Franklin was calling my name Sunday night so I went out in the rain and drizzle to see if I could catch some panfish and bass. I took my 8' 5 wt as I haven't played with it in a while. I brought some Clousers that I tied a couple of weeks ago. I didn't follow any pattern, just improvised with the material I had. They were primarily white with some peach flashabou and chain eyes. The fish weren't interested in it all. I switched to a storebought clouser with more yellow and less red with red eyes. On the second cast, I caught a 12" smallmouth bass. It fought really hard and I had a tough time keeping it out of the moss on the surface close to shore.

I also caught probably 10 panfish on #10 olive wooly buggers that I tied. I could hardly retrieve the fly without it getting attacked. I did catch one fish with some odd markings a mouth opening about the size of quarter. Not sure what it was, or even if it was different, but it seemed a little different.

Letort trip last tuesday

I can now say I fished the world famous Letort. I can also say that it
beat me. Just as most people have noted in eastern fly fishing
literature, its a very difficult river to fish. The water was crystal
clear and with no rocks or bolders to hide behind, I had a real hard
time not spooking them.

I stopped by Cold Springs Angler in Carlisle to pick up some flies and
get advice. I got some terrestrials (ants and letort crickets) and went
on my way. The stream was probably 5 minutes from the shop. When I
pulled into the parking area, a younger guy (can't believe I said that -
I m getting old) was just leaving. We chatted for a bit. He didn't
have any luck, said he spooked them all. He also mentioned that he saw
quite a few snakes.

Unfortunately I didn't have any luck either. I spent about 4 hours there trying to get any of the large (saw some that had to approach 20") trout to pay attention to my flies. I tried griffiths gnats, scuds, bh nymphs, etc with only one fish showing any interest. Therefore, I didn't have anything to put into a log book that was kept in a mailbox on the banks. Word of advice, be prepared for some of the mudiest conditions possible. I spent 80% of my time in about 2 feet of mud. It was a weird experience.

I never did see any snakes, but I did see some large and small fish. My casting is probably not good enough to catch anything because you can't false cast over the water, but I'll definitely be back to see if I can at least catch one fish. It was still a great experience.

Upcoming Trip

I'm planning to try my luck on the Letort in PA on Tuesday with Kevin.
I've got to get some tying supplies for little midges and sow/cress bugs
at either Orvis or Anglers Lie today. I haven't tried tying anything in
the 24 -26 size so I'm sure it will be a challenge.

Ill post pictures of the river and are on wed.

Franklin for an hour

I snuck out of the house last night for about an hour to go wet a line.
The Franklin Park pond/lake was 1/2 full of moss and algae. I tried a
black wb with a little flashabou mixed in. I couldn't get annything to
hit but bluegills. They were swarming like flies.

I need to get some deeper fishing weighted flies so I can get the large
fish. Maybe next week.