Day 5 – Flyfishing

Today’s Blog Entry

We started the day on Monday by driving east on one of the winding and narrow country roads typically found in this part of Pennsylvania. Our destination was Dunbar Creek, more specifically a section designated as trophy waters with catch-and-release restrictions to help grow large, healthy trout. We never did find the signage to indicate the correct area (insert ominous music here) but based on the map we thought that were in the right place. We pulled over, geared up, and hit the water by mid-morning.

Even though the water looked promising and there were any number of interesting pools and seams neither of us had any luck at the first location. We moved to a couple of other pull-offs to try different sections of the creek, also without any signs of life, so we decided that it was time to move on and try Meadow Run instead.

We ate our lunch on the way to a parking area located just south of Ohiopyle on Dinner Bell Road. This parking area gave us hike-in access to a beautiful stretch of Meadow Run that was designated (and well-signed) as catch-and-release. This is the same stretch of the creek that we tried to reach from a different route on Friday but had to turn back because of high water.

Today’s trail came in from a different and much safer direction. It wandered through a nice stand of large rhododendron and wasn’t overly difficult, but hiking it in river boots made for interesting footing at times. Also, did I mention that waders don’t breathe very well?

Our time fishing Meadow Run wasn’t any more productive than Dunbar Creek but it was a beautiful area and we had a very enjoyable afternoon listening to the wind and water. We’re often reminded why they call it ‘fishing’ and not ‘catching’, but even so we still believe that a bad day on the river beats a great day in the office …

After hiking back out from Meadow Run we returned to the rig, lit the campfire, and enjoyed an adult beverage as we finalized our plans for Tuesday.

Today’s Map

Today’s Photos