Eye of the Storm

The weather turned stormy today after a nice Memorial Day weekend.

There were severe thunderstorms north of here and all afternoon it was threatening and dark with rumblings and dark clouds in the distance.

"Seems like a good time to go fishing..."

After a busy weekend of graduations, road trips, more graduations, and an excellent visit with our gang there was only one way to find out if the bass in Evans Lake were hungry.

I tried the soft plastic worm & tubes with little luck. Next I tried a rattle-trap- type crankbait that looked like a baby bass.



I had some success with this but since the treble hooks hung down I was catching every weed in the pond.

I had a new offering that I had picked up on a recent trip to Academy and thought I would try it. It's called a WildEye Swim Shad made by Storm Lures.

Unlike brother Paul, who is known to be successful by sticking to the "tried and true" I am a sucker for trying something new.


This high tech realistic soft plastic is pre-rigged with a lead head jig hook. It has foil and holographic paint and is designed to swim with a very enticing action.

I tried several configurations of this bait - single and multiple- series and parallel. The best one seemed to be a tandem rig with one shad on a short leader (I cut an Eagle Claw snelled hook off and tied the leader on the shad) and the other on one just slightly longer. These two were clipped in to a single swivel and would cast without tangling and on the retrieve would swim side by side in a slightly staggered pattern.


In all I caught seven nice fish - two were over 17" and 2lbs.



Thanks to the WildEye Shad I had a successful "Stormy" afternoon!

Fly Rod Bluegill II

There is beauty everywhere if you care to see it.

Some may think spending an evening casting an imitation bug into a farm pond pretty dull, but to me it is a beautiful thing.

My catch was not as big or flashy as those caught by brother Paul, but they brought be just as much fun and excitement as if I had caught a trophy.

I was hoping for a bass or two, but when it was clear that they were not interested in what I was offering, I tied on a #16 Parachute Sulphur.



I had fun catching some small Bluegills. They would hit the fly as soon as it touched the surface of the pond and would immediately head towards the weedbeds below. I moved along the edge of the pond until I came to the concrete wall that defines a swimming area. This is a likely place to find bigger fish and sure enough, I caught this nice sized beauty on my second cast.




This little pond is full of aquatic life and spending a couple of hours during the end of the day allows me to unwind and to enjoy the simple beauty of God's creation.



"Cease striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."

Psalm 46:10

Brandywine Creek

Pennsylvania is a beautiful place to spend an evening with good company and a fine stretch of water.

Joe and I were ready for a little R&R after interviewing several prospective cadidates for a position I have open and a 1.5 hr conference call with the EHS&T squad.

We tried Marsh Creek with no luck. I saw a small Muskie (there are reported to be 40 inch Tigers in the reservoir) and two bass but couldn't get them to take what I was offering.

We proceeded on to Brandywine creek and fished from the bank for trout. PA has an active stocking program and we observed a flyfisherman catching what seemed like an endless string of fish from one hole he had located.

He was nymphing with a "Green Weenie" and he told us later that if you couldn't catch them on that they couldn't be caught.

Joe was trying a variety of spinners and plugs and I went straight to the confidence bait - the white roostertail.

The Brandywine is a typical PA creek. Skinny water - clear and beautiful.

Here's Joe preparing to cast.


I picked up a pretty rainbow and missed several but had a great time doing it!


Nice fish!

I do have a fish story:

I caught a beautiful Brookie and was in the process of trying to take a picture when he began to squirm and wiggle. I was standing over the water and gently let him slide out of my hand into the creek but I forgot one important fact. I was using a double streamer rig on the UL - a small conehead bunny leach in front and a baby bugger trailing behind. The Brookie had taken the lead fly and as he slipped from my grasp, the trailing line and remaining fly followed across my outstretched palm. When the baby bugger reached my hand it was traveling at the same speed as the fish that was free-falling to the creek and it lodged itself in the skin of my left hand.

The sudden stopping of the line caused a shock and my line parted at the knot I had tied to the lead fly. My reaction to the hook imbedding itself in my hand was immediate and abrupt which dislodged the hook from my hand.

In a matter of a second or two, I realized that the fish was in the water with a fly in his lip and another trailing behind and the whole rig was free of my control. I watched as the beauty gave a flick of his tail and returned to deeper water leaving me down two flies and with no picture. Ahhhh the agony of defeat.