Had a ton of laundry to do and needed some country air, so I headed up to the lake in DuBios after work Saturday. Awoke Sunday to overcast skies and tired eyes that kept my from heading to fish Spring Creek. Spent the day doing laundry and exploring the lake on the kayak with the 6wt. Picked up a few nice panfish and bass on a hopper dropper.
With the laundry finished I left the lake in search of wild trout and the waters of Spring Creek. Hit the Benner Springs section of water and was surprised to see only a few cars and a new bridge. The early afternoon heat was picking up and a few anglers were retiring from the stream. Two old trout bums were posted up in lawnchairs drinking cold Coors Banquet, laughing about life and the hardship of seeing 6x tippet. I gave a few words across the parking lot and was quickly invited over for a cold beer before getting on my way downstream.
The first few runs were free and I gave them a look but didn't see any fish. Continued down to a spot that held nice fish and was a great section last year for trico's. Fished a bwo barrs emerger with a sz 20 string thing to sighted fish with varied success. The fish were in the summer time game of hugging the banks and rocks. Picked up about a dozen nice fish sight nymphing.
The sun was relentless and still high in the sky by the time I started getting hungry. Decided to saunter downstream a bit further and found a really nice run with a deep undercut bank. Hooked into what I thought was a log before realizing what was going on. It was a big brown. The battled seemed like it was going to be easy before the big guy made the move downstream. I hurried to follow as the drag slipped out and the poor 4wt was taxed to exhaustion. I started thinking about the new Winston GVX in a 5wt. We ran a good hundred yards before I noticed a set of anglers glaring at me. When I finally got the thing in the net I headed straight for the bank to grab a picture and get a measurement. He was bushed from the battle so I didn't get the picture and only got an idea of its true size from the hoop size of the net. He was 18'' but had the size of a 20''.
Fish started rising as I decided to make the drive back home. They were taking midges and I didn't feel like doing that game. As I undressed at the car two other anglers were hurrying to the stream. They wanted to know why I was taking my boots off. "Kinda a long drive home", I replied with a grim, "Pittsburgh". The one guy called me crazy.
Me and a good buddy have been flogging our 6wt. flyrods over at the lake in Moraine State Park until midnight several nights recently. Looking at hooking into big stripped bass has been the allure the past few summer for the both of us. Seems like the past few years we make it up and catch a few fish each on different nights. I couldn't hook into a bass to save my life the past two trips. I did catch a monster perch that I might have killed. It was a legal hookup on a sinking clouser minnow. Geo managed two nice hybrids one evening that really spun his drag out. Maybe next week I'll give it one more shot.
