Beetles Again

Fished Spring Creek Saturday July 16th, started in Spring Creek Park and fished upstream with very good results in the shaded areas but as I got into the fields leading up to Route 26 Sheetz & TCO fly shop intersection the trout stopped coming to the plop, results 12 nice fat browns and a 300 yard wade with no results. I had lunch at Sheetz (the best hot dog bargin in the East) and went back at it. If I stayed in the woods with  good tree cover and shade they ate the beetle but if I was in the sun, not so much. Next time I'll try a dry dropper with a wet black ant under a emerger and see if that makes any difference. Not much hatching but a few #20 BWO's and the usual craneflies but no rising fish.
  A Trico update, not quite yet and if it did happen with the soaring temps and dew points the hatch & spinner fall would last about 20-30 min's at best. The main hatch will happen any day but if it is this week you'll have to be there very early and pick the best one of the bunch to cast to and hope you line it up. Here's a story about Trico fishing with Vince Marinaro, A Modern Dry Fly Code author about 35 years ago. We were introduced to Vince tru Milt Wiest of Pillow, PA and would drive to Carlisle and pick him up at his home after stopping at the Dunkin Donut shop to get breakfast, yes we did it then! We would drive to Chambersburg to fish Falling Springs, we assembled in the meadow and Vince held council telling us what to expect and at what stage the fish would be feeding on as far as the time of day was concered. We would take our Vince assigned spots and wait till we saw the fish feeding on nymphs and fish to them, well a size 24 nymph was not and is not a pleaseure to fish but hey if Vince said it we did it. When the spinners came the fish would rise in a pleasant rythm, I would look at him and wonder how in the heck he could catch so many fish because it always appeared that he was casting, well I asked him if I could watch and he grumped but said ok! What he told me is a lesson we need to remember, when a dun hatch or spinner fall occurs and the surface is covered with them the fish will tend to move up in the water column thereby reducing their field of vision, there is no need for long floats! Cast just above the fish 6-8" is plenty and if it gets to their tail get it off the water and back in line, it is a one back cast motion and nothing more, the more you float over the more you catch. After the trout stopped we would all assemble in the Meadows to have lunch, Vince, Milt, Sherwin, Russ and the Meyers boys from York,PA we ate bologna and cheese and Vince would tell us how we did and why we did good or why we did bad, it is a wonderful memory but an experience that helped many times with fish high in the water column. I do remember asking to see his flies and was told no! I do remember one summer after his trip to England and his introduction to their knife blades in the butt end of their bambo rods, he built a few over the winter and used one with us, well the next year he told us he dam near stabbed himself when he fell going over a fence. There is no way to ever forget this stuff, it has helped me and I hope it helps you, by the way yes all my books are signed and noted by Vince in the meadow.
  By the way you never see tout in Penns come up that far in the water column until the light fades so keep those long floates to those guys but with Trico's in Spring and Bald Eagle keep the floats short.
  Next week I'll talk about Sherwin & I collecting stone fly nymphs and throwing them back into the water and watching how they moved or didn't move and how many times they bounched off the rocks before they grabbed hold, I'll also tell you about the Charlie Meck & I with our blue flies experiments!
Jim