Fishing Amish Country

The participants from the Fayetteville Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing program have returned home from their Easter weekend, fishing outing in Pennsylvania.  The trip was organized by Myron Beatty of the Richlands PHWFF program and hosted by Ed Isabelle who graciously provided the meals and lodging of Camp Woodward that served as our base for the weekend.  When not hosting for PHWFF group, Camp Woodward serves as a training camp for young people from ages 7 -17,  who compete in action sports such as; BMX freestyle, skateboarding, cheerleading, and gymnastics attracting campers from all 50 states and more than 35 countries.

The trip began with the group meeting before sunrise on Friday to load gear into the designated carpool vehicles then we were by 6:00am for our 500 mile trek to trout water.  With the customary stop at Bass Pro Shops, this equated to about 10 hours of travel and put us in camp at around 4:00pm.  After settling in, we treated to a great meal at the Elk Creek Café in the town of Millheim, Pennsylvania.  Then back to camp to rest up for fishing the following day.

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After breakfast on Saturday, the group made its way over to the Union County Sportsman Club where we met up with some club members who would act as our guides for day.  From there we headed out to Penns Creek to try our luck. Unfortunately, the water was a little swift for good fishing, and the anticipated hatch of Black grannom caddis had not yet gotten into full swing, so as hard as we tried no fish found our nets that morning.
 
  However, after a very nice lunch that the club provided some of our group tried their hand at fishing from the club pond where they landed several nice trout some of which could have gone as much as five pounds.  Then, we headed back to Penns for a couple hours were there was a caddis hatch in the afternoon, with some Hendricksons mixed in but still no fish were caught.

Back at camp, we took the opportunity to relax and share some conversation and another great meal from Camp Woodward.  In addition, we were treated to some entertainment from a local bluegrass band to top off the day.


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On Sunday, participant Joe Provens started the day off by leading the group through an Easter communion service, then it was off to a stretch of private water on Elk creek.  Again as luck would have it, we were just a little early to have the same flurry of fish catching activity that we enjoyed, last year, but we managed to find a few fish in Elk creek. However, a few guys moved back into Penns were they had a little more activity.  Fishing aside, we all had a great time; learning more about fly-fishing and sharing each other’s company.   On the conclusion of fishing, we again were provided with a meal then it was off to get some rest for the long ride home, the next day.


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