2009 Fishing Journal

Date	Species	Location	Caught	Weather	Highlights	Lowlights	Media/Comments
9/21	Bass & Pike	Allegheny River	2 Smallmouth Bass	Sunny, low-60s, water temp 66°.	Fished with Dave... Really weren't any highlights. 8:30am - 1:30pm.	Still can't find fish.	River is down to about 3000 cfs. We should be seeing fish, since the water is clear, but still see very few Fished down to the Wolf's Head plant. Hit a big concrete block at the head of the rapids by the sewage plant... should have seen it easily. Then the jet got plugged with topwater weed crud. All in all, a pretty poor day of fishing.
9/18	Bass & Pike	Allegheny River	4 Smallmouth Bass	Foggy, then sunny, low-70s, water temp 68°.	Really weren't any highlights. 9:00pm - 2:00pm.	Can't find fish.	River is down to about 3000 cfs. Saw very few fish and had very few bites. Raised only one pike on topwater and had only a few smallmouth bites. Fished 3 floats from the bridges on the south shore and caught 1 dink. Bites just weren't happening. Fished the weedbed by the plant, but only raised one pike. Floated through the rapids and caught 3 smallmouth below the rapids along the south shore.
9/12	Bass & Pike	Allegheny River	1 Smallmouth Bass 1 Pike	Cloudy, low-60s, water temp 68°.	Fished with Dave... Really weren't any highlights. 4:00pm - 7:00pm.	Can't find fish.	River is down to about 3000 cfs. We should be seeing fish, since the water is clear. We saw very few fish and had very few bites. Raised a couple pike on topwater and had only 2 or 3 smallmouth bites. A tournament was going on tomorrow so there was a lot of pre-fishing, but still... something's not right.
9/11	Bass	Kahle Lake	5 Largemouth Bass	Cloudy, low-60s, water temp 70°.	Really weren't any highlights. 8:30am - 12:00pm.	It's like the dead sea....	Hybrid storm coming in from the east, almost a real tropical storm, but not named. Could be that the weather messed things up. Fishing was tough. All fish were small. Fished deep and shallow but figured out no pattern whatsoever. Deep weeds are mostly gone, dull green color to the water.
9/9	Bass & Pike	Allegheny River	3 Smallmouth Bass	Cloudy, drizzle, low-70s, water temp 69°.	Nice to be able to move quickly to different spots... 4:30pm - 7:00pm.	Tried a few different tactics without much success...	Fished Oil City. Tried to focus on faster water but not many bites. Just can't seem to find many fish, definitely can't find a pattern. Raised a few pike in the weeds on froggy, but just slash and dash. Not sure where they've gone, but the topwater thing just hasn't worked much this year. Maybe the fall with heat up.
9/5	Bass & Pike	Allegheny River	0, zilch, nothing!	Sunny, mid-70s, water temp 70°.	Fishing with Kyle and Leeann. Kyle did great! 4:30pm - 7:00pm.	Skunked for the first time in a long time....	Fished Oil City. Kyle was the fisherman of the day. He caught 1 smallie and had several other bites, just not setting the hook well in the current. Dinger seemed to work... not a bite on the jig. Again, smallies seem to be in faster water. Raised two pike in the weeds on money minnow, but just slash and dash. Leeann hates riding in the boat.
9/4	Bass & Pike	Allegheny River	3 Smallmouth Bass	Mostly sunny, upper 40's early, p to mid-60s, water temp 69°.	Fun exploring. 7:00am - 11:00am. One nice smallie - 19"!	Alone... Surface grass and weeds are tough.	Fished Kennerdell area. For first time, went down below the bridge. No problems with depth, nice fast water rocks and then big rocks. Didn't raise one pike in the weeds along the shore. Saw many smallies in the faster water getting out of the way of the boat... wondering how to fish for them... anchor? wade? Boat's just moving too fast for me Raised one walleye near deeper bridge pier.
9/2	Bass	Allegheny River	3 Smallmouth Bass 1 Pike	Mostly sunny, upper 60's early, water temp 68°.	Bitsy bugs with crawdad trailer 3:00pm - 7:30pm. One nice smallie - 18"!	Alone...	Fished the Oil City area. Tough finding fish. Raised only 2 pike in the weeds. Water seems muddy, weeds still laying sideways in the current.
8/29	Bass	Allegheny River	7 Smallmouth Bass	Mostly sunny, upper 40's early, p to mid-60s, water temp 67°.	Bitsy bugs with crawdad trailer 7:00am - 11:00am. Two nice ones - 18"!	Alone...	Fish seem to be in faster water. Only catch little ones in slow water. Raised one pike in the weeds. Watched a jet boat go up the river along the left side of the island by the tunnel. He stayed very close to the left shoreline at the top of the rapids.
8/27	Bass & Pike	Allegheny River	3 Smallmouth Bass 1 Pike	Mostly sunny, upper-60's, water temp 68°.	Dave raised a big Musky, which we then raised 3 more times. 4 footer!	Not many pike bites or smallies, to much mud...	Fished Kennerdell area again. Smallies were caught along the Kennerdell eddy, most bites in faster water. Caught a 20inch smallie, a good 5lbs! Also caught a chunky 18incher. The big one was caught in the right channel at the island above the tunnel. The 18incher and the walleye were caught at the Kennerdell bridge pier... middle one.
8/18 - 8/23	Ocean Stuff	Indian River Inlet, Delaware	13 Flounder	Sunny most days	Jigs with Gulp flukes and twister tails.	Just learning and playing...	Best bait seemed to be minnows, many folks caught fish from shore on live bait. Needed a drop-shot type rig to keep from getting stuck. Only caught one big enough to keep, but didn't keep it. Most were small. Many, many people catching fish from boats. Stripers or blues hitting the surface at night around the lights. Great fun!
8/12	Bass	Justus Lake	5 Largemouth Bass 1 Smallmouth Bass	Thunderstorms, mid-80s, water temp 73°.	First time fishing the lake in 2 or 3 years.	Horrible thuderstorm... We hid under trees and got soaked, but eventually stopped. Dave took a nasty fall when getting back in the boat. Bad scrape on his knee and messed up his shoulder.	Only caught fish on the point across from swimming area. Fish caught on Tikis and jigs, nothing else seemed to work.
8/8	Bass & Pike	Allegheny River	6 Smallmouth Bass 1 Walleye	Mostly sunny, mid-70's, water temp 73°.	Bitsy bugs with crawdad trailer 6:30am - 10:30am. Two big ones!	Alone...	Fished Kennerdell area again. Smallies were caught along the Kennerdell eddy, most bites in faster water. Caught a 20inch smallie, a good 5lbs! Also caught a chunky 18incher. The big one was caught in the right channel at the island above the tunnel. The 18incher and the walleye were caught at the Kennerdell bridge pier... middle one.
8/5	Bass & Pike	Allegheny River	6 Smallmouth Bass	Mostly sunny, mid-70's, water temp 73°.	Fished with Dave. Bitsy bugs with crawdad trailer 5:30pm - 8pm.	Water is still high and a little cloudy. Lots of current.	Fished the Kennerdell area for the first time in the new boat. Smallies were caught along the Kennerdell eddy, along the big rocks. Flow was 8300, but dropping quickly. Flow doesn't seem to matter as much as color. Still fishing close to shore, just lots of current.
8/4	Bass & Pike	Allegheny River	5 Smallmouth Bass 1 Pike	Mostly cloudy, upper-70's, brief thunderstorm, water temp 72°.	Smallies were biting, but the toothy critters don't seem to like the muddy water... fished from 4:30pm - 8pm.	Alone.	Fished Oil City area. Smallies were caught along rocky edges. Current is pretty tough as the flow was over 9000 when I checked. Saw Dale at the launch and he convinced me that the fishing was getting better as the muddy color was clearing.
8/1	Bass	Kahle Lake	5 Largemouth Bass	Mostly sunny, upper-70's, water temp 76°.	Caught all bass on jigs in deeper water... fished from 6:00am - 11:0apm.	Alone, weeds really suck at Kahle this year.	First time I've ever caught bass on jigs... never had the time or patience to try them. They seemed to work on the weed edges better than anything else.
7/26	Bass	Kahle Lake	5 Largemouth Bass	Mostly sunny, upper-70's, water temp 75°.	Tough bite... fished from 4:30pm - 8pm.	Alone, weeds are think and stringy	Caught a couple on topwater, tough to figure out where the fish are... the weeds are so stringy, the fish don't seem to be in them like usual.
7/16	Bass & Pike	Allegheny River	2 Smallmouth Bass 1 Pike	Mostly sunny, upper-70's, water temp 76°.	Raised a Musky, lost a Musky, lost several Pike... fished from 4:30pm - 8pm.	Alone, stupid pike bit me and slashed my hand.	Smallies were caught under the bridge, in faster water. Saw some others near shore but weren't interested in dingers or jigs. Lost my last Rage Toad, broke my line on a pike, caught same fish a couple casts later, but the hook was out of sight. Then, he shook while I was holding me and ripped four nice cuts in my hand.
7/14	Bass	Tionesta Outflow	0	Foggy, low-50's.	Fished with flyrod and popper, 7:30am - 10:00am.	Alone, outflow was really too high for popper fishing.	Raised one fish, but missed it. Passed a guy that was casting big lures for Musky... said he caught 2 small ones and missed a nice one. Would be cool to wade and cast those big lures.
7/8	Bass & Pike	Allegheny River	1 Smallmouth Bass 1 Pike	Mostly sunny, upper-70's	Boat rocks with the batteries up front.	Alone, tough bite again.
7/1	Bass & Pike	Allegheny River	2 Pike	Mostly sunny, upper-70's.	Fished with Dave... Missed several Pike... fished from 5:30pm - 8pm.	tough bite, smallies are tough to find.	Fished from Franklin, below the ramp and then up to the Reno eddy.
6/29	Bass & Pike	Allegheny River	1 Smallmouth Bass 1 Pike	Mostly cloudy, low-70's.	Fishing out of MY jet boat... :-D from 5:30pm - 8pm.	Alone, small storm came through, river still a little muddy.	Another tough bite... a little high, a little muddy. Pike crush that stupid Rage Toad, but I can't figure out how to keep them hooked.
6/29	Bass & Pike	Allegheny River	1 Smallmouth Bass 1 Pike	Mostly cloudy, low-70's.	Fishing out of MY jet boat... :-D from 5:30pm - 8pm.	Alone, small storm came through, river still a little muddy.	Another tough bite... a little high, a little muddy. Pike crush that stupid Rage Toad, but I can't figure out how to keep them hooked.
6/26	Bass	Kahle Lake	4 Bass	partly sunny, mid-60's, water temp 73°.	Fished from the Jet, with Dave from 4:30pm - 7pm.	Very, very windy, tough.	Weeds are bad, boat works very well in the wind!
6/21	Bass and Pike	Allegheny River	1 Bass	partly sunny, mid-70's.	Fished in the jet from 6:30pm - 8pm.	Alone, tough bite	Took Leeann, Shawn, and Kyle for a ride in the jet, then stay to fish a couple hours. Dang pike love the Rage Toad, but I can't keep them hooked.
6/16	Walleye	Lake Pymatuning	1 Walleye	sunny, mid-70's, very little breeze.	Fished with Uncle Dan, Lenny and Pat from 9:30am - 12pm. Caught a 23" Walleye	Drifting and trolling is a little dull, but that's the technique there.	Went out of a launch near Tuttle, Danners I think it was called. Easy to know where to fish... just follow all the boats. Trolling worm harnesses was the main technique. I caught one and lost 2, Pat lost a nice one at the boat.
6/13	Bass	Kahle Lake	6 Bass	partly sunny, mid-60's, water temp 73°.	Fished with Dave from 4:30pm - 7pm. Caught a 4lb bass.	Very breezy, tough.	Weeds are getting bad already... mossy, stringy, sucks.
6/11	Bass and Pike	Allegheny River	1 Pike 2 Smallmouth Bass	sunny, mid-70's, water temp 70°. 3900 cfs	Fished with Dave from 4pm - 8pm	Fishing was very poor, hardly any bites...	Smallmouth are gone, pike were finicky, but weeds are growing and pike seem to beginning to ambush.
6/7	Bass and Panfish	Kahle Lake	4 Bass 26 Bluegills	partly sunny, low-70's, water temp 69°.	Fished with Shawn from 4pm - 8pm. A GREAT time with him!!	None.	Shawn's first flyfishing experience... he did very well! He also caught a very nice bass.... about 5 pounds... 20". Bluegills were nice-sized!
6/6	Bass and Pike	Allegheny River	1 Pike	sunny, low-70's, water temp 66°. 5300 cfs	Fished with Dave from 4pm - 8pm	Fishing was very poor, hardly any bites...	Not sure what was wrong... water was a little high, and still a little cloudy, but it was like all the fish were gone... no smallies in the shallows, no pike either.... weird.
6/5	Bass and Panfish	Kahle Lake	6 Largemouth Bass 18 Bluegills	cloudy, upper-50's, water temp 66°.	Found some decent bluegills. Great fun on a dry fly.	Alone, chilly, and breezy...	Fished 7:00pm-11:00m. The bluegills seem a little bobber-shy. Easy to catch on a dry fly.
6/2	Bass and Panfish	Kahle Lake	8 Largemouth Bass 21 Bluegills	cloudy, mid-60's, water temp 67°.	Hunted for Bluegills and found some nice ones.	Alone...	Fished 4:00pm-8:00m. Easier to catch the bluegills when the water was choppy. Once the lakes smoothed over, they were tougher to catch.
6/1	Bass	Kahle Lake	10 Largemouth Bass	breezy, cloudy, mid-60's, water temp 67°.	Dave and I both caught and missed plenty of fish.	Weird weather, from windy and dark to calm and clear...	Fished 4:30pm-8:30m. Most bass were small. Need to hit the bluegill redds SOON!
05/28	Bass	Kahle Lake	12 Largemouth Bass	humid, cloudy, low-70's, water temp 66°.	Swimbaits work on Largemouth too! Rage Toad worked too!	Alone...	Only fished about 3 hours, 8am-11am. Senkos are still the best. Two fish were over 15, one was over 18.
05/26	Bass and Pike	Allegheny River	5 Smallmouth Bass 2 Pike	windy, rain, low-50's, water temp 63°.	Swimbaits are amazing! Lots of Pike bites.	Alone... Absolutely miserable for most of the time	Only fished about 3 hours, 11am-2pm. Focused mostly on pike areas closer to the launch because of the weather. When it cleared a little, I caught 3 pretty quickly in the rocky shallows.
05/22	Bass and Pike	Allegheny River	10 Smallmouth Bass 1 Pike	calm, clear, mid-70's, water temp 62°.	Great smallies in the shallows. Money Minnow and Dingers. First pike of the year!	Alone...	Only fished about 3 hours, 8am-11am. Smallies are on beds, lots of big ones. Need to hit them hard before its over... flyrod would be great fun.
05/21	Trout	East Branch Sugar Creek	14 Trout	Clear, mid-70's.	Fished with Corey. Flyrod and unweighted waxworms!	no lowlights at all..	Great fishing at Girty's with Corey. I let him use the flyrod and unweighted waxies... never got the flyrod back. We fished for about 2 hours and caught lots. There are tons of fish in that hole.
05/20	Trout	Sugar Creek	7 Trout	Clear, upper-60's.	Fished with Gave up on Tamarack, went to Sugar Creek with Corey Flyrod!!!	no lowlights at all..	Caught 5 trout on Adams Dry Flies that Leeann won at the TU Banquet.... ties by Terry Morrow. Very cool!!
05/20	Bass and Muskie	Tamarack Lake	0	breezy, clear, upper-70's, water temp 63°.	Fished with Corey.	Fished for over 2 hours, not a single bite.	The lake is a weird color. Never saw a fish rise, other than carp. Seems dead....
05/18	Bass	Allegheny River	6 Smallmouth Bass	breezy, clear, low-70's, water temp 61°.	Bass are on beds n the shallows	Alone... lots of hits and misses.	YUM Money Minnows are awesome. Lots of follows by Pike, tons of hits by smallies. Used a 5" lures and only caught big smallies, a 4" would also get the smaller ones. Very cool!
05/16	Trout	East Branch Sugar Creek	12 Trout	calm, clear, upper-60's.	Fished with Uncle Dan and Lenny... great time!	none.	Plenty of trout below the yellow bridge.... waxworms, flyrod, no weight. Great to fish with Lenny. I showed him and Dan where the fish were, and then they hit 'em hard.
05/15	Panfish	Kahle Lake	5 keeper bluegills 1 Largemouth Bass	calm, clear, upper-60's. water temp 62°.	Fished with Jon Brown	Very tough bite. Could see tons of fish, they wouldn't bite.	Jon seemed to enjoy the time together... a rough time for him and Lis right now.
05/13	Trout	East Branch Sugar	9 Trout	Breezy, low-60's, cloudy.	Just stocked and no one else fishing.	Alone, water low and clear, fish very spooky even though just stocked.	Had some fun playing with flies, could get a lot of follows, but only hooked up on 3 or 4.
05/12	Panfish	Kahle Lake	14 Bluegills 1 Crappie	fished 5:30pm - 7:30pm, breeze, mid-50s, Water temp 62°.	Found some decent panfish near the weed edge.	Couldn't find the crappies.	Small panfish near shore, decided to try the weed edge in deeper water and located bigger bluegills. Was fishing 4-5' deep in the weeds, boat in 8-10 fow.
05/11	Bass & Panfish	Lake Wilhelm	4 Bass	fished 12:o0pm - 6:00pm, windy, mid-50s, Water temp 61°.	Fished with Dave in the "sticks" from the boat. Nice 4lb bass was the first to bite.	Very windy, tough to stay in one spot.	First time we've ever gone up into the sticks, just recently learned that the log-boom was gone. At least 5 or 6 Osprey nests. Lots of cover.... maybe too much.
05/09	Bass & Pike	Allegheny River	2 Smallmouth Bass	fished 10:o0am - 2:00pm, windy, mid-60s, Water temp 58°.	Both bass were big... rolled a pike	Tough bite, river a little high.	Bass were close to shore on wood.
05/07	Bass & Panfish	Kahle Lake	1 Bass 4 Bluegills 9 Crappies	fished 4:o0pm - 7:00pm, windy, mid-50s, Water temp 61°.	Fished with Corey and Vanessa.	Breezy, anchored.	Crappies would bite, but weren't ferocious.
05/06	Bass	Clarion River	Zilch	fished 12:o0pm - 4:00pm, windy, mid-60s, Water temp 60°.	First time ever fishing the river from my boat.	Had 2 bites... probably sunfish.	Saw an Eagle. Launched at Millcreek and went upriver. Lots of rocks and boulders, but couldn't find any fish.
05/02	Bass & Panfish	Kahle Lake	4 Bass 6 Bluegills 6 Crappie	fished 4:o0pm - 7:00pm, windy, mid-50s, Water temp 60°.	Found some decent panfish. Dave met me there around 5pm	Very windy, had to hide in the cove all evening.	Crappies are very close to shore. Had to coax them to bite a jig and waxworm.
04/29	Trout	Sugar Creek	10 Trout	fished 4:o0pm - 7:00pm, sunny, low-70s.	Stocked the day before, plenty to catch. Caught most using the flyrod and sucker spawn.	Tough to get a decent drift, might need longer leader?	Fished at the Golf Course for a while, then Wyatteville with Dave. Eagles still have their nest and we saw them soaring and sitting on the nest.
04/27	Bass and Panfish	Kahle Lake	10 Panfish 8 Bass	fished 4:o0pm - 7:00pm, sunny, low-80s., water temp 59°.	Lots of panfish near shore, bass are acting twitterpated, saw a few crappies close to shore.	Alone and breezy.
04/24	Trout	East Branch of Sugar	2 Trout	fished 11:o0am - 1:00pm, clearing, started around 50°, ended at 70°.	Fished with new fly rod	Alone and not much happening.
04/22	Trout	Upper Two Mile	17 Trout	fished 5:o0pm - 7:30pm, cloudy, mid-40's.	18" Palomino! Fished with new fly rod!	Alone	Waxworms and salmon eggs, drifted with no weight, very cool and fun Creek was stocked on Monday, 2 days earlier.
4/20	Trout	Upper Two Mile	15 Trout	rain, mid-40's.	Freshly stocked. Fished with Dan. Caught a fish on the new flyrod on first cast!	Weather... cold and rain	Creek was slightly colored and rising. Very few people fishing. Flyrod with spinning reel really doesn't work when the rod is wet.
4/19	Trout	Upper Two Mile	8 Trout	mid-50's.	Fishing with Dave.	A little slow.
4/18	Trout FIRST DAY of TROUT.	East Branch of Sugar	5 Trout	30's early, mid-60's later. Sunny.	Corey caught 4, Shawn caught 5, and Kyle caught 6. GREAT FUN!	East Branch fish are spread out.
4/12	Bass	Allegheny River	1 Smallmouth	Windy, low-40's. Water temp 46°.	First trip to the river. Had several bites, but only hooked the one.	Very windy, which made fishing nearly impossible and cold.
4/3	Bass and Panfish	Kahle Lake	0	mid-40's, water temp 42°.	First time out with the boat.	Only a couple panfish bites but nothing caught.
3/21	Trout	East Hickory Creek	Skunked!	mid-30s snow early.	Got to fish with Dave, but neither of us had a bite.	First time I've been skunked in a long time.
3/16	Trout	Little Sandy Creek	3 Trout		Flyfishing with Dave.	Not a lot of fish located.	Woolybuggers and suckerspawn.
3/13	Trout	Oil Creek	6 Rainbows	mid-40s, partly cloudy.	DHALO stocked last week.		Woolybuggers