Row, row, row your boat...

After floating the Lehigh with Shane on Saturday, my Dad and I hopped into the car on Sunday afternoon and headed for Reading where we meet up with Jake and Steve, the most badass mailman around.  Now my dad taught me much of what I know about fishing in general, but he is not a fly fisherman.  On this trip, however, he agreed to give it a go.  My only goal for the evening was to have my dad catch at least one smallmouth with a fly rod and thankfully it all worked out.  About half way through the float, after some coaching on casting, stripping the fly and just getting used to having a 9 foot rod in his hands, my dad landed his first ever fish on a fly rod, a spunky little Schuylkill River smallie!  Well done Pops.  In other news, between Jake and myself we saw 4 muskies and had two follows in the short float we did on Sunday afternoon.  Talk about exciting!  Seeing a big gnarly tooth filled face eyeing up your streamer boat side is a huge adrenaline rush, and the fish didn't even eat the fly!  I'll be back after those fish for sure.

My dad and I on the Skuk

The first of many on the fly rod

Monday morning found me on the road to meet up with Jake to float the Lehigh.  We decided to do a longer float than Shane and I did on Saturday, and it paid off with some solid fishing.  We arrived at Bowmanstown around 10:30 and put the boats in the water for a full day of fishing.  We each floated alone in our own boats so we could pick up some friends later on during the day.  The fishing was disappointingly slow again in the earlier part of the float just like it had been on Saturday with Shane, but we still had high hopes for the later part of the day.

Me hydrating in the brutal heat

A solid fish that was chasing bait on the bank and decided to rock my streamer

Close up

Jake pounding the water with some new streamer patterns

Jake was on a hot streak with these 3 nice fish in just about that many casts

The view downriver from my boat

It was a Litespeed and Scott rod party on my boat on Monday

Around 5 o'clock Jake and I rowed into Walnutport where we met up with my buddies Shane and Tom.  Shane hoped into Jake's boat and Tom jumped into mine and we headed for Tom's house right on the river about 3 miles below us.  The fishing was pretty good right off the bat with a bunch of smaller fish coming to hand right away, but the fishing was still far from great.

Tom working his magic

Shane and Jake floating along just downstream from us

Tom with his first respectable bass of the evening

Just upriver from Tom's house, it was like someone flipped a switch.  Within minutes, it went from a fish every few hundred yards between the two boats to a fish every few casts for every angler.  We had a blast and finally rowed into the takeout at Tom's in darkness.  Overall, it was an awesome three days of fishing with some of my closest friends and family.  Sometimes the fishing was good and sometimes it wasn't so good, but it was always fun.  My arms and shoulders sure are feeling it after three days of rowing the new boat.  I took a break today, so I might give it a go tomorrow.  We shall see.  Enjoy the pictures and get out there and fish!  Smallmouth fishing is an absolute blast and it is a great way to get out even in the heat of Summer!

Tom with a super solid fish that killed a swung zuddler

Becker with a great fish

Jake getting it done with a SLOB

Perfectly placed Impersonator 

Lehigh Bassin'

Well today was the inaugural float of my new two man pontoon boat and it was a scorcher.  Temperatures were around 100 degrees for most of the day, but my buddy Shane and I decided the best way to cool off would be with some hot smallmouth action.  (See what I did there.)  Hot smallmouth action is not what we found, however, as the fishing was pretty terrible for most of the day.  I spent the majority of our trip behind the oars, but we stopped to fish a few times and I did make a few casts in some likely looking water with nothing to show for it.  Even though the Lehigh River bass were not cooperating, we had an absolute blast on the water today.  The one and only smallmouth landed today was Shane's first ever smallmouth caught on a fly rod.  A fat 17" fish is not a bad way to start a smallmouth career.  Again, awesome job man!  The fish fell to an olive Zuddler stripped behind a giant boulder in the middle of the river.  Well technically "off" of a giant boulder as Shane's cast was a bit too far and the fly landed right on top of it. The fish absolutely CRUSHED the fly as it dropped into the water and the fight was on.  Shane had a ton of fish follow and nose the fly, but very few committals.  Hey, that's fishing for you.  Overall, it was a great day on the water spent with a good friend and I have to say, I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new boat.  I'm floating the Skuk tomorrow with my dad, so we will see how that goes.  Now for some pictures!

Gearing up

Keep on pumpin!

Becker with a big silly grin on his face hooked up to a bronze and olive freight train

Fishy in the water

That bass gave that 6 wt just about all it could handle

And the pot of gold (or maybe bronze) at the end of the rainbow

Piggy wanted that Zuddler

Right before we sent the fish back to his rock

Floatin' in Style

After years and years of dreaming about it, I finally purchased my first boat!  Well, maybe it's not quite a "boat," but it's still one of the coolest things I've ever bought before.  For a long time I thought about getting a canoe or a kayak, but then I wanted a one man pontoon boat that I could use to float down my favorite trout and smallmouth rivers.  A few days ago, however, through some magical twist of fate, I was given the opportunity to pick up a two man pontoon boat for a killer price, so I jumped on it.  It's an Outcast PAC 1200 inflatable pontoon boat that will be absolutely perfect for floating the Lehigh, Schuylkill, Delaware and Juniata rivers along with quite a few other rivers and even some ponds and lakes too.  I'm super excited about it and I can't wait to pick it up when I get home from the beach on Saturday morning.  I'm planning on heading straight to the water on Saturday afternoon for her maiden voyage (well at least with me behind the oars!) so stay tuned for some cool smallmouth (or maybe if I'm super, crazy, and unbelievably lucky even a musky) picture or two and a full report of how the first trip goes. Thanks again Steve!

I'll be floating in style in less than 48 hours

Dog Days of Summer

With the oppressive heat of Summer upon here in South Eastern PA, Jake, Jared and I decided to hit the Skuk for some smallmouth action.  Check out Jake's blog for the report!

allthingsflyfishing.blogspot.com

We Are!

If you've read my blog at all before, you probably know that I'll be going to Penn State University this Fall, and because of that, I had to make the drive to Happy Valley this past Wednesday for my FTCAP and class scheduling day.  When I was out there, I clearly had to fish and fish I did.  I arrived in State College on Wednesday afternoon and after stopping in TCO State College to see my dear old pals Paul and George, I headed over to Spring Creek for the afternoon.  I fished for a couple of hours and managed to catch quite a few nice fish.  There were a few small caddis buzzing around, so I fished a dry dropper with a CDC and Elk up top and a Sugar Daddy and Frenchie below.  This was a dynamite setup and I had fish eating both the nymphs and the dry for the three or so hours I was over there.  

Pretty little Spring Creek fish

After I finished with my class scheduling and what not at PSU on Thursday, I again headed over to Spring Creek to fish for a few hours.  Yet again, I caught a lot of fish and just enjoyed the cool water flowing around me in the 90+ degree heat.  

On Friday morning, I woke up and headed to Big Fishing Creek for a little change of pace.  It was again dry dropper time, but this time, I fished a big Yellow Stimulator and a Green Weenie and Sugar Daddy or Frenchie below it.  This was another killer setup with some nice fish coming to hand.  While the Green Weenie receives much hate as a trash fly, (admittedly from me sometimes) it was just what the fish wanted on Friday.  In the words of the great George Daniel, "Respect the Weenie." After a few hours on Big Fishing, I hit Spring on my way back to PSU before heading home.  I was only on the water for about an hour at Spring, but that was all it took and I caught a few nice fish and lost a super solid fish that ate a Sugar Daddy below a caddis.  Overall it was a great trip and I really look forward to spending a whole lot more time on the waters around State College over the next four years!  Back here in Southeastern PA, however, most of the water around here is much too warm to trout fish, so I'm back at the bass game.  Tomorrow Jared and myself are headed to Reading to float the Schuylkill on the bright blue blob that is Jake's beloved boat, so stay tuned for a story, some pictures and maybe even some video.  

Big Fishing Creek

BOOYAH!

If you've ever watched any type of outdoor channel during its bass fishing programs, you've probably seen the awesome commercials for BOOYAH Baits and their signature "BOOYAH!" throughout the commericials.  Well yesterday, I let out quite a "BOOYAH" myself when I landed a super solid smallmouth from a small creek I was fishing yesterday afternoon.  While I have caught much bigger bass in lakes and larger rivers on... (gasp!) conventional and spinning gear... this fish is definitely my largest from a tiny little creek only 15 feet across.  And the best part about it all?  I was fishing to a little bass that was chasing creek chubs and when I made a cast to that fish, I was greeted with the sight of a flash of bronze muscle ripping out of a rock pile and engulfing my fly.  He was big, he was strong and he was pissed off... aka why I love smallmouth fishing.  Now is the time to fish for these bad boys, so GO FISHING!

Now that's what a smallie's mouth should look like

Not a giant, but for this creek, this fish was in charge

In the Summertime

To quote the great Mungo Jerry, "In the Summertime, when the weather is high," it's smallmouth fishing time!  Ok, maybe that's not exactly how it goes, but that is how I like to think of it.  This afternoon, I snuck out for a few hours to a local put-and-take stocked creek that I was told is loaded with smallmouth.  The rumors were true, and I had an absolute blast catching smallmouth after smallmouth all evening long.  While most of the fish weren't giants, I saw a few really good fish and had a big momma follow my popper for a good 10 feet before she saw me and was outta there.  I caught fish on foam poppers, a Dahlberg Diver, and on pink, black and olive Zuddlers, all down sized for this little creek.  If you've never tried Smallmouth fishing with a fly rod, DO IT! It is an absolute blast and while I love trout fishing, it's hard to beat the fight of an angry smallmouth.  So, grab a few small poppers, some little streamers, a fast action 4 or 5 wt. and get after it!

This guy was super pissed and very strong for his size

He couldn't resist that little pink Zuddler bouncing around in front of him

I wonder why they call them Smallmouths?

Last but not least, a grainy picture of a deer from like a hundred yards away