Trout trifecta in PA

[Doug Vitale]

I hit the trifecta a few weeks ago in the Claremont TCA, and today I had an even better day on my favorite wild trout stream in Pennsylvania. Conditions for troutin' were perfect all around, and consequently the fish were aggressive. The temperature was around 68 degrees, sky was mostly cloudy, water temperature was 55 degrees and the stream level was high thanks to recent rain, but the water was not discolored at all.

The last time I visited this WTS in 2015 I was concerned because I hardly caught any trout unlike the previous year, so I was afraid that something had happened to cause the native brook trout population to plunge. My fears evaporated today as I was getting strikes from feisty little brookies in almost every holding area.

I caught almost ten brooks, and I had at least 10-15 missed strikes. I also caught a few wild brown trout, and in the river that the WTS flows into I got a nice rainbow and several smallmouth bass. Can I say I hit the "grand slam" with all three trout species and some smallmouth, or would I need to get a tiger trout too? All fish were released healthy.

[Doug Vitale]

Only ten images allowed per post...

[thmyorke1]

Awesome, you put good work into that spoon. How shallow were the waters and how do you work the spoon in such water?

[meatwad555]

Absolutely beautiful fish. Nice job.

[FASTEDDIE29]

That is a beautiful river Trout slam dude! Great fishing right there for sure! You had the entire stream to yourself I'm sure! Way to go man!!!

[JDTuna]

Very nice, dude! Congrats!

[Capt. Lou]

Doug,
U caught way to many trout ! In the future I must ask that u check in with me before coming over here to PA for trouts sake &'mine 🐟🐟🎣😜😎! Great day!

[Doug Vitale]

Originally Posted by thmyorke1

Awesome, you put good work into that spoon. How shallow were the waters and how do you work the spoon in such water?

Shallow water and spoons don't go well together. I try to use spoons in high, fast water. Stand upstream from the spot where you want to present the spoon. Cast the spoon toward 12:00 and let it settle; the current will pick it up and it will start wobbling downstream. When the spoon reaches 9:00 or 3:00, retrieve slowly. Be careful not to cast too far upstream if you use this technique otherwise the current will push the spoon down to the bottom and will greatly increase the chance of the lure getting hung up. Try to use at least a 1/6 oz. spoon which will get down deep and tease the fish that are not in the mood to rise to the surface to bite.

Thanks everyone for the kind words. Here's a photo of a wild brook trout I caught in the same stream in 2014. I would put it at 1.5 lbs. easy. He was safely released, but unfortunately I wasn't able to hook into him again in my subsequent two trips. Hopefully he's still swimming out there somewhere.

[Hookmanski]

Awesome catches! Congrats on the tri. I like your method for catching them too, never tried that before but I think I'll have to now!

[thmyorke1]

Originally Posted by Doug Vitale

Shallow water and spoons don't go well together. I try to use spoons in high, fast water. Stand upstream from the spot where you want to present the spoon. Cast the spoon toward 12:00 and let it settle; the current will pick it up and it will start wobbling downstream. When the spoon reaches 9:00 or 3:00, retrieve slowly. Be careful not to cast too far upstream if you use this technique otherwise the current will push the spoon down to the bottom and will greatly increase the chance of the lure getting hung up. Try to use at least a 1/6 oz. spoon which will get down deep and tease the fish that are not in the mood to rise to the surface to bite.

Thanks everyone for the kind words. Here's a photo of a wild brook trout I caught in the same stream in 2014. I would put it at 1.5 lbs. easy. He was safely released, but unfortunately I wasn't able to hook into him again in my subsequent two trips. Hopefully he's still swimming out there somewhere.

Thanks for the tips, and that brookie is a beauty.