The Elkhorn moves East

[redietz]

For those of you who enjoyed John Scott's adventures with his Elkhorn bamboo rod last year, I'm happy to say that the rod lives on. I was lucky enough to win it in the bench raffle, and feel compelled to continue its saga.

I first took it out in February, shortly after "snowmageddon" here in the DC area. Getting about the Gunpowder Falls was difficult, and I wasn't surprised when I ended up skunked. Nice to be out, though, and the rod handles streamer quite nicely. (I have some pictures from that trip, which I might post after I get home.)

Yesterday was a different story. With all the meltoff from our snow events, and 3 inches of rain on Saturday, pretty much every stream in the region iss blown out. Where I normally wade the Potomac for smallmouth in the summer at 3,000 cfs was flowing at 180,000 cfs. I don't think I'll be doing any early season smallmouth fishing.

The only stream I could think of within a 100 miles of my house which might clear enough to fish is also the only stream within 100 miles of my house which has wild rainbows (at least the only one that I know of). It's a lovely, tiny spring creek in Pennsylvania's Cumberland Valley. I would ordinarily have fished it with a 7' four weight, but I really wanted a fish on the Elkhorn.

Since it was pouring rain when I got there, I rigged up under the door of the SUV with the fly I intended to start with, a small soft hackle (a Light Spanish Needle to be precise) that I use as a searching pattern in later February and early March. I should have waited until I saw the stream. When I got there, it was covered with little olives and fish rising to them all over. I decided to fish what I had on, because it was at least the right size, and if I took the time to change, the hatch might be over. (It was already close to 3 PM, and I don't often see BWOs that late in the day on that stream.) It was probably a good choice.

My camera is not waterproof, so it got left at home. That's too bad because the 10" rainbow I was rewarded with after about 5 minutes was brilliantly red, as are most of the 'bows in that stream. It really deserved to have a picture taken. I hooked another fish about two casts later, but lost it, and then the hatch turned off.

I fished less than hour total, missing one more fish just before I quit, but the Elkhorn now has a fish in the east.

I must say that it was not the ideal rod for the situation. It doesn't turn over 14' of leader with 5 feet of line out very well at all, but then again, I didn't expect it would. I'm looking forward to fishing it in bigger water very soon.

[JohnScott]

.... kind of took my breath away, Bob.

Glad that you found a place to christen the Elkhorn with a wild rainbow.

Looking forward to some pix and more reports on down the road.

John

[Host Ray]

I'm glad to see the saga of the Elkhorn lives on, keep us posted!! With pictures!!

[redietz]

Here's where we went in February:

IMG_0102.jpg

There's a trail along the left bank there (by the sign on the tree). Needless to say I didn't take it. This was the only parking lot that had been plowed and it was crowded. Wading was the only practical way to get around, and it was too crowded for that. The right size water for the rod. though.

[redietz]

I really need to get a waterproof camera. I chose to not bring my non-waterproof one along yesterday when I took the Elkhorn back to the Gunpowder (wisely as it turned out, because a swim), so once again, no pictures. And there's one fish I really wish I had a picture of.

I'm happy to say the rod now has double digit numbers of fish in the east; all of them wild fish. I went looking for a Hendrickson hatch, since it's about that time of year here in Maryland. I only saw a few naturals on the water and they went entirely unmolested by fish. It didn't matter; I still took 9 1/2 wild brown trout from a river that hasn't been stocked in almost 30 years.

9 1/2 brown trout? I also 1/2 a brook trout. I caught a tiger trout -- a brown/brookie hybrid. I've caught a few of them before, but they were entirely man-made -- Pennsylvania stocks them occasionally as "something different", but they're hatchery fish. This one was a natural about seven inches long. It's good news that the Gunpowder still has reproducing brook trout (it's been close to ten years since I've actually caught one) but their choice of spawning partners leaves something to be desired.

The rod casts a team of wet flies nicely, but I'm not so thrilled about the way it fishes them. I busted the tippet striking a good fish, something I've only ever once or twice before in my life. I ripped the fly out of the mouth of several more stiking too hard; the tip seems to want to keep on going after I've stopped the hook set motion. Just to convince myself that it wasn't me, I took my other 5 weight cane rod back today and had a far better hook-up ratio, and it felt right.

All told, I think I'm going to reserve the Elkhorn for streamer fishing -- which it does nicely -- and warmwater fishing, where I'm using 2x tippet and really need to strike hard to drive the point home. I think it will really excell there, and I can't wait try it.

The next report will probably be about smallmouth.

[MrFishingToughGuy]

nice. photo appears to be looking upstream from bridge @ masemore. many fond memories fishing, and even catching, there. keep that boo busy!

[JohnScott]

The Tiger is a nice addition to the Elkhorn's history, Bob.

Interesting that the rod action resulted in some break offs for you. Coming from the other end of the spectrum, fast and medium fast graphite, when I started fishing it, I didn't have that kind of problem. Part of it may also be that I seldom swing wet flies.

Looking forward to seeing some pics of bass caught with it. That will be a huge step away from its history in the Intermountain West !!

John

[redietz]

nice. photo appears to be looking upstream from bridge @ masemore. many fond memories fishing, and even catching, there. keep that boo busy!

It is indeed. That's my least favorite spot on the stream, but at the time Masmore was the only parking spot that didn't have at least 8 feet of snow piled in it.

[LadyFisher]

Keep the reports coming, love 'em!

[redietz]

Sorta combining this thread with another recent one, I took the Elkhorn to Tulpehocken Creek in Reading, PA.

I broke down and bought a waterproof camera. This of course ensured that wouldn't have a fish to take a picture of. I did snap a few of the stream, however:



This is bigger water than I'd fished the Elkhorn on previously, and I must say I the rod really came into it's own here. The "Tully" is a tailwater with some very impressive and reliable caddis hatches. That's "hatches", plural. There always seem to be multiple ones going on simultaneously, and it can be maddingly frustrating trying to figure out which ones the fish are taking. This Sunday was no exception, I saw at least four different species in great abundance; there were probably several others in smaller numbers. I can't say that I figured it out, but had lots of fun trying.

I will say, though, that it's relatively easy to pick up fish here on "junk" flies. A pink San Juan worm put me on a sizeable rainbow almost immediately. The fish was in great shape, making several long runs, and impressive jumps. Unfortunately, I managed to get my net stuck inside my vest (don't ask) and lost the fish while trying to untangle myself. I'm sure that if hadn't had a camera, there would have been no problem.

I mentioned that the fish was in great shape because the Tulpehocken is a delayed harvest stream, and all the fish are stocked. For those of you that live in states that don't have delayed harvest, it means that the streams are stocked in the fall, again in late winter, and it's catch & release until mid-June. It's a management techique usually used in streams where trout can thrive, but have no suitable habitat for natural reproduction (for whatever reason.) The fish stocked in this particular stream are fairly large, in the 14 - 17 inch range for at least one of the stockings, and there's good holdover; the fish grow from there. They also survive long enough to become adjusted to the stream, and don't act like hatchery fish. I'd estimate this particular fish was in the upper end of that 14 - 17 range, and the rod handled it nicely.

My better half hooked up with an even larger fish a few minutes later, her first on a cane rod. The result was pretty much the same; the hook popped as I was trying to net it. Camera, again.

I can only stand a few minutes of fishing junk flies, so then spend several hours trying match what was going on around me (there were fish rising constantly; it wasn't like they were limiting themselves to bottim feeding.) I finally connected again on a team of winged wet flies, fish low and slow. I lost that fish on the first jump.

I only saw one other fish caught during this time, and talking later with its captor, it was the only fish he'd hooked all day. Nobody else I talked to had connected at all.

As I said on another thread, the Tully is either feast or famine for me, and Sunday it was the latter. I was very pleased with the rod, though, and I'm rethinking relagating to warmwater persuits.

I think I'll take it to New Jersey next weekend and see how it likes Ken Lockwood Gorge.