Saturday Dec 28, 2013

  Yea I know all us retired guys do not fish on the weekends but it was to be the best day of the week and besides that I had a rod to test. Cameron Mortenson from the "The Fiberglass Manifesto" has a stable of loaner rods for people to try and give comments, what a great way to sell rods. I signed up for a Steffin Brothers 8'0" 3 pc/ 4 wt custom build rod and waited my turn, well it arrived and casting in the back yard is ok but not a real test. Spring Creek was a bit on the high side but still ok to fish, I started with my T&T 8'6" #3 nymph rod, fishing new examples of scuds and was watching for any signs of top water activetly, at about 11:15 AM I saw the first few BWO's hatching along with clouds of midges on the shore line weeds. OK break for lunch and go to a better spot, done and in the water with the Steffin, for most of you a fiberglass rods seems to be a thing of the past but they are making a giant come back. The new glass rods are not your old Fenwick models but a new breed of class in rod making, colors like brown, olive, pale white, pale yellow, blue and yes red. The new reel seats, guides and cork grips are just a work of art. I used the "Tight loop" Steffin and must admit it took a bit to get used to the slow action but wow what a soft presentation and nice easy action it has. Attached is a short video showing what the rod looks like and a typical brown form the trip, many fish were fooled both on a Grif's Gnat and a #20 BWO emerger- yes the olives were on! What a nice afternoon of risng fish with no one around except for the ass hole who just had to walk down and get on top of me to ask what I was using- no clue to the rising fish all around, told him a hair wing royal coachman- screw him.
  Check out the new glass rods you  ight like them, except the price $500.00 and up!- Ouch. I used a Rio new Perception WF3F of the rod becasue I was not sure a 4wt would give me the action I wanted, sure was slow with the 3 on it can not imagine how slow a 4 wt would have made it?

Epic Friday the 13th

  Friday the 13th is to be a bad luck day, ok it was cold in the morning,-2 on a bank clock in State College, just have another cup of coffee and wait till 10 or 11:00 AM. At 10:30 I checked Bald Eagle just below the Milesburg bridge and they were up en mass but with the recent influx of water it was a bit high to get to the major pod of rising fish and with the deep wading and the need to wade up the left bank and not fall into the very deep water I decided not to try it. Checked out some favorite pools and riffles on Spring Creek and found them up big time, all you had to do was look at the seams as they took midge after midge! Hartles bridge downstream and upstream had fish to keep you busy till mid afternoon all with no one around, where can you get that! Under the bridge I found a really nice brown just eating everything in sight, he took my Grif's Gnat, nice really nice. This is the same bridge where Jim Leathers would spend hours fishing to the pod of fish that hang out there, the size of them now is not what they were then. I think that Steve S. from Flyfishers Paradis is correct in his assesment of the population of Spring Creek, overpopulation has reduced the overall size of the fish and maybe we need to see some reduction in them?
  My Griff's Gnat is tied with smaller peacock hearl and sparse undersized grizzle hackle to combat the tendancy of leader twish with light tippets but I do also fish a buzzball when mating swarms are on the water, nothing but a very small body with a lot of hackle, fish this on a 6 or 6.5x tippet or you have a cork screw on you leader!
  Have a great Christmas and be safe if you wade, it's cold and you will not last long if you get soaked.

Check This Out

  If your done with deer hunting and it's too cold for you to fish check out, www.thefiberglassmanifesto.blogspot.com Cameron has "The 12 Days of Christmas" each day you are to e mail him asking for the gift of the day, he has some of the best gifts that I have seen. Give it a try and maybe you'll have better luck than I have had.
  Cameron is the guy that is responsible for the renewed interest in fiberglass rods, yes I said fiberglass, they do weight more than your graphite rods but the action and power they have is unmatched. Some of the new builders are doing things with glass that no one could ever imagine, olive,red, blue and white blanks are just a few choices. These new builders do not do the gaudy crap above the grip, they use top quality components and their workmanship is just wonderful, check some of them out, be careful they are not inexpensive.
  Cameron has a program that offers demo rods to try out and write reviews about, I signed up and am waiting for a Epic to be delivered to my door, I'll report on it when I get to use it.
  Last Thursday and Friday were the days that you should have been on Spring Creek for Olives, my guy tells me the hatches were epic but not wide spread. Ok you Penns Creek guys just stay home and dream till spring.