On Fire!!!!!!!!

If you can get there go fast, if it's cloudy get there faster. I fished Bald Eagle this morning and without the sun the Tan Caddis was weak at best but the Trico's were on big time, from mid pool to the tail out there were fish rising in a rythm, just line it up and keep it in line, they either took it or gave you a snooty false rise below the fly, that means no thank you in bold terms. I took small rainbows that I was sure were good fish on the bank and some really good brown that you just know from the rise forms that they are big. Some of the fish really liked it when I got the fly to sink into the surface and just under, they took it without any hesitation. At about 10:00 AM the fog rolled down stream and we all know what that means, the end. I did try a Walt's Worm and a Tan Caddis Emerger in the early morning but they did not produce like I wanted them to, last week there were a ZILLION med tan/yellow #16/18 Crane Flies all around- so a Carne Fly Larvae- no not so much.
  Had lunch at Sheetz and beat feet to Penn's below Coburn, well every fish in every pool (except Still House Run Pool) was up and eating in rythm. I could not get dressed fast enough and grabbed a few boxes of flies, thank heavens I grabbed my Olives! All you needed was a #20 Med Dark Olive Baetis floating emerger or if you like a dun, then pick a fish and cast till you screw it up or hook it. At Stan's bridge there were 55+ trout above and to the bend below just eating every Olive that came down stream. I took 27 browns till 1:00 PM and it was just as easy as it is in Sulphur time- if it's cloudy go there! Hint there are 4-5 very large fish below the walk over bridge on the parking lot side, it's a long walk to come back up for them but some of those guys push some big water, I like it above that pool and have been a fixture there for years.
  I'll post 2 pictures on Thursday morning, too much coffee to do much now, jitters!

A Ton of Trout

Thursday Aug, 22 found Sherwin and I on Bald Eagle Creek below Milesburg looking for Trico's and Tan Caddis, boy did we find them! We had a trout about every cast, all I heard from Sherwin was non stop chatter, "I got another one", he was using soft hackles to imitate the tan caddis emergence and if you saw his point fly you would not believe how little there was to it. The entire riffle and just below was alive with rising trout both rainbows and browns. I worked my way down stream to just below the riffle and found a couple of pods of fish that had switched over to Trico's and began taking some really nice fish, 2 rainbows over 12" fat and full of fight, then I hung a very big brown, the wind blew and the Trico's were gone, ok back to the tan caddis, just find a fish and keep floating it over him till he took it all the while Sherwin was still catching one after another. We went up stream to a very large pool and I missed 2 really big fish on a loop wing CDC & deer hair Sid Neff style caddis dry, again Sherwin was still catching one about every cast. Between the two of us we had to have taken 50 fish, yes most were small but there are big guys around if you look for them and not miss them on a too fast strike, we will both go back next week! For all you Penns Creek guys who are at home, stay there and we will keep catching fish.
  Spring Creek was just as good on Wed with tan caddis emerging when the sun was out and it will last a very long time.

New Fly Line from RIO

Received a new fly line to test the other week but forgot to make a report last week, well here it is. RIO Perception floating line is the name and when I was getting the line ready to install on a spool I noticed that the feel was very different almost like a long bulb filled with a somewhat semi stiff liquid, not a great discription. It was a task to cut the front loop off, I never use a loop to loop line leader connection, just do not like the feel of them. I used a Trout Hunter 10' 5X leader with 18" of 6.5X tippet on the business end. I am not a fan of tricolored lines but this one has it, they tell you it's "SureFire color system improves casting accuracy by making it easy to guage exact distances at a glance, don't know if that is true but I have used single colored lines for ever and never have had any problem with accuracy? I do not like the colors it is offered but that is just my opinon. From the first cast to the last of the day the line was a dream to cast and pick up off the water, the float was great but I'll tell you the line feels different, Rio tells you it's because of the lack of stretch, it just feels different but not in a bad way just different, it is easy to cast, does not overload the rod as some SA lines will do. Here's the Rio lines; " Built with ultra-low stretch ConnectCore Technology, RIO Perception lines provide phenomenal sensitivity for better, more intuitive cast timing, easier line lift and sharp, precise mends. The lack of strech also means enhanced detection of subtle takes and reduced reaction time on hook sets". I like it a lot and will use it most of the fall and report after it's been used for a few months but so far it feels good, it's not in stock at most fly shops but will be soon. Oh it has MaxCast hydrophobic coating, MaxFloat tip technology and AgentX slick formula!

8/18/2013 Trico's still #1

Spring Creek and Bald Eagle are going strong with Trico's this Sunday morning, maybe the best so far this year, cold and with a bit of fog will bring them on the water for an extened period of time and the fish stay up and eat big time. If it's hot and sunny be perpared to get to the stream very early because the emergence and spinner fall happen fast due to the drying effect the atmosphere has on the Trico's bodies but if it's cloudy and cool sleep in a bit and be prepared to stay for a 3-4 hour time period! I really never know what pattern that I'll use till I get to the stream but you can be sure it's a #24 big eye spinner either in grey, olive or black, I just look and pick the one I want - it's the size and THE FLOAT that gets them not the pattern. I even tried a few fly shop spinners and found that they worked pretty well if the presentation was good if not they would not eat it. Now is the time to go, if you don't you'll miss out on some of the years best fishing.

August 14,2013 Trico's & Wind!

Wanted to fish Bald Eagle Wed. moring but the first area was occupied by another angler and the wind was blowing hard and it was cold! We drove around looking for another spot but with the wind none of them were protected enough to allow a good Trico spinner fall. OK back up and go to Spring Creek above the crap plant in Bellefonte, fish were up not strong but up they were. We arrived at 8:00 AM, with the cold and windy conditions we hit the time correct, water temp was 55.4 !!!!!!! and the air temp. was at 67 not that nice at all to have a small leak in the butt of my Patagonia waders. It took the fish a while to get on the spinners, we did see heavy dun hatching but they were not on them. To say that we had a good day was twisting it a bit, caught a ton of fish but you might have had to put 5-6 of them end to end to get to 24" in total length, with the windy and cold conditions it was worth it to get hours of casting accuracy done. Yes we did take some nice fish but there was just not a heavy spinner fall to get all the fish up, oh well just have to go again on Sunday morning- dam?
  Take a look at your streams current condition and you'll be happy to see that given the fact we did have a hot summer the streams seem to have come thru it well and the fish are healthy, this will make for a great fall.

Bald Eagle Trico Fishing 08/07/2013

Decided to fish Bald Eagle to check out the Trico's, at 8:00 AM the fish were rising and the ducks were eating a very good sign. Of course there were bait chuckers above and under the bridge at Milesburg just as the always are. When you fish there what you look for is fish both on the road side and the North side of the creek, sometime you'll find a few goof one in the mid stream but normaly not, this is dink ville,  did not see any good fish on the road side but the North side had some really good guys up and feeding, this side has wood and a lot of it, most of the fish use the cover and take up lies that make it hard to get a good float over them. The Trico's were falling and the big guys were in a rythm, all is good the fish few fish were very good fish but you could see they have been worked over by the bait guys,, these fish are spooky. Spotted a very large brown rising just above a small branch that was sticking above the water, I'm gussing it hid more cover below the surface. I was using a #24 big eye olive Trico spinner, I use 8/0 Uni thread for the body and cover it with cement to get the darker olive I'm looking for, two split tails stiff poly wings and a olive beaver thorax. Terminal tackl was a 10" 6X Trout Hunter leader with 16" of 6.5X Trout Hunter tippet, this stuff looks stiff in hand but reall give you a great float over the fish and it's strong very strong. One thing you want to make sure of is do not screw the first float up, if any thing make the first one short the guage your distance and then do not pull a float off till it gets past the fish. I counted and it took 10 casts/floats to get this guy to eat and when he did all hell broke loose when I set the hook, this is one fish I could not handle on a 2 wt rod, you'll note my look on video #2- Oh Shit. Took at leat 7 more fish on spinners but I think that if I had a small tan caddis emerger the would have eaten that.

  Looked up above the brige and saw the troops assembling for a full assult on the water, 50+ kids with guides and adults were about to embark on a float thrip, I few boats will not put the fish down but 50 will put them down! Reeled up and climbed the bank for the walk to the car, there is not a good place to park here so it does take a bit of walking., if my cold and cough were better I'd go again and try for him and another one that I hooked but also could not stop, if they are still there.