Trico's 2013

Decided to fish Trico's on Wed July 24th, arrived at 7:55 AM and the weather was cold and windy (did not realize just how strong the wind was), fished just above the old McCoys dam site below Bellefonte and they were there not strong but the fish were on them. Due to the heavy wind you had to look and target each fish, no more that 3' off the banks, the water was still up from the recent rains but it did have good color, temp. was 57 but wind dictated how to fish. Short accurate casts and not long floats over the fish, if it was past them get it off the water and back above them, nice fat healthy fish from 6" to 14" and a mix of rainbows and browns, did have a larger one on but with a 2 wt and 6.5X tippet material and the fast water there was no hope in landing it. Could not find any other fish rising after the spinner fall was over and with two 2 wts. in my trunk not much for an option, ok go to Penns and fish tan caddis. Arrived at the juction pool in Coburn and found the water to be a bit off color but the temp was 59.7 and that's really good. Targeted most of the water that was coming down from Elk & Pine and took fish on a #16 Tan CDC caddis dry, used Locha and I must say it did work well on the CDC. I sould have taken a 3wt along just in case I wanted to fish nymphs but I'll take dry fly fishing any time of the year.
  Did not see another fisherman and any time of the day or on either creek, hint it's your time to enjoy it.
Have a report that the "White Fly" is on below the Fiber Dam at Sunbury and that the bass are on them, will go down and give them a try from shore, it's just a bit high to wade out to the island.
  Took a trip to the Dam at Sunbury and watched the White Flies hatch, it is just wonderful to see them land on you and dthe dogs and in a matter of seconds they molt into spinners and are off with their trailing shucks in tow. With the recent rain fall in New York State the river is up at least 2/3" and I only saw 1 fish rise all night, give it at least a week. Remember that the White Fly is good for at least 3 weeks and it is mostly within the first 30 yards from shore, either the East or West shore is fine, West is clear and East has color.
  Just go down and watch and get covered with them, but if your not a fan of insects all over you don't go!

Bass Fishing with Tom Rall

Tom called and asked if I wanted to go bass fishing with him, have not done it for 15 years but I said OK. Showed up at Tom's at the appointed hour and we were off to Faylor Lake, no we ended up at Walker Lake? Before the trip I checked my bass tackle and found that I had "1" popper and a few streamers but what the heck I don't do it much so I figured I had enought, after I saw what Tom had we had enought to last us years, OK tackle was good. Tom's daughter Liz was with us, maybe to keep us from getting into trouble but she was a great help. We arrived at the lake and all hands started to get the boat ready to launch, looks a bit strange to have a Florida flats boat in an electric only PA lake but what the heck it's better than fishing from shore, boat launched and Tom back in- OH Wait the electric motor will not work!! Tom fussed with it for over an hour and we did get about 40 yards off shore but barley made it back, two batteries and two motor mounts later we figured it was a defective plug and packed up and returned home. For those of you who know Tom this is just something that hapens when your with him, kind of like the time he got beer and when it was time to drink a few we found out that he did not put it in the cooler.

  Attached ia a  video to show some action or not, packing up to come home.

Fair and Balanced Reporting?

I want to comment on a post that a fly shop owner put up the other day, he blamed the off color of Penns on a bridge repair in Coburn and railed about not fishing Penns in the FFF but wanted people to fish the lower water for small bass? Well the bridge has nothing to do with the off color, it's just a fact that the Penns Creek watershed has received a ton of rain over the last few weeks, just look at Spring and Bald Eagle Creek guages, coupled with the fact that upper Penns has a ton of farm fields that drain into it. This guy will say anything to discourage you from fishing Penns in the Coburn area, aside from the floaters this water stays cold due to the infulence of Elk & Pine Creeks but be mineful of the temps and if it 65+ do not fish.
  Have not seen any Trico's on Spring yet but any day they will make the annual apperance but you never know how strong they will be. The last few years they have been a bust, the emergence lasting about an hour, years a go they were strong and lasted all moring. You really need to be there in the first few weeks to see the trout chow down on them after that they get really picky, just saying make your first cast count you may not get another.
  New product that I just received and am in love with, maybe I might not loose it. Loon Outdoors- Lochsa gel floatant for all your flies including CDC. Wow a product that helps to rid of us bottles of different floatant, yes it really works on CDC and noncdc flies. It's about time someone did something about helping to get the dam CDC flies back up and working after you catch a fish, I just tied more flies and changed them when I took a few fish on the flies because you could never get them back in shape.I still use Loon Royal Gel for my spinners because it gives them a shimmer look and that helps them look more like the naturals. I still use an old tub of paste floatant the I got from Blue Ribbon because it works well on old poly, I'll test the Lochsa on them the next time I fish Iso emergers and report back but now it's Trico and beetle time. Oh you can get Lochsa at TCO in State College, at $9.50 not cheap but very effective.