Spruce Run Reservoir in the Distance: Pod of Hybrid Stripers Visited Jetty Evening Prior

Round Valley Reservoir yesterday, Spruce Run Reservoir today, two places of mythic proportions during my teens when I lived in Mercer County, Lawrence Township, and sometimes came up to fish here. Truth can be as fickle as a trout, as variable as the weather or even more chaotic, so many people settle down to a version they can rely on and deny the rest. I know grown men who think there's nothing to these reservoirs; they're just places they can visit on occasion for some fairly reliable catches; all the glory of boyhood is gone.

Often I have to look deep into the distance to see what was much closer at 17.

But I never forget. And sometimes I'm really there.

I never give up the commitment to keeping the grandeur out there, either.

I can remember every fish we've caught along Van Sykles jetty the past six years and Back Brook Cove besides. I know just where they struck, from in close to well out. Today not even the big crappies were present. We tried artificials, shiners, and Worm Blower injected nightcrawlers.

With rain supposedly coming our the way, we came early, at about 3:00, and stayed until 5:30 or later. Now dusk is falling, and just maybe someone out there will get a fish. Almost always it's best at dusk. But we've got plenty pike in the middle of the day. One 17-inch largemouth too... I guess that was 2009.