Memorial Day Trouting Outing

For many, Memorial Day is a day of picnics and relaxation with family and friends. But for those of us who are self-employed, there is no such thing as a 'paid holiday', so much of my day was spent working, and making ends meet.

Upon arriving home, I was pretty well beat - but even more noticeable was that I was feeling rather anxious. I've been spending a lot of time in my art studio working on new artwork, in between board meetings, cleaning houses (my day job) and attending an important conference. My brain was just frazzled. And so, I pondered skipping any responsibilities for some self-care while enjoying some macaroni salad, and hot dogs. Afterall, what kind of Memorial Day would it have been to not have indulged in those two things?

As a new fly fisherman - I haven't quite had time to sit down and learn the new knots, or even get to a store to buy new tippet material, so I fell back on an old habit: SPINNER FISHING.

In contrast to my 8.5-foot fly rod, my spinning rod is half the length. I like a small rod for spin fishing. The small rod size allows for me to cast and get the appropriate angles in small streams that are often overlooked by other fishermen. (It's also easier to crawl through brush with.) And so, I drove to a small stream I've been wanting to try for several years and gave it a shot.

I started fishing in a larger stream that connects to the small "mystery" stream I speak of. The area I started was precisely where I had caught my first trout on a fly just a week or so earlier. This time though - I was using hardware - and cast the gold spinner up the creek in several locations with no luck. Knowing damn well they work well, I could only suspect I spooked the wary wild brown trout that call this stretch of creek home when I entered the area.

I gave myself a lower profile, and hunkered over I flipped the spinner 50 yards forward in front of a big boulder. The boulder was surrounded in deep, darker water, though still very clear.

BAM! Trout on!

With a flash of gold, I reeled in a dandy wild brownie, probably around 11 inches in length. He was colorful, and after a very quick photo, he was slipped back into his habitat to live another day.

Where the familiar stream branches into two, I took the "left" branch, which was considerably smaller. Typically, I venture to the right, where the stream looks a bit more productive, but my whole purpose was really to explore and fish personally unchartered waters.

Within moments I had another hit, a small stream-born brownie that could fit into the palm of my hand.

Moments later, a second, basically the same size. Several others chased the spinner, but having snagged a large chunk of moss, I spooked them. Disgruntled, I pulled the moss off my spinner, and noticed a larger 'sip' on the water ahead of me. I crept forward into deceivingly deep water, where I thanked my lucky stars I had chest waders, and then cast forward alongside some brush.

BAM! Another trout. This one, larger than the youngsters that hit the spinner a dozen yards onback.

I fished on, landing some more small trout and losing some others before I could get them in. In one deeper pool I landed a beautiful wild brown, probably around 15 inches, with deep yellows and golds, and silvery blue cheeks.

Although Brown Trout are not a native fish, I do love them. They offer a more resilient trout species in streams that may be too warm for other trout species, and add a touch of gold to any fishing trip they are a part of.

Thanks for reading! Until next time...

Birding Benezette

Located in the "PA Wilds" of north central Pennsylvania, Benezette township is best known for its biggest tourism resource: wild elk. Every year, particularly in the fall, photographers and wildlife enthusiasts of all kinds visit this small village in hopes of witnessing bugling bulls in the scenic backcountry. But, outside of the fall, Benezette is just as wonderful a place - particularly if you hate crowds, and love birds.

I visit Benezette several times a year, being that it's only about 2 hours from my home in Altoona. In fact, the growing elk herd has spread so much, that you can see them in many counties across the northern tier, as healthy herds spread into adjacent counties. But, I still find myself drawn into The Benezette Hotel for smoked wings and blueberry wheat ale, Benezette Wines for a Jolly Juice slushy, and Elk Life for a delicious ice cream cone. Afterall, foods can be just as key in making an experience memorable. And, in all locations I've mentioned, my husband and I have become a familiar face and treated with kindness.

Yesterday, the birds didn't disappoint - and while we generally don't have a ton of luck elk viewing in the spring, we saw around a dozen or so elk during our expedition. We saw bulls with delicate velvet antlers, and cows that looked about ready to give birth.

Of course, antlers aren't that impressive at this point in the year, so it makes it easier to focus more on the birds. As an avid birder, Benezette offers species that are not as common in my home county of Blair. For example, we tallied several Veery, a thrush that is among my favorite of all singers. Check out the various sounds this bird makes on Cornell Lab's "All About Birds" page.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Veery/sounds

Wild Turkeys were very active in the evening, at at the Winslow Hill viewing area I enjoyed watching a mature gobbler strut with four hens in the field. They were at such a distance that my camera didn't allow for good photos, but up the road a quarter mile three young "Jakes" pecked around and posed for me. Here are two of them:

As we perused the road leading up to Winslow Hill, my husband and I pulled over to watch a Turkey Vulture feed on a gray squirrel that had been hit by a vehicle. As natures clean-up crew, I have much appreciation for our vultures and what they do.

Many of the birds at Benezette are purely seasonal, and will be gone by the time elk tourism season is peaked. Barn Swallows were observed collecting mud for their nests at Winslow Hill, and various Warblers (including the Yellow Warbler pictured below) are arriving or passing through to breed. Cliff Swallows too, frequent the Benezette Hitel parking lot when mud is present ins build their hollow mud nests under the bridge in "downtown".

While we didn't see any this trip - Winslow Hill's grassy meadows will soon be bustling with the calls of the diminutive Grasshopper Sparrow. Grasshopper Sparrows primary prey is grasshoppers, and their song is very insect like. They have flecks of yellow in their otherwise drab plumage, which actually makes for a handsome bird up close. All of these birds will leave by late summer and early autumn to head south to their wintering grounds far, far away from elk county.

And so, here was the final tally for this birding trip for Benezette, PA. Thanks for reading:

2 Canada Goose

9 Wild Turkey

3 Mourning Dove

1 Yellow-billed Cuckoo

2 Ruby-throated Hummingbird

2 Killdeer

2 Turkey Vulture

1 Red-bellied Woodpecker

1 Pileated Woodpecker

2 Northern Flicker

1 American Kestrel

2 Eastern Wood-Pewee

4 Least Flycatcher

1 Eastern Phoebe

2 Great Crested Flycatcher

5 Red-eyed Vireo

2 Blue Jay

3 American Crow

1 Common Raven

4 Black-capped Chickadee

1 Tufted Titmouse

2 Northern Rough-winged Swallow

8 Tree Swallow

13 Barn Swallow

1 White-breasted Nuthatch

3 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

4 House Wren

9 European Starling

5 Gray Catbird

2 Brown Thrasher

1 Eastern Bluebird

5 Veery

17 American Robin

5 Cedar Waxwing

5 House Sparrow

4 American Goldfinch

4 Chipping Sparrow

5 Field Sparrow

5 Song Sparrow

5 Eastern Towhee

3 Eastern Meadowlark

2 Baltimore Oriole

100 Red-winged Blackbird

2 Brown-headed Cowbird

4 Common Grackle

5 Ovenbird

2 Black-and-white Warbler

3 Common Yellowthroat

7 American Redstart

3 Yellow Warbler

1 Scarlet Tanager

5 Northern Cardinal

Number of Taxa: 52