MY 2013 FISHING JOURNAL





APRIL FISHING

APRIL 14th

I had to work yesterday, the 1st day of trout season in this area, so I did not get a chance to fish at all.
I did get a chance to talk to many anglers coming in the hardware for bait, etc. It appeared no one had much luck fishing in the immediate area. Little Toby was muddy, high and flowing very fast.

So today I was off and decided to see how Little Toby was. I went to one of my favorite spots and when I arrived at the parking lot I noticed there was not one single person or vechicle there... not a good sign..
I threw a variety of stuff and had no luck. Finally a fisherman came along and told me he had been fishing most of the day and had no luck and also did not see any other anglers. I fished for about an hour then left.
So it appears Little Toby will remain a good spot for the first nice day of weather and warmer temperatures.

APRIL 18th

Went over to my favorite spot on the Clarion River. The water was still high and very fast. It was VERY difficult to get any bait down near the bottom without asking to get snagged on the rocks and sticks on the bottom. I did manage to land one Brook trout by just dropping the bait over the edge of the rock.
Spotted one deer on Shanley Hill Road and one fresh road kill laying in the middle of the road (route 949)as I went by ... but it was pulled off to the side on the way home.
At least I have the first trout for 2013 caught and the season still ahead !!! Was not very happy losing so much tackle to snags though ---

APRIL 21st

Went to Richardsville and fished under the bridge for 3 hours. My fishing sort of got interupted by a young boy who showed up and rather than constantly fight with crossed and tangled lines I sort of let him have the area and helped as much as I could, including my bait, my hooks, split-shots etc.
I did enjoy fishing with him and he was ever so polite. So all in all still a good day. I landed 6 Brown Trout and 1 Brook Trout
So my guess is that is what the PFBS put in on last Thursday. We could see fish EVERYWHERE, getting them to bite was a different story.

APRIL 28th

Fished under the Richardsville Bridge for 3 hours this afternoon. I caught and landed 4 trout. One was a Brook the other three were Browns. There was still a lot of trout under the bridge but most were not to interested as the baits drifted by.
I took the four of them home and what a surprise when I cut open the brook...it had a three inch rubber minnow stuffed in its mouth and throat...there was not a hook in it and in fact it did not even look like one had ever been attached to the rubber minnow ???
Weather was great and I enjoyed the afternoon.



MAY FISHING

MAY 2nd

Went to my favorite spot on the Clarion River and what a surpise awaited me.. on my very first cast a Brook Trout hit the night crawler and was headed down river as fast as posssible when I set the hook and retrieved him. I caught one other Brook on a half crawler and two more Brooks on multi-color power bait. 4 trout from that spot in 2.5 hours... it's been a while since I caught that many TROUT in that short of time from that hole.. maybe it's a sign for a good year this year at that spot..
I also landed the first Smallmouth Basss of the year, it too hit a half nightcrawlers bouncing along the bottom.
MAY 5th

Fished for 3 hours below Hallton this afternoon. I fished from 1pm to 4pm.. not the best time for Clarion River fishing but I was whooped from doing yard work all morning. LOL
Fishing was okay for the first two hours but then it just STOPPED DEAD..
I ened up with one small brook trout, 4 Rock Bass, 1 Sucker, and about a dozen Creek Chubs. The wind made fishing tough, it kept a bow in the line and bites were hard to detected.
I still enjoyed the day and saw 6 whitetails on the way home at 4pm..
MAY 17th

I had an extra day off this week so I decided to go fish the Clarion River for a couple hours this morning. Only had a few worms so I only fished for 2 hours from 10am until noon. I saw 4 deer and a gray squirrel on the way over there. The darn squirrel just wanted to sit in the middle of the dirt road ??
I caught a nice number of fish for only having a few worms, and 2 hours of fishing. I cut the crawlers in half and that seemed to be the trick. I landed several of those damn creek chubs.. but managed a few game fish too. One Smallmouth, 2 Rock Bass and 2 Brook Trout. MAY 19th

Had a WONDERFUL two hours of fishing this morning at Portland Mills... the trout were hungry !!!!
I landed 10 trout both Brookies and Browns and also had 3 Smallmouths to unhook !!!..GREAT MORNING !!!
Saw one deer on the way over and one on the way back.

MAY 20th

This morning I went back to the same spot at Portland MIlls. Only fished for 1.5 hours.
Fishing was not quite as good as yesterday. Landed 3 Smallmouths, one really nice large one and two Brook Trout.

MAY 31st

Made 2 trips today. .
The first in the morning was to the North Fork at Richardsville. I saw lots of trout but they sure were not interested in biting any worms floating by. Fished for only an hour and landed one Brown Trout.
The afternoon was spent on the Clarion..not a good day there either... Landed one nice fat Rock Bass and I stopped counting those NASTY bait stealing Creek Chubs !!!!
Still had an enjoyable day fishng rather than working !!!!!

JUNE FISHING

JUNE 2nd

Fished for 1.5 hours this evening at Portland Mills, fishing was not too bad although the river was high and fast. Landed a couple Brown Trout, a Rock Bass and a Smallmouth all before heading home. Lots of deer spotted on the way home at 8pm.....

2013 SEASON TOTALS
FISHING TRIPS
Clarion River - 8
Kyle Lake - 0
North Fork - 3
Toby Creek - 1
Farm Ponds - 0
Lake Erie - 0


FISH CAUGHT
Trout- 35
Smallmouth Bass - 9
Suckers - 2
Rock Bass - 8
Channel Catfish - 0


My Journal Section