County No. 14 Carroll County

Father's Day 2017 and the family is out as an entire group. With my oldest son working in the evenings, and my wife finishing up her school year we don't often have everyone together. This morning we got everyone up and drove up to Cascade Lake. My wife had read about it, and even though the boys are well into their teens, we thought it would still be fun. From my point of view it meant a chance to possibly catch a fish in a new county.

After paying the fee to get into the area, $15 a person, we made our way to the parking area. A walk down the hill brought us to a very pretty area. Personally it reminded me of of Lake Lure in North Carolina, where they filmed some of the scenes for "Dirty Dancing." (My family visited that area a few years back.) There were water slides, a diving platform, with three different heights, paddle boats, and a small beach for the younger kids.

There were multiple signs around the area that said "Catch and Release" fishing only. I made my way towards the earthen dam at the far end of the lake. I spotted a couple of other anglers and just before I made my first cast one was reeling in a largemouth bass. I had a 2/0 wide gap hook tied on from earlier in the week. I put a green pumpkin Senko worm on the hook rigged "wacky" style. I made a cast along the shoreline and allowed the bait to drop. It got hit immediately but I was late setting the hook. Another cast to the same area and I hooked up with my first of eleven largemouth. On reeling in that fish the worm fell off into the lake never to be seen by me again, so I switched to a purple Luck-E Strike curly tail worm. Still rigged without any weight I'd make cast and allow it to fall. If nothing bit, I would lift the rod tip, reel in slack line and wait a little more. During the fall, I would watch my line and look to see if it began moving a different direction and then I'd know to set the hook.

Since I had the time I tried a couple of other baits. The small Rat-L-Trap I like to used produced one first as well as a Matzuo crankbait. Being a pretty big bait I was surprised when I reeled in a crappie on it. But in all honesty that crappie was easily big enough to eat.

So county number 14 is checked off - Carroll County. Where will "Fish Across Maryland" take me next? Stay tuned. Until next time... Tight Lines!

Three New Species in Pennsylvania

Once again it's been a while since I last posted anything about my experiences. That's not due to a lack of fishing, but more due to a lack of doing anything new. I'm still enjoying myself, but I do need to mix it up some. That all being said I do have a couple of new things to report.

As Alice Copper sang years ago "School's out for summer!" It's only been a week since school got out, but it was quite fun. A colleague of mine, who has two children like me, owns property in Clarion County, PA. We have been invited multiple times to go up and stay with them. When the kids were young, we'd take day trips to hiking trails or canoe rides down the river. This year, when I was invited to bring my youngest son, I brought along a couple of fishing rods. Monday morning, while the boys were still waking up, I drove down to the camp store and picked up a 3-day tourist fishing license.* (More on that later.) I also bought a small container of night crawlers to increase my odds of catching something. Parking the car at the ranger station for Cook Forest State Park, I headed down a trail about a tenth of a mile or so.

There I walked out onto some rocks along the side of the stream and began to see what I could find. I put a small size 14 hook on my collapsible panfish rod and added a piece of worm to it. I made casts into some of the eddies and began getting bites. It took some skill, probably not a lot, to time my hook set. After a few tries I got it right and landed something. The fish was about 6 inches long, with a narrow body. I had never seen a fish like this one so I snapped multiple photos and let it go. With no cell service where I was I had to wait until I got back to my friend's to look it up. I caught a couple more in another area as well as one small bass and then headed back. When I got back I found out that I had caught a "Fallfish" (Semotilus corporalis). According to what I read about them, they prefer very clear water as well a strong current; so it isn't very surprising that I've not seen them around my local area.

After heading back to the house for a bit, my friend, Karl, and I grabbed our sons and headed back to the river. This time we brought Karl's two paddleboards and my kayak. The boys climbed on the paddleboards while Karl and I jumped into the kayak. Having watched a few fishing shows I decided to give a "crawler harness" a try. From what I could see and read about them, the harness usually is made of a main hook, with a few plastic beads and some sort of a spinner blade with a stinger hook tied to the main hook. I used a size 6 long shank hook with beads and a Colorado spinner blade but I didn't tie a stinger to it. I put a 4 inch piece of night crawler on the hook as we began going down stream. As we drifted I could feel the blade spinning sending out vibrations. I reeled it in one time to check the worm and made another cast towards one of the calmer areas as we drifted by. As our pace picked up I felt the tug on the other end and began to reel. As I reeled in my prize I was rewarded with my second new species of the trip. This time I caught a 9 or 10 inch smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu).

Happy with how my plan actually worked I snapped a couple of photos and released it back to the river.

I tried a few more times but eventually my hook got hung up of the bottom and we were moving to fast for me to try and reverse and save it. I ended up losing a couple more jigs on the way down the river but I was able to catch another fallfish in one of the eddies.

The next morning I drove back to the river side. I had spoken to a gentleman who was fishing the area. He was quite adept at catching the brook trout that were stacked up at the mouth of a small creek. I tried a few bait, but couldn't get any bites. So I went back to the camp and had breakfast with everyone. We were kind of just hanging around the property so I decided to give it one more try. There I tied on a small Creme 1.5 jerkbait. A few casts in I felt the line get heavy after a pause between retrieves so I gave it a nice tug and reeled in my third new species of the trip, a brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). Quite the fighter I was amazed at the pull of this 9 inch fish. I released it back but on second thoughts I wish I had kept it since I did catch one more and they would have made a nice dinner once I returned home.

All in all I really enjoyed my time in the Clarion River valley. It's a beautiful area with loads of outdoor activities to enjoy. I hope to get back up there at least one more time this year, especially since the launch permit I purchased for the kayak is good until the end of the year. Until next time... Tight lines!

*About the license fee for a tourist: my 3 day license, with the trout permit, cost almost $37. I can see how some people will think that a price that high isn't worth it and just go without one thinking they won't get caught. But I also know that the money that pays for my license goes to conservation and that's why I do it. So as a quick plug - ALWAYS BUY A FISHING LICENSE!