Reel Fish'n

Chartiers Creek Chemical Spill - No Offical Update #fishPA #ChartiersCreek

Date 8/5/21 There has been no official announcement from the DEP or PA Fish and Boat Commission on what the source was that caused the fish kill in Chartiers Creek on July 19th, 2021. There have been two news articles that I have seen that have misleading headlines and I wanted to clear the air as things get shared around social media. The first one I saw was from KDKA in Pittsburgh reporting on…

Volunteers Needs - Big Sewickley creek Clean Up #fishPA

March 20th 11am to 1pm join us as we give areas of Big Sewickley creek a spit shine. Sign up to confirm your spot here.  Sign Me up to help!

Ice Fishing Canonsburg Lake #fishPA #icefishing

Sawmill Run Watershed https://www.facebook.com/sawmillrunwatershed/    

The perception pescador 12 pilot is an outstanding fishing kayak for the price point. The company did a great job with the pedal drive system giving the angler the ultimate freehand PDL.

Since owning the kayak I have tinkered with different setups for my transducer mount before I settled on the one I have been using the past 2 years.  The BroCraft Transducer Mounting Arm With Track Adapter worked great for my Lowrance Hook2 5x and now my current Humminbird Helix 7.

I attached the BroCraft to one of the yellow railing sliders on my kayak. It never sat flush with the water and sat below the kayak about 6 inches on a slant. I don’t know if I was ever getting the optimal reading from the depth finders. The setup worked flawlessly and I may need to go back to it if this new rigging system does not work.

Pros: Dependable configuration, easy take on and off  Cons: Water drag, It would sometimes get caught on the structure in the water if I was shallow or on top of a log.

I discovered on the Preception Pescador 12 Pilot that there are pre-drilled holes on the bottom front scupper hole that appears for a transducer. I was unable to find any information on this on the internet and on the manufactures website. I was hoping to find someone that figured this out already but it doesn’t appear so. I did see someone on youtube that designed a custom transducer mount for the Pescador pilot but without using the pre-drilled holes. He used an old hose tube with two pieces of wood. It looked like a great design but felt there was a better way to do it.

I am using the pre-drilled holes with a piece of scrap wood. I cut the wood with my hand jigsaw to fit in the small scupper area as seen in this picture below:

Once I had the wood fitting nicely in that pocket I left the screws in on the kayak. I laid the wood over top and hit it a couple of times with a hammer so indents of the screws were on the wood. I was able to find the measurement to pilot the holes for the screws. Also to note I had to find long enough screws at the hardware store to fit the wood.  

I verified the depth of the wood with the transducer fully mounted would put it about flush with the Kayak bottom.  In the manual, the manufacture states the transducer should be just below the bottom of the stern of the boat. I wanted to make sure my transducer was sitting flush with the bottom of the Kayak regardless.

Pilot holes Drilled √,  Wood attached √ – I can now attach the transducer to the piece of wood.

You are now all set to run your cable up and put it in one of the gloves boxes on top.  I will add more info to this post once I can get pictures of the top and provide feedback on how the testing went.

Allegheny River Yak Fishing 3/15/20 #fishpa #alleghenyriver #yakfishing

Hit the Allegheny River yesterday in the lock 3 pool. Water temperatures are a brisk 45 degrees. I was targeting bass and was hoping to find some fish on the pre-spawn but nothing willing to give me a bite.

Caught this nice walleye on a red square bill trap about 10ft offshore break. Fishing should pick up in the next couple of weeks.

I am beyond thankfull for each and every fishing trip I took. This year was my best season on the YAK. The big bass a I landed at #Lakearthur is a big reason why.

Quick Tidbit – this bass was landed post spring spawn and she was still guarding her bed. Notice the red sore on her tail, that happens when a female bass fans debreis off her spawn bed.Snap shot of the release

Moving on to many other…

Slow fishing on Chartiers Creek this afternoon. I was hoping to find hold over trout and some that came over and the spill way. I tossed egg patterns, tandem rigs and some trout worms. Saw two trout caught up near the dam in the main hole. The weather felt like it was March or April. Super nice day to be outside.

Open to fishing year-round.

Fishing is permitted on a 24-hour basis.

Minimum size – 9 inches, caught on, or in possession on, the waters under these regulations from one hour before sunrise on June 15 to one hour after sunset on Labor Day.

The daily creel limit is three trout (combined species) from June 15 through Labor Day, caught on or in possession on the waters under these regulations. From the day after Labor Day until June 15, the daily creel limit is zero.

Fishing may be done with artificial lures only constructed of metal, plastic, rubber or wood, or with flies and streamers constructed of natural or synthetic materials. All such lures may be used with spinning or fly fishing gear.

Taking baitfish or fishbait is prohibited.

An angler in a boat may possess bait and fish caught in compliance with the seasons, sizes and creel limits in effect for a water from which it was taken, provided that the boat angler floats through the Delayed Harvest, Artificial Lures Only area without stopping or engaging in the act of fishing or the boat angler puts in or takes out his boat at an access point within the Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only area.

A current trout/salmon permit (or Combination Trout/Salmon/Lake Erie permit) is required.

Deer Creek is one of two Streams in Allegheny County that gets a Fall Stocking (2019).  The stream is located near Narcisi Winery and as a note, you cannot park in that winery lot. There is a sign on the property stating this.

There is access to the stream near the Rose Ridge Golf Course and along route 910.  The Creek is stocked 1.9 miles; from the SR 0910 Bridge at T-678 intersection downstream to the lower boundary of Rose Ridge Golf Course. Fish will make there way down to the river eventually.

Due to PA limited fall stockings in streams, the creek can be reasonably high pressure from fishermen.  The Creek has a decent flow and a nice waterway for fly fishermen due to overhead clearance.

Have questions about the creek or want to share a report?  Comment below or message us on our social media platforms! [email protected]

St Gabriel Fish Friday #fishfry #fishfriday

Solid piece of white fish. We got take out and I was very happy with my piece I got. The standard dinner came with slaw, roll, and a choice between frys and pirogies. I opted for frys but hit the all carte menu like a boss.

All carte mac & cheese is a solid choice.

Address: 5200 Greenridge Dr, Pittsburgh, PA 15236

Menu:

https://d2wldr9tsuuj1b.cloudfront.net/19257/documents/2019/2/2019_StGabe_Fis…

Montour Run has a special place in our the RF Teams heart being one of the local water ways we grew up fishing. Its a great stream that has convenient access to the creek from the montour trail.  Thanks for the Montour Creek Watershed Associate the water quality over the past 10 years has improved significantly. The water way has done so well that the PA Fish and Boat Commission stocks it with trout each year in the spring.

Look for more information coming with how to get involved with this group.  Hope to see you at the next clean up in the spring!

OuterBanks Trip - Post Hurricane Florence #obx #reelfishn #hurricaneflorence #outerbanks

Hurricane going to cancel our trip?

The leading into our trip to OBX was stressful.  I watched many news outlets and like most… felt our OBX trip was not going to happen. Every news outlet was predicting that OBX was going to get slammed by the Hurricane and Coastal Flooding. We were leaving Friday 9/14 when just about florencewas going to make landfall.  We didn’t have much information other…

Tackle Monthly Subscription - Our two favorites #fishing #tackle #flyfishing

Get out of the way gift cards, new fishing subscription boxes are coming to town.  Monthly Fly & Lure Subscription services are popping up all over and anglers are investing a monthly small cost for them. For as little as $13 a month you can get a box for envelope of new gear to try out on the water. This is a great gift idea for a fishing friend or a quick way to load up your tackle box. Mystery…

Looking back through my photos and sorting by dates I was trying to locate my actual favorite fish from 2017. I really couldn’t narrow it down to just one trip in particular and that is something to be thankful for. Each trip I get out, I really enjoy being on the water chasing fish no matter the type.

Looking back earlier in season I was doing a lot of fly fishing in WV to start the year until it was time for me to Yak. I invested into a depth finder on my yak thinking that would change the game for me. It did but I didn’t get to spend the time Yak fishing like I wanted to. I ended up getting back into the streams and river wader fishing a bunch. I finished the year off strong with a great trip to Erie before the deep freeze set in.

Looking a head to 2018 I hope to do more fly fishing, Musky Fishing and Yak fishing. The way this weather has been recently it looks like I will be doing some ice fishing which is something I don’t typically do. The weather hasn’t been good for it in PA and I usually find open water for trout.  Sub Zero temps might change that…

Big trips are in the plans now. Kinzua Castle, Allegheny River Floats (long weekend cabin rental), OBX, Penns Creek Fly fishing week trip and so much more..

Here’s to 2017 but already looking forward to 2018 fish.

Rye

Take me fishing, kid.

We’ve pushed the idea of “take a kid fishing” for a long time. Over 16 years actually.  April 8th, on our side of the state, was mentor trout day. With a youth, this was a perfect opportunity to hit the water, catch some fish, and make some memories. The kids might like it too. Since it’s inception, I have joined some close friends and their children on this awesome day. This day keeps us close.…

We’ve pushed the idea of “take a kid fishing” for a long time. Over 16 years actually.  April 8th, on our side of the state, was mentor trout day. With a youth, this was a perfect opportunity to hit the water, catch some fish, and make some memories. The kids might like it too. Since…