drakeking412
Blue Liner Flows Review | USGS Stream Gauges
All water level data originates from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Surface-Water Data, which monitors over 13,000 stream gauges across the U.S. and more than 350 in Pennsylvania. The USGS has been transitioning to a new online interface over the past five-plus years. The updated look and feel have left some old features behind while adding new ones. I hate it.
So, I’ve been on the hunt for a desktop and mobile app that delivers USGS backend data through a clean, easy-to-use interface. Blue Liner Flows offers a solid solution for iPhone, iPad and Mac users, with apps built for both platforms. Most importantly, favorites and preferences sync across devices. There’s a free version, but I’ll be reviewing the $6.99 annual paid version.
Key features include: favorites, state selection, map view, latest data overview, discharge in CFS, discharge in feet, average annual discharge, various time views, weather forecasts, alerts, temperatures (station-dependent), turbidity (station-dependent), and other data specific to each gauge.
I found the app very easy to set up on my Mac. Once configured, all my favorites and alerts synced automatically to my iPhone. You don’t need both devices—an iPhone alone works just fine. I especially liked navigating between the state, favorites, and map views. It’s fast and intuitive. Most views display the key information I’m looking for, including directional arrows indicating whether water levels are rising or falling.
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Seven Ideas For Cabin Fever This Winter
With the long winter season coming up ahead of us combined with virus restrictions many of us will be experiencing a little more cabin fever than usual this year. Rather than give in to the seasonal drag this is the time to really bolster that dry fly box and do all your typical winter activities. To help breathe some life into your yearly winter routine I’ve compiled a list of some challenges and activities to help get you through the cold season and defeat cabin fever.
1. Try New Tying Goals
While tying is the standard winter activity, maybe this is the year to change it up a little bit. The box expansion will in turn change up your selection while fishing and you just might find that new confidence pattern you’ve been looking for! The challenge is as follows: Tie 3 new patterns of each respective style (streamer, dry, nymph, etc.). This is the time to experiment and try some of the newer patterns coming from our younger tiers or some of the more out-of-the-box streamer patterns that seem to be invented every day! A couple of really awesome sources for new patterns with material lists and instructions are Fly Fish Food and their YouTube channel, AvidMax, and for streamers, Kelly Galloup is the guy. Instagram also has some extremely talented tiers that are always willing to lend a hand and have some wonderful videos too. Some of my favorites are SvendDiesel, Lucas Utrera, and hopperjuan_fly_fishing.
This is also the time to challenge yourself to pick up or master some tying skills you may be lacking such as spinning deer hair, Catskill-style dry fly wings, or nailing that perfect tapered nymph body. The list is really endless and I promise that it will pay off in the long run (especially if you’re constantly sacrificing to the bottom gods).
Lastly, spin up a box for your favorite charity with a selection of your best producers. A...
The History of Erie Steelheading from the ‘60s till today with Jim Simonelli: An Odyssey
Interview edited for clarity
As the leaves begin to change and the temperature starts to cool off from the dog days of summer, there is one thing on the mind of nearly every fisherman in the Tri-state area: migratory lake-run rainbow trout, commonly known as steelhead. For the unaware, a steelhead is identical in genetic code to that of the traditional native rainbow trout of the Western United States, except that this rainbow trout decided to go on a so-called “big adventure”. Typically steelhead are an ocean faring fish, or anadromous as we like to call them, but they were historically stocked in the Great Lakes region as a sport fish and will behave exactly like their anadromous cousins but there is no ocean therefore we call them adfluvial.
Generations of anglers have been making the pilgrimage to the Great Lakes region in hopes that they too will be able to dance with this fiery fish, but how did we get to this point and who is responsible for the fishery that we know and love? What were the tactics used through time and what was “Steelhead Alley” like in past years? Recently I sat down with Jim Simonelli, past President of the 3-C-U Trout Club, to discuss just that. Jim was a prominent figure in the Erie steelheading scene nearly from the beginning and along with some other amazing gentlemen played a critical role in creating the wonderful fishery that we have here today.
Alex Ciocca: Tell us a little about yourself and how you first got involved in the Erie steelhead scene.
Jim Simonelli: I moved to Girard, Pennsylvania in 1971 after I left the service to be a little closer to the Elk Creek region. Some friends and I were doing trial-style dirt bike riding back then and on a frigid winter day, I was riding through the Fairview gravel pits and I saw Bob Hetz leaning over a tank containing all these fish; and so I rode over and that was my...
Going to be a Dental Floss Tycoon a Montana Trip Report
I figured it appropriate to name this trip report after one of my favorite musicians' work (Frank Zappa) and since this was in fact a mini recon trip on “moving to Montana soon”. The trip was with my lovely girlfriend Rachel to Bozeman, Montana, and the surrounding areas of Southwestern Montana including several of the large Gold Medal rivers and a handful of smaller lesser known tributaries. The plan was to camp at five different locations for a total of seven nights in the mountains and two nights in Bozeman proper giving us ample time to explore the area hiking and fishing as well as soak in some of Bozeman (which really means soak in a bunch of good beer).
We left Pittsburgh early Wednesday the 22nd and arrived into Bozeman around noon their time after a nice and stressful airport travel day. We rented a Toyota 4Runner and it was nothing but a dream the whole trip. If you’re on the fence on what to rent out there, opt for the full-sized SUV every time. We immediately headed North towards Fairy Lake and it really only ever takes about five minutes out of the terminal for me to remember why I love the West, the mountains are instant and the views incredible. After a ~45minute drive we arrived at Fairy Lake and found a site at the free campground just above the lake. I was able to sneak in an hour or two worth of fishing and landed my first ever Yellowstone Cutthroat on a size 16 gold chubby. My girlfriend and I had a really nice time pestering fish with chubbies and hoppers until the rain chased us back to camp for a light dinner. I’ll add that this night was the worst camping experience I might have ever had. The wind and rain was so strong that our...
We left Pittsburgh early Wednesday the 22nd and arrived into Bozeman around noon their time after a nice and stressful airport travel day. We rented a Toyota 4Runner and it was nothing but a dream the whole trip. If you’re on the fence on what to rent out there, opt for the full-sized SUV every time. We immediately headed North towards Fairy Lake and it really only ever takes about five minutes out of the terminal for me to remember why I love the West, the mountains are instant and the views incredible. After a ~45minute drive we arrived at Fairy Lake and found a site at the free campground just above the lake. I was able to sneak in an hour or two worth of fishing and landed my first ever Yellowstone Cutthroat on a size 16 gold chubby. My girlfriend and I had a really nice time pestering fish with chubbies and hoppers until the rain chased us back to camp for a light dinner. I’ll add that this night was the worst camping experience I might have ever had. The wind and rain was so strong that our...
Idaho Sawtooth Area Fishing and Backpacking Trip
The trip to Idaho was absolutely phenomenal though. The scenery, geology, wildlife, everything was just what we were looking for. We met up with some of my girlfriend's friends from Oregon and camped for the week at Alturas Lake campground which had some extremely beautiful tent-only sites tucked next to the lake. Early week was very quiet and peaceful till later in the week when there was a music festival in nearby Stanley so there was much more drinking in the area. I only fished the lake one day and I'm not much of a stillwater guy so I didn't have much luck but enjoyed watching some families slay stockers with powerbait, nice to see the kids so excited.
We hiked up to the Alpine lakes one day and fished those however we got to the trailhead a little too late so the "w" had shown up and put all the fish don and my casts too haha. I was stubborn and would only throw a dry but it was fun and worth just the sights, we really enjoyed them and you live and learn. There was tons of bug activity up there though which was really cool to see.
We also did a float trip down the Salmon River which was my first guide trip and my first float trip proper. Man, that was a seriously good time. I could do that every day and not get tired of it. Our guide Troy lined up with our ideas on conservation and fishing in general and was a great guy to be around, I'd consider him a friend and plan on fishing with him again one day. We caught tons and tons of fish too with some being decent sized. My girlfriend had the time of her life throwing big foams and not touching a single fish haha. She hit her first fish on her own and broke off her first fish too. Several times I heard "I should have given him line Alex" haha the one that got away. Driftboat fishing is amazing though and I'm extremely interested to do it...
We hiked up to the Alpine lakes one day and fished those however we got to the trailhead a little too late so the "w" had shown up and put all the fish don and my casts too haha. I was stubborn and would only throw a dry but it was fun and worth just the sights, we really enjoyed them and you live and learn. There was tons of bug activity up there though which was really cool to see.
We also did a float trip down the Salmon River which was my first guide trip and my first float trip proper. Man, that was a seriously good time. I could do that every day and not get tired of it. Our guide Troy lined up with our ideas on conservation and fishing in general and was a great guy to be around, I'd consider him a friend and plan on fishing with him again one day. We caught tons and tons of fish too with some being decent sized. My girlfriend had the time of her life throwing big foams and not touching a single fish haha. She hit her first fish on her own and broke off her first fish too. Several times I heard "I should have given him line Alex" haha the one that got away. Driftboat fishing is amazing though and I'm extremely interested to do it...