Last weekend I had the opportunity to check out some new water that I hadn’t experienced before up north. Ryan M. and met up and hiked in about a mile to some nice wilderness water feeding into a main river close to Pittsburgh. It was a great day to be back out in the woods chasing those brookies again.
I was on the road by 6:30 am, fueled with a great night’s sleep (and a Yeti full of high test cowboy coffee). We fished most of the morning through some nifty pocket water and riffles. I threw a few dry flies, but quickly switched over to streamers when I didn’t see much bug activity. Ryan stuck with a dry dropper rig.
I did see a few green caddis larva under some rock. I caught one blue wing olive. But other than that, I still think the water and air temperatures were on the cold side. We gauged the water at around 44 degrees. The air temp did rise through the morning, but I know it was right around 44 degrees when I left the house in the morning.
We fished until around 12:30 pm and then made a stop at North Country Brewing for some lunch and beer. I had a great, sour beer and went with the chicken and waffles sandwich. Wow, both rocked. Then headed home.
I’ll definitely be adding this spot to my list of potential destinations for the future. And I’m really looking forward to the season kicking off next weekend. I hope everyone is as stoked as I am. And I wish everyone luck on the season opener.
Unfortunately (but also fortunately), I won’t be going out that day. I have a class to instruct for L.L. Bean’s Outdoor Discovery Schools. So either way, I’ll be thinking about trout. ~Drifter07
Brushes with Brookies & Beer 