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No matter how you slice it, the North Branch operating out of Lostland Run is a fine stretch of water. On Saturday, Dick and I hit the water again. It was a mostly cloudy day with a cool wind doing a lot to mitigate the high air temperatures. But, even with this, the water temperature was too warm for waders. At the end of the day, Dick commented that he should have just gone wet wading as the heat buildup inside the waders was significant.
In the earlier post, we fished the first 1.2 miles upstream from the trailhead at Lostland. This trip, we crossed the at the trailhead and walked directly upstream on the railroad tracks that follow the east bank of the river to waypoint 002 as shown on the map.
Waypoint 002 is a fine, deep hole that, like every other deep spot on this river, has some monster trout. As we walked towards 002, we were startled by the crystal clarity of the water. Peering down from the tracks, you could see every hole - and if you looked carefully, you could see the monster trout as well. Of course the downside of this was that they could see you as well - demanding the fisherman exercise some stealth in the approach.
Dick started at the hole at 002 and I moved up river. There is a rapid change in the character of the river after 002. Between 002 and the trailhead, you have short stretches of rapid, running water that is mostly shallow separated by large pools that look to be over 10+ feet deep. Above 002 to the end of the penetration on this trip, there were only 3 decent pools to comment on - and that is over about 1.75 miles of river.
I was fishing my usual Panther Martins
 - makes it simple. Just pick the black or the yellow. Unfortunately, this day was not to be a banner day for a spinner. I worked them diligently in the riffles all the way up to waypoint 003. At 003, I left the river to move rapidly upstream on the railroad tracks looking for a different quality of water. At 004, I found a wide spot that was calm and about 3 feet deep that stretched for at least 75 yards.
It was here that I sat down to take a break and examine the patterns of the day. At a pool just upstream of 002, I had heard a huge trout jump and smack the water with the sound of a canoe paddle hitting flat water. Along the way, I had noted that the trout were hitting at flies on the surface. Hmmm. Must be after surface baits. Looking in my bag, I was thankful that I had brought my small box of floating rapala lures.
I chose one of the 3 inchers that looked like a rainbow trout, tied it on and gave it a fling. Bang! Fish on! I worked the pool at 004 for about 90 minutes, catching mostly smallmouth bass and a few reasonably sized trout.
The pattern was pretty simple. Cast upstream in a quartering pattern so you could take the slack out of the line before the current caused your reel to back up. Then, give the rapala a tweak - just like working a top water plug for bass. They typically hit the minnow on the second jerk. It was great - there is nothing funner than watching a fish take a top water plug!
I worked this pattern as I headed upstream from 004 - catching and releasing a decent amount of nice trout along the way. There was only one other good pool between 004 and the end of the track - everything else was the shallow, fast water where you really had to work to find the calm spots where the trout would shelter.
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Since we were going to leave around 1800, I started heading back around 4 as I did want to hit some of the good water in the initial stretch that we skipped. I eventually caught back up to Dick who was working hard from the West side of the river to convince the monster we saw from the tracks to take a bite on a streamer. No joy - no fish.
When Dick moved off, I decided to give it a try as well. I tied the rapala back on and started to work it across the hole. I could see the monster and his buddies huddled up under the rock - they were scattering every time Dick dropped the streamer on them - so I cast beyond the hole and worked the minnow back. First few casts produced no interest. On the last cast, I had pulled the lure past the hole and then, in a burst of speed, the monster attacked the lure! Holy ####! I gave the hook a gentle set and started to pull when POP! The line broke! AAAGGGH! Not only had I lost a real trophy, but now the fish is there with a lure hanging from the side of his mouth. All I can do is hope it works out quickly, the hookset was not that firm and the hooks were small. To add insult to injury, I had switched the line out a few hours earlier because I was worried about rock abrasion. With a Mitchell 310, it's pretty easy - just pop a new spool on and you are good to go. What a brutal end to an othewise great day!
With that, I headed back to the truck. Bummer! But... this is still a great spot. We only saw one other fisherman the entire day and I wish I could grab him by the shirt and take him back to where he must have taken a break and had a beer. I really enjoyed picking up his dang trash and hauling it out. Geez. What kind of experience do these people think they will have when the come back to a river littered with trash? And it was a crap beer as well - Miller lite in a can. Karma will catch up with him.
Getting there:
For detailed directions, please purchase either the North Branch Map Book for $4.95 or the full 190 page Fishing guide to the North Branch for $9.95. After checkout, you can download the books instantly.
The fishing guide is also available in hardcopy - click here
Both books include detailed directions overlaid on topo maps with pictures for the confusing places to get you to the river. The key difference is that the full book walks you up the river from Westernport to Wilson using over 140 pictures with a detailed discussion of what to expect beyond the parking lot.
Sorry to have to do this, but selling these eBooks is how I support the cost of maintaining this site. Please support the site.
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