Vacation fishing time

 So I’m on my end of September vacation again. So yesterday I went up to the west branch of the Perkiomen creek. I started at the bridge at Huff’s Church and worked my way back down to Bally Rocks. The creek is getting pretty low from lack of rain but I figured why not. The only trout that I saw was at the deep pool next to Bally Rocks. There was ten or more fish in the pool, one of them was a brown trout that was at least twelve inches . None of them seemed to care about my lure so I called it a day. Today I went over to the Boyertown reservoir. I have tried there a handful of times with no success but today I actually caught a one pound largemouth bass. Who knows where I’ll end up tomorrow.

New post

 So I have been fishing quite a bit but I haven’t had too much success. I’ve been mostly fishing for bass. This evening after dinner I figured I’d go over to Swamp Creek above the 1st dam in Bechtelsville ( official wild trout fishery waters). My second cast produced a 16” brown trout. Luckily I had my new net to help get it in. 

Still fishing new(old) spots

 So I went over to Green Lane Reservoir twice in the past week. The first time I was over off of Walt’s road. The only thing I caught was a small snapping turtle. He was not very happy. Tonight I went over to the Hill road side( where I used to work when I was sixteen) I found a school of white perch near the shore. I could tell that something was going after them by the way they were jumping. I’ll have to revisit this area with heavier gear and some lures that mimic the white perch. I also have gone back to the pond at Butter Valley with no luck and have visited Swamp Creek in Bechtelsville and caught some small browns and a few small largemouth bass. I also went back to the Smith road park and caught a few small bass. Now that it’s cooled down a bit I’m doing more fishing again.

Back to Smith Road Park

 

I’ve been going over to Swamp Creek by the Smith Road Park evenings after it cools down a little. I caught this nice smallmouth Sunday evening and caught two smaller ones tonight.

Update on Butter Valley

 So I went back over to the ponds at Butter Valley two more times. The first was around 8:30 the other night. I once again hooked into a big bass but he came off after a brief fight. For all I know it could have been the same fish.  I went back today but all I saw was a huge carp. I also went to the park at Smith road and caught a ten inch smallmouth and then I caught a two pound largemouth which really surprised me.

Something different

 I went out this afternoon looking for a new place to try my luck. I knew there was two ponds over next to the Butter Valley Golf port but I had never fished them. When I got there it looked very promising and there wasn’t any posted signs. I walked up the right side of the pond but wasn’t getting any bites. When I got to the back corner of the pond, I threw my lure towards the far bank and saw a big wake. I wasn’t sure if it was a fish or a turtle. When I cast back to the same area it happened again only this time I hooked a nice large mouth bass. He came off the hook right as I brought him up onto the shore and got away. Now that I know they are there I’ll be going back.

Friday and Saturday

 So I went out a couple of times more before I had to go back to work on Monday but didn’t have much luck. I’ll try something different next weekend.

Thursday trout fishing outing

 So Thursday I decided to head upstream on the west branch of the Perkiomen creek. I actually started off farther upstream than I had ever gone before. Above Huff’s church the creek splits into two. When I got to Huff’s church I made a left and drove to Benfield Road where I turned right. I traveled down the road to a bridge. The creek was pretty small and we had heavy rain the night before so it was running high and off color. I fished the bridge area and upstream to where the creek came out of the woods. I didn’t get any bites but it looked promising. I’ll have to go back there and try it out in the fall. From there I headed to the bridge at Huff’s Church but didn’t get any bites. I then went back downstream to Bally Rocks where I finally caught three small brown trout. I went downstream to Longacre’s farm but didn’t catch any other trout. By this point it was around noon and the temperature outside was about 85 so I decided to call it a day. Not a bad morning of fishing considering the conditions.

Bechtelsville update

 So on my way to the grocery store I decided to go over to Swamp Creek and see if there was anything going on. I started below the second dam by the Bechtelsville post office and caught three largemouth bass the largest being about nine inches. I then went above the dam and caught two brown trout the second one being a solid ten inches. Not bad for ten minutes of fishing. It seems like the largemouth are making their way upstream somehow.

Huff’s Church

 My sis wanted to take her car out for a ride so we drove around in the hills north of the house. We stopped at Huff’s Church and I did a little fishing at the bridge. I cast downstream from the bridge and caught this nice wild rainbow trout.

Back at Smith Road park

 I went back to Smith Road park today and my first cast produced this nice largemouth bass. After moving up and down Swamp Creek a couple of times I caught another largemouth and decided to call it a day. I then went farther downstream to the Hickory Valley park but didn’t see anything at all. I know this area is very heavily fished so I really didn’t have any expectations. 

Men’s ministry annual deep sea fishing event

 Last Saturday I went again with the men’s ministry to fish on the Big Mohawk out of Belmar NJ. It was an awesome outing and we caught our limit of sea bass as well as some ling and black fish. It’s a great day on the water and helps to get to know more of the guys at church.

Mike fishing 

Some of the guys.

It was supposed to rain but it turned out to be a beautiful day.

My friend Mike pulling in two sea bass.

Smith road park

 So I’ve made two trips back to Swamp Creek at the Smith road park. Two weeks ago I stopped there for five minutes and caught another rock bass. The water was very high and cloudy from recent storms. Then I stopped at the park today around eight thirty and caught a nice smallmouth. 

This is obviously the picture of the rock bass. I didn’t get a picture of the smallmouth. It’s definitely an interesting place. I’m on vacation next week so I’ll stop back and see what else I can find.

Swamp Creek update

 

  So I decided to go back over to the Smith road park on Swamp Creek and caught this nice smallmouth bass this afternoon. He couldn’t resist my crayfish lure.The creek was pretty clear, cold and moving so I figured I should go back up to Bechtelsville and see if anything was going on. I fished the concrete wall above the post office and caught four brown trout. The biggest one was about ten inches. They all looked like first or second year fish. This was a good sign considering the last time I went there all I caught was a creek chub. I guess all of the rain we’ve been having is helping with the fish populations in our area.

Interesting few days

 So we had some heavy rains this past week. Schlegel run really became a mess and washed a lot of debris downstream including whole trees and silt. It took out the small bridge where I normally fish. I’m happy to report that the bridge was already repaired. Changing the subject, I went down to the Smith road park and managed to catch a good sized rock bass out of Swamp Creek. This was my fourth trip to the park but my first actual catch. I had a nice Smallmouth bass a few weeks ago there but he came off . It’s so close to my house that I’m sure I’ll keep checking it out.

Nancy Run

 

When I left work yesterday I had to detour through Bethlehem so I decided to make a quick five minute stop at Nancy Run . On my first cast I caught this ten inch wild brown. My next cast produced another one about the same size. There were more to be caught but I decided to get on my way. Not bad for a five minute stop.

Interesting morning on the West Branch of the Perkiomen

 So I went to my usual area on the West Branch this morning. I started walking north from the route 100 bridge onto Longacre’s farm and didn’t see any fish at all so then I turned around and headed south on the other side of the bridge and still nothing, not even a creek chub. At this point I was really starting to wonder what’s going on around here so I got back in the car and drove up to the dam on Mensch Mill Road . I fished at the dam and caught five browns ranging from a four inch fish up to a nice twelve inch one . I then decided to cross the dam and go to the falls above the mill pond where I caught six more decent sized browns . I’m happy that I found trout upstream from where I started out. I think the problem downstream might be over fishing. There was a car parked next to me and I have noticed that the local Walmart is sold out of the spinner that I always use. I’ll see what happens tomorrow morning when I try again.

Where are the Browns?

   So I started my vacation this week and decided to go to a couple of the usual places and do some afternoon fishing. First I headed over to Swamp Creek behind the Bechtelsville Post Office. On my first cast I hooked into what I thought was a decent brown trout but when I got a good look at it I realized it was a big creek chub. I then walked down to below the second dam and caught a five inch brown. At that point I figured I would go over to Ironstone Creek behind the Boyertown VFW and try my luck. Once again I hooked into a large fish thinking it was a brown trout but it was a huge creek chub. I tried a few more locations on Ironstone Creek and all I caught was a small sunfish. Interesting day to say the least. Tomorrow I’ll head over to the West Branch of the Perkiomen in the morning and see what I can find.

First day fun.

 

So I went up to my cousins in the Poconos for the first day of trout fishing. First we fished the main lake which was stocked. We both caught some nice fish. The first picture is one of the stocked brook trout. They also stocked rainbows and tiger trout. After about 20 minutes I was starting to get bored so I headed down to the second and then the third lakes looking for pickerel but didn’t have any luck. At that point I decided to do what I do best and fished Hayes creek which runs behind all three of the lakes and has wild browns and wild brookies in it (not to mention pickerel which can be a pain in the butt when you’re fishing for trout). I started at the bridge on Rte 940 and caught the other brook trout pictured plus three smaller browns. I then worked my way up the creek past the first lake which is where I took the picture of the beaver dam. It had been raining on and off all day and when I got to the beaver dam it started to pour so I figured I might as well call it a day. It was loads of fun hanging out with my cousin. I’ll have to go back when things warm up and do some serious bass and pickerel fishing.

 

Snowy morning trout fishing

 So I decided to stop over at the bridge at the north end of Water street in Boyertown and try a couple casts. It’s 34 degrees outside and snowing. I had a brown trout go after the lure but he missed it. Then I stopped over in Bechtelsville and caught this guy. Not bad for 10 minutes of fishing.