Our new guide Matt and a buddy a buddy of his getting after the some nice West Branch D trout!

Well sorry for the radio silence, but I've had to put out a number of fires all over the place! Haha. So smallmouth season this year was pretty much a write off for me. Pretty bummed about that, but hey sometimes we're not always in the driver's seat! But you know what I'm not bummed about? Some really nice trout Matt has been getting into on West Branch of the Deleware! He and a buddy or two of his were up there for a few days working up some really nice fat wild trout. Thats what we like to see!

Anyways, to give a quick update, smallmouth are finishing up their run into the creeks and rivers. We usually see most fish back into the lake by the 4th of July, maybe a straggler here and there afterward. With the hot temps projected over the week, though they are considered a warm water gamefish, I have a feeling most will be more comfortable in 8-15 feet of water near rock piles haha. So untill next end of April, see ya later smallies!

But now brings me to the fun part. We're starting to put the pieces together for our fall season already. Hard to believe. It's only July, right? Well over the past week and a half, a number of our old clients called looking for good peak season dates, and we're starting to get hit with new anglers looking for thier first FLR trip! If peak season on the Catt (October 15- November 21) is on your mind, I'd suggest giving us a call and talking about options sooner rather than later. We've already taken some bookings and are tentatively holding others waiting on confirmation. So hard to believe that this year, now is the time to think about it!

Finally, we're starting to get some lock downs on the Spey Hosted trip from October 18-21. We still got four available slots, but with how much interest we've had this early for the fall season, I can't guaranteed how long those last spots will be available. So if you want to spend two and a half days of on the water guided instruction, three nights lodging including nightly fly tying demos and shooting the shit spey style with some of the best guides in the region, give us a call!

As always, 

Tight Lines

 -D

Another Deleware beauty 

Dr. Tim working a cutbank with a streamer 

Well, was supposed to float the Catt a few days ago but the rain blew her out and the gentleman I was gonna fish with opted to reschedule. With my day free, took my dad out fishing. Was hoping to float the Allegheny but my dad needed to be back by mid-afternoon, so went to check out a new stream for wild browns! Knowing the size of the fish in the creek, we spent the day chucking streamers into the cutbanks and wood-clogged deep pools trying to move a few good fish.

It's surprising at just how big some of those fish can get in these smaller streams, and to emphasize this, the upper part of the creek, while generally only about a fly rod length wide, is classified as a trophy trout stretch, meaning plenty of fish in that 14-20" range. Anyways, we checked out the lower stretch first, and in the second pool, I lost a decent brown about 15" or so. Watched him come out and eat, but my set was sloppy. Had another fish follow a few pools later. My dad did just about the same. Streamer fishing small creeks in daylight is always challenging because generally the water is clear, and when the fish turn to follow the streamer, they usually see you if you're fishing upstream and stripping back down. If you fish downstream, then they generally see you working down into them. So it's kinda a catch 22 sort of thing. But it's a good way to get to know a stretch and figure out where the good fish hold, so you can come back at dusk and fish at night to them.

After a couple hours we jumped up into the trophy trout water. And boy was that small water to say the least. But the first cast in the first pool had a really nice fish somewhere around 18" chase, but again dart away as soon as he saw me. I guess I could have kept a lower profile, but on exploratory trips the goal for small creek streamer fishing is to rule out the pools and runs that aren't holding fish big enough to eat a streamer, so that next time you can concentrate on the ones that do. To be sure, you will never get to know exactly where every streamer trout in a creek is, but these fish are resident fish meaning that where you find them is where they live. So try to focus on the long game, and not worry too much about instant rewards. All in all I was really impressed with the fish I saw coming to the streamer in daylight, and even missed a shot at a decent one. It was certainly a challenging fishery, but can't wait to make it back there to hit at dusk and over night. It even smelled a bit mousy over there...

Tight Lines

  - D

Roadside parking 

Trophy trout boundary

Had a good fish follow from that log- skinny water!