On Our Way Home (Western PA Pt. 8)

 Three intrepid multispecies anglers sat on a ledge above the Allegheny river, in the dark waiting for one of their rods to bend under the weight of an angry flathead catfish that never materialized. Jake, Noah and I had struggled this trip to accomplish a lot of our goals, the first and and biggest, incidentally, being getting to Ohio in the first place. All the big lifer goals evaded us, and this last ditch effort for a flathead was our final stand. And when that failed we resorted to throwing a large rock over the railing like idiots. 

This will stand out as one of the funniest moments of the year. Noah hoisted the rock up to the railing then heaved it over... then leaned and looked right down. The small boulder's impact and plunge into the river left a momentary void that the water quickly filled to and then beyond capacity, sending a plume of water straight up into Noah's face.Jake and I cackled with laughter, and Noah did too. It was a fitting end to our fishing together on this trip. We headed back to my Grandparents' and slept well in the camper, then left to fish a few more spots in the morning after breakfast.

 We barely made it beyond the end of the drive; Jake had a flat. He assured us he'd be fine and we shouldn't wait around with him, so we said our goodbyes and Noah and I pointed the van east. We'd fish our way home, but our goals were now set to a simpler standard. We just wanted to catch some smallmouth an fallfish before we got home. Some time later we found ourselves on the Juniata River, for the first time in days on a watershed where fallfish were the dominant Semotilus species.

We waded and fished light gear, prospecting the water, catching little smallmouth an bunches of fallfish. It was beautiful water and enjoyable fishing.

As with most smallmouth or fallfish rivers I've fished over my career, I found one particular nondescript but shaded bit of shoreline that was just loaded with fish. I haven't quite cracked the code yet, because the line is thin between what makes these hot spots so hot. The shade is key of course, but something else is very important and I'm not quite sure what it is. Depth? Contour? Current speed? Substrate? I will eventually crack that code, but it may take some serious experimentation and research.

As we fished our way up, Noah soon outpaced me in both numbers and size of smallmouth. Though none of them were at all impressive in stature, as smallmouth anywhere are they were full of rage and willing to battle to the end. 

As we reached the limit of where we wanted to fish upriver, an out of use bridge loomed and we couldn't resist using it to cross back to the road we'd parked on. Well, and also as a sight fishing opportunity. 

We thanked the Juniata for the fish and headed further eastward to bigger, more famous smallmouth water. I'e wanted to fish he Susquehanna for years. To put it simply, it was big, it was intimidating, and we didn't catch a thing. I can' wait to fish it again NOT on foot. We found a fishy but questionable spot, saw a couple carp, didn't get so much as a bump, found a creepy doll, and were absolutely baffled at how this place could on any day no produce a single fish.

Pennsylvania beat us down, shook us around, and hung us out to dry. Pennsylvania made us work. We probably did the best we could. We caught new native fish from the bizarre to the beautiful. Though nothing went as planned, this was a trip I won't soon forget. Noah and I thrive under minimal preparation, we just go to a place, fish hard, and more often than not we do quite well. In my opinion this trip was no exception, we caught a lot of fish and added to our lifelists in a big way. It was good to have Jake with us. I think we made a pretty good team, the three of us. I can't wait to team up on another mission. Do me a favor, follow Jake on Instagram, @barbelloudoorsecology, and subscribe to his YouTube channel. 

Until next time,

Fish for the love of fish.

Fish for the love of places fish live.

Fish for you.

And stay safe and healthy.

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