Central PA Summer Trout: The Unnamed

 I got back a couple days ago from a fishing trip to Central Pennsylvania that encompassed three days and four trout streams. I firmly believe there are too many trout streams in Pennsylvania to fish them all in a lifetime, but Mike Carl and I just might try. On this trip we were able to fish four of them including three that neither of us had fished before. On day three we were able to fish a small wild brook trout stream:

THE UNNAMED

This little stream had been on our minds for a little while. We saw it from a distance on our February trip and I saved it's location because it looked so good. Now we were actually there and about to fish it and those glimpses through the leafless winter tree canopy gave way to lush green oaks, laurels, rhododendron, ferns, and hemlocks. My expectations were fairly high for this one. Armed with a classic brook trout fly, a Royal Wulff, I plied the waters looking for aggressive fish. It didn't take long.

The second fish to take well enough to be hooks was a real surprise. It was a new species for me, #85! It was a rosyside dace, Clinostomus funduloides. To the best of my knowledge we weren't in their native range, so that fish's origins are a mystery.

Mike and I were pleased to find that brook trout here were plentiful, colorful, and hungry. There was also a good range of age classes, signifying that this was indeed as healthy a stream as it looked. 

Every good looking pool held a fish or two, sometimes more. Some of them would follow the fly for a long drift before taking... they were no dummies. But they took every time, they didn't refuse.

No trails followed the stream. No boot prints were to be found

Evidently the stream holds some browns as well. I caught one. It was a real beauty. 26 red spots, that fish had. An a gorgeous orange adipose an tail tip.

We only spent a little bit of time on this stream before we had to head for home. But it was enough time to see that this little stream, that will remain unnamed, was an exceptional one that we both want to explore more when we get the chance. The amount we fished was equivalent to about 1/20th of its length.

That's something that Pennsylvania has that we lack quite a bit of here in CT. The vast majority of our streams have intermittent access. Small parts of their length are available to the public. But in Pennsylvania and other less developed states there are countless small streams like this of which long, uninterrupted stretches can be fished. I really wish we had more of that here, but unfortunately urban sprawl can't be reversed. Not by man. The best we can hope is to slow down.

Call me a pessimist.
But I don't see that happening either.

Thanks for inviting me along Mike. It was a great trip. I can't wait to fish Pennsylvania again. 

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Thanks for joining the adventure, and tight lines.