MY 2002 FISHING JOURNAL Well, hello again .. I hope you enjoy this year's fishing journal. Last year my fishing season was shortened by 6 weeks during June & July to build an addition onto our home. So this year, I hope to be able to tell you about a COMPLETE season of fishing here in Pennsylvania for Trout and Smallmouth Bass...

APRIL

MONDAY--- 1st :
PFBC stocked North Fork today. Stocked- Blowtown- Jones- Egypt Bridges, and float stocked in between these bridges.

TUESDAY--- 2nd :
I took the videocamera and walked downstream from Blowtown Bridge to see if I could get some photos of the trout they stocked yesterday. Water was fairly clear- BUT unfortunately I saw NO fish..

THURSDAY--- 11th:
Another great day. I finally bought a boat !!!
Sears 10' jon boat, oars, life jackets, minn-kota trolling motor ,battery, and battery case. I got it registered this morning and now I am ready to go !!!

Now...Do I go trout fishing Saturday or try Kyle Lake nearby for WHATEVER ?????

Check back for the answer 8-)


SATURDAY---13th:
CLARION RIVER

Well I went to the Clarion River to try for some trout...I got soaked for my efforts and a couple "creek chubs". That makes two years in a row I got skunked on Opening Day.. Fished from 8:00 to 10:30am. It NEVER stopped raining the whole time I was fishing. It will take hours to dry everything out.

I'll be headed to Kyle Lake tommorrow with the boat rain or shine !!
check back ...

SUNDAY---14th:
(BOAT) KYLE LAKE --
Well the maiden voyage of my new boat (BABE) was a success. I really enjoyed myself. I fished from 8:00am until 1:30pm.Got boat & gear back into truck
just as the rains came again.
My first fish caught from BABE was a nice big sunfish.
Later I got a fifteen inch Largemouth. He really put up a good fight.

MONDAY---15th:
(BOAT) KYLE LAKE
The streams were high and muddy so I decided to go back to Kyle Lake today. I am so glad I did.
Cloudy & gray skies must mean fish at Kyle Lake.. the fish were really feeding..
I caught 7 Northern Pike, all between 15 - 20 inches. Also caught 3 Largemouth Bass, 2 of which were really NICE !!! over 17 inches and FAT..FAT..FAT...
Hopefully I will get to a trout stream tommorrow ???


TUESDAY---16th:
NORTH FORK
I went for two hours this morning (8-10am) on North Fork at Richardsville Bridge ( one of my "spots") and the water was so high and fast I could not even get my bait any where near the bottom without so much weigh that it just kept snaging-up. May take the rest of this week for water to get back to normal..


WEDNESDAY---17th:
KYLE LAKE
Took the boat and tried Kyle Lake again for 3 hours this morning. I stopped at the bait store for "shinners" and they were OUT...No minnows at all. So I had to try some crankbaits and spinners. Did not do very good. Only managed one northern about 14 inches. Oh well everyday can't be like Monday was... ;-) THURSDAY--- 18th:
CALLEN RUN
Well started the day wanting to fish the Clarion River.
Upon arrival at my favorite spot I saw the water was so high and swift that the rocks I fish from were TOTALLY underwater.
So I went to fish the two "ponds" on Callen Run.
Caught and saw NOTHING...
I did stop at the Sigel Sportsman's Trout Nursery and took some photos.



FRIDAY---19TH:
Well it was back to Kyle Lake this morning. Saw three turkeys on the way to the lake. Stopped and got some shinners for bait. Only got to fish for a hour and a half. It got very cloudy and the wind started blowing so I headed for shore. I
decided to "moor" the boat there overnight and return in the morning for a day of fishing. I did manage to catch one bass and one northern both were small. SATURDAY---20th:
KYLE LAKE
Back to Klye Lake this morning. Fished from 7:00am to 12:30pm. Had a little bit of everything...rain, wind, "bird's nest" of line in reel,
and had a "heck" of a time untangling anchor rope from around submerged tree. I did manage to catch three fish. Two Largemouths and 0ne Bullhead Catfish . TUESDAY---23rd :
NORTH FORK
Well caught my first 2002 trout. A Brook Trout at Richardsville Bridge. There was a whole school of trout there. I missed two and then landed the one above. That scared the whole bunch so that was that. I also stopped at Humpback & Jones Bridges but had no luck there. Did not even see any trout at those two places..
Caught Brookie on red powerbait.

WEDNESDAY---24th :
KYLE LAKE
Well I thought (according to the weather channel) I would have a nice CALM morning on the lake..WRONG !!!
Had to contend with the wind again. It kept blowing the boat around in circles when I anchored. Guess that's the way it is there. Sooo -- that means two anchors from now on. I did enjoy the morning - ducks everywhere with little ones..
I did managed to land three Largemouth Bass, 2 were small and was a good 17 inches. Next trip will be for trout on the Toby Creek in Brockway. Maybe Friday Morning....

MAY

WEDNESDAY--- 1st:
KYLE LAKE
Fished for about 4 hours this morning. I wanted to try out the new battery and see how it worked. It worked great - boat moved right along. Much happier now, not so worried about going to upper end of lake or trying the boat on the Clarion River. If it ever stops raining so the water will clear.....
I tossed alot of " stuff" today BUT did NOT get a bite .. 8-(
Maybe try on Saturday and try some minnows and crawlers !!!



SATURDAY--- 4th:
KYLE LAKE
The temperature was near freezing Friday night so there was no nightcrawler "pickin". I used shiners and had a fairly successful day. I am still amazed at the large amount of weeds at this lake, Later is the summer it is really going to get tough to fish. Red Mill Bait Shop is getting in leeches now, so I'll be wanting to try some for Smallmouths this year on the Clarion River. I caught 3 Largemouth Bass. one was a plump 15" beauty.. I moored the boat at the lake but when I get it home I am going to paint a measuring strip on this seat..


TUESDAY--- 7th
TOBY CREEK
Well I could not decide if I wanted to go for trout or turkey this morning. There was a gobbler & three hens in the yard yesterday morning when we awoke. Since rain is AGAIN in the forecast I opted for trout fishing on Toby Creek. I managed to catch 5 trout at the Jenkins Area. 4 were Brooks and 1 was a small Brown Trout.
All 5 were caught using a mini- Mr. Twister (white). I tried MANY other baits but this was the only one that would get any response from the trout.
SUNDAY---12th :
NORTH FORK
Managed to slip in two hours of fishing between thunderstorms this morning on North Fork below the Blowtown Bridge ( behind my house ) area. I caught 7 Brook Trout and missed at least that many more. Trout seemed hungry but skies turned dark - thunder - lightening - and Dr. Trout headed home ! !

SUNDAY--- 19th :
KYLE LAKE
Cold COLD COLD.... that's the word for this morning. I thought I would give the lake a try since the sun was shining so bright. Got out on the lake..wind came in and that was all she wrote... NOT too easy keeping warm on a boat with the winds blowing hard..I tossed a lot of stuff at them but there were no takers. Left after about two hours of shivering !! 8-)
MONDAY--- 20th :
NORTH FORK
Fished for trout this morning. The creek was higher than I ever remember seeing it in YEARS !!!
Fished from Jones Bridge up to the " big hole" by the power line. Did NOT catch or see a fish anywhere.... Did see lots of Deer and Turkey tracks along the creek, I also saw several sets of racoon tracks too...Well maybe I'll try the lake or Toby Creek later in the week.



TUESDAY --- 21st :
CLARION RIVER
Took a ride late this morning along the Clarion River. I did stop at several places and threw a lure several times. No bites BUT I did find several nice looking places for later this summer and they look like they have a place I will be able to put the boat in at. Saw 6 deer on the way home lots of grey squirrels and this racooon...



WEDNESDAY--- 22nd :
KYLE LAKE & TOBY CREEK
Fished Kyle Lake in the morning. Only caught one Largemouth.
Fished Toby Creek at the Portland Mills Area (Carmen) in the afternoon - managed to catch a Brown Trout there. Did see a guy leaving with a nice 20 + inch Rainbow Trout from the same area I was fishing.



FRIDAY--- 24th :
TOBY CREEK
Took a vacation day today to get an extra day off this holiday week-end. Started fishing Toby Creek at 7:30 am. Fished until 1:30pm. Had a nice enjoyable day, although the fishing COULD have been better. I fished the Jenkins Area and landed 7 Trout (Brooks & Browns) and a Smallmouth Bass.
It will be nice if this means the Smallmouth are starting to bite.
I love fishing for them on the Clarion River.
The Heath Township Sportsman are going to put the Trout from the "pump" Station Hatchery into the Clarion in the Morning ..Sat..8:00am.
Sure hope to fish there on Sunday.. Hopefully the water will be lower and SLOWER than my last visit !!


SATURDAY--- 25th :
TOBY CREEK
What a great morning I had today !!
Fished from 6:00am til noon...
Landed 13 Trout (Brown & Brooks)( no Rainbows yet !!) - lost a couple and TOTALLY missed several more. I also got to see some interesting wildlife.. A beaver swam by before I could get the camera out... BUT I did managed to photo a mink..and got photos several types of ducks..



SUNDAY--- 26th :
CLARION RIVER
I was hoping to catch one of the breeder Trout the Sportman's Club put in on Saturday, BUT luck was not my friend today. River was still cloudy and high. I did manage to catch a couple fish. One Smallmouth Bass and two Bullhead Catfish. Will return this coming week and try again.


MONDAY--- 27th :
KYLE LAKE
What a beautiful day to be on the lake. No wind - plenty of warm sunshine - and a fair morning of fishing. Caught four Largemouth and was visited by a Whitetail Deer while on the lake fishing.
Also was entertained by a family of Canada Geese...


TUESDAY--- 28th :
TOBY CREEK
Went back to Toby Creek this morning. I used salted minnows 100% this morning. I missed hooking ALOT of fish bites. I did managed to land 5 Brown Trout.
Also in a hasty moment to "re-rig" after losing the bait on a snag I made the altimate mistake of not tying good knots..
Moments later I hooked into a big trout, had my drag "zinging" suddenly he/she was gone !!! I thought my line had broke, after reeling in I found that it had not broke...my knot had come undone.... 8-(
Is that not the way it always happens ???
Well hopefully (weather permitting) I will go to the Clarion River on Thursday this week and try for some BIG trout ONLY with good knots this time..


THURSDAY--- 30th :
CLARION RIVER
I fished between rain Showers this morning. When the rains came I went to my truck after they left - returned to fish.
I caught 2 Smallmouth Bass and had several nice trout "follow" my bait BUT they would not take it. They seemed JUST CURIOUS !!! Took a look then swam away .... 8-) Did see a couple deer and a turkey on the trip home.


JUNE

SATURDAY--- 1st :
CLARION RIVER
Started fishing in the dark at 5:00am this morning.
Wanted to see if I would do any better before sunrise. Started catching fish pretty quick then aroud 10:00am it started to slow down. Went home for lunch and returned in the afternoon. I caught a fair number of fish. Many were those crazy "creek chubs" but you have to take the good with the bad sometimes.. 8-) Caught 6 Smallmouths, 5 Trout (all Browns) and one of the same Bullhead Catfish I caught the last trip here..


MONDAY-- 3rd :
TOBY CREEK
SKUNKED at Toby Creek this morning. I went for 2 hours and caught nothing NOT even a bite ??????
I did enjoy the outing though --- saw a turkey on the way -- walked right up to a baby fawn (did not even see it until I threw out my line and it got up and ran away) - and I had 5 adult whitetails watching me from across the creek. I "spooked" them when I went to get the camera...all and all a good morning...

SUNDAY--- 9th :
KYLE LAKE
I enjoyed five early morning hours of fishing at Kyle Lake this morning. I landed 6 Largemouth Bass. Caught 2 on rapala type floating lures and 4 on shinners. 3 were over the legal 15" limit for this lake.. But as usual I released them back for another day or another angler to catch.
10TH THRU THE 21ST....
JEFFERSON COUNTY COURT HOUSE
Well No fishing... in fact NO NOTHING !!!! 8-)

I reported for Jury duty on June 10th and was selected to be a juror on a murder trial and was immediately sequestered until the 21st at 5pm, when the trial and sentencing phase ended..

So after a day of rest and relaxing then some days getiing caught-up on work around the home-front...I'll be back to fishing and adding entries to my journal..

SATURDAY --- 29th :
CLARION RIVER
Had a really enjoyable morning of fishing this morning. Saw 7 deer on the way to one of my favorite spots on the Clarion. I started early 5:00 AM. I fished until noon. I landed 4 Smallmouth - 3 small Rock Bass - 1 sucker - a couple of " creek chubs" - and a Brown Trout.

What made the day special for me was meeting two couples from www. fisherie.com message board. I had received an E- amil asking for some tips and spots for the week-end from them during the week and made arrangements to meet them this morning.They are from my home town of Pittsburgh and arrived around 10;00AM. The fishing had already started to slow but they seemed eager to fish. One of the ladies did manage to land a smallmouth before I had to leave . They are here for the week-end so hopefully they will do good this evening or tommorrow morning !!!

JULY

TUESDAY --- 2nd :
CLARION RIVER
Started out at Hallton Bridge and fished down to Belltown. Riding along road and stopping at what looked to be good spots. Landed at total of 5 Smallmouths ... 1 LARGEMOUTH ( first tme for a Clarion River Largemouth !! ) and 4 Rock Bass .
Largest Smallmouth and the Largemouth photos are above this entry at top of July's Page... I will return tomorrow morning if I can Catch some minnows or nightcrawlers tonite.. !!!



WEDNESDAY --- 3rd :
CLARION RIVER
Fished from 5:00am until 10:30am
Caught 4 Smallmouths, one of which was a really nice one. Also caught a large Sucker and one creek chub. Really got HOT quick this morning and the fish stopped hitting around 9:45am. Had an enjoyable day just the same. Also had ANOTHER "something" break my 10# test line -- 8-(



SATURDAY --- 6th :
CLARION RIVER
I fished from 5;00am until 10;30AM..
Should have taken my waders !! The water level is really low. I saw rocks out of the water in front of the spot I was fishing at that I have never seen "out of the water"... Fishing was really SLOW..only managed 3 Smallmouths and one LARGE Sucker..



THURSDAY --- 11th :
CLARION RIVER
Started fishing in a heavy fog at dawn this morning. Fishing was really SLOW. I can NOT get over how warm the water is...like bath water... 8-(
Heard alot of splashing upstream about fifty feet and turned to watch two white-tail deer wade across the river. I did manage to get a few " foggy photos" of them on the other side of the river..

Fishing was poor.. I managed to land only 3 "small" Smallmouths and a couple rock Bass.
It was the first time I remember bringing nightcrawlers home after fishing the Clarion !!




MONDAY --- 22nd :
CLARION RIVER
I returned to the Clarion this morning below Hallton. I saw 10 deer on the road to Hallton, 2 of these deer were bucks...
Fishing was good, but I only caught 2 Smallmouths. One was a real beauty..biggest Smallmouth for me YET !! Caught probably a dozen Rock Bass. I had to leave at 8:30am because I ran out of nightcrawlers...



TUESDAY --- 23rd :
CLARION RIVER
I returned to the Clarion River this morning instead of waiting until Wednesday, MAYBE not the right decision ???? I managed to catch a "ton" of small Rock Bass and 2 large suckers. The Smallmouth were not co-operating at all....
Spotted 8 deer on the way there, today four of them were small bucks. SATURDAY --- 27th :
CLARION RIVER
Great morning !!!
Yesterday's much needed rains certainly had the deer moving this morning. I spotted 23 Whitetails on the way fishing and 10 on the way home. I did manage a few photos... I also managed to out-do my Big Smallmouth from the other day I landed one even bigger and the real THRILL was I did it with my ulra-lite for trout fishing !!! 8-)

Got some good photos of a real nice Buck on the way.

I landed 5 Smallmouths, several Rock Bass and another one of those large Suckers.

AUGUST

TUESDAY --- 6th :
CLARION RIVER
Left a little late this morning ..did not get started til almost 6:00am. As a result I did not see as many whitetails on the way (only 10 - one spike buck) saw 9 more on the way home. Got some nice photos... Back to fishing... I only had about 10 nightcrawlers so I fished only about 3 hours. Caught one large sucker...one bullhead catfish and 4 Smallmouths..


SATURDAY --- 18th :
CLARION RIVER
Tried some evening fishing today. Fished from 6pm to 9:00pm. Only thing biting was little fish..rock bass and SMALL smallmouths. Worst part was I wanted to stay and fish later.. but because of a ton of little fish I ran out of nightcrawlers ..AGAIN !!.


WEDNESDAY --- 26th :
CLARION RIVER
Took a vacation day to fish the Clarion River with my buddy Griz... We did have a great time. we each caught about 6 Smallmouths..some Rock Bass. and a Sucker or two helped make it a fun day.


FISHING SEASON 2002

NUMBER OF DAYS FISHED
TROUT STREAMS---10�
CLARION RIVER---16
BOAT TRIPS TO KYLE LAKE---11
BOAT TRIPS TO CLARION RIVER---0

TOTAL DAYS FISHING --- 38

NUMBER & TYPES OF FISH CAUGHT
TROUT---45
SMALLMOUTH BASS---46
LARGEMOUTH BASS---25
NORTHERN PIKE---9
BULLHEAD CATFISH---5


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