The first couple of weeks of the New Year have brought less than favorable weather conditions for spending time outdoors. We’ve had multiple days of below freezing temperatures, sub-zero wind chills, and almost every body of water in Pennsylvania is frozen solid. Even some of the spring creeks have been seeing ice on the edges of their banks. Against my better judgment, I have ventured out in search for trout three times since the end of December.
Read moreFounding Fathers And Benner Spring Browns
Somehow winter has crept back into the picture and it is cold again. On Saturday I drove north to spend the morning pheasant hunting at Martz Game Farm with three close friends of mine. The four of us call ourselves the “Founding Fathers.” This phrase refers to four friends who started a fly fishing trip to Big Pine Creek each spring as a way to stay in touch after college and share our love of the outdoors. It’s hard to believe but this June will be the fourteenth year we’ve gone. It started with the four of us and has grown into a trip that at times has included as many as thirteen people. I credit two of the founding fathers; Mike Haines and Mike Mamrak as being two people who helped me grow as a fly fisherman when I was first learning the sport. The pheasant hunt in March gives the four of us an opportunity to plan for the spring fishing trip. This year after the pheasant hunt we drove to the Muncy Valley to stay the night in a new property and cabin that Mike Mamrak recently acquired.
Read moreOld Friend, Wintertime On Spring Creek
Ask any serious Pennsylvania fly fisherman what the best trout stream in the state is and they are likely to answer Penns Creek or Spring Creek. I was fortunate enough to spend a lot of time fly fishing both of these bodies of water while attending college at Penn State University. I spent considerably more time on Spring Creek because of its proximity to the campus. I have many memories spending spring evenings and weekends on a limestone riffle of Spring Creek trying to fool a rising wild brown trout with a Sulphur Dun. Spring Creek has one of the highest densities of wild brown trout per square mile of any stream in the state. And it al has miles of fishable water that is accessible to the public. It is truly a fly fishing gem of the east and probably the entire country.
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