2012 Brings early Grannom on Fishing Creek

Thursday March 22, Fishing Creek, tried the area below the bottom concrete bridge (totaly not legal!) took one really big brown on a #18 Olive emerger before I got the heck out of there- not the project water, it starts above the bridge.

  Drove upstream and found a entire pool of rising fish, at first glance I thought it was black stones or olives- NOT it was Grannom's, about 2 to 3 weeks early. They came for the next 2 hours in waves and the fish ate them well. No it was not Chimara (the little black early caddis), they were all over the underside of the bridge. The funny thing about the hatch is that there were no mass cases along the shallows to give them away. The body is about a 16 or a 15 on length, black with a shiny green hue to it, the winds are a strong size 14 with very distance mottled markings. I used a Sid Neff style caddis with a black bead head emerger as a dropper but the key to any caddis hatch is persistence- keep hitting the same fish over and over till you either miss or catch them. Your drift is the key, if it doesn't float like a natural they simply will not eat. I was using 6x Trout Hunter tippet material and a Winston 8' 2 wt rod, thinking that the smaller fish will provide good sport, I was under prepared by the size of the fish that were up, I counted 19 in the pool I was fishing, all but 1 that I landed were 12" plus fish, fat and in great shape, that proves that Fishing Creek still holds good fish it also proves that they are not easy to catch unless there is a good hatch! Attached is a GoPro video of one of the browns that were typical of the day. As is normal a caddis hatch it was over by 12:30- 12:45 PM, I'll bet the spinner fall was good as well last night! Expect this to go for about a solid week, none on Penns yet?

New is the way to go

Have been trying a few new flies this spring and have come to the conclusion that on our pressured waters you will have to practice innovation if your going to fool our residents. Check any of the fly fishing magazines and see the new styles and colors of nymphs the guys are using, read George Daniel's new book and take a look at what he uses. The days of chucking a bead head pheasant tail and expecting a high catch rate are over. I looked at a magazine the other Sunday and saw the new 10 best patterns the guys are using, not in a hundred years would you ever use them but you need to now. A few years ago on the Missouri I watched rainbows swim away from a well presented bead head nymph, that comes from seeing them over and over just like our fish! You might get away with the same stuff on Penns because of it's size but for the most part they learn to avoid familiar patterns. A very well presented dry fly seems to work well provided it is the size and color of the naturals, the float is the key but not the case with nymphs in our heavy pressured waters, Spring Creek and Fishing Creek you will have to change pattterns and get a bit wild with them.

People Every Where

Fished Spring Creek Thursday March 8th, took 10 nice fish on "Top" again with "1" fly #18 BWO Emerger. As soon as it began to mist the hatch started to become sparse? The real problem was with people, I looked downstream and there were 3 guys in the hole, a guy just pulled over at the next hole above me and waded right in and put them all down- so it was time to leave. When I got the pull off, I only left room for 1 additional car but there were 2 parked ahead of me, the entire stream was covered with anglers and not the kind you want to see on a good stream- minnow chuckers and hard wear guys were out in big numbers- one can only imagine what the fish must think.
  Took off to Fishing Creek, it was not full of anglers and as I stood looking for risers, they were there! The same small Olive was in full swing, not was heavy as Spring but they were taking them- took 6 more fish. The rain came hard and I decided to call it quits, very satisfied with the rising fish, as it is a sure sign of spring time.
  This is the time of the year that brings everyone out in numbers till the season opens then they will migrate to open waters, might just be best to stay home and tie flies.

Yet Again, I told you

Drove to State College Wed afternoon and was worried about the 1/2" of rain and the effect it would have on Spring Creek, arrived at 4:00 PM and checked the stream, it was 90 CFS before the rain and was at 180 CFS after the rain, the color was a bit off but not muddy and with the low water conditions I was optimist about the next day. Arrived at stream side Fisherman's Paradise, the color was wonderful as was the level, maybe a bit high but more than fish able, drove downstream looking for risers and pulled in at "The Pines", Mark Antolosky pulled in behind me and we watched the water for signs of action, they were up and really eating, as Mark said "you could hurt them" I got ready and never had to move more than 35 yards and took 16 browns before lunch, I figured that I also missed at least another 10 fish in that time- yes Olives! The morning session lasted from 10:15 till 12:00 PM, then lunch at Sheetz, they don't care if you come in with wading shoes on and the hot dogs are the best deal in town. Wanted to try and location below town that has always been a great Olive section, it's below "The Shit Plant", when they took out McCoy's Dam it really made this section faster but still holds a ton of fish,and still does, they ate the Olives, took another 10 fish there before the hatch petered out. All fish were in the 8" to 12" class, healthy and colored up. Saw a wonderful 16" plus brown that only raised once but I have him marked and saw another very large guy eating behind a bridge pier, I'll remember both of these guys. Not too many guys on the stream but did see one dude in shorts and a spinning outfit- dumb!
  Only had to use "1" fly all day a #18 dark olive emerger on the new Trout Hunter 6X tippet material, works very well and holds a great knot. Used a Winston 8' #2 for the morning fish but had an issue with the line not tracking well, maybe I'll change the line. In the afternoon I used a Winston 8'6" #3 BIIX with a new Rio Gold Trout line- hate it- anone want it?
  If you guys want to stand on the banks of Penns and bitch so be it but Spring has the Olives and the trout are eating, not on in every hole, investigate then fish but not on the weekends.