going to be my go-to river nymphing rod. 

I've built about a dozen rods now and they're honestly pretty damn good quality now.  One day I hope to build more for friends / family and even a little business.  Right now with the twins, this one took weeks to get done....haha.



The pre-workshop....part of the setup

Now ready to wrap some guides....yes that is a baby bouncer on the work table.  I usually have an audience.

A Full-wells grip is the perfect choice for this 10' footer

 

Tight wraps pre-cure

Finished rod with inscription. 

Mushroom Growing Experiment

When I was twelve, I worked for an older couple maintaining their property that happended to grow shiitake muchrooms.   Shawn and I would rotate his logs a couple times a year and he would get some amazing fresh mushrooms that were just rediculously delicious. If you think you've eaten fresh wild mushrooms from Giant Eagle,....well, sorry, but you haven't.

So I finally got my act together.and decided to invest in my own stash.  I got a couple buddies to chip in and we bought thousands of plugs from www.fungiperfecti.com.   Oysters, Shiitake, Maiitake, and Reishi's (for tea.) 

Mushroom plug spores

Jeremey and I decided to plug a trial log one evening in his garage.  I cant say we had everything laid out exactly how we needed it, but with a few beers and a garage full of everything you can imagine, we just 'improvised.'

Logs plugged with shroom spores

We needed to melt the wax chips to seal the log.  It was raining like hell, so we opted to find a way to melt the wax in his garage then 'give in' and retreat to the house.

You could say this worked 'quickly'

Then we didnt have a paint brush....so Einstein found us a (clean) cement brush..  We did the whole log in MINUTES!  You cant argue with that efficiency!

 

 

 

 

Before wax

After....maybe a little overkill??



 

Who knows how this log will fruit....hope to get the others done soon and then just let mother nature run its course.

Easter Weekend Virginia Blue Ridge Mountain Brookies

 

 

Johnny, Bobby, myself and Cooper made a trip up to a Piney River tributary in the Blue Ridge mountains while everyone was in town for the twins baptism in Lynchburg, VA over Easter weekend.  This was John's first crack at fly fishing and we went chasing some brookies on a sunny March day.  The morning started out a little slow but as the sun came up over the mountains, the brookies started eating dries and made for an awesome afternoon.  John had never cast a fly rod, so this was trial by fire...similar to the bird hunt we had in October. 

A typical 5-6" brookie that ate a dry



Cooper trying to get in on the action

Bobby fishing a gin clear run







Awesome pocket water

 

Johnny's first brookie - nailed everything but the photo shoot!

Bobby working a pool with an attractor dry

 









Cooper spotting fish for me

There isn't much more I enjoy now than watching someone catch their first trout and the fever that follows. The whole process is great from the first few 'misses' to actual hook set and mild panic to get that first one landed. The highlight of the trip was Johnny's hooking into the big fish of the day that pushed 9-10"! A spotted orange-bellied mountain monster!  I watched him hook it from the top of a steep hill and after I watched it go airborne, I had to slide down the hill to snap a picture.

Everyone caught trout, along with a stream side lunch and a few good beers. Hopefully the next time Johnny ventures up to Vermont or the Poconos, he'll have a 3 wt and some attractor dries!

Doesn't get any better than this!

2013 Yough Maiden Voyage

Its been a long time since I wet a line and I have to say this one felt great just to get out.  David and I went out for a quick tail race float on the Yough on a great 60 degree winter day.  There was only a trickle coming out of the dam (around 300 CFS) but the Cassleman was providing a good flow of muddy runoff water.  We picked a few fish up in the tail race section and then a few more below the Cassleman.  There were little black stoneflies (#16-18) that were being washed out of the Cassleman that we could see wiggling all over the place in the water column.  Apparently the trout noticed them too, because that was the hot fly.  There were no trout actually working the surface and our little Blue Winged friends never showed up today.  Here's to a great season on the Yough.

 

Looking up to the snow covered mountains over Confluence

A couple healthy Yough bows

It feels good to get out!

As one would expect, Spencer has been consumed 200% of her time with the twins since they were born and doing a fantastic job!  Needless to say, she hasn't done much (any) hunting.  This past Saturday, with a little babysitting help from Grandma, Spencer and I were able to get out to Gobblers Knob for a little wing shooting over Cooper. 

 

I was so happy she was able to get out I just took the camera and left the gun at home.  Spencer did all the shooting and it didn't take long before she was shooting like the good ol' days.  She ended up with a half dozen chukar / pheasants and a great day to just get outside and enjoy the fresh air.

 

What a great team

No hunt is complete until Cooper finds the one and only mud puddle!

Winter Fly Tying

 

Jack and I tying up some Hendricksons on a cold February morning.  Getting ready for an April trip to the Upper Delaware River and giving Jack his first fly tying lessons.