MY 2010 FISHING JOURNAL


As I have done in the past I will be adding my fishing adventures for 2010 to this page with as many photos as possible. I hope you enjoy viewing as so many have done in the past. I'm all set for 2010 just waiting for the weather to be a little better. I am looking forward to getting the jon boat back out on Kyle Lake this year in April for some early spring fishing...

-- MARCH 31st --

Went over to the Clarion River at 4pm to try to catch that first fish for 2010 on "plastics" I had won this past fall. To my surprise I landed a large sucker that hit a drifting "smoke colored wacky worm"... I was really surprise when I felt the "pull" never would have guessed a sucker on a plastic worm ??
Headed home at 5:50pm and saw a total of 15 deer and one turkey, also had a ruffed grouse run across the road on the way over.. 5 of the deer were on SGLs (two different spots) only got photos of two because of traffic on the spot for the other 3 deer....the other 10 deer were in a farm field that I believe is open for hunting with permission...

APRIL FISHING

Trout season opens April 17th in this area


-- APRIL 6th --

I decided to try my luck at Kyle Lake this morning, the sun was shining and the rain during the night had been very light. When I arrived at the Lake I noticed the weather was not quite the same, cloudy and very very windy... water was rolling in little waves, but I decided to test my equipment anyhow. Fished for about an hour with no luck, the wind was so strong that even with my anchor in the water, the boat would move with the waves and wind. It was all the trolling motor could do to move us against the wind and waves, so I called it a day. Better to be safe than sorry. Maybe I'll try again next week....


-- APRIL 12th --

Fished two spots today, one at Portland Mills and the other below Hallton. Fished a total of 4.5 hours. Nothing at Portland Mills, 5 Suckers, 1 Bullhead Catfish, and 1 Smallmouth Bass below Hallton. Beautiful day to be fishing. Fished from 10:30am until 3:00pm. Only wildlife spotted was a bunch of road killed "Porkies", must had seen a dozen dead ones in my travels... ??

-- APRIL 13th --

Only fished for 2 hours on the Clarion today.. too windy. only managed one sucker and another bullhead catfish...did see some wildlife on the way home... one grouse strutting along side of the road, 7 female turkeys (two different groups), and one deer...

-- APRIL 15th --

This morning I helped stock two sections of North Fork with trout. The PFBC had dropped those two bridges from the pre-season stocking schedule. Our club and the North Fork Water Shed Association made arrangements to get some trout to stock those two bridges pre-season this year. Heath Township Sportsmen were kind enough to provide their stocking truck to the event.

-- APRIL 15th --

I guess any dedicated fisherman after stocking fish would have to GO FISHING !!!
That's what I did --
I headed over to the Clarion for a GREAT DAY of fishing. I fished a total of three hours and landed 11 fish...
9 Smallmouths, 1 Sucker, and one small Rock Bass.. seems the turkeys were out everywhere on the way over at 12:30pm...

-- APRIL 19th --

Well today started with no fishing but walking downstream at the two bridges that the club stocked on Thursday. I could find no fish at Blowtown bridge and it appears no one was fishing there either.. I saw no tracks or places where someone had stood... fish must have went downstream ???
Second stop was Jones Bridge.. same results downstream.. BUT I saw where lots of folks had been fishing....
I then ventured above the bridge to where three buckets were dumped.. there I saw trout...
Returned home and I got ready to attend the fish commission meeting in Brockway..
after the meeting I bought some minnows and when to where I saw the trout at Jones Bridge.. landed none but lost 3 when the line broke.... I THINK the 4# line I was using is old and not any good.. I did not do much "creek stomping for trout" last year with light line and that rod and reel....so the line must be bad... the fish were no where near big enough to break the line otherwise.... at least I know one place to catch a few trout.
I'll not add my notes from the meeting here.. I'll put them on the message board under the PFBC section...
I did find out at the meeting that the club and water shed assoc is getting 300 more fish for those two bridges this Thursday .... I'm off... so after stocking I might just go and catch some of those fish!!! LOL

-- APRIL 20th --

I had to be at the doctors in Brockway at 8:00am for blood work this morning so I fished Toby Creek after the blood was drawn. I saw nothing and caught nothing. I talked to 5 other anglers and they were having the same sort of luck. NOTHING !!
I returned home for some breakfast (I hate that "nothing to eat or drink after 9pm" BULL !!)
I headed to the river and fished for three hours. After arriving at my spot and getting ready, I noticed I had forgotten to bring the camera and naturally that turned into a real BUMMER... The first fish was a beautiful Brook Trout about 17 inches long and the colors were amazing ... NO Camera...!!!
I landed a total of 10 fish.. 5 large suckers, 4 smallmouths and that Brook Trout.
Here's more of the BUMMER about no camera.. the last Smallmouth I landed was the second largest smallie I have caught in the river... did I say I forgot the camera ????
Wildlife spotted on the way home... 2 grouse and 15 deer... did I say I forgot .. never mind you get the idea now....

Well no fishing now until Thursday and that may be an all day thing.. have not done that in years!!

-- APRIL 23rd --

Well the day started with going to Blue Valley to get trout to stock in North Fork. We were told to empty the tank out, so we got more than we expected, about 400 NICE Brown Trout. We put them at Blowtown and Jones Bridges, and since we had extras we put some in Clear Run, which has not received any trout this year.Talked to a couple guys fish at Jones Bridge later and they saw fish but the trout were not biting at all...
I went to the river and the fish were not hitting very good there either, fishing was slow..landed 4 Suckers and 2 Smallmouths in 2.5 hours of fishing.
I hope to get out after work on Sunday and try either Blowtown or Jones Bridge, maybe even hit Clear Run ?????
Wildlife spotted today = 8 turkeys and two deer on the way to the river...

-- APRIL 26th --

After a busy week-end at work I just had to "go fishing". The rain was light but steady but I figured I'd give it a try anyhow. It has been several years since I "fished in the rain". With the aide of modern day rain gear it was not that bad as far as getting wet.. the fishing SUCKED... not a single bite from a fish and I stayed only an hour and a half.... I did however land this "thing" ... a hellbender .... It was like hauling in a small log.. not much fight just weight !!!! I may try North Fork later if the rain stops ???

-- APRIL 27th --

Finally got a chance to fish where our club stocked fish the Thursday before opening day and then again last Thursday. Landed two Rainbows (had to be from April 15th stocking) and Two Browns that could have been from either day. It was nice seeing that the Rainbows stayed where I put them !!!
I fished a hole where I had dumped two buckets of trout... one bucket on the 15th was Browns and Rainbows. The trout I dumped into that same hole on the 22nd were all Browns.
The two Rainbows were caught on wax worms and the Browns on live minnows. I also had a big Brown on but it got off... bummer !!!
All 4 were released to catch another day. It was cold and windy and after an 1.5 hours it seemed the trout stopped hitting and chasing so I left. Late in the afternoon I hit the river for an hour and landed 1 Rock Bass, the wind was blowing so bad it was hard to keep the bait anywhere but next to shore... Fished 1 hour and went home until another day...Pictures below ---

-- APRIL 29th --

Returned to my favorite hole on North Fork by Jones Bridge. Missed one strike and landed one Rainbow on a wax worm, I only fished for one hour. I have managed to get one hell of a head cold, coughing and sneezing steadily. I did see 5 deer on the way there at 12:30pm .. they were not very pretty since they are losing their winter hair and getting the summer coat.. Here's the rainbow from today..

Went over to the river and fished from 5-7pm, only landed one smallmouth. The bugs were unbelievable the whole time bugs, bugs, bugs, and I did not see one trout trying to eat any..Pics below show how many and a close-up.
great evening for wildlife spotting.... one small mink while fishing, two hens on the way over and one deer. one the way back 3 groups of turkeys, one was a group of 4 males, two groups of 4 deer and a total of 25 in Travis's posted field.



MAY FISHING -- May 4th -- Fished a couple hours at Portland Mills, landed three fish, and those were all within fifteen minutes of each other ????
Two brook trout and one smallmouth, was a little on the windy side but I survived and caught fish.All three on crawlers, not hits on wax worms or butter worms,,,

-- May 6th --
Fished for two hours at Portland Mills, landed two Brookies, very windy and the fish were not biting very good. It appeared they were just grabbing the crawler and holding it. It was hard to determine if it was a bite or a snag ??? Interesting .. I do not remember a situation like that before.. lost some gear (snags) and ALOT of crawlers without a fish or that "strike" feel...
spotted 25 deer in Travis's field, 6 across the road from that field and as I started home after counting those 6 more ran across the road in front of me, and finally 6 in my pasture field as I pulled in to park.. 43 total at 8pm....

-- May 10th --
Decided to try Portland Mills this evening and headed to the store to get some crawlers, the younger boss was there and so was her son,Todd, he asked if he could come along and his Mom said yes, so off we went.
We spotted a red fox on the way there and 17 deer on the way home. Todd landed a Sucker and the smallest Brook Trout I have ever seen come out of the river..I landed one brook... we had fun and that's what it is all about in my book...

-- May 11th --
I decided to try the Clarion at Portland Mills again today and figured I could do better than Monday because I would only have to pay attention to me . LOL
WOW ===
What a difference two days and a storm can make... The Clarion has risen about a foot and is murky after the storms Tuesday Night. I thought without rain yesterday it would not be to bad.. It was really murky. I still fished for an hour and a half and landed one Brown Trout.
First a crop of the downed tree on May 5th trip and #2 the same tree today, you can see how high the river has risen,,
Then a photo of the Brown Trout and finally a photo of two guys from the Pittsburgh area that were going to camp across the river for the week-end. They were surprised to see how high and fast the river was , but together they managed the current and made three trips across with their gear for the week-end camp-out..

-- May 20th --
I fished from 6:30 until 8pm this evening on the Clarion and almost got "skunked". At the last minute I landed a nice Brookie. That was the only "hit" I had. A guy walked down before he left to see how I was doing, he had been fishing most of the afternoon and was not having any luck further up river. He said he only caught one small smallmouth and a creek chub in 4 hours of fishing.
I spotted a doe and her fawn on the way over and a total of 8 deer on the way home.

-- May 24th --
I only had a few night-crawlers from the other day so I only fished for two hours at Portland Mills, and only managed to land one Brok Trout.
Saw 6 deer on the way home at 7pm. including

-- May 26th --
Night Fishing... started fishing at 7:30pm and fished until 11:00pm.. Landed one beautiful Brook Trout, one Smallmouth, and 5 Rock Bass. At 9:30 I hooked something LARGE.... I just got a quick look at whatever it was as it hit the light on the water from my lantern and that was all she wrote. It turned and with one great push snapped my line. It looked to be almost 30 inches at least, at first I thought it was a snake of some sort, it was so long ?? Have no idea what it was except it was long and narrow, no Smallmouth that's for sure.

-- May 27th --
This afternoon I tried a new spot about half way between Hallton and Belltown. I was fairly lucky, one smallmouth, one rock bass and the NICE Brown Trout below. I wanted to stay until after dark again but the damn cheek chubs ran me out of worms !!!
I saw 7 deer and three hen turkeys on the way home. Fished for 3 hours from 4pm until 7pm.



JUNE FISHING

-- June 1st --
Fished from 6pm until 9pm at the spot I found on May 27th (the last trip to the river). Fishing was poor for ther first hour then it turned on for the last two hours... eleven of the 12 fish I caught were in that last two hours. 9 Smallmouths, 1 Brook Trout, 1 Rock Bass, and 1 Sucker.

-- June 2nd --
I fished the same spot as yesterday from 6:30pm until 8:30pm. Only caught 3 smallmouths and a rock bass.
I did have another first for the Clarion River though.
I had a hit, more like a tug and as I set the hook I was sure I got snagged... but all of a sudden whatever I had snagged on started coming as I ever so slowly pulled in line, I was sure it was a log.... then I saw that it was not a log -----
It was a damn snapping turtle !!!!!
As I got it to the the edge of the rock I was on that you can see in the photo .,. it was still in a little water but also on the rock, as I reached for the camera it must have caught the movement and with one sudden move it was gone and the line was flying in the air... broken off....
I wonder how many other "break offs" over the years were turtles ?????
Wildlife spotted... 1 beaver, 1 turkey and 7 deer on the way home. One of which was a buck and I have no idea how he got stopped before running into my driver's side door. He was so close I could hear his hooves sliding on the pavement as he somehow got turned in time to miss the side of the truck... PHEW !!!!!

-- June 7th --
I fished the muddy Clarion River today for a couple hours, found a hole that was not too muddy and landed 2 smallmouths and a couple creek chubs. Not a good day but any day fishing is better than one working !!!

-- June 8th --
Returned to the same spot on the Clarion, water still a little off color. I landed 4 fish this afternoon and missed a few strikes ??
Landed 3 smallmouths and one small brown trout.

-- June 13th --
Fished for two hours after work on my favorite rock below Hallton. I landed a nice smallmouth on my second cast and was hoping for a great evening, but that was not the case. Only landed one more smallmouth and a bunch of creek chubs the last half hour. Did notice a few fish jumping just after dusk but they were further away than I could cast. One deer on the way over and four on the way back on State game lands.

-- June 14th --
Tried a new spot below Hallton, I needed my waders and the fishing was fun. Landed 5 smallmouths, 1 Brown Trout and 2 Suckers. All on crawlers. I had one fish eat 4 crawlers in the same spot and never did get a hook in him.
The Brown Trout and two sores on its sides, one on each side, they looked really nasty so I quickly released it by cutting the line.
Saw a hen with 6 polts on the way home and one deer.
BR> -- June 15th --
Took at mid-afternoon trip to the Clarion. Not the best time of day for fishing but what the heck !!!
Fished several spots but my ROCK below Hallton produced the most exciting fishing.
Started at Belltown and fished two spots and only landed one smallmouth. Then traveled up past Heath Station on River Road and stopped at a place I never fished before... WOW it was exciting there.. trout jumping out of the water catching "bugs" but they sure wanted nothing to do with anything I threw at them = "BUMMER".
Left after a half hour of watching rising and jumping trout and stopped at my rock below Hallton. Luck was better there and all the fish I caught were nice size... 4 more smallmouths, 5 Suckers and the fish of the day = a HUGE Channel Catfish. I think maybe it is what I had on the night I fished there after dark and it broke my line. It was HUGE, one of my biggest fish... Here's where more fun started... I was still fishing with two rods on a tripod... after setting the hook and starting the fight of a life time with the Catfish, sure as heck the other rod gets pulled off the tripod and I had to step on the handle to keep it from going into the river. Once I saw that I had a huge catfish on the one rod I switched positions and stood on the handle of that rod and let the fish have some line on a loose drag.. I reeled in the other it was a nice smallmouth, pulled the hook and let that one go witout a pic.. "BUMMER" it was a nice one... then back to landing the catfish. Naturally I did not have the net with me(would not have fit anyhow), so I played the fish until I felt it was tired enough to pull onto the rock and jump on it !!!! LOL.... a couple pics and back in it went with a THANK YOU !!!
After the fighting of two fish the hole went cold for about an hour then a few suckers and a few smallies... this hour was entertaining too... a bunch of ducks decided to teach the young ones how to swim... what a racket.. it was soooooo funny. Finally they got on a rock and settled down. In the photo of the sucker in my hand the rock in the background across the river and upstream was where they were when I took the photo..

-- June 16th --
I returned to my ROCK after work this evening and had a great evening of catching fish. In two hours I landed 9 fish = 3 Suckers, 3 Smallmouths, 2 Brook Trout, and a Rock Bass. All on using a half a crawler instead of a whole one which is what I usually use while fishng from the ROCK..
Saw 6 deer on the way home and while I was fishing I watched a Heron way down river trying to catch a fish, which it had no luck doing and finally flew away..

-- June 17th --
Took the waders out and waded and "still fished" an area right downstream from the Shandly Hill Bridge. Fish 3 hours and landed 5 smallies... lost one NICE smallmouth when it jumped out of the water and spit the hook.
Lost another fish when the line broke as it turned and headed down stream. Saw 22 deer on the way home.. 3 groups of three on SGL#54 the rest on private land.. no bucks...

BR>
-- June 20th --
Well after working around the house mowing grass, etc in the morning I went over to the river for a hour and a half and landed 5 smallmouths wading, lost one when it jumped out of the water again, and missed a few bites. All that action ran me out of worms, so I went home and returned two hours later for another 1.5 hours of fishing a different spot nearer Belltown.. landed 2 smallies and 2 more suckers... also had a NICE palimino swimming around the whole time but it would not "take" any of my presentations. Saw three hen turkeys with young during my travels and only 2 deer....

-- June 21st --
Fished two hours at the spot I have been wading and landed 10 smallmouths and lost a couple. Then stop at the ROCK on the way home for an hour and landed two more smallies and another Channel Catfish, not quite as big as the last one. Saw my first set of twin fawns on the way over.

-- June 22nd --
I thought I could slip in some fishing between the rains and fished for 3 hours at Portland Mills. I did not take the camera in case it did rain, so no photos from today. I fished for 3 hours and landed 10 Smallmouths and a 12" Brown Trout. I can not count how mant bites I had that I did not get the hook set ?????
I was using a smaller than usual (for me) hook so that may have been part of the problem ?????
I still had a blast even though the smallies were not very big. I need to landed 13 more for a HUNDRED Smallmouths..!!!!!

-- June 27th --
Waded after work for a hour and a half and landed 5 smallies and one sucker below Hallton.

-- June 28th --
Fished four different spots including one I had never fished before below Heath Station. That was the only place that produced fish. I landed 5 smallies and 2 suckers using small pieces of crawlers and lost something on a white rooster tail after I ran out of worms. Two of the smallies were really nice.. no camera so no photos...

-- June 29th --
I fished three different spots and landed 7 smallmouths. All on crawlers and half crawlers. River is really low, hardly any water at Belltown, so I did not even stop there to try to fish. I may not get to fish too much for awhile, it's hay season and I have to put in hay for the horses for the upcoming winter months...



JULY FISHING

-- July 1st --
Today starts another month for fishing, I have managed to break a "record" for me. It's the first day of July and I have already landed over 100 Smallmouth Bass. I must admit I have no idea why the total trout caught number is so low. I have not fished "trout streams" that much this year but the number of trout landed from the Clarion River is exceptially low for this year ???? Another thing I find interesting is the number of Suckers caught, it too is already higher than any recent years of fishing the Clarion, it's as if Suckers have replaced Trout in my favorite fishing holes ????

-- July 5th --
Fished from 2pm until 4pm, was very hot and water warm, fishing not too good. I managed only 2 smallies and 2 suckers. LOTS of people floating by on tubes, and floats... lound and splashing probably did not help the fishing.

-- July 13th --
Met two friends and traveled to Lake Erie. You can read all about the trip here.. LAKE ERIE TRIP

-- July 15th --
Today was an early morning fishing trip to the Clarion. I fished from 5:45am until 8:30am. All the action was within the first hour, after that NOTHING, not even a bite. Landed 1 Smallmouth, 2 more Channel Cats, and 2 Rock Bass. I was amazed at how warm the water was even though I was fishing a pretty deep hole ???
two deer on SGL on the way over, a doe and fawn on the return drive within a mile from the house and 4 Ruffed Grouse crossed the road near Hallton... BR>
EVENING TRIP ====
Returned to the same place as this morning. Landed three smallmouths and one MONSTER Channel Cat. Fishing was slow and it was hot... 17 deer on the way home at 8:30pm..

-- July 19th --
Only managed a little over an hours fishing this morning before the rains chased me home. I fished at Portland Mills and landed one Brown Trout and one Smallmouth.. no photos -- raining...

AFTERNOON TRIP...
stopped raining so I went back over to the spot I have been wading. Water is even lower than the last time I was there ??
Only managed one smallmouth and one sucker, but actually did not fish that long. I heard some splashing down stream and looked and saw three deer in the river, two does and a fawn. I watched them for about 20 minutes as they slowly walked up stream and towards me. Got tons of photos, including one picture of one of the does peeing in the river. LOL Watching the deer made ther day worth while, number of fish caught sure did not add much to the day LOL
Total wildlife spotted for both trips ---- 20 deer total (2 small bucks and 5 fawns, 13 antlerless), one female turkey and young, in fact the young were very young and very small compared to the poults I have been seeing recently in my travels, must be a late batch ??? and one grouse.

-- July 20th --
I spent some time fishing at a neighbor's farm pond this afternoon. They told me there are some really huge Largemouths in their pond and I was welcome to try to catch them. So I thought I would give it a try. Managed to land only three small ones. One on a spinner, one on a Mr. Twister and one on a rebel minnow. I'll have to return some evening and throw some "old time" jitterbugs and jointed lures and see how they react to something they do not see too often...

More driving than fishing for me today. I traveled down river from Belltown to Clarion stopping here and there. Still can not get over how low the water level is and when I got to the Cook Forest area I could not believe the number of people, tubes, canoes and folks swimming in the river..., Not a total waste of time though .. I landed 4 smallmouths and one sucker, got lots of snags, and even managed to miss a few...

-- July 27th --
Fished a couple hours below where Toby Creek epmties into the river above Portland Mills. Fishing was slow - not too many bites.. Only managed to land three Smallmouths and a bunch of creek chubs.



AUGUST FISHING

-- August 2nd --
Fished on the Edward-John with two buddies again this morning and we all did better than my trip on July 12th, with some jumbos and doubles for each of us.. We landed 29 Perch between the three of us.
Here's what I posted as a fishing report on an erie message board... =
[quote] ""Beautiful Morning with 35 anglers on board. Fishing was good in the morning and slowly dwindled thru the rest of the morning as the temperatures rose. It may not be an exact count but probably aropund 400 perch landed. I saw a Sheephead and a White Bass also caught. One lad had two jumbos in "his bucket" and was amazingly proud of them as we heard about them all morning ... great trip.. Thanks to Captain John, Shawn, and Ray for another great trip for me... [/quote]
I'll be returning later this week for another try at a limit Erie Perch !!!


-- August 3rd --
Went to the river this afternoon and landed only one smallmouth and 5 rock bass.
I had an exciting moment on the way over though. A coyote ran out in front of me and I have no idea how I did NOT hit it ????
-- August 10th --
HOT ... HOT... HOT....
Did I say it was hot fishing this afternoon... I was sweating and I was just sitting and still fishing with the tripod set-up..
Landed one 15 inch Smallmouth and a Rock Bass.. that was it...
Had a deer come down to get a drink and even she headed back into the woods after her drink...

-- August 30th --
Decided to dunk some crawlers this morning. Fished form 6:00am until 9;00am. Not very good this morning, water was too warm, it felt like bath water and after a few minutes the crawlers start to look like hell. Managed one bullhead catfish, 5 Rock Bass, and maybe the nicest Smallmouth of the year.
Think it's time to start scouting for good deer spots for the October Senior Citizen antlerless season.












2010 SEASON SUMMARY

FISHING TRIPS
Clarion River - 43
Kyle Lake - 1
North Fork - 3
Toby Creek - 1
Lake Erie - 3
Farm Pond - 1


FISH CAUGHT
Smallmouth Bass - 122
Sucker - 36
Trout- 23
Rock Bass - 24
Channel Catfish - 5
Yellow Perch- 41
Largemouth Bass - 3
Bullhead - 3
Hellbender - 1
Snapping Turtle - 1


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