Tag Archives: brook trout

Squaretails, Shenandoah

Posted on April 26, 2021 by rivertoprambles

I was well beyond my usual angling haunts in northern Appalachia. I was well beyond some recent and surprisingly pleasant hikes with family through Baltimore and Prince William Forest Park in metro Washington, D.C.. My placement may have been influenced … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Appalachia, brook trout, dogs, fishing, hiking, monster, North Fork Moormans, Rapidan, Shenandoah National Park, Skyline Drive, Snarly Yow, squaretails, writing | 28 Comments

Three Branches, Opening Day

Posted on April 8, 2021 by rivertoprambles

Opening day for trout in northern Pennsylvania offered excellent weather and an opportunity to reacquaint myself with the headwaters. For 35 years I’ve fished three branches of the Genesee (the East, Middle, and West) on the April opener for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Amish, bait, Bliss Perry, brook trout, fly fishing, Genesee headwaters, heron, nature, opening day, poetry, The Wild Trout, Time, worm fishing, writing | 18 Comments

Operation Perdigon

Posted on June 4, 2020 by rivertoprambles

I’d intended to fish the brook ever since a friend indicated that his son had looked for trout there years ago. Through my decades of digging into local history, especially with regard to native fish populations, I had never seen … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged brook trout, exploration, fishing, friendship, headwaters, local life, nature, nymphing, Perdigons, preservation, small streams, writing | 11 Comments

Whiskey Run

Posted on December 28, 2019 by rivertoprambles

1. The beauty of the stream is a simple gift, a holiday revelation. There’s a wholeness to its many parts where pool and riffle, snowy bank and mossy rock cohere. The solitude, the wooded hills, the winter trout are gathered … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Allegheny foothills, brook trout, fly-fishing, holidays, nature, Pine Creek, poetry, prose, Whiskey Run, wild brown trout, writing | 23 Comments

Jumping the Back Fence

Posted on October 30, 2019 by rivertoprambles

Wild Boy Run was named for Lewis “Wild Boy” Stevens who settled on the Pennsylvania mountain stream in 1842. Born to alcoholic and abusive parents, Stevens “jumped the back fence” of his home (in New Jersey) at age eleven and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged brook trout, fishing, hiking, history, jumping the fence, Lake Ontario tribs, Lewis Stevens, narrative, peace, Pennsylvania, poetry, Salmon River, small streams, war, Wild Boy Run | 18 Comments

Panther Run

Posted on May 16, 2019 by rivertoprambles

I’ll call the small stream “Panther Run.” This Pine Creek tributary, once renowned for mountain lion sightings, is now a freestone tumbler that’s unwilling to reveal its actual moniker. I fished the run initially on a sparkling day in May, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged brook trout, common names, ecology, environmental defense, fly-fishing, myth, nature, Panther Run, Pine Creek, poetry, small streams, trout lily, wildflowers, writing | 15 Comments

A Tenkara Treatise (or Something Like It)

Posted on December 4, 2018 by rivertoprambles

[Many readers of Rivertop Rambles will recognize the name, Bob Stanton. Bob has been a follower and supporter of this blog from its early years on down to the present. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him, first on RR … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Allegheny River, Bob Stanton, brook trout, environment, fishing, fly-fishing, hiking, history, nature, tenkara, tenkara rods, traditions | 18 Comments

Western Field Notes #2: High Passage

Posted on July 18, 2018 by rivertoprambles

Driving from Buena Vista, Colorado’s fine beer and pizza terraces, we climbed past Mt. Elbert’s snowy patches and over Independence Pass. We stopped for a tundra walk at 12,000 feet in altitude; the wildflowers and breath-taking scenery establishing an inspirational … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged brook trout, brown trout, Brush Creek, camping, Colorado, family, fly-fishing, Frying Pan, hiking, national forests, nature, Rocky Mountains, travel, wilderness | 8 Comments

An Adams Will Do

Posted on June 3, 2018 by rivertoprambles

Continuing with my “wings over water” theme of late, I’ve kept an eye out for insect hatches on our trout streams but haven’t seen much yet. Oh, the Sulphur mayflies made an afternoon appearance on Cross Fork Creek. A few … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Adams dry fly, brook trout, fly tying, fly-fishing, friends, Genesee River, hatches, high water, nature, Sinnemahoning, songbirds | 15 Comments

First Signs (At 37 Degrees)

Posted on March 27, 2018 by rivertoprambles

This one is as short and simple as the first tentative signs of spring. I keep under the radar of what’s happening in the news and just report on what is not so new. The weather is becoming fair, at … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged birds, brook trout, dry flies, environment, family, fly-fishing, hiking, natural history, Pennsylvania, protest, signs of spring, society, Spring | 23 Comments