Farewell Farm

Went to Cedar Run Farm today with Trick and D. Gray to fish, take Crazy for a swim, and of
course eat Topps Burgers.  The Gray farm has seen many great days and nights, many of which are left unspoken about.  I will soon be leaving State College for greener pastures out west, but will always hold "the farm" dear to me.  Always giving with it's wonderful fishing holes,sangria, hottub, part-time work in the summer (painting), and much more.

This past week of fly-fishing at the farm hasn't been kind, with crystal clear water the fish have been spooking easily.  A bead head pheasant tail has taken in 2 browns of considerable size (13,17) and one decent rainbow (11"). 

50+1

This Friday afternoon Jeff and I left for Black Moshannon State Park to do a little camping/fly-fishing.  After
making several wrong turns on the way to the park we finally arrived at our destination around 7 pm.  We parked the car and promptly bushwacked down towards Benner Run (or where we thought it may be) to set up camp.  Our luck took a turn for the better and by the time I had set up the tent and got a fire going, Jeff had dinner on the line. 

The next day we woke by 5 am to take a walk before we fished and see the sunrise from the ridge line.  By 6:00 am we were on the stream having already saw turkeys coming down from roost to flock and a white tail deer.  We both made it to midday with fish on our line.  Granted I only caught one, a beautiful brookie (see photo).  The rest of my time was spent napping and taking photographs the rest of the morning.

By lunch time a group of locals carrying spinning rods and massive amounts of bait found our camp.  What we thought was a secluded fly fishing stream, soon turned into a crowded stream full stringers that any commercial fisherman would have been proud of.

So with our new friends patrolling the banks like hawks, we decided to head back to the main lake and catch some bluegill.  For the next few hours we wet wading through the lilly pads catching dinner plate sized bluegill with dry ant flies and wolly buggers.  We were having some much fun I forgot to get my camera out of the car.  By the time we left I had counted around 50 bluegill on the end of my line!

The weekend was ended the only way a trip to black moshannon state park can.  A trip to Otto's Pub and Brewery for some Red Mo and apps.

More photos of the trip can be found HERE.

Reclaim

The climbing sites in Mocanaqua, PA show how an area can be successfully reclaimed for good even after environmentally destructive practices.  After the collapse of the anthracite coal mine industry in Northeast Pennsylvania, mining areas were all closed with no use left for the land.  The cliffs behind the town of Mocanaqua were filled with the coal slag of both strip and tunnel mines.  Fortunately those piles did not fully cover all of the rock and can today be accessed for climbing.  The land was bought by the Earth Conservancy to protect this land from being developed.  There is even hope for the future with plans of coal slag removal in the area, allowing the land to return to its former glory and uncovering another possible 30' of rock face.  Moc has 5 main climbing areas with severeal hidden gems with in a few miles, along with mountain biking/hiking trails for a multiuse recreational area.