Getaway Weekend in Amish Country- Lancaster Pennsylvania
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Every August my wife and I schedule a trip to her very FAVORITE destination of Lancaster Pennsylvania and the Amish Country. Each year our trip is slated to coincide with the HUGE country craft fair hosted by the city of Lititz Pennsylvania. We always visit the Fall fairs around Long Island but none of them can compare to the size of the Fair at Lititz. This fair literally encompasses the entire town and city green with countless vendor tents along all the town streets.Our plan was to leave for Pennsylvania early on Friday morning which would have me off the water for the entire weekend. Well, we couldn’t have that now could we?? I quickly put a plan to fish the Great South Bay Thursday evening into action with the goal of continuing my search for the elusive summer time weakfish.
I got on the water by 5:30pm Thursday afternoon but with only a couple of hours to fish I decided to fore-go devoting time to gathering live baits and opted instead for the artificial route. I fished bubble-gum pink Bassassins on 3/4 ounce lead-heads a several of my favorite pieces with no success before making a move deeper into the back bay areas.
The incoming current was moving along nicely on the back bay spots and hopes were high. It did not take long to finally connect with the first weakfish of my 2011 season. A small spike of about 14 inches but it was a weakfish nonetheless. I managed to land 2 more that went to 17 inches and dropped a couple of others before calling it a night. Headed home with a smile as the weakfish hunt was a success.
The Elusive Great South Bay Weakfish
We were in Lancaster Pennsylvania by 9:30am on Friday and this time the favorite locations we hit were my wife’s favorite SHOPPING spots. Downtown Lancaster, some craft shops and a large local Flea Market type place called the Green Dragon which is only open on Fridays. We checked into our hotel and relaxed by the pool for a bit before dinner.
Following dinner it was time to feed some of the local animals and fish. The hotel we stayed at has a petting area with horses and goats as well as a large farm pond chocked FULL of Koi goldfish and carp. A small dock on the lake is the popular spot for feeding the fish as just dropping a piece of bread in the water has the goldfish and carp blitzing the surface in a fashion that would put our Long Island bluefish to shame.
Saturday was THE DAY. The Lititz Country fair. The entire town shuts down for this event as all of the main roads through it are converted into the largest street fair I have ever seen or heard of. I don’t have an exact number but suffice to say that hundreds of vendors were displaying their wares. We arrived at the Fair at 8am and spent the next 6 hours strolling up and down vendor lined streets.
One of the Vendor Lined Streets
Lititz Country Fair
Following the craft fair marathon we set sights on the Cabelas store in Hamburg Pennsylvania which is about 45 minutes from Lititz. My wife and I spent another 3 hours walking through aisle after aisle of outdoor related gear as well as the beautiful fish tanks and ponds right in the store. Large muskie, northern pike, largemouths, bluegill and huge trout all swim around in these tanks and ponds. I really have more tackle than I could ever use but it seems I can never escape without buying some fishing related items. This year was no exception as I added a new LARGE landing net, some braided line on sale and a new bait well net.
Front Entrance to Cabelas
Northern Pike in Cabelas Fish Tank
We departed Lancaster on Sunday morning for the ride back to Long Island and ran right into the biblical rainstorms the entire ride home. Long Island residents all know the legendary nasty conditions of a stretch of road know as the Belt Parkway under normal weather patterns. The flooding on this stretch was to the point where I was looking for the No Wake signs instead of the Speed Limit ones. Where it usually takes 3 1/2 hours to get home this day it was to take almost 6 hours. It did not matter though as we had a great time and the weather during our stay was amazing. Nice relaxing weekend and we are already looking forward to next year.
Tight Lines.........
Capt Paul Mandella
captpaul@maybetonightcharters.com
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