Autumn in Pennsylvania is an event made for the senses. I sat along a quiet pool on upper Fishing Creek north of Benton, with my rod across my lap trying to take it all in. Not in an act of desperation or panic although I realized that all of what I saw would soon come to a frosted end of grey forests and the accompanying blanket of white. But rather, trying to soak as much of it in as possible in hopes of a moment of warmth later in the winter, when my mind was sure to drift back to this particular time in my piscatorial life. I had watched the weather reports and left for work conscious of how warm it seemed for a fall morning. A slight humidity hung in the air, which brought along with it a heavy morning fog.

By virtue of the fact that you're a trout fisherman, that's also synonymous with being a 'hex hunter'. The hexagenia limbata is a major hatch occurring in most of the trout waters of the USA. Here's an absolutely must try pattern!

July 17th was a windy day with the winds coming out of the SSW which is a downstream wind on the Spring Creeks of Paradise Valley and is the one that causes the most problem for anglers. By the time I had arrived on spring creek at 5:00 p.m. all the other anglers had left so I had my choice of the water I wanted to fish and therefore I decided to fish the extreme lower ended of the creek. Due to the high water of the Yellowstone blocking the outflow culvert, DePuy's Spring Creek from the river to the breached dam had been backed up and to deep to wade and for many weeks and the only way to fish the water had been to use a float tube.

To begin with, this was a negative experience for me and the reasons will be covered. That aside, I had thirty bonefish, two permit, a fair sized 'cuda and jumped four or five tarpon in five days on the water. Two guys of the seven had grand slams, and the day I lost four tarpon I would have been the second slam on the boat that day. Fishing was not really the problem.

In those halcyon days before the world discovered trout streams and fly rods, in those times mourned by many but remembered by few there existed pools and runs whose uncharted depths and wayward currents were regarded as the personal property of a few anglers. Although they had neither deed, nor legally written paper which lesser mortals require to provide proof of ownership, among their fellows ownership of certain waters was recognized and honored. Such was the situation that existed at Green Cabin Pool.

My nephew is a bibliophile when it comes to angling literature. Recently he loaned me a book from his extensive collection, a facsimile reproduction of The Experienced Angler printed in 1662 by Colonel Robert Venables. The subtitle of the book is Angling Improved, Being a general discourse of Angling. The original was printed for Richard Marriot, and were sold at his shop in St. Dunstan's Church-yard, Fleet Street.

"You sure you're up to this? You know that it's quite a hike back into the lake. We could just toss the boat in the river and float for the day."

"Nope, I want to fish the lake today. The big caddis should be hatching and I know how those big old cutthroats love those big old caddis. I have a hankering to tie into one of those big old cutts."

We had never gone to the northeast part of the state of Iowa, so we decided that would be our vacation this year. At the time we planned this we were not sure of gas prices. We headed out and got up to the northeast part of the state and found an unimproved campground that we liked. It had pit toilets and a water source about ¼ of a mile away. Another big draw was a stream that was just steps away. We did some hiking the first day we were there. They had some very nice trails and we found some ripe blackberries as we walked. They stained my hands, but they were good.

Gentlemen and a few ladies,

The fall bone fishing season is here. It is the best time of the year for big bonefish. I promised some of you a reminder note before the fall calendar starts to fill. If you're considering a fall trip you'll need to start making arrangements.