Risk & Reward

The journey began traveling south from Renovo, PA, a small town located deep in the heart of Sproul State Forest. The concrete road south of the town slowly turned to gravel, marking the entrance into the park. I looked down at my GPS which informed me that I still had 10 miles to go. Only a few miles into the forest, the gravel disappeared, and I was left with a dirt path that was ambitiously classified as road. The Susquehanna River paralleled the roadway, providing a nice distraction from the 7 miles that stood in between my truck and the Class A stream I planned on fishing that day. How could this road go for 7 more miles?

The last mile of my entry was the toughest. The final climb out of the Susquehanna Valley presented a steep and treacherous test for the Tacoma. For the first time, the fear of getting stuck was in my mind.

At the top of the hill, I was pleasantly surprised by the return of gravel and a clearly marked road. I continued down this road until I arrived at the trailhead next to a small tributary of the Susquehanna. My journey was complete.

The small stream was the quintessential Pennsylvania Class A trout stream. Downed trees and boulders created deep pools and perfect hiding spots for the elusive native brook trout. The trail led me to the banks of the stream and gave easy access to the plentiful pools. The trout were on edge, as I frequently spooked brook trout back into the crevices between logs and rocks. Smaller trout grabbed my streamer, but often failed to stay hooked. I switched to a dry dropper to present a smaller profile to the trout. This proved to be effective when a small brook trout latched onto the purple prince nymph underneath my dry fly.

I walked up stream until the pools got shallower and log jams became more prevalent. On my walk back to the truck, I hit some of the larger pools downstream, but couldn’t get any of the trout to bite.

Back at the truck, I prepared for my trip out of the forest down what I would soon find to be a much more treacherous road. With only two trout caught, most anglers would be disappointed. However, this was not the case. The journey and the stream were enough. A sign near my parking spot read, “No Maintenance, Travel At Your Own Risk.” That day, my risk had been rewarded.