The Little Yellow Pill

May means sulphur time in Pennsylvania, and there's no better place to find them than central Pennsylvania's limestoners.  There's the usual places to fish, and then there's this place.  Overlooked, underfished and while it might not have the high numbers of  fish that the more famous streams of the area have we sure weren't complaining.  

It was a day for the Watermasters, floating from spot to spot and working all the risers we found.  Even though it was a bright bluebird day we still found ample numbers of bugs and rising fish all afternoon, especially along the shady edges.

The little yellow pill, the object of everyone's desires

......and it's fake right where we like it to be

First time for Ed using the rafts, and I think he liked them

Just missed this cartwheeling brownie but I got it's entry splash

Everyone was looking for sulphurs tonight

Hatching flies all day, but come evening clouds of sulphurs made their way out of the overhanging trees and took up their positions over the riffles by the thousands; and once they hit the water the fish were ready for them.  These fish aren't pressured much, and when they ate they ate.  No fussy refusals, no other people.  Not a bad combination to share with a friend for a May evening. 

Potter 2013

All you have to say is "Potter" and the mind races.  Clear, cold streams filled with wild brook and brown trout in a remote setting along with great food and fun times around the fire make it one of the best weekends of the year for me. This isn't the trip to be counting inches on fish, this is about simple attractor patterns on small streams and pounding up 20-30-40 fish a day on dries.  It's about no cell  reception, no stop signs, cold beer and no showers.  Manly man stuff.

Rich O photo

This sits overlooking a nice stretch of a popular stream in the area.  Very thoughtful!

This rod and reel combo holds a lot of nostalgia for me.  With each cast and fish caught, I know Bob was having as much fun as I was.....as well as looking at the pool upstream or wondering what was around the next bend.

Rich O photo

The neat thing about this area of Pennsylvania, is that on every stream you find the remnants of old railroads from the 1800's that used to cut their way up each valley so that timber could be brought back out. The local term used is "cart paths" and on this stream we have an easy walk out after an afternoon of fishing.  

Crab night is a favorite.  Note the demon in the bottle on the right side of the table.  There was also bacon wrapped shrimp and scallops, venison tenderloin fajitas, 6 week aged beef steaks, thick cut pork chops.........and my mothers now infamous blintzes for breakfast with blueberry and/or strawberry toppings.

Eat your salads when you get back home, cuz you're gonna need it.

Rich O photo

Ju-Ju

Ju-Ju comes in two different forms, good and bad.  See also:  Karma.  So do you believe?  I'm a firm believer that you create your own, things just don't happen for any old reason.  

Case in point:  Two friends float the Delaware River last week.  In the course of said float, Mike's second rod falls out of the water from the raft into the river.  It wasn't until some time later he discovered it "gone".

So we all show up at our campsite in Potter county the next day and he tells the story.  New Sage 5 weight rod, line, and reel missing.  Enough to make you cry......or drink heavily as we did.  Very heavily.  Note to self:  don't touch the apple 'shine next year if it shows up.

Someone gets the bright idea (aren't ideas always bright when you tip a few?) that he should call the fly shop on the D and report it.  Maybe someone will find it, but then again it's a pretty big river.  What the heck, worth a try anyway.

Several days go by.  We get back to the campsite one day after fishing and Mike has a smile on his face.  Seems he got this message from a guy who has a place along the river, that he found his rod.  Mike's smile from hammering brookies all day is widened by the fact that his rod was found AND someone turned it in.

Kinda restores your faith in humanity a bit, doesn't it?  Or at least in your fellow fisherman.  That's good stuff.

And good ju-ju.