Pike Fishing

Within the last few days, I've fished the Allegheny solely for pike and musky. The reason for this is pretty simple.. I've never in my life seen a musky (until yesterday), and i've only caught a total of 4 pike as of today. So the other day, we set out of the boat to do a little fishing and drinking between Oil City and Franklin, Pa.
I fished the entire day using a 4 spool spinner bait, while my friends switched between spinner baits, hot'n tots, and rapala's.

The day started off pretty well, with two pound to pound and a half bass.

Smallmouth bass

Then the day got pretty interesting after that smally. Fishing a stretch we do just about every time we are on the boat, one of the anglers had a big musky tail his hot'n tot. I only caught the back end of the musky, but it was special for me because it was the first time i'd seen one.

As the day went on, we had about 6 or 7 Northern pike follow our lures, and we caught three. One of which, easily above 30 inches was lost (along with the spinner bait) just as we were netting it.

27 inch Northern Pike

20 inch Northern Pike

Kayaking French Creek

Yesterday, a buddy and I fished and kayaked French creek. Since I started fishing with regularity, this creek was one I was always hesitant to fish in my area. Although filled with fish, and the rarely seen hellbender, I’ve shied away from it for fear of being squashed by another boulder. Long story short, the first time (and only till now) I fished the creek, a boulder almost pinned me in about 3 feet of water. I came out unscathed, minus a pair of new ray bans, but lets get back to the kayaking.

                In total, we kayaked nearly 4 hours down French Creek, and some of the Allegheny River. As for the scenery, it was beautiful. There are many parts of the creek where the rapids get moving pretty fast which makes the trip a little more exciting. In a few parts of the creek, where it splits off for a bit, it is very dark and tranquil. The water was a little high, and murky, so there was no opportunity to find a hellbender (which I’ve never seen).

French Creek

                Now to the fishing, which was the main reason we were on these kayaks. Within the first 35-40 minutes of the trip we had fish on! Two small mouth, that ranged from 15 to 17 inches and were both just a bit over two pounds. This would be the first time I’d caught a fish on a kayak, and it is a lot of fun! You’ve got to worry about the fish, not losing anything in your kayak, and having an idea of where your headed.

French Creek Small Mouth

Small mouth Bass

                After about 40 minutes, we’d come across a small eddy with a felled tree mostly submerged. I told my buddy we should stop and that it was “Pike City”. Within 5 casts, we had another 3 fish. One bass over 2 pounds, and two little guys. We’d fished about 15 minutes more, missing two a piece, before my friend landed the hog of the hole. A 25 inch Northern Pike, that from what he said didn’t fight what-so-ever. (All the bass had a lot of fight in them today)

                The rest of the trip went slowly, and we only caught one more fish the rest of the way. After about 3 hours, I’d snagged my rapala in some rapids and snapped it. Hot, thirsty, and angry, I gave up fishing, and focused on getting back home. This was when we passed a beautiful bald eagle flying along the creek (I wasn’t able to get a picture). All in all, I caught 4 bass and my friend caught 4 and a pike so it wasn’t a bad day on the water (minus the rapala)!

New Lures Pt. 1

Made a quick trip the other day to Cabela’s in Ohio, which has just opened up recently. In terms of Cabela’s, this isn’t the biggest by any stretch, but regardless it has a ton of outdoors equipment. On this particular trip, I was just focused on getting a few new lures, and came away pretty happy with my purchases.

I ended up leaving the store with a lure I’d used once before but never owned myself. I grabbed a Cabela’s real imagine HDS forked tail lure, in the perch color scheme. Like I’ve said, I’ve used this lure one other time and it proved to be effective. I believe I caught two largemouth, and had one 4+ largemouth snap my line with it on. So hopefully, it continues to prove useful.

The second lure I grabbed was on sale, and if it’s on sale I’m grabbing it no matter what. It’s a storm lure, which I rarely ever use. I’ve never been a huge fan of storm, I think they are junk, but like I said…. On sale, I’m buying. This lure is the ‘live kickin minnow’ in the black silver minnow color. Never used it, probably will never use it, but who knows.

Lastly, I picked up three cheap spinner baits. Can’t remember who made them, but they were only 1.5$ a piece. These are two spool spinner baits, which I don’t use that often. I prefer the four spool’s, but I’ve lost a few already this summer (my own, and my buddies) so I picked up a few more. I’ve always had good luck with spinners, especially for bass.

I’ll update the blog whenever I use these lures, and any other lures I have in my tackle box. Hopefully these all pan out, but we’ll see.

Finding Native Brook Trout

Where: Muskrat run, Eagle Rock Pa

When: Afternoon noon-2 pm

                A tiny tributary of the Allegheny River, Muskrat run is home to what I like to think as the ‘elusive’ native brook trout. I call them elusive, because i’ve only ever seen one native brook trout in my life (also from muskrat run), and I’ve heard a million stories about these fish from relatives. Now, if like me you’ve seen this creek, you’d be skeptical as well. In the few times I’ve walked it, I can jump from one side to the other with ease it’s that small. Look for it on Google earth, and you’ll never see it. Granted, there are a few ‘holes’ that would come up to above my knees, but these areas are still very small.

                Now, the stories I’ve heard about this stream are something of legend in my family. I say this because my grandparents have lived near it since…well forever. My grandparent’s will tell me stories of them fishing it when they were my age (roughly 40 years ago) and catching native’s. My grandpa will tell me of one of his ‘friends’ that would catch 8 brook trout from this stream, with the smallest being 13 inches. He’s also told me (as well as others in my family) about beaver dam’s, which I have yet to see. I usually laugh these stories off and call bullshit. Why? Because as I’ve said, this stream is TINY.

This is one of the widest spots i found

My dad has taken me to this stream when I was in high school, we walked maybe 100 yards downstream from the path, and sure as shit he catches one in a pool smaller and shallower than an average bathtub. He told me the trick was to sneak up on the stream, don’t you dare cast any shadows on the hole, and let your worm float under the roots. First cast, he had a native brook the size of my hand…. Safe to say I was baffled. We only caught one that day, but it was enough for me to tell my friend and fellow fisherman about this tiny stream, tiny native, and my grandpa’s tale’s of 15 inchers. Two days later, we spent the entire day fishing this little stream without a single hit (although we did see a few fingerlings).

                So five years later, and here I am, searching once again for these ‘elusive’ brook trout. Determined to not only catch one, but not follow the same path my dad took me (that my friend and I followed to no avail). So this time, I went upstream instead of down (also hoping to find a beaver dam). It didn’t take me long to realize that my favorite fishing flops were not a smart choice. I was walking through high grass aka snake territory as I like to call it, jumping the creek multiple times, and climbing across old oil pipes. Searching for small holes didn’t take me too long, but the first three I tried were either fishless, I spooked them, or I was just too impatient (I’d guess the 1^st or 2^nd option).

The first trout's lair

But finally, I came upon a hole that looked deep enough, and dug far enough into the bank that it could hide a trout. Sure enough, first cast I throw it at the mouth of the hole, and bang a tiny brookie takes my worm (there was also two more that came out of the hole same time). Naturally it darts right underneath a log and snags itself. I unsnag it, and I might have started jumping around like a 10 year old. I just caught my first native brook trout. After I snapped a few pictures, unhooked it, and let it rejuvenate in the water, it swam off on its own accord.

The first Native Brook Trout

Wormless, I continue upstream hoping to find more bait as I go. After a half hour walk, across the stream a few times, through some more snake territory, and barely avoiding the biggest spider I’ve ever seen this side of the mason Dixon, I came to the next hole. This hole, was easily the biggest I’d seen so far. It was probably 10 feet long, not wide enough to jump, and right at the base of a tree it was 3 feet deep and dug fairly deep into the tree roots. I’m thinking jackpot, then I realize I still hadn’t found a worm. I drop all my equipment, and start flipping rocks with no luck. Finally after about 15 minutes, I say piss on it, and try a tiny salamander I’d found (which my dad told me later that day, they love apparently).

Three casts later, bang, another fish on. This one I could tell when it hit was bigger, and when I reeled it in (aka three or four turns) I was literally stunned. This brookie was at least 9 inches, 11 max. (My hand, from wrist to middle fingertip is 8 inches on the button). The color was not as pretty as the smaller one I’d caught earlier, but the size was what got me. It was bigger than anything I’d expected to ever see in this tiny stream, and it has me thinking that there could possibly be larger fish deeper upstream. It swallowed the hook, so I had to bite the line off, and after a little rejuvenating in my hand he swam fine back into his hole.

The second Brook trout

Unfortunately, that was my last hook small enough to fish these guys, so my day was done. Not wanted to continue upstream and find more holes to NOT fish, I turned back and went home. Overall, I call this fishing trip a success. I caught the legendary muskrat run native, and maybe… just maybe my grandpa wasn’t bullshitting me about the 15 inchers near the beaver dams. Hopefully I find out next week, when i go back with the same friend that came during my first trip to Muskrat Run.