West Branch experiment

 I decided that it was such a nice afternoon that I would head over to the west branch of the Perkiomen. I had picked up a 5’6” Ugly Stick on clearance for $22 a while back at Walmart and a Shimano Sienna size 500 spinning reel from Dick’s for $7.50. They match up nicely with each other and I figured I would give them a try. I caught a couple of small Brown trout with no problem but when I hooked into a decent sized one I had a heck of a time getting it in and the current didn’t help. I went to net it and it came off. I usually use a much longer rod with a stiffer action. I’ll give the smaller setup another try and see what happens. Maybe I just need to get used to it.

Bechtelsville again

 So I had today off and I decided to go over to Swamp Creek in Bechtelsville and get a couple of casts in. Every time I go there the first thing that I do is cast above the dam. I seem to always catch a large minnow or creek chub. Today I made my first cast and caught an 8” brown trout. I then made my way downstream but didn’t see anything. Once I got next to the post office I cast straight across and found this nice 14” brook trout. I caught a skinnier version of this last October 5th in the same spot. I know they aren’t the same fish because I let the last one go above the 2nd dam.

Mixed bag

 So I took a few minutes and went over to my usual spot on the West Branch of the Perkiomen. This was my first trip there this season. First I tried on the south side of the route 100 bridge. I caught a small brown but not much else. I went back across route 100 and started heading north. I cast upstream and caught a ten inch brook trout then on my second cast I caught a ten inch brown. My third cast got me a smaller brown and then the next cast I hooked a larger brook trout but I had left my net in the car and he came off when I tried grabbing him. As soon as I fully recover from my recent surgery, I plan to go back with my waders on.

Back at it!!!

 Well last Thursday (April 4th ) I had two hernias repaired. Needless to say on the first day of trout season ( April 6th ) I was in no condition to go fishing. Today however I felt good enough to give it a try. My big sis drove me over to Swamp creek by the Bechtelsville post office and I managed to catch two small browns. We then went up to the West Branch of the Perkiomen at Huffs Church. I didn’t see anything at the bridge. Then we went back down to Camp Mensch Mill road. I couldn’t climb over the guard rail but I did make a few casts and actually hooked a nice brown. There was no way to get him in since I was about fifteen feet from the creek but I tried. Of course he fell back into the creek. Considering my limited movement it wasn’t a bad day.

Birthday Brown

 As usual I had to go fishing on my birthday. I went over to Swamp Creek behind the Bechtelsville post office first but I didn’t see anything. Then I drove up to Huff’s church and fished from the bridge on the west branch of the Perkiomen. Still nothing. On my way back down I noticed a nice looking section of the stream just below a water fall. I cast upstream towards the falls and finally caught a brown trout. At that point it was time to go home and warm up a bit.

I had a thought!!!

• So I noticed that when I’m in my local Walmart that they sell these Power Bait worms. In particular the pink ones seem to sell out a lot. I figured if they sell out they must work. I bought a pack of them and designed a rig that would let me float them down the stream while keeping them off of the bottom. I tied a snelled number 6 bait holder hook on then put a small split shot about eight inches up the line. Then I put a small trout float about ten inches above  that. I went over to Swamp Creek in Bechtelsville to test it out. My first cast I caught a small brown trout about six inches long. I went to the bottom of the second dam next to the post office and caught a ten inch brown. So these things work in Swamp Creek. Then I thought I should test this setup on the west branch of the Perkiomen. I drove up to the bridge at Huff’s church and floated this setup under the bridge but didn’t get any bites. I did see a huge rainbow but it just looked at the worm then turned around and went back under the bridge. Then I drove down to the dam on Mensch Mill Camp road. I cast it to the bottom of the dam and caught another wild brown about eight inches long. The rig was a success.. I’ll have to try it on the Monocacy up by work and see what happens.
  
  
  

I didn’t skip September.

 Just because I didn’t post anything in September it doesn’t mean that I wasn’t fishing. I was on vacation last week and it rained four out of seven days. However me being me, I couldn’t let a few raindrops keep me from going. On Saturday September 23rd I had to take Debbie to a bridal shower for my cousin’s daughter in Tamaqua. Once I dropped her off I continued my journey up to my cousin Jeff’s house. We went down to the middle lake and on my first cast I hooked into a solid twenty four inch pickerel. I got it to the shore and then it came off and rolled its way back into the water. Two more casts and I hooked into an even larger pickerel but while I was fighting it, it bit 
through my braided line and took off with my expensive lure. I went a few other times during the week in Swamp Creek behind the Bechtelsville post office and caught some small brown trout . I also hit a few areas of the west branch of the Perkiomen and caught some small browns. Today on the other hand, I went to a few different places and didn’t catch much but I ended up next to the Bechtelsville post office and caught a fourteen inch brook trout. Now this was definitely a first in many ways. For one thing I have never caught a brook trout in Swamp Creek. I have never caught a wild brook trout that big and I have never caught a wild trout that far down the stream.