Larry A. Smail's Blog

Glade Run

The weather with temperatures in the low seventies and sun shining on the colored leaves made for a decision to “hit the stream” for some trout fishing. The water of Armstrong County’s, Glade Run was clear as can be as I approached to a waterfall hoping for a trout or two.

Rainbow Trout

I had gathered a little bait to enjoy a few hours on such a beautiful day. My casts into the rapid area produced a solid hit and a rainbow trout proved to be the specie on line. The vivid colors on this fish reminded me of past autumn trout fishing ventures. I played the fish and released the sixteen inch beauty.

  I continued fishing, but caught many chubs ranging  several inches to about nine inches. I walked and fished about a quarter of a mile stretch, but failed to locate any additional trout. However, I was quite content to have caught the rainbow trout.

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The Allegheny River was beautiful as Frank “Muskie” Maus and I entered the boat for a day of muskie fishing. The Allegheny River was shrouded in a fog early, but the rapidly rising sun quickly dissipated the mist.

Frank Maus, notice the muskie decal.

Within moments we were busy casting for the elusive muskie.  I was telling Laurie I was going to not going to quit fishing until I landed a six-footer! Needless to say, that feat didn’t occur. I think the world’s record is around five feet in length so catching  72 inches of fish was doubtful in reality.

  We traveled and trolled for the fish as well, but my jinxing abilities  won out over any good luck I may have had in the past. I  did, however, catch a nice smallmouth bass, but the fish threw the hook prior to any landing attempt.                                                

While in the boat we saw two ospreys. One osprey dove into the waters attempting to land a fish. That was quite a sight. I saw a red-tailed hawk, geese and waterfowl and a pie-billed grebe too. The grebe swam about occasionally diving for morsels to eat.

Frankie has caught 250 muskies as of date.

I saw three deer and a small flock of turkeys while traveling on the road.

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A hint of blue sky!

The temperatures and humidity are to be leaning way towards the hot end of the spectrum all of this week. I decided late last evening that I needed to get out and catch a few fish early in the morning prior to these conditions being met.

Same view after the fog!

I was on the road towards Lock Number 8 on the Allegheny River shortly after 6 A.M. I had a lot of worms that wanted to be fished with. I obliged them all!

A nice doe crossed the road just prior to the dam’s entrance. I slowed down watching for any small spotted offspring that may be following her.

The river was engulfed in fog until the sun lifted high enough to cause evaporation of the water molecules. I witnessed a great blue heron soaring low across the river in the fog. The long-legged bird landed down river from my fishing site.

Bee-Balm!

Along the river’s shoreline are millions of minnows or shiners. The fish chased them continually until about 8:30 A.M. The little two-inch long fish would leap out of the water upon being chased by larger predatory fish. They appeared to be bass.  I hoped I wasn’t seeing those Asiatic (Flying) carp taking hold in these waters. All morning long I would see fish jumping in the waters. I saw carp and a muskie. I saw a large fish that I believed to be a gar. The scales indicated such a fish for sure. The fast-moving water clouded with murkiness made a positive ID difficult. However, later I saw the fish in its entirety. It was, indeed, a gar and the length was around the forty inch mark! I had some other gar sightings too, but these were in the 28 to 32 inch length category.

Phylox

I was blessed with catching four smallmouth bass. The lengths ranged from about eleven inches to fifteen inches. These all supplied some fighting abilities on light tackle. I lost several and missed several too.

The time reached 9:15 and the heat was becoming prominent. I decided the time to head home was nigh. I have paintings and recordings to work on!

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A slight fog at 6:30 A.M.

At least once a year I enjoy the mile long hike into State Game Lands 247 to pursue some carp hunting. I am not actually using a firearm to hunt this specie of fish but my tactics may be similar to hunting. A more correct word might be stalking since I creep around the sedges and wetland grasses attempting to locate a carp by sight.

The early morning walk was comfortably cool, but I knew walking out wouldn’t feel so fine. The temperatures were scheduled to rise as was the humidity. I saw two deer sneaking among the woodland trees. I hoped to see a hen and her poults, but tat hope didn’t happen this day.

As I came into the vicinity of the pond I began searching and peeking to see if any other critter might be drinking or swimming. Later, I would see a great blue heron circling  the pond. The awkwardly gracious bird wanted to feed on the little bluegills of the pond. Many tracks could be viewed in the water’s muddy areas.

I immediately began seeing some carp slurping in the shallows and among the vegetation. All attempts for me failed. the fish just were not interested in the bait I was casting around them. Since the fish were mostly less than fifteen feet from shore I did not have any weight to aid in distant castings. many of the carp would be observed within ten feet. I would cast around them and the carp simply ignored the bait. I was believing I just might go home “skunked” when my line took a rapid heading of the pond’s center. I set the hook and held on for a few minutes until I could reach into the water and subdue the beast.

The Carp!

The carp was between sixteen and eighteen inches. I released the golden fish back into waters.

I continued fishing for another ten minutes before packing up to begin a hike out. I chose a different direction to exit the game lands.

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Friends of mine have been fishing  “their site” north of Kittanning, Pennsylvania along the Allegheny River for years. An open invite was given to me and this morning I elected to hit the river for some fishing adventures. One of these friends arrived after 9:00. She caught a very nice bullhead catfish and lost a carp while I was there.

  Early a heavy fog covered the waters and surrounding hills. The waters were muddy and high and swift due to heavy rains in northern Pennsylvania. I hurdled in close to some structure and found a lull in the turbidity. I found much action in the following several hours. I missed several and lost several fish including a fighter. However, I caught a couple of nice fish too.

One of the missed opportunities was when an eagle flew through the fog. I looked up for a better look and WHAM!  I pulled back and missed!

Other species of interest this morning were some mallards and a few young ducklings and  a wood duck hen. She almost landed directly in front of me in the fog. I saw a water snake fighting the currents and a soft-shelled turtle on a couple of occasions.                                                                          

The first fish I caught fought hard and long. The channel cat was around eighteen inches maybe reaching twenty inches in length. A carp may have reached eighteen inches fell to my skills. This fish ran line far out into the waters before I finally landed it. I was using a rod and reel equipped for trout fishing including six pound test line.

The fish felt heavy and fought very hard. I actually followed along the river’s shore around two hundred yards or so. I couldn’t turn this fish north. I saw brief images occasionally and several times a glimpse of the entire body. A carp! And a big one! The big guy may have reached the thirty inches of power category. I believe I would have landed this fish too if the critter had not become entangled in a fallen tree.  I tried everything to dislodge the fish including giving the big feller plenty of slack line. Nothing worked so I ended up allowing my trophy to go.

I had two other eagle sightings prior to packing up for home with an ever-increasing heat and humid day arriving in force.

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