The fishing in the area has been pretty good lately.  Two weeks ago we fished a creek one evening and got a decent smallmouth and had another fish on.  That Friday evening we decided to try out Ladue Reservoir for our first time and caught a bunch of fish.  We fished off the causeway and brought in a bunch of white perch, bluegills, and a few warmouths all on jigs tipped with a worm. 

Last Saturday morning we headed up to fish a local river.  Caught 2 smallmouth bass, a crappie, a decent walleye, and a few bluegills.  The bass, walleye, and crappie hit jigs with Gulp and we got the bluegills on worms.  After fishing there we decided to do a little white bass fishing and caught about 20 on almost anything we threw at them.  Jigs, Gulp, crankbaits, and flies all produced fish.  Since the fishing was so good we went back the next day and caught no white bass, only a crappie and a perch.  We didn't see anyone else get any either.  The fish were on fire one day and gone the next.  After there we hit a different river on our way home.  Ended up catching a white bass, carp, and 3 nice hybrid striped bass.

Thursday evening we fished a local lake and creek.  The water level was really low.  We didn't find any crappie in the lake, but caught a few green sunfish and warmouths.  In the creek we got a bunch of little crappie, a decent bass, and a small northern pike.

Friday evening we made another trip to NW Pennsylvania.  Although the water level really dropped since we last fished there, the one creek still managed produced a few smallmouths on crankbaits. Saturday morning we fished a nearby stream.  The creek was pretty low and we only got a bullhead, a bluegill, a perch, and a chub.  We saw multiple muskies and walleye but they wouldn't hit anything.  Downstream I found a hole with some rising trout, so I tied on a dry fly and got an aggressive hit but couldn't get the hook set.  The fish were spooked after that.  After there we fished a different spot and got a crappie and hooked one bowfin.  Since the fishing was very slow there we gave Sugar Lake a try for our first time and got lots of little bluegills, a bunch of decent crappie, and a nice bass.  All caught on streamers.  We also spotted 2 chain pickerel in the shallows but they wouldn't eat anything.  Sunday morning on our way back home we fished the headwaters of a popular stocked and wild trout stream and caught 2 native brook trout and hooked a bigger fish(probably a brown) on streamers.  A great couple weeks on the water!

Wild Trout, Bass, Bowfin, and Pike

This weekend was our first big wild trout trip of the year. We fished up for about 3/4 of a mile and only got one chub, then found a promising hole and got our first wild rainbow trout of the year.  Then the next hole upstream we got a wild brown that was probably 17-18 inches!  Both very colorful fish.  We fished the next couple holes and got a few bites, and even had on another fish but lost it at my feet.  I got hits from both dries and nymphs. 

The next stream we went to is one of my favorites and was the creek my brother and I both caught our first ever wild brookies in.  I lost track of how many fish we caught here, but it was in the 20s I think.  We covered about a mile and a half and just about every good hole and run we either caught a fish in or spooked one.  All the fish here slammed dry flies, didn't have to tie on a nymph or streamer.

We took a lunch break and then decided to try out another creek we never fished before.  On our way there we made a pit stop at a very tiny creek on the side of the road and caught 2 nice natives in about 5-10 minutes!  So we got to the target stream and only managed 1 brook trout and a chub, but it was still fun. 

Our last fishing spot was a larger creek.  The creek, really a river, was pretty high and muddy but we still were able to catch 2 very nice smallmouth bass on jigs with Gulp minnows.  We even saw a bald eagle fly by. 

This morning we got up very early to try it out again but only ended up with one little bass.  We headed to a different part of the creek and got skunked,  so we decided to switch waterways.  At the spot we caught a bunch of little bluegills and shiners, and also caught our first bowfin of the year on one of the shiners.  I was able to see a couple of bowfin also, so they are now coming into the shallow water to spawn.  At this same spot we caught tons of crappie last year, but didn't get any today or the last time we fished it, so I don't know what's up.  They might not have moved in yet. 

After there we went to search for white bass. We didn't catch any, the run might not have started yet, but we did catch a nice northern pike pushing 30in.  We also caught a bunch of small bluegills, perch, and hooked a carp.  It was a great weekend!