|
Client Feedback
Submit your feedback here!
2009-10-20: 8/23/09
We took a trip with Ernie to the Middle Youg and had the best fly fishing trip since the last time he guided us. We caught bass, rainbows, browns, and a real nice Palomino. (What a pretty fish!) We started early and finished late with a nice meal on the river. I caught more fish on that day than I have for an entire year fishing. When he wasn’t maneuvering us to cast or dropping the anchor in the middle of a rapid he was changing our flies or netting our fish. Ernie knows how to keep your reels busy. Thanks for a GREAT TIME, Ernie.
Eric H.
2009-09-23: Happy Birthday!
I want to start by thanking Laurel Highlands Guide Service and our guide Ernie
Pribanic for a fantastic float down the middle Yough. I took my father
for his 55th birthday and it turned out to be a wonderful adventure for both of
us and a birthday I am sure he will remember for a long time. Our guide
was everything you hope for when you take a day trip and really made the whole
experience fantastic. He was attentive, offered helpful advise and was just
an all around great guy. We hooked into almost exactly as many fish as
Ernie advertised and landed some beautiful trout and smallmouth. Oh yeah,
not to mention we had numerous fly over's by a Bald Eagle and Osprey. I
would strongly recommend this trip for anyone serious about having an
experience they will remember and at the same time enjoy a hidden
jewel of a river right in our back yard. Thanks again to Jim, Ernie and
Laurel Highlands Guide Service!
Isaac Greeley
2009-07-30: 8 pound browns?
I have fished the Yough with Ernie and Jim several times over the past couple of years and these trips are the best guided trips I have ever experienced. They are great guys who are very professional and also a lot of fun. From the moment you step into the boat until the moment you step out, Ernie and Jim work harder than anyone I have ever met to insure you have a wonderful fishing experience. On the first trip, there was a quarter mile left of the all day trip and Ernie changed flies several times during that last quarter mile attempting to produce even more fish. This was after we had an extremely successful day including catching an 8 pound Brown. This is just one example of how they continually strive to insure you get the fullest experience possible while fishing with them. Laurel Highlands is a hidden gem in PA and anyone lucky enough to fish with them will never forget it. I hope to be on this river with Ernie and Jim for years to come. Thanks guys!
-JC Gould
2009-07-23: Trip to Trout Paradise
I spent a very memorable three days in the Ohiopyle State Park with Ernie “Hollywood” Pribanic of Laurel Highlands Guides Services. With the water a cool 58 degrees and the air around 75, it was a bit cool and cloudy which was perfect for lowering the inhibitions of trout and raising the inhibitions of river rafters. The infamous rubber hatch was nearly non existent on the day we floated the middle Youghiogeny. But there was not much in the way of a natural hatch either. Ernie tried several different hopper dropper and streamer patterns until finding a very productive orange/black bead head streamer, I’m guessing, a # 4 or 6 hook. It was like unleashing Rambo in Fayette-nam as the locals affectionately refer to their little corner of trout paradise. I think we can attest to a double digit day. But for me, the next day in Meadow Run was even more satisfying. We pulled a couple of fish out of the very low water from under rocks and a very memorable brown from a very deep pool. It was my third trip back to Ohiopyle in the past couple of summers and by far the best. Looks like Hollywood has it dialed in!
2009-06-05: Colorado Pete
Kudos to Yough guides!
So I got lucky and ended up taking a trip down the Youghiogheny River with the Laurel Highlands guides. It was an incredible Saturday morning with fog lifting off the river. We get settled in the boats, got our rigs set up and headed out. Not long after we got going, the talk was all fishing. I mentioned that I had never caught anything on a streamer and my guide Jimi got a funny look on his face. He grabbed another rod and said that was about to change. And boy did it! He gave me a couple pointers and handed me the rod. First cast – nothing. Second cast – strike and a miss. Third cast – FISH ON. It was a nice enough fish, probably 12” or 13”, colorful rainbow band down its sides, leaving me with a nice smile. We fished on, alternating nymphs and streamers and a few spin casts. Fish were caught and released, including a 20” rainbow that put up a healthy fight. It was a warm sunny day with minimal action mid-day until it cooled off when a little front passing through. I stayed alert and migrated back to the streamer rod. This river has more rocks, ledges and pockets than you can shake a stick at and I knew it was a matter of time until something special happened. And then it did – late in the day, I was stripping the streamer back when BOOM, FISH ON! I looked back at Jimi and told him I thought it was a big one. We were approaching a small rapid so he dropped anchor, thinking we could land him above the rapid. Then Mr. Brown decided he wanted to run. Jimi lifted anchor and guided us through the rapid while I guided the fish around a few big rocks, working to keep from getting tangled. We made it to an eddy on the back side of the rapid and landed a 22+” hook jaw brown that rivaled the most beautiful fish I’ve caught. We got our pictures and carefully released him back for someone else to enjoy.
If you’re looking for expert guides with thorough knowledge of their river, check these guys out. They’re both accomplished fishermen and guides who have spent most of their lives fishing this river. They know where the fish are and they know what they like! Hopefully you’ll leave with a big grin and a few fish tales to go with it!
Peter from Colorado! 
Here fishy, fishy, fishy . . .
|
Stream Reports
2009-12-19: anadromous invasion
I always say that breaking away from your comfort zone is a fine way to learn something new. I've been taking my own advice of late and showing some people around some of the best steelhead water in the commonwealth. It's more of a return to home, really, than a new endeavor, but it has been a few years since I last set foot in the Erie tribs with nothing but net in hand.
I've always loved December steelheading: snow in the air and on the ground, ice in the guides, the heavy throb of a lake-run bow after the hook set--these are fine things, so is the sting you feel in your hands after pulling them from a slush-veiled river and watching a purple-sided hen glide her way back into the pod from which you took her.
Running backwards in place on the shelf ice while trying to avoid the inevitable is not so fine, but it too is part of winter steelheading, and because it is, it, too, is good.
The fish came fairly easy, the hookups anyway, landing them is always the hard part. But the knots held most of the time and when the hooks didn't come loose, we were rewarded with some exceptional December steel.
See the picture gallery for some Erie on-the-water fish porn and send an email if you're interested in getting your own self some of that action.
Be well, and Merry Christmas.
LHGS
Recent Reports
2009-12-08: Winter report
View Report Details...
2009-11-09: bonus days
View Report Details...
2009-10-06: Falling temps with the onset of fall
View Report Details...
2009-09-22: Olives in the dampening mist
View Report Details...
2009-09-06: First fall report
View Report Details...
2009-08-18: Hot and Cold
View Report Details...
2009-08-12: Smelly Fish
View Report Details...
Archives
View Report Archives...
|
