I took a vacation to Pennsylvania to do some whitewater kayaking from 9/19-9/26. We paddled 5 days of the 7 days we were there. On Saturday evening we paddled "The Loop" on the Youghiogheny River. "The Loop" is roughly half of the whitewater on this river. The river turns around a peninsula and almost comes back to itself. You can run this section then walk out a trail and be very close to the put in. On Sunday, we traveled to Maryland to paddle the North Branch of the Potomac River. They were doing a 1000 cfs release for the weekend. It was a very fun river with some fairly continuous whitewater, some great playspots, and cold, clear water. After that we paddled the full Lower Youghiogheny 3 times (Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.) On Tuesday I had an "incident" where I hit a rock and traveled through the class 3+ rapid Rivers End while upside down. I took a few bruises and scrapes from the rocks but came out relatively unscathed. It did however scare the hell out of the me so as a result, I was a little more conservative in running that particular rapid on our next two trips. All in all though the weather was fabulous and the paddling was awesome. I got some great surfing opportunities at Swimmers rapid and felt like I have gotten much better overall in the last year.
Now, to talk about some fishing. I had originally planned on taking my fishing kayak and running the Middle Yough and fishing for Smallmouth, Rainbows, and Browns. My plans however, did not work out. What I did end up doing though was taking an assortment of small flies and my 2-weight fly rod. On Monday 9/21, I fished a small stream called Meadow Run. There is a section of the stream that you can hike to called the cascades. It is a series of small ledges and waterfalls. I though that this would be a good starting point. When I began fishing though I could immediately tell that it was going to be a tough day of fishing. The water was extremely low and clear and the trout were very spooky. After fishing a few pools, I downsized to the smallest parachute fly that I had in my box. Within the next several pools, I caught my first fish. A beautiful male Brook Trout came up and sipped my parachute from the surface. It didn't give me much of a fight but what a beautiful fish! The pictures do not do this fish justice. Within a half hour I spotted a brown hanging in a small pool. I made a great cast and the fish immediately took my fly. It was a beautiful female Brown Trout. It gave a great fight and was also very beautiful. I thought that I had turned a corner and that the fishing was going to pick up. I was wrong. I continued to be plagued by spooky fish and slippery rocks and I finished the day having only caught the two. Even so, it was a great way to spend a day. I was out fishing a nice mountain stream with no one else around the entire time. Peace, Quiet, and Trout.
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