The work that the Brown Trout Club does, entails purchasing and stocking fish to a section of Pine Creek. That statement is too simplistic to properly represent the amount of work that goes into running the show. I don’t claim to know much more about the Brown Trout Club. I helped stock a few years ago. I do think it has been a good thing for Slate Run, and for fishing Pine Creek in ‘The Stretch’. If you know much more and want to contribute, please leave a comment.

Yes, they are large stocked fish that are not as ‘wary’ as a native fish… at times. Other times, you would swear these fish came from the mountains. This year, there is plenty of success in spots and this is a destination to come to if you like to fish for large brown trout that, most of the time, come to a fly a little more eagerly than not. There are spots along the stretch that are being more productive than others this spring.

But this is not to say that the fish aren’t everywhere – they are – and I know it. You have to fish for them – really fish for them at times. So what if you don’t catch dozens of 16″ fish all day long! Catching one or even two that you target, fish to, get refused, recalculate, change flies, target again, get refused, change flies, rest a fish,… you get the idea! It’s quite rewarding when you get that fish.

The thing is, there are fish everywhere – in their usual spots and probably in a few new places too. You just might have to get serious and fish harder if they aren’t coming up to your fly on every other presentation like in past years… so what.

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I had a rainbow on a few nights ago and knew it wasn’t one of ‘Pennsylvania’s Finest’ variety. But, perhaps the State put in a few that were outside the box so to speak? The one I caught this morning wasn’t the cookie cutter variety.

The prettiest brown trout today was so golden, the picture doesn’t do it justice.

There were a few caught…

The last one didn’t get its picture taken as, unfortunately, it was bleeding pretty badly. I feel horrible about it, but it had impaled itself in a vulnerable area and I’m not sure that it survived. I didn’t take it out of the water and released it as quickly as possible.

Along the trail back to the cabin I saw these pretty little yellow flowers. I hope I identified the flower correctly. If I’m wrong, please feel free to correct me with a comment.

So (for Pine Creek near the stretch) you are either going to the spots where the insect activity is higher than in other spots… or you are not. But you can catch fish anywhere, just take your time.

Till we see each other again, I’m …. UB