Bradford County Fishing Report

As seen in today’s The Daily Review:

It’s tough fishing out there. Real tough. The river water temperatures are balmy in the low 80’s and the flow is barely over 1450 cubic feet per second. It’s like bath water if you’re wade fishing. However, if one goes out early in the morning or late in the evening the smallmouth bass are feeding very well on the surface. If you can fish a hard topwater lure or a flyfishing surface bug with the type of action which they find appealing – you can catch many large bass. But you have to be diligent and work for them!

The action you can produce with each hard surface lure/bug depends on the shape of the bug and the cut of its face. There are many different kinds of topwater lures and flies. Too many to list here and cover the whole spectrum. The different styles of topwater lures can either producing a subtle teasing action in the flat spooky water or a loud water-spitting-waking action in the strong currents and deep runs, then some topwater lures have a long tapered bodies and up-sloping faces can be made to produce a variety of actions from both a subtle action to quite a commotion on the water. Since there are so many different styles of topwater lures, I’ll just list my favorite. It is from H.C. Baits, and it’s called a Hub’s Chub. It is a fine “Pennsylvania Product” hailing from White Oak, PA. And it’s deadly when smallies are taking on the top! As for flyfishing surface hair bugs, I’m partial to soundly packed and trimmed deer-hair bugs than using foam or cork “popping bugs.” One cannot get a better hand-tied deer-hair bug then from local Rome, PA resident, and retired Waterways Conservation Officer Warren “Barney” Singer. His deer hair bugs are some of the best I’ve ever seen… and fished! His deer-hair bugs are perfection on a hook and have given me landed fish when no other surface bug has worked.

Chemung and Susquehanna Rivers: It’s a mixed bag to guess what will work for you while this heat is blanketing Bradford County. Anglers have been catching bass on standard cranks, soft plastics, even hair jigs. But the topwater game seems to be the best bet for what would be your first go-to lure style. During this hot weather, nne may not catch the usual double-digit of fish, but two or three quality smallmouths are worth the effort. The Dobson flies are out and “dive-bombing” anglers at night. This means for live bait fishing, use a hellgrammite and accept no substitutions! The bass are keyed on these bugs and at dusk, no other bait will surpass it. Catfish anglers are still taking decent fish on livers.

Pond and Lake fishing: It was a slow bite. Most of the quality lake denizens have fallen back into the much deeper and cooler waters during the heat of the day. In the very early morning at first light they have been sneaking into the shallows to feed. However, if you can brave the heat and need a quick fix of fishing, the noble blue gill will be your friend! They are concentrated under the docks and around any piece of cover that gives them a bit of shade. They have been grabbing anything that touches the water. In fact, while fishing at Mountain Lake my youngest son baited his jig hook with both a piece of McDonald’s Chicken Nugget and a French fry. Not the best fish cuisine you say? Well, the blue gills loved it! He caught 20 nice panfish, one after another, using his Happy Meal leftovers! Who could have fathomed that McDonald’s could corner the market in both fast-food and panfishing!

Tributary Fishing: The trout tributary fishing in Bradford County is poor right now. One may want to take a drive to spring fed trout waters of Pennsylvania such as the LeTort near Carlisle (Cumberland County), Spring Creek, near Bellefonte (Centre County), or Big Fishing Creek near Lamar (Clinton County). All of these watersheds are fishing exceptionally well even in the “dog days” of summer. If you do make the choice to drive to these fisheries (yes, its’s worth it!), I have the magic fly! In a word – Trico’s! They have been out for a few weeks, but this last week they have been the main morning hatch to fish! Get on the stream no later than 7 a.m. and think small, very small. A size 22 with a 7x tippet – small. When these little mayflies present in great numbers the fish feed heavily upon them. If you have never seen a heavy trico hatch please try and experience it. It is quite a sight to see the water boil with rising fish. It definitely is uncomfortable to have hundreds of these flies covering you as you fish, and it does present some demanding challenges to fish this hatch. There are so many flies on the water that your artificial fly may get ignored. So be willing to experiment with sizes and whatever it takes to get a natural drag-free drift.

These six tips that helped me in my trico fishing; try them and see what you think.

1. Use a delicate cast, preferably a 2 to 3 weight rod.

2. Use at least 9ft 7X Tapered Leader

3. Carefully evaluate the currents around the feeding trout.

4. Use a low, cautious approach to get into a good casting position.

5. Go one on one with each rising trout.

6. Don’t line over the trout with errant splashly cast.

Have a great week! Good luck on the water! Please let me know how you are doing on all of our great fisheries by sending me an email at jjsjigs@epix.net.

Boilerplate advice you should follow.

Just wanted to give a little advice for all the members who may get asked about fishing on the North Branch or our tributaries for bass.  I received an email from a New Jersey fishing crew of about 25 strong who wanted to come up to the North Branch and I quote “Yeah, we wanna fill our stringers with 20″ bass and have an awesome fish-fry”.  Here is my response back to them.  You may want to use my reply if you guys get requested to give fishing advice or reports:

 Q: “What jigs should we use?  We want to catch enough bass to have a big fish-fry this Sunday.”

 My Answer:  Riffles near the Railroad tracks and abandoned doublewide trailers are a prime spot to use JJ’s Jigs – called “crack-sacks”, “Dumpster Babies”, “Styrofoam Cup” jigs (with residue worm scent), and “Trojan Surprises” are very effective to use in the spring and summer as the natural food they imitate become more common in the water.

Q:  We have a fly guy coming with us.  He is a salt-water flyrodder  and has never fished inland fresh water.  What color of flies should he bring?

My Answer: Don’t make the rookie mistake of “matching the hatch” in subtle baitfish colors. The river is constantly muddy and teeming with toxic spews, algae blooms, farm run-off, gas drilling fracking fluids, industrial waste, sewer plant backwater, and god knows what else. Instead use something subtle like a “David Bowie fly in magenta and yellow”… That will work just fine!

Q:  We heard something about intersex bass and endocrine disruption in the bass.  Is that happening up in the North Branch?

My Answer: You might have heard the recent controversy about traces of birth control pills getting into the river and creating intersex bass. No worries, the secret to catching these hormonal beauties is giving them what they want. A good chocolate bait such as the ‘Godiva Dark Chocolate Candybar with almonds’ will be good in most cases, but a Mercedes-Benz, Diamond Ring, or $100 dollar bill can net a trophy! Although reports say that once these fish have been netted at least once they tend to pack on a lot of weight!

Q:  “One of our guys told us that many hippies float down the river in rafts and camp around bridges.  Do we need to bring our guns?

My Answer:  The dirty hippies are too high on bath salts, ditch-weed, and finding hidden messages on Phish albums to bother you.  However, watch out for those people who camp under the bridges.  These are the people to watch out for!  Despite the rugged appearance and fishy smell the man under the Rte 6 bridge is NOT the owner of JJ’s Jigs.  His name is Greg “Jetster II” If you must converse with him don’t believe a word he says. He won’t give you directions to the access launch near Terrytown and what’s in his battered van doesn’t fall into what most people call “delicious candy”.

Q:  Do you think it’s worth the drive to PA to fish the North Branch or Mainstem?  We don’t live that far from a few good places to fish in New York.

My answer:   The PFBC has issues new harvest limits on the Susquehanna River downstream of 3 Mile Island, over population concerns for lesser 3-eyed carp, rainbow zombie trout, and finless catfish fishing for ungainly horrors. The new regs are Catch and Release only downstream from the nearest bridge. They ask if you Catch one… Release it near a meatpacking plant. They help with the runoff waste disposal of cow intestines and floating gobs of Mad Cow Disease!   Fishing New York State is so much better.  In fact, I don’t even own a PA license.  I only fish in NYS cause I think it’s the best fishing in all of the East Coast!  Thanks for your questions….

Sincerely,

JJ’s Jigs

Dammit….

That’s not the exact word that came out past my lips after I lost that fish but you get the jist, right?  And that fish I lost?  It was a muskie.  Albeit a small one, but a muskie on the fly nonetheless.  Whatzzthat saying?  Fish of 10,000 casts?  By my count it was only my 67^th cast of the day.   But whose counting, right?  So that may be the reason I bungled that fight?   That cast wasn’t number 9,999 or the magic number of 10k.  I know I heard that muskie laughing at me.  That lovely “Fuck You” as it breached and rolled in the current as it took my Branks’ Blade fly.  It rolled only one time, just enough to let me know it was in fact my mythical fish that I’ve been trying to catch for years on the fly.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.  Let me tell you the rest of this sorted story.  Bear with me.  Mmmm’kay?

The Branks’ Blade – Heavy Metal Fly for Toothy Critters!

The morning produced nothing for Bill and I,  absolutely nothing.  When we came back to the same river run around noon I was feeling anxious knowing that in a few hours we had to start making our way back home. Earlier we had worked a sweet piece of river with all the elements for a happy ending. Deep…but not too deep. Fast…but not too fast. Choppy with riffles…but not too choppy.

Just right if you know what I mean.

I remember calling it as we walked along the rocky bank that one of use was going to hook up on this stretch. What I should have said is that one of us was going to bring a fish to hand. In hindsight I jinxed it from the start.  Figures.

First pass through this long stretch using a Fat Head Minnow Fly, from tongue to tail-out, produced zip, nada, nothing. Not a hit, bump, a tug or a grab. My mind kept racing:  Jesus Dave, No need to get pissy.  Just keep the sweat out of your eyes.  Ok, Ok, good cast, let it sink.  Keep that mojo going.  Relax, enjoy it. This is supposed to be FUN.  Now, strip, strip, strip, and PAUSE….  strip, strip, strip.  Whazzthat a hit?  Shit.  A snag.  Fuck.  Your thinking too much you fuck-tard.  Just chill and enjoy the nature and the sounds of the water around you.  Now.  Huck-That-Fly.  Oh… yeah.  That’s a good cast!

Before the second pass I decided to change flies to something a bit more flashy, my big Branks’ Blade streamer fly. The sun had been out all morning and the water seemed to be getting hotter.  I figured the fish needed a little fish-bourbon “visual stimulation” to help bring me at least one hit.  I worked my way down about halfway down this run when it happened.

At that sweet spot just down and across, the rat-bastard fish grabbed a hold of my fly and tugged back firmly not once, but twice. Hindsight once again… I suspect this slash-and-grab effort is when the fish decided to take my fly down and once it felt some resistance began to shake it’s head. I was obviously in La-La-Land, enjoying the flora and fauna around me and thinking to myself in a fast staccato of: My, my how bright the sun is and boy this wind finally gave me a nice cooling breeze and maybe at the next riffle I should go with something completely different or stay with this fly because the sun is still hot.  Y’know, those nagging distracting thoughts that stay with you when your NOT catching fish?

La-La-Land is right because once I felt that second tug I horsed that rod back immediately (damn fast twitch muscles when you brake outta that mindless casting fuck), felt the weight of the fish, watched it roll on the surface and identified it (AWESOME), then saw the fat SA Sharkskin line go limp. (TOTAL DOWNER!)  It cut my 1x mono-leader 3 inches from the fly.

Seriously!?!? WTF! Arrrrgh!!!!!!! Motherfucker, Motherfucker, Mooootherrrrfuuuuccccker!!!!!  That was a fucking MUSKIE!!!

I should have paid better attention. I should have let that bastard fish turn and take the fly back to it’s hidey hole. I should have waited for the reel to start clicking a bit. I should have use a furled steel leader. I shoulda, coulda, woulda…

My only real “hit” from the trip was a scraped-up knee after tripping on a half buried mossy-coated log, smacking down hard on my right knee.  Another battle with gravity lost.  That’s not entirely true. My only other “hit” (albeit a mental “hit”) was that the fish don’t give a fuck what cast you’re on. I need to be in the zone on every cast!  Only huck that streamer out there if I’m ready to set the hook.

Not at first though… wait until that rat-bastard turns with it.  Motherfucker!

 

Bloodknot Magazine – “The Green Issue”

The brand new Bloodknot Magazine is out today!

And there was MUCH rejoicing!

Check out pages #29 to #32.

 

Yes, please give this magazine a peruse.  I feel that it is definitely dirtbag approved!  The writing is superb, informative, yet tongue-in-cheek, and as sarcastic as this blog.

Plus you gotta check out pages #29-#32.

(The article called “Intro to a Conspiracy”) 

Why, pray tell?

 ‘Cause I wrote the article dipshit!

 

Thursdays What The Fuck? Moment: No Se Permite Fumar.

Yep, Light a match?  Nope.  No Smoking fellas!  Why?  A Methane plume is on and around the Towanda Creek.  Mostly in the good trouty locations of LeRoy and Woodruff Corners.  I’m not going to debate anyone on thier opinions nor pick a stance of either the pro-drilling or anti-drilling crowd.  (I’m staying neutral in all this since I see the good and the bad in the Natural Gas Drilling Industry.)    However, I’m re-publishing the Times-Tribune article as a public service announcement to all of our worthy Dirtbaggers who like to “smoke ’em if you got ’em” while on the water.  I too like a good cigar while fishing.  (It keeps the gnats away from my face.)  I’ll be a little careful when I light one up now….

Hey Godfather… be careful where you light that stoogie!

….. since I read this in the paper.   What The Fuck??  Read Below – the article from the Scranton Times-Tribune.

Methane seeping up underground pathways caused concentrated plumes of gas in the air in Bradford County where the state and a natural gas drilling company are investigating the cause of stray methane bubbling in streams and water wells, according to a study released Tuesday by the Clean Air Council.

Read the report HERE

The 3½-hour survey conducted for the environmental organization by Gas Safety Inc. in Leroy Twp. on June 8 found average ground-level methane concentrations in a roughly 2-square-mile area at nearly twice normal background levels for the region’s air.

The methane concentration in the air spiked to 22 parts per million – more than 10 times the highest background level of 1.95 parts per million – during a roadside survey north of Route 414 and Rockwell Road. The concentration and size of the plume “clearly indicate that one or more methane emissions were present and releasing substantial amounts of methane into the atmosphere,” according to the report. The scientists ruled out nearby farm or other natural sources of so-called biogenic methane, like animal manure, and found no elevated levels downwind of a nearby Chesapeake Energy natural gas well pad that might have indicated leaking from above-ground infrastructure at the site.

Much higher?

The methane levels were much higher than amounts that naturally seep through the earth or that are caused by the breakdown of biological material in wetlands, the researchers said.

“The amount of methane that had to come out at that point to generate that plume, that’s a lot of methane,” said Bryce Payne, Ph.D., the report’s author and an environmental scientist at Gas Safety Inc. “The preponderance of evidence here is that this is a nonbiogenic source.”

The researchers were limited to surveys along public roads and on a few properties where landowners gave them permission to take air samples and so could not track the precise emissions points for the gas.

The average concentration of methane found in the air during the sampling would not pose a health risk but it is a notable source of a greenhouse gas, Dr. Payne said. The highest concentration of gas nearest to the points where it is escaping from the ground could potentially pose an explosion risk, he said.

Methane bubbling in water wells and creeks outside the airborne plume but close to it also indicate the spread of methane is greater underground than above ground in the area, the study found.

“The underground extent of methane contamination is significantly greater than the plume we identified,” Dr. Payne said.

The state and Chesapeake have been investigating the source of methane in at least three water wells, two streams and a wetland in the same area of Leroy Twp. since May 19, when residents reported changes in their water. Two Chesapeake natural gas wells on a pad a half-mile from the affected water wells are being investigated as a potential source of the stray gas.

Cause not determined

The state has not determined the cause of the methane, which is found naturally in some water wells in the state and has also been tracked to faulty cemented barriers in natural gas wells in Bradford, Susquehanna and other regional counties.

Methane bubbling in one tributary to Towanda Creek unsettled the rocky streambed and turned it the consistency of pudding. As of the end of May, three water wells had been vented and the homes were provided with water treatment units or replacement bulk water and methane monitoring alarms. A fourth home was provided bottled water as a precaution.

A Department of Environmental Protection spokesman said the agency received the Clean Air Council report on Tuesday afternoon and would have to review it before commenting. Oil and gas enforcement staff were out of the regional office on business and were not available to provide an update on the status of the state’s investigation, he said.

A Chesapeake Energy spokesman also said the company has not had an opportunity to review the report and could not comment on it on Tuesday.

The report indicated that the well water at five homes in the study area are now “supersaturated” with methane, meaning the amount of gas is too high to be contained in the water and begins to escape to the atmosphere.

The researchers also observed bubbling in the main stem of Towanda Creek, apparently along a fault line, and measured high levels of methane just above the soil along its banks.

Mucking about “Amishland”

First let me apologize for the lack of up-coming posting.  My minions and I will be taking our annual Hajj to the “holy-land”.  Yes, Lancaster County and its smallmouth bass and ditch-trickle limestoners full of wary trout beckons us.

Mill Creek, Lancaster County, chunky smallmouth bass!

So, as you can see, for a short time the Senior Leadership of the DFP will be in a flux.  I’ll be in the Southern Part of Pennsylvania.  This means I’ve been pulled away from a few of my projects, the DFP blog being one.  Plus, our “Godfather” will be sitting about a sandy section of some forgotten beach down in the sunny South.  There will be a void of DFP leadership down in the “Enchanted Land of DonnyBeav”.  It’s my job as “#2” to fill the gap with JM’s absence.  Somebody has to keep DonnyBeav in check.

So while JM is “out of service”…. and I’m on “the stand-by-mutual-aid agreement for JM” in SC PA.  This leaves the whole NC PA wide open for “invasion“.  There needs to be an assumption of command for the DFP!   So, I’m making a decree:

It’s up to Anokpeas to “hold the fort” down. 

Holy shit…  may God help us all.  I think he will be drunk with power. 

(By the way…  it was Jonah’s birthday yesterday.) 

The big three strikes, three-ought, #3/0, 30! 

A gift?  Why yes.  I think there was a gift….

I think I just threw-up a little in my mouth… yuck.

(Who send him that male stripper-gram?? He said he really liked the stripper’s “tool-box”.  Whatever that means?)

I do have an alternative agenda:  These brutes will be on my “hit list”.

I did well with the hybrid carp/koi last year, catching at least 4 of them.  I’m gonna try my luck again.  This time I’ll be letting my minions have a crack at ’em.  Can you imagen Bubby pulling in a 10 pound carp?  Yeah, this is gonna be good!  I’ll try and keep ya posted on how I do on the JJ’s Jigs Facebook page.  See ya guys in a week!

– Dpiscator

Meanwhile at Dunkin’ Donuts….

COPS: So…  you call yourself a Dirtbagger, eh?  And your “leader” is a Godfather?  Is this true?

Dpiscator:  “Um…   yes.  Yes, that is true.  Hey – Skiskel, Ebert.. I want my lawyer, NOW! And a Apple N’ Spice Donut and a large coffee with milk, not cream, milk.  2% milk.  Chop-Chop there… public servants.

COPS:  Oh?  A lawyer?  Why?  You guilty of sumptin’?  So Dpiscator…. if that is your real internet name…  where were you yesterday?

Dpiscator:  “I ain’t sayin’ shit until I get my lawyer.  Then I still ain’t sayin shit, ’cause I’m no snitch you buncha Sus scrofa domesticus.”

COPS:  Fuckin’ Latin?  You buncha bug lovers… fuckin’ dirtbaggers.  I guess we gotta bump this up a notch. 

COPS:  Ok,  How does this feel against yer head?  Now we want to know the truth of what really killed Henry Hill.  It wasn’t a nice little neat-and-tidy “heart attack”, right?  You dirtbaggers had a contract out on Hill cuz he was a snitch.  Just tell me the “Godfather” ordered it.  That’s all we want to know.  Unless of course….  you wanna give us the name of that creek down in South Central PA?  I think we could come to a little bargain with that kind of information.  Shit, Dpiscator…  the name of that creek is worth more than who off’ed Henry Hill.

Dpiscator:  Fuck you both…  you pustulous oozing fetid boils on the filthy scrotum of an AIDS infected donkey.  You will NEVER roll me to give up the Godfather or his creek.  EVER!

To be continued…..

Thursdays “What The Fuck?” Moment

You’re just jealous you don’t have the industry leader in hotel keycardery supporting your doors. Simms keycards might cost more than low end Bass Pro Shop keycards, but they work and have that awesome snobbish elite smooth feel in your grubby mitts.  We all know how you covet those cards.  I bet you hoard and collect them like valuable baseball trading cards.  I can just hear the tweeders while sipping expensive double malt Scotch; “Neener, Neener, Neener…  I have 6 of them and you-oooo dooo-n’t.  You only have the low class “White River” brand.”

When you use a Simms keycard, you get the solid THUNK of the door bolt sliding home so you can ease you’re filthy snobbish fat ass into the Simms branded Derek De Young trout shit sheets in your comfortable Simms-endorsed hotel bed, with gratis tying recipe (instead of the Gideon’s Bible) on the nightstand – for the SIMMS endorsed bedbug emerger fly.  This fly is destined to be a winner to take only the most edu-ma-cated troots.  I bet you tie this fly with your pinky held high.  Because the higher you hold your pinky… the fancier you are.  (In theory, right?)

You have GOT to be kidding me? WTF?

And the best part is the G3 Hotelier series of cards are made right here in America, right in DonnyBeav’s  backyard.   He has truly been an integral part of the SIMMs keycard pilot program, as well as both Barry and Cathy Beck.  All of these doosh-tasic shills agree that Simms keycards give an unmatched level of quality and support in the keycard industry.  Plus it does a great job cutting up your coke into easibly snorted lines!

I shouldn’t talk too loudly about this, but since we’re all friends here… a certain other dirtbagger (who shall remain nameless, right Anokpeas?) has been test driving the Simms fleshlight (go look it up – it exsists, sadly) molded after April Vokey’s vag, and feels that it’s possibly the best texture in the biz, to say nothing of their industry leading technical support in the cock-sleeve industry.

Simms – fuck yeah?  No.  What the Fuck?  Yes!

Finally. A Sympathetic ear?

Maybe? 

HARRISBURG, Pa. – The Senate Game and Fisheries Committee has announced that it will hold a public hearing on May 22 to discuss the ongoing problems with the Susquehanna River and the Fish and Boat Commission’s (PFBC) request to designate the river as a high priority impaired water.

The meeting will be held from 11 a.m. to noon in Room 461 of the Capitol. Senator Richard Alloway II (R-33), chairman of the committee, will open the meeting. He will be followed by PFBC Susquehanna River Biologist Geoff Smith, who will discuss the factors affecting smallmouth bass populations in the river.

At approximately 11:30 a.m., PFBC Executive Director John Arway will address the committee. He will discuss the agency’s request to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to list the river as a high priority impaired water in DEP’s 2012 Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report.

The meeting will conclude with a question and answer period and remarks by members of the committee.

I would love to be a fly on the wall in that meeting.  I wonder if they really give a shit, or is this meeting going to be “dog and pony show” to placate the angry anglers down on the mainstem?  Anybody going?  I’d love to hear a report back from someone who attend this thing.

Mayfly Deja Vu

A few days ago I went fishing and commented on a large yellow Mayfly in a previous DFP blog post.  A few of us have hypothesized on what it was.  Remember this gem of a bug?

A few other anglers have met the same bug elsewhere in the state.  Fellow flyfishing blogger – The Lehigh Valley Limestoner (aka gfen) has met our same bug in the Allentown/Easton/Bethlehem area.  With it, his mystical unknown identification.  We still don’t know what it is.  But it keeps on hatching on my local streams.  But in agreement with our ever own “Godfather”- JM and gfen – it ain’t a sulpher, dammit.

Can you identify this?

 

 I thought it could be a mutant Yellow Sally, or a Ephemera varia – Yellow Drake, but after further research on the interwebby – It’s not those particular Mayflies.   (Since the Yellow Drake really doesn’t appear until June, normally).  But with the way all of the hatches are coming off early… who’s to say?  Can any flyflinger shed some light?

 I’m at a loss, folks.  Time to get out the Hatches Guide and learn some Latin names bug identification.