This weekend I decided to drive up to Big Spring Creek to go fly fishing on one of Pennslyvania’s famous springs creeks. I read that this stream is expecially known for producing large brook trout, and that was all I needed to hear to put it on my list. It’s also known as an extremely difficult stream to fly fish, and I’m always up for a challenge. Big Spring Creek has the combination of crystal clear water and wary trout,…
This weekend I decided to go camping and fly fishing in Shenandoah National Park. I’ve been looking forward to visiting the park since moving to DC, and I love fishing small streams for wild trout. Growing up in North Carolina, small trout streams remind me of the reason I started fly fishing. I enjoy spending my free time outdoors and surrounded by natural beauty. I spend most of my time in a city, and it’s important for me to have…
I decided to spend another October day at the swift river. The idea of landing that huge brown proved to be too much of a draw. I did see the brown a couple of times, but it was moving around and seemingly not interested in flies. I did however manage to catch a wide variety of trout. There was an endless population of rainbow trout there to take a fly. I think I ended up catching more bows than brook…
It’s hard to believe it, but I’ve been writing this blog for over a year now. A special thank you to those of you who have emailed me with kind words about the blog. I’m so glad to hear that it’s been helpful for others. I started this blog partly to share a bit of the knowledge I’ve learned over the years, and to keep a journal of my fishing trips. I’m a completely self- taught fly fisherman, and it…
Part of my family has lived in the same 5 square miles for close to a century. We knew a local pond by the name of the old farmer who once owned all the land surrounding it. When his family sold that land half a century ago, a developer named it after the neighborhood they built on the land. It was always interesting to me how one could gauge a person’s time in the area by the name they used…
A good friend of mine was in town visiting this weekend, and mentioned he’d like to try fly fishing. I’ve taught quite a few people how to fly fish over the years, and I’m always excited for the opportunity to teach someone new. It feels great to share my passion with someone, and to see them feel the same excitement I do when they hook a big trout. With all the recent rain, we headed over to the swift on…
Over the weekend, I hit the swift river below route 9 and caught several trout on my favorite dry dropper rig. It’s fairly simple rig and consists of two flies that are easy to tie. I had success with rainbows and brook trout on the same two flies. The brook trout alternated between taking the dry fly or emerger, and the rainbows seemed to prefer the smaller emerger fly in a size 30. Here I am fishing to some risers…
Last Saturday I hit the Swift River in Belchertown while the flows were still low at around 50 cfs. I fished south of the Route 9 bridge, and as many people know, below the bridge is home to a huge population of wild Brook trout. Anyhow, I had luck all day with both dry and wet flies, and my largest Brook Trout of the day was caught by a streamer I tied to imitate Brook trout fry. I thought the…
On Thursday, I went to the swift river in Massachusetts. I’ve fished this river many times, and it almost never disappoints when it comes to catching fish. I caught around 10 rainbow trout, and 1 brook trout when I moved further downstream. In my experience, the brook trout like to hang out on the lower section of the river south of Cady lane during the summer. During the winter months, I imagine they travel downstream past the Cold Spring Road…