Hardcore trout fishing

 I decided that since the weather was nice and it was supposed to rain the last two days of my vacation, today was the day to do some serious trout fishing. The west branch of the Perkiomen is always my best option for trout. I started out at the bridge on Henry road but didn’t see anything. Then I went to the bridge on rte 100 and went downstream, still nothing. I then decided to go upstream instead. As soon as I got upstream of the bridge the stream was loaded with brown trout. I caught four of them and the best two I took photos of. Then I went up to Bally Rocks. I walked down the path to the stream and when I got about twenty feet away I could see a nice brook trout. It hit my spinner on the first cast. After that I was pretty worn out from wading in the stream for about five hours so I called it a day. I couldn’t ask for a better trout stream so close to home. Like usual I didn’t see any other fishermen on my outing. I still think it’s because the stream is catch and release, artificial lures only.

West branch trout

 I stopped by my favorite place on the west branch of the Perkiomen just to take a look. Not only did I see a lot of browns but also I could plainly see some brookies as well. I’ll definitely have to fish this area before going back to work next week.

Interesting developments

 Last week I stopped over at the bridge on Schlegel run just as it was getting dark. I cast under the bridge and hooked into a decent sized fish. When I was reeling it in, it fell off right when it broke the surface. All I could tell was that it looked brown but it was too dark to see what it actually was. I stopped back yesterday and caught a bunch of small rock bass. On my last cast, I had a nice hit and it turned out to be this bullhead catfish in the picture. Mystery solved.

Vacation and cooler weather

 Vacation is almost here. Time to go back to some serious brown trout fishing. I can hardly wait.

Schlegel again

 

Another rock bass at the bridge on Schlegel run. I had hooked one twice this size but when I tried to bring it up on the bridge, it fell off the hook. 

Update on Schlegel run

 

Well I stopped by the bridge at Schlegel run, cast a small Rooster tail and caught a tiny sunfish. My next cast I had a decent sized fish that I assume was a big creek chub or a bass attack my spinner but I missed it. Then I cast on the other side of the bridge and caught this rock bass. Now I normally don’t make a big deal about rock bass but I’ve never seen a rock bass in this creek, ever. Back in the day I caught some nice largemouth here but not rock bass. I’m definitely going to investigate this creek on my upcoming vacation to see what else I can find. Hopefully it will cool down a bit by then.

Found one

 I went back to the bridge on Henry road and fished downstream for about two hours. After going about a mile and only catching some small shiners, I decided to head back to the car and drive up to Forgedale road. I started fishing right by the road at a small hole and caught this brown. This is the same area that I caught my only brook trout ever on the West Branch of the Perkiomen. I think I’ll stick to fishing for Smallmouth in Swamp creek until next month when the temperature cools back down.