What's up, Blog Readers?!
It has been quite a while since I have worked on the Blog, right?! To be more precise, about half a year! And boy...so many things have happened in six months, if you think about it. We are now above 100,000 subscribers on the YouTube Channel, and 25,000 followers on Instagram! SnapChat has been doing pretty well too, with an average of 3,000 views per snap. Folks have been helping out on Patreon as well (45 Patreonites+ thank you all for your support), and finally, although inactive, the Blog has reached more than 700,000 views, with an average of 400 views per day! :)
Thus, before getting to the post for today, I would like to dedicate this paragraph to all you folks who support Extreme Philly Fishing on social media: thank you so much for watching, reading, and following EPF!!! I may have not been working on this Blog, but you folks know that it has been busy and hectic. Heh.
Anyways...here is my fishing report for October 10th, 11th, and 12th of 2017: fishing the Philadelphia County's Fall Rainbow Trout season at the Pennypack Creek.
Location: Pennypack Creek
Time: 3:00-6:00 p.m.; 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.; 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Fishes caught:
- 7 Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)
- 3 Redbreast Sunfish (Lepomis auritus)
Video:
Below are the highlights for these fishing sessions:
Summary & Photos:
The 2017 "Fall Trout Opening" day in Philadelphia County was really no different than all previous years'! First and foremost, the amount of Rainbow Trout that was stocked in the Bustleton Avenue portion of the Creek was laughable compared to the Spring season's numbers. And although I wasn't there to see it, I did hear from locals that they stocked only "a few buckets of fish" in each spot around the Creek. Taking in consideration that each bucket usually contains 30-50 fish, it is plausible to say that only 200-300 Trout were stocked around there.
On the first day of the Fall Trout season, I arrived between the Bustleton Avenue/Roosevelt Boulevard portion of the Creek around 3 p.m. EST. The first thing that I did was ask the local fishermen about the stocking, and soon I found out that they had stocked the Creek "less than a hour ago."
Taking in consideration that those Trout need quite some time to adapt to the Creek before feeding, I immediately concluded that my best choice for catching them at the time was to use some Berkley Power Bait.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIDENOTE
There are many different colors and flavors of Berkley Power Bait in the market nowadays, but my favorite one is definitely the yellow one. No glitter, and no additional scent. Thus, that is the one that I recommend you folks! Note that this decision comes from years of playing and experimenting with the stocked Trout (both Brown and Rainbow Trout). Heh.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I rigged my Daiwa Spinmatic, 5' 6", Ultra-Light rod and my Shimano Sedona 500 FD reel (old model) with 4lbs KastKing Fluorokote fluorocarbon line, 3 small Water Gremlin split-shots (I call them the Wal-Mart special) and a size #12 Mustad hook. I put on just enough Power Bait to cover the hook! The primary technique for the day was sit and wait; thus, still-fishing for the Trout.
It took me a good thirty-minutes for my first bite. Sadly, I missed the fish because I didn't give it enough time to swallow the bait. Ugh! Well...As someone wise once said: "Impatience is the root of all injuries." And raise thy hands the first angler who never gave a premature hook set, right? Heh. We all get excited from time to time.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIDENOTE
As portrayed in the YouTube video above, the Berkley Power Bait is a type of dough bait that stocked Trout tend to swallow! Since the Oncorhynchus, Salmo, and Salvelinus genera of fish are very sensitive and have a high mortality rate when it comes to human handling, I don't recommend anglers who practice Catch & Release to use it on stocked Trout. If one must really use it, just make sure to:
(1) wet your hands when handling the hooked fish
(2) unhook the fish in the water
(3) clip the line as close to its mouth as possible
To avoid internal bleeding and minimize mortality ratio, C&R anglers should definitely not place the gut hooked fish outside of the water, or try to recover the hook!!!
Another alternative is to use Power Eggs and be very quick on the hook set.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After a few missed bites, I finally gave a stubborn Rainbow Trout enough time to chew on the bait! After setting the hook, I felt its solid weight on the other side of my line. And, as it turned out, it was a beauty indeed:
Sadly, for the remaining of the first day, that was the only fish that I was able to land. Most of the stocked Trout were still in an adaptation stage.
And so the first day ended.
The second day was much easier compared to the first. That is because most (if not all) of the stocked Rainbow Trout were already adapted to their surroundings -- to the Pennypack Creek. Therefore, instead of using a still-fishing approach with the Berkley Power Bait, I decided to use the wait-and-jig technique for it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIDENOTE
The wait-and-jig technique is fairly simple and very effective, and yet a lot of anglers underestimate it. The technique itself consists of casting the bait in the water, and moving it every 30 seconds or so. Thus, its name: wait and jig. It is usually during one of those pauses that the bait is positioned directly or close to a feeding fish, inciting it to bite! Summarizing...the Trout bite usually comes really fast just after the pause. The con of this technique is the amount of snags that the angler will get, of course.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Differently than the previous day, it took me only a measly forty-five minutes to get my limit of three fish for the Fall season.
Finally, for the following day -- the third day in the season -- I decided to switch from a dough bait wait-and-jig approach to a more aggressive steady-retrieve approach, with in-line spinners. To make my YouTube video a little bit more entertaining, I decided to use some of the lures that one of my subscribers sent me:
The premise of the video was to show my fellow anglers and viewers that (1) when the fish fully adapt to their new environment (a.k.a. the Creek), they are forced to drop their hatchery feeding behavior and pick up different natural food sources for their own survival; and (2) in a period of 48 hours after the stocking, most of the sample population had already adapted to the Creek.
After a few casts here and there, more victims started to show up on the Johnson Min-O-Spin:
Let's just say that it didn't really take me a long time to catch my limit on those lures.
And this pretty concludes my post for today, folks!
Those were definitely three very interesting fishing sessions for stocked Trout, and shooting those YouTube videos was definitely a lot of fun. :) Of course catching the Trout and eating them was equally fun. Hehe.
For those who have never tried this type of fishery before -- I truly recommend. After all, with all the heavy metals and PCBs that we have in our local fishes nowadays (different Species), it is never a bad idea to eat some "farm raised" samples here and there. Plus, the stocked Trout tradition in the United States of America is a great way to get kids initiated in the sport! Think about it!
I hope you folks enjoyed the knowledge and the read! Make sure you watch the YouTube videos to complete the experience.
Best of luck to all of us,
Long Days and Pleasant Nights!
Sincerely,
Leo S. a.k.a. Extreme Philly Fishing
Thus, before getting to the post for today, I would like to dedicate this paragraph to all you folks who support Extreme Philly Fishing on social media: thank you so much for watching, reading, and following EPF!!! I may have not been working on this Blog, but you folks know that it has been busy and hectic. Heh.
Anyways...here is my fishing report for October 10th, 11th, and 12th of 2017: fishing the Philadelphia County's Fall Rainbow Trout season at the Pennypack Creek.
Location: Pennypack Creek
Time: 3:00-6:00 p.m.; 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.; 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Fishes caught:
- 7 Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)
- 3 Redbreast Sunfish (Lepomis auritus)
Video:
Below are the highlights for these fishing sessions:
My 128th and 129th outing of 2017. Fishing for stocked Rainbow Trout at the Pennypack Creek using Berkley Power Bait. Don't forget to watch it in HD Quality (1080p60)! If you enjoy watching my YouTube videos, please support the YouTube Channel by subscribing to it. More likes & more subscribes = more time to make videos!
My 130th outing of 2017. Fishing for stocked Rainbow Trout at the Pennypack Creek using the Johnson Min-O-Spin in-line spinner. Don't forget to watch it in HD Quality (1080p60)! If you enjoy watching my YouTube videos, please support the YouTube Channel by subscribing to it. More likes & more subscribes = more time to make videos!
Summary & Photos:
The 2017 "Fall Trout Opening" day in Philadelphia County was really no different than all previous years'! First and foremost, the amount of Rainbow Trout that was stocked in the Bustleton Avenue portion of the Creek was laughable compared to the Spring season's numbers. And although I wasn't there to see it, I did hear from locals that they stocked only "a few buckets of fish" in each spot around the Creek. Taking in consideration that each bucket usually contains 30-50 fish, it is plausible to say that only 200-300 Trout were stocked around there.
On the first day of the Fall Trout season, I arrived between the Bustleton Avenue/Roosevelt Boulevard portion of the Creek around 3 p.m. EST. The first thing that I did was ask the local fishermen about the stocking, and soon I found out that they had stocked the Creek "less than a hour ago."
Taking in consideration that those Trout need quite some time to adapt to the Creek before feeding, I immediately concluded that my best choice for catching them at the time was to use some Berkley Power Bait.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIDENOTE
There are many different colors and flavors of Berkley Power Bait in the market nowadays, but my favorite one is definitely the yellow one. No glitter, and no additional scent. Thus, that is the one that I recommend you folks! Note that this decision comes from years of playing and experimenting with the stocked Trout (both Brown and Rainbow Trout). Heh.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I rigged my Daiwa Spinmatic, 5' 6", Ultra-Light rod and my Shimano Sedona 500 FD reel (old model) with 4lbs KastKing Fluorokote fluorocarbon line, 3 small Water Gremlin split-shots (I call them the Wal-Mart special) and a size #12 Mustad hook. I put on just enough Power Bait to cover the hook! The primary technique for the day was sit and wait; thus, still-fishing for the Trout.
It took me a good thirty-minutes for my first bite. Sadly, I missed the fish because I didn't give it enough time to swallow the bait. Ugh! Well...As someone wise once said: "Impatience is the root of all injuries." And raise thy hands the first angler who never gave a premature hook set, right? Heh. We all get excited from time to time.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIDENOTE
As portrayed in the YouTube video above, the Berkley Power Bait is a type of dough bait that stocked Trout tend to swallow! Since the Oncorhynchus, Salmo, and Salvelinus genera of fish are very sensitive and have a high mortality rate when it comes to human handling, I don't recommend anglers who practice Catch & Release to use it on stocked Trout. If one must really use it, just make sure to:
(1) wet your hands when handling the hooked fish
(2) unhook the fish in the water
(3) clip the line as close to its mouth as possible
To avoid internal bleeding and minimize mortality ratio, C&R anglers should definitely not place the gut hooked fish outside of the water, or try to recover the hook!!!
Another alternative is to use Power Eggs and be very quick on the hook set.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After a few missed bites, I finally gave a stubborn Rainbow Trout enough time to chew on the bait! After setting the hook, I felt its solid weight on the other side of my line. And, as it turned out, it was a beauty indeed:
My first stocked Raibow Trout of the Fall season of 2017!
Sadly, for the remaining of the first day, that was the only fish that I was able to land. Most of the stocked Trout were still in an adaptation stage.
And so the first day ended.
The second day was much easier compared to the first. That is because most (if not all) of the stocked Rainbow Trout were already adapted to their surroundings -- to the Pennypack Creek. Therefore, instead of using a still-fishing approach with the Berkley Power Bait, I decided to use the wait-and-jig technique for it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIDENOTE
The wait-and-jig technique is fairly simple and very effective, and yet a lot of anglers underestimate it. The technique itself consists of casting the bait in the water, and moving it every 30 seconds or so. Thus, its name: wait and jig. It is usually during one of those pauses that the bait is positioned directly or close to a feeding fish, inciting it to bite! Summarizing...the Trout bite usually comes really fast just after the pause. The con of this technique is the amount of snags that the angler will get, of course.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Differently than the previous day, it took me only a measly forty-five minutes to get my limit of three fish for the Fall season.
My limit of three Trout for October 11th, 2017. The one on top was definitely a chunky one!
Finally, for the following day -- the third day in the season -- I decided to switch from a dough bait wait-and-jig approach to a more aggressive steady-retrieve approach, with in-line spinners. To make my YouTube video a little bit more entertaining, I decided to use some of the lures that one of my subscribers sent me:
From left to right: three different patterns of the 1/8 oz. Johnson Min-O-Spin, and two different patterns of the 1/8 oz. Thomas Lures E.P. Series in-line spinner. And yes -- this photo was taken on a Septa Bus. LOL.
The premise of the video was to show my fellow anglers and viewers that (1) when the fish fully adapt to their new environment (a.k.a. the Creek), they are forced to drop their hatchery feeding behavior and pick up different natural food sources for their own survival; and (2) in a period of 48 hours after the stocking, most of the sample population had already adapted to the Creek.
After a few casts here and there, more victims started to show up on the Johnson Min-O-Spin:
One of the many Trout that fell victim to my Subscriber's Johnson.
Let's just say that it didn't really take me a long time to catch my limit on those lures.
And this pretty concludes my post for today, folks!
Those were definitely three very interesting fishing sessions for stocked Trout, and shooting those YouTube videos was definitely a lot of fun. :) Of course catching the Trout and eating them was equally fun. Hehe.
For those who have never tried this type of fishery before -- I truly recommend. After all, with all the heavy metals and PCBs that we have in our local fishes nowadays (different Species), it is never a bad idea to eat some "farm raised" samples here and there. Plus, the stocked Trout tradition in the United States of America is a great way to get kids initiated in the sport! Think about it!
I hope you folks enjoyed the knowledge and the read! Make sure you watch the YouTube videos to complete the experience.
Best of luck to all of us,
Long Days and Pleasant Nights!
Sincerely,
Leo S. a.k.a. Extreme Philly Fishing
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