What did you Catch Today?
- Thread starter troutspinner
- Start date
Don
Well-known member
Sounds fun. Not sure I could stay awake.
troutspinner
Nuts & Bolts Guy
A friend and I fished the Schuylkill yesterday. We tried out the area in Pottstown where they installed a new dock this past year. I was really hopeful that spot would produce but it only revealed one Smallie around 1lb. There doesn’t seem to be much rock in the area my boat was able to access, just silt. To salvage the day, we trailered up and ran down to Phoenixville where we were able to find 8 or so Smallies and one Channel Cat. The average size of the smallies was pretty good, 1-2lbs and they are starting to spread out now. Water temps are still 61 degrees, fine for smallies obviously but the action still has room to improve and will as it gets warmer.
One of the smallies, they were hitting Neds and Senkos.
This guy slammed a black and blue Texas rig craw. I thought I had a champ of a smallie when it hit and initially fought but when it went to the bottom I knew. Fun for sure. I “guess” around 12 lbs. We tried to weigh it but my awesome scale read .15 lbs. Time for a new one.
One of the smallies, they were hitting Neds and Senkos.
This guy slammed a black and blue Texas rig craw. I thought I had a champ of a smallie when it hit and initially fought but when it went to the bottom I knew. Fun for sure. I “guess” around 12 lbs. We tried to weigh it but my awesome scale read .15 lbs. Time for a new one.
HenryDavid
Well-known member
A few recent trouts - Mayflies have been in full swing !
Don
Well-known member
Yaw know I like Pickerel and am always looking for for big ones. So I started looking to the Vineland's and its Cedar colored water to provide good leads. Took My Cousin yesterday. She sure showed me about fishing. The biggest I've caught it 18" two yrs ago. Yesterday she caught this on a Texas rigged 4" French Pearl Kieteck Shiner. You'll see that with the 12 inch bass I caught, I couldn't hold it far enough out to look like an 18 incher. But we had fun, couple of old folks fishing our hearts out. I caught oodles of large Gills and small Perch and Crappy.
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HenryDavid
Well-known member
See any top water action ?
Kept a couple today and let a few dozen go. All on the replacement 5wt st Croix. These ones were about 9 lbs. A few other jumbos chased but I kept my self limit of 1 big one and an older guy from the hatchery had the slightly smaller one die on him. Both 9 lbs or slightly more. Scale isn’t super granular.
Yesterday I fished after church with my bro. He never caught a big rainbow besides a 19” native in an ADX mountain stream. We fixed that.
He’s not working and eats a ton of salmon. That’s why I kept one each trip. These were 10 lbs and his was 27.5” mine was 26.5”.
I’ll never get tired of seeing the baby blue and bright pink streaks of a double digit rainbow in a spring fed creek.
He’s not working and eats a ton of salmon. That’s why I kept one each trip. These were 10 lbs and his was 27.5” mine was 26.5”.
I’ll never get tired of seeing the baby blue and bright pink streaks of a double digit rainbow in a spring fed creek.
Kids got in on the act a few weekends back for kids derby. We put 1300 ish in, gave out free mounts, my usual st Croix UL rods and 15 series XT reels for a few of the hundred prizes.
My youngest got one 26.5” and 9.6 lbs. Logan got his first pali and it was a beautiful fish @ 24.5”
Elaina loves trout but doesn’t like killing. Since derby rules require it I dropped boys off then she made the trek back to fish while I helped clean up.
My bro came back at the end and said they couldn’t get on any……the 380 kids caught a bunch but not nearly all. I took her for a short walk and while peeping the deep part of a big run my bro pointed out a hog under my feet. To his disbelief I had her drop a blue goo egg sack in front of it and fight was on.
I’m glad he videoed. It was a rodeo lol. At one point I had to put rod over my shoulder so she wouldn’t point it at the fish. I was maneuvering a net. Trout tried giving over a small dam. I cringed then gave her line a hard tug. It held, the fish went head down and not over dam. A few bursts later we netted a 29” range 12.5 lbs+ monster. She woulda been the largest fish or challenged it. The winner had been 12.6 lbs and 28.5”. We snapped a quick pic then I released it. Sorry it isn’t a great pic for size. It had a lot of fight and I wanted to quickly release it. Had to hug it and tuck its tail to subdue for pic.
The week after derby I was back in NY. Drove in on no sleep for derby then straight back. I saw a pic of cars 4 rows deep when the creek reopened Monday.
Completely shocked given some of the bad actors we inevitably get. That trout was still in shallows unharmed last Thursday! I’m not surprised he wasn’t caught but they don’t hang at shore with all that pressure.
There were some giants taken and many limits of them. Largest two limits were 48 lbs and 42 iirc with a 3rd at 38.5. Her’s doesn’t look nearly the size of the largest derby fish but after 4 years handling tens of thousands, mostly 8-18 lbs I’ve a good handle on size. A lot of 26” footballs that look larger. The “shoulders” give away the truly massive over 12 lbs trout. Doesn’t really matter, it wasn’t entered and went back in for another lucky angler. My bro tried hard to convince her to take it and I was proud of her she stuck to her convictions. The net pics are the best I could get from video. I can link a Dropbox vid too. Not sure how that works for non email shared viewers but should work. The video shows its real size plus is pretty great.
My youngest got one 26.5” and 9.6 lbs. Logan got his first pali and it was a beautiful fish @ 24.5”
Elaina loves trout but doesn’t like killing. Since derby rules require it I dropped boys off then she made the trek back to fish while I helped clean up.
My bro came back at the end and said they couldn’t get on any……the 380 kids caught a bunch but not nearly all. I took her for a short walk and while peeping the deep part of a big run my bro pointed out a hog under my feet. To his disbelief I had her drop a blue goo egg sack in front of it and fight was on.
I’m glad he videoed. It was a rodeo lol. At one point I had to put rod over my shoulder so she wouldn’t point it at the fish. I was maneuvering a net. Trout tried giving over a small dam. I cringed then gave her line a hard tug. It held, the fish went head down and not over dam. A few bursts later we netted a 29” range 12.5 lbs+ monster. She woulda been the largest fish or challenged it. The winner had been 12.6 lbs and 28.5”. We snapped a quick pic then I released it. Sorry it isn’t a great pic for size. It had a lot of fight and I wanted to quickly release it. Had to hug it and tuck its tail to subdue for pic.
The week after derby I was back in NY. Drove in on no sleep for derby then straight back. I saw a pic of cars 4 rows deep when the creek reopened Monday.
Completely shocked given some of the bad actors we inevitably get. That trout was still in shallows unharmed last Thursday! I’m not surprised he wasn’t caught but they don’t hang at shore with all that pressure.
There were some giants taken and many limits of them. Largest two limits were 48 lbs and 42 iirc with a 3rd at 38.5. Her’s doesn’t look nearly the size of the largest derby fish but after 4 years handling tens of thousands, mostly 8-18 lbs I’ve a good handle on size. A lot of 26” footballs that look larger. The “shoulders” give away the truly massive over 12 lbs trout. Doesn’t really matter, it wasn’t entered and went back in for another lucky angler. My bro tried hard to convince her to take it and I was proud of her she stuck to her convictions. The net pics are the best I could get from video. I can link a Dropbox vid too. Not sure how that works for non email shared viewers but should work. The video shows its real size plus is pretty great.
A few other kids and a group with a pile! I’ll have to find winner’s pic. A lot of fish in the 10-13 lbs range but we go by length first. I’ve noticed some that look real chunky often are 24-26” and the 28”+ fool you on weight a little looking long and a bit thinner. I’ve one I caught last year in a random fast riffle that was 14.5 lbs and it was clear what he/she was when I tried to net. When they look both super long and impossibly wide across plus the big belly you know it’s pushing 30” and 13 lbs +. I can usually guess them to within 1/4-1/2” and 1/4 lbs on the huge ones.
In the crystal clear water all bets are off. They might look 16” and be 26”. That creek really is deceiving on how deep and clear runs can be. I’ve gotten wet inside my chest waders more than a couple times stepping into “3’” water lol.
Apologies for the blacked out pics. Not my kids so I don’t post faces out of respect for the parents. The top pic and bottom are the same kid/fish. Camera and position make a lot of difference. I took the bottom one and not the top one. Top one looks absolutely huge. I don’t think he won the 2nd or 3rd heaviest limit or any of the length awards. Still an awesome mornings catch.
In the crystal clear water all bets are off. They might look 16” and be 26”. That creek really is deceiving on how deep and clear runs can be. I’ve gotten wet inside my chest waders more than a couple times stepping into “3’” water lol.
Apologies for the blacked out pics. Not my kids so I don’t post faces out of respect for the parents. The top pic and bottom are the same kid/fish. Camera and position make a lot of difference. I took the bottom one and not the top one. Top one looks absolutely huge. I don’t think he won the 2nd or 3rd heaviest limit or any of the length awards. Still an awesome mornings catch.
We had some inconsistent measures at one point too. Ended up with 2 winners for Brookie and Tiger. Pretty rare both categories have 2 entries the exact same to 1/8” and .1 lbs. We had a line of limits within an hour and after 3 hrs straight of weigh ins no one criticized the volunteers at the scales. Couldve remeasured but we just ordered a second trophy and I bought some more prize rod setups. Wasn’t even a vote, everyone in the coop board are great people and this is our favorite event.
Melvinp
Well-known member
A little but I think it’s was from fallfish they were eating something I couldn’t see
Melvinp
Well-known member
Really your killing me again nice catch
Had to make up for my 6 mos absence lol. Same locale I think I sent you last year. I think most burnt out on post kids derby fish. A lot of the rest of creek is quiet right now.
Lehigh from my place to Bear was just stocked by my neighbors too. It’s a bike only trip or with a little notice I can be around to bring you from tribs side and get you on some untouched mountain streams on the way. There’s a stretch up there I’m told produce 22”+ fish year round pretty far from stocking areas too. I see a fly fisherman there often running green quillbacks and bringing out a limit plus a limit of empties lol. Lehigh has a lot of nice water to get away from crowds.
Blackcat Outdoors
Well-known member
I've been super busy since the weekend, but I did my annual kyack trip sat-mon. We topped 200 fish caught as a group before the end. Maybe I'll make a trip thread, when I have time, but sat the trout were super active in the rain. Nice mix of species caught by all. I didn't get many pics on the water sat between the rain and an unplanned swim I took in the rapids 
.
Sun the small mouth bite took off. I boated 10 or so with a few really nice ones including 1 that went better than 3lbs.
Mon, I had to bail a little early and didn't fish much. The smallies were just coming on strong when I left for home.
Pics:
.Sun the small mouth bite took off. I boated 10 or so with a few really nice ones including 1 that went better than 3lbs.
Mon, I had to bail a little early and didn't fish much. The smallies were just coming on strong when I left for home.
Pics:
