Thursday, January 1, 2009

Scenic Outing.


The other day my brother and I decided to wake up extremely early and drive to the Poconos in search of wild brook trout on a remote stream in the mountains. We made the drive, followed the gps, and made it to the road only to be denied access. The road was closed because apparently they do not plow it in the winter and it was a solid sheet of ice. This ruined our high expectations for the day. Taking turns at the wheel, I drove back and we fished some smaller streams around Beltzville Lake.

One of the More Scenic Holes.

Hooking into a 10 inch Brookie.

On the Menu.

My brother, Matt was breaking in a brand new small stream rod and he did not disappoint it. He hit the PA "grandslam" landing a brown, bow, and brookie in a single day. Not bad for a frigid late December day. We were able to get some nice footage and photos of the scenery. While he fished, I often turned my attention to reaching into the water which was around 37 degrees turning over rocks looking for some good material. I found it in a variety of mayflies and caddies mixed in with some rogue stoneflies. Macro video proved to take some awesome footage of the extraterrestial-like trout food.

Discovered This Guy On My Thumb While Walking Back To The Car.

Found Under Almost Every Rock.

Mr. Green Caddis Larva

My only fish of the day proved to be quite the catch, as I landed one of the largest wild browns I have ever caught on these small streams. A skinny but beautiful 15 inches, the fish caught me by complete surprise as he came out of a hole that in three years had never produced a strike. The brown succumbed to a size 16 tan caddis pupa with a ribbed pheasant tail back. The golden colors on the brown were brightly reflected in the sunlight. He released himself before a photo could be taken. A video still will have to do.

Brown Gold.

A Fine Specimen.

2 comments:

christah said...

oh hey. nice worms.

Wade Rivers said...

Nice captures, speshully on those caddis larva macro shots. The lighting gives them an almost translucent quality that I don't think I've ever seen before. It's all about the lighting I guess...

You're acquiring some real nice calendar type images in your portfolio, keep up the good work.