Thread: Bushkill Creek, Bushkll, PA 2018 Vacation

Originally Posted by jollymon

I like the "Bear Horn" idea , We used to carry police whistle and a 12 ga. when I lived in Alaska.

Yeah, the mini air horns fit in a large shirt pocket and are LOUD!
The people that live on this private road all use them not only to scare bears, but to alert others that there is a bear in close vicinity.
This bear didn't like the loud noise, but I'm not counting on a horn.
Not with my kids being out here fishing and playing, I've the only real bear deterrent on my hip.

What are you carrying? Hopefully a bit more than a 9mm as it’ll just piss it off lol

.357mag with Buffalo Bore hard cast 180gr bullets.

Yah that definately would work. Thankfully those bears are easily spooked generally. Grizzly on the other hand no thanks!

This has been a tough day fishing, one fish landed all day, every bite since then has been halfhearted with pop offs and fish lost at the net.
Lost gear in the rocks is driving me nuts, went to WalMart and dropped another $50. on Rapalas and Blue Fox spinners.

Thats why I liked using worms and salmon eggs, lot cheaper than spinners!!!

BTW, you do know that rock bass are considered panfish, so you can keep them if you get one big enough to eat!
THey are tasty.

With very rare exception black bears are just as frightened of people as people are of them. I'm not saying that a guy shouldn't be prepared, but last summer I ran a Pennsylvania black bear into the woods by shouting at it and throwing rocks ( and if you had any idea of my aim you'd realize that my odds of connecting were slim at best). A big one (probably 200 lbs or a little better) had climbed onto the hood of my honda civic at 2 in the morning in an attempt to reach a nearby bird feeder. It had somehow managed to grab the feeder and was dumping it into its jaws as fast as it could, spilling a great deal on the hood of the car and onto the ground. There was a white tailed deer (not at all concerned about the bear) eating everything that hit the ground not more than a few feet from the bear. I tried yelling, it got me a contemptuous look from my hairy nemesis. The hood buckled a bit more and the bear returned to it's meal. That was when I picked up a handful of rocks and started throwing. One of them hit the feeder that the bear was still holding, and one of them might have hit the bear. It hopped off the car and stood on it's hind legs looking at me. I threw another rock, started forward and the bear slowly turned around and headed for the woods. I yelled and jogged after him and he took off in earnest this time. Sorry to hijack the thread for a second, but in areas of Pennsylvania encounters with black bears are pretty common. Best advice is to stay aware and try not to come between a mother and her cubs.

You've already managed some nice trout. Is the stream you're on artificial lures only? I've had good luck at times with a chunk of brightly colored plastic worm threaded onto a hook as though it were a section of a live worm. Not sure if that's allowed where you are. If they're taking small lures, or are flashing but stopping short I'd try using a small clear casting float with a long section of 4-6 lb leader tied to a small sinking fly. Midge maybe? You could probably make your own by wrapping a short length of pipe cleaner around a hook in your desired color. The ones that I use have a small gold bead and brown thread. Very small hook, 12 or 14. Easiest if you start upstream and drift it down to them, if casting upstream, shorten the leader as much as possible to keep tangles to a minimum and still catch fish.

Go to a tackle shop or Walmart get some Wet flys and small clear casting bubbles, I used them in Western Maryland on trout and they worked well with less losses then anything else

Originally Posted by ChileRelleno

Yeah, the mini air horns fit in a large shirt pocket and are LOUD!
The people that live on this private road all use them not only to scare bears, but to alert others that there is a bear in close vicinity.
This bear didn't like the loud noise, but I'm not counting on a horn.
Not with my kids being out here fishing and playing, I've the only real bear deterrent on my hip.

Will air horns work on sharks? LOL
Thanks for letting us tag along ;-)

Day Two

Nate catches his new PB Rainbow at 16"
Right after this I lost a similarly sized Rainbow at the net, I blame my net man.
So we're one for one today.





Dinner was my job again, Thai Satay Chicken with Peanut sauce and green onion garnish, Thai Cucumber salad and rice.