Big Puterbaugh Caddis

With the recent snow storm hitting Western PA, I found myself daydreaming of rising trout. Cutthroat trout of Montana and Wyoming. Hoppers would work in the late summer, but caddis seems to be key out west.

The Puterbaugh pattern has been a favorite all across the county for matching caddis hatches.  Size and color can be changed for the different hatches.  Size 10 is pretty big but will no doubt work on lightly pressured trout throughout the summer.  The Puterbaugh floats well and is very durable, due to the usage of foam.  Know it's time to whip them up in a variety of sizes and colors.  I'm also thinking this pattern will be good in pink and yellow.

The Puterbaugh pattern

They are also stupid easy to tie.

beer

Copper Wire

My grandfather was an electrician and avid fly fisherman. He is also a WWII Veteran, so that puts him in the area of the American Great Depression. His stories thus range from eating saltine crackers with butter to the Battle of the Bulge to that big trout that got away.

The other weekend I was telling him about my upcoming summer plans of Montana. He gave me a big thumbs up and some advice. Telling me to do it now before life takes hold. He took the cross country drive several times in his life. Trailering a popup camper, two kids and a wife, along with fishing tackle. Spinning gear produced so many cutthroat from Yellowstone Lake that he has giving them out to fellow campers.

As I started running down the list of flies that I was beginning to tie he stopped me at Copper Johns, stating he had spools of copper wire in his garage. I had recently purchase UTC wire in size large at about $2.50. When I started turning out flies it was easy to see that I needed more wire. So I took my grandfather up on his offer.

The bulk wire was not a shiny (something I like) and might have a slightly larger diameter.

In my eyes it is a major score. Changing the other features of the fly (legs, wingcase, thorax, tail, etc) while using this wire as the body will allow for several different patterns.





Can you tell the difference? I don't think the trout will mind.

Also, it feels pretty good to tie with some of grandpap's materials...

beer

Breaking in the new boots

A few days before Christmas there was a pretty amazing deal on Seirra Trading Post for hiking boots. They had them in my size and I needed a pair, so I ordered them writing it off as a present to myself. The boots are Asolo Fugitive Gore-Tex® Hiking Boots. And boy are they sweet. They were shipped to my parents house a few days before Christmas and my mom decided that she would add them to the gifts from Santa. Yes, free hiking boots. The only stipulation was that I had to wait until Christmas morning to open them. I wore them all day long.

Finally I had some time to check out a local hiking spot. A trail that I have driven past thousands of times without knowing that it existed. This would be The Rachel Carson Trail. A trail that winds 35.7 miles in the northern suburbs of Pittsburgh. I only did a few miles on it today but am anxious to explore it more.  Thinking that this stretch will be good for winter night hikes after work, it was good to investigate on such a mild day.

The boots felt really great. Deep tread outsoles held nicely on wet inclines and gave great stability on stream crossings. The waterproof GorTex held up nicely on the half dozen stream crossings I made on Crouse Run.

After reading an article in Backpacker Mag on proper lace technique, I decided to give it a try.

The middle lace points are twisted over to add a point that will not slip. You can see this on the left boot.


 

After getting laced up it was time to get down the trail.

I'm looking to put a few more miles on them tomorrow beside a stream that holds wild trout.











beer

Erie Tribs

After two days of fishing Spring Creek in State College PA, I had a single day to move out of my apartment before another two days of fishing. The second trip was up to Erie, PA for the steelhead. A place that is home to tributaries that bring lake run stealhead up from the lake starting in late fall and running trough the winter. It's a place that see's a lot of angler pressure but has enough fish to make the days fun.

We started out at a hole that produced fish a few weeks back.
 
 

derrrrp!

 

With limited success at this location we decided to get into the truck and drive downstream a few miles. Once at the parking lot there was the decision to be made as to upstream or downstream. Gesus picked downstream and it turned out to be a great choice.

When we made it down to a fishy looking location the weather really started to get worse. The winds picked up and a rainy/snow mix began. This event drove a lot of people from the stream and left us with great water and solitude.

Gesus began to fish a hole that would end up holding enough fish to keep us busy until dark. The top producing fly was one that his dad had given to him. It was a brown stonefly nymph in a size 16.

 The day grew dark and there was a good hike back up to the truck, so we had to call it quiets. There were only three cars left in the lot. A far cry from the nearly two dozen when we started. Spirits were high as we hit the highway for a hot shower, cold beer and a good meal. Our lodgings we too nice for two bums fresh from fishing.

After getting settled in the room it would have been easy to crash- out with room service and cable. Fortunately I had a little trick up my sleeve that gave me a second wind.

I have never been a fan of Samuel Adams for the reason that it was originally brewed in Pittsburgh but is popular for being from Boston. I have gotten over this feeling in the past few years and a case of it for Christmas made it easier to drink. This Coffee Stout is good. It has it's time and place to be drank (like most beer types). After a beer and shower we stayed in the hotel for food. good food.

The beers came first. Magic Hat Howl. A decent winter brew that has a touch of all the classics. Full roasted taste with hints of bread and coffee. A smoky after taste that adds to the aroma of rich malts.

Not overly impressive but a good paring with the meal.

We ended with some good conversation with the waitress, Liz. She wished us the best for tomorrows fishing and brought out two Erie Ol' Red Cease and Desist. A beer the Liz informed us was limited to two per customer because of it's high abv at 10.1%. It had a robust warming element that was probably produced by the intense malt flavor that helped hide the high abv.




 

We headed up to the room and opened up a PBR before deciding it a good idea to go swimming.

The next day was slow. Not many fish being caught by anyone. Yet a mild day for the end of December and a great way to end up the 2011 fishing season.

beer