I played hooky from work yesterday to go fishing with Spurky. It had been a little over a year since we last fished, and in light of recent events I just needed a day to clear my thoughts.
Spurky lives about an hour and a half West from me, near Hershey, PA. He offered to be a "guide," and show me around some of the local creeks & streams in his area. Our game plan was to hit the Quittapahilla Creek (The Quittie) first, shoot over to Indiantown Run (IR), and finish up at Trout Run. (I think I got those names right).
Let me say in advance, Spurky makes for a great guide, exercising great patience while I repeatedly & inaccurately casted toward endless treefish, stickfish, and rockfish throughout the morning. He certainly earned his guide card yesterday.
We started the morning hitting a 3 sections of the Quittie. It was a warm morning, with temperatures in the high 80s (it would top out in the low 90s later in the afternoon). Water levels seemed low and mostly clear, but nice and cool. We both had spinning gear in tow, and I was tossing a Mepps Agila (it had worked well for me last year) and Spurky was working a BPS Spoon of some design.
Fishing was hit or miss on the Quittie, with several stretches giving us a the skunk, but one section that ran behind a cow pasture was extremely productive. In retrospect, it ended up being the most action we'd see on the day, but what we lacked in quantity, we made up for in quality, as evidenced by these pretty 'bows.
Just as we were going to hit the last hole, it happened. It? Yeah, it. Spurky got into a pig. I was fishing a riffle when I noticed Spurky with a nice bend in his rod...he motioned for me to come over quickly, not just to see the fish he was fighting, but he needed a net man. And let me tell you, this fish was a bruiser. I scampered down the bank into the water and tried to net the fish - but it was too big for my 20" net! We didn't have a tape measure, but this fish ran at least a thick 24"...the largest Spurky claims to have pulled from the Quittie to date!
On the way out, I decided I wanted to fish out that hole, just to see if that whale had any younger brothers or sisters. Wouldn't you know on my last cast, a sibling obliged with a swift rising strike from the depths.
After that, we moved on to Indiantown, but Spurky wasn't impressed with the water levels. He let me fish two quick holes near the road - I caught a small creek chub and a tiny native trout (still with its parr marks) - but I didn't really think to take any pics. Since the water was low we hopped back in Spurky's Hybrid truck (fancy right?) and he entertained me with the story of the
Moonshine Church & the Blue-Eyed Six during the drive over to Trout Run. The're ghosts up in thar hills!
Our time on Trout Run didn't end up yielding much either, so I won't write too much about it. We only spent 20 or 30 minutes fishing it, and most of it was the hike/wade in. This is small, tight quarters fishing. Tenkara rods need not apply. Net result...Spurky got a smallie, I got a rock bass. Interesting harvest for a place called "Trout" Run, right?
After that we called it a day. I had a bit of a drive home in front of me, and I think we were both a little drenched under our hippers (if you know what I mean) from the heat.
I can't thank Spurky enough for dragging me around yesterday. Despite the tough fishing, I couldn't have had a better time. I mean it was mostly new (to me) water, we ended up with some memorable fish at the end of our lines, it was a day away from the office (always a plus), and truthfully, it was simply just the kind of medicine this angler needed this week.
