Get There if You Can!

  It's that time of year when if your there when it happens your blessed but get the timing wrong and you'll stand there with your stick in hand and nothing to wave it at! The Hendrickson's and Blue Quills are on in Penns & Big Fishing Creek's, plan a trip ASAP but the weather today and Wed, might put a damper on it, heck why not go today? Fishing to Hendrickson's and Blue Quill's is a blast with an emerger fished in the film and again when the spinners come back a sparse winged flush floating imitation will take lots of fish. Get the float wrong or even the height of your fly in the surface film will put the fish off, sparse is the key and great drifts in to the feeding lanes will help.
  I have not been fishing much due to an accident that I had April 16, some dude hit me head on and totaled both my car and his truck, I'm on the mend with a shoulder injury and hope to fish by this weekend, it's very hard to hold a wading stick in my left hand and I need it more now than ever.
  Go Fishing!

Caddis & Hendrickson's

Yes they are on, not the Grannom's but the #18 Little Black Caddis and not that much on top, go under with a pupa or a bead head larva patterns and you'll have success! The Hendrickson's are really just getting started on Penns and not so much on Big Fishing Creek, maybe by the end of the week both the Grannom and Hendrickson's will be in full bloom in the "narrow's", this is one of the very best times to target really nice fish on Fishing Creek- go if you can. Penns is still running high and can be a problem to hit the fish that you might want to target, wait a couple days and you'll be fine, I love #14 2x long emerger's with a loop wing to get fish on Penns. Today's rain did nothing to hurt any stream in our area, so go forth young man and fish.
  Two clean up's to note this weekend;
Penns Creek clean up 9:00 AM meet at the Union County Sportsman's parking lot in Weikert, PA and help our resource.
Spring Creek clean up 9:00 AM at the Rock parking area or McCoy's Dam site and help clean both the stream banks and the roads. Both these area's on Spring get a ton of litter from cars traveling and look very unsightly!
  Please help with either one you can, my family from State College has decided this year to help with Spring Creek so that is where I'll be but Penns is in very capable hands- enjoy both and remember any time your out and about take a bag of trash home with you.

Rod and line testing

Saturday we tested a few of new Orvis Helios 2 and found a few interesting features. First was a 8'4" #3 rod that we used a WF3F XPS Sci. Angler Grey line, really nice casting and wonderful line control with pinpoint accuracy, not surprising because they don't make the line anymore- note if you find something good quickly go out and buy more. Next up was a WF3F GPX Sci. Angler and not surprising it acted as it should, a line that was 1 line size heavy but still not bad, could be good for short work with a good spinner fall but nothing that would involve distance. The final line was a Orvis new Hydro line, what a total mess no control and it gave the final delivery a line that had "S" curves it, now if they used this line to design or test their new rods WTF were they thinking, then we were told that we need the NEW Hydro 2 line, well maybe some other time. Overall this is a rod that I would own, most like a Winston BIIX and a Scott 8'4" but what the heck I already have them.
  We tried a 9'0" rated for an 8 WT and I was not the least bit interested, just too heavy but it sure did cast 70- 80' with total ease. In both cases the rods performed as advertised and they have a wonderful finish, both offer very good value for the price along with a great warranty.
  It's raining like heck and it looks as if another year of the Grannom's will be washed away never to be fished to but in the back of my mind I still think Big Fishing Creek will offer up so good days next week?

First Day for most folks

Saturday was the opening day for trout in the Northern section of PA and with the very high water the normal crowds were only a fraction of what they usualy are. Drove along Spring Creek and was just amazed to see the amount of guys using spinning gear and BAIT, don't know what the hell they were doing with the fish they caught but I'll bet they are not in the water today. Of course there we no waterways patrol men around the check them, what is up with that? Spring Creek was just full of anglers, that is not normal but with the high water everywhere else I guess it was the only game in town. We checked Pine Creek as is our tradition and the amount of people was only about 30% of a normal year due to the very high water, there were still ice jambs around! No insects!
  We stopped at Big Fishing creek and it looked just about right, a bit high 4-6" above normal but the color was just perfect and at the lower bridge before the "narrows" a great hatch and egg laying dance of little black stone's was in full swing coupled with a good amount of little black caddis but as we moved upstream the hatch seemed to loose steam, it's just about ready to get going!! Put this one on your list to watch, when the Forsitha are blooming the Grannom is on there!
  I took my daughter and granddaughter to Spring Creek Saturday night to check out our assigned clean up spot above "The Rock" , when we turned into the parking area all we saw was dead deer all around. Now who the hell does that some one who has a hard on for the Game Comm or just too cheap to have them disposed of? This has been going on for years and it looks as if it is someone who just wants to make a statement, hey catch this guy. We see this just above Bellefonte and above the 550 bridge, I have seen dogs and cats in the mixture, this dude is sick.
  Have to make a statement about the guides, long hair, beards, piercings and tattoos, who the hell wants to spend time with them and all they can say is "dude" and stick their nose in their "I" phones and text everyone, what a hell of a world we live in, glad I'm old because that is not how we old people treat folks. These guys should have stayed working at Burger King!

Update and denial

Before the torrents came and will come today, Spring Creek was fishing very well last week, nymphs in the morning then small localized hatches of #20 BWO's came off. It is getting very hard to fool the fish because they are getting pounded by everyone who needs a bit of outdoor time! When the hatch comes as usual the olives seem to come in waves, the fish start working and you pick your poison and hope you have time to cast and catch before the bugs stop, then in a few minutes they start all over again, typical olive behavior. If you have lookers but no takers keep tying new float options, "just below the surface, in the film or on top", it depends on the day and how the fish want their food delivered! Sometime a dry with a dropper just below the surface is the best option and nothing beats a #20 tan glass bead pheasant tail nymph fished about 2-3" below the point fly. Another option is a small soft hackle wet fished on a greased leader. Looks as if we might get about 1/2" of rain and with our streams full it will put us off for this week, so  much for me bitching about no water, I'll take that.
  Now the denial, I have no association to the Penns Creek Angler or his web site, when he posts my name on his site I shit, there is simply no way I want anything to do with him. What he should do is post that  the Penn Creek cleanup up will take place on April 26 @ 9:00 AM and anyone interested in helping meet in the Union County Sportsman's parking on in Weikert, PA- leave me off you site! If you think your helping, your not!

Secret Flies and Shit

I have heard nothing but a buzz about this from some locals for the past couple of years and it's getting old, if you have a secret keep it. Yea I know some of you will snicker at this and say under your breath that Hepner has secrets and will not give them up, well your right I do not give them to everyone, I give some of them to people who I trust and consider good fishing partners. No I will not give any or very little info to people who just take info. and patterns and do nothing but show everyone and give nothing in return to our sport, these guys are takers. Some of this stuff has taken 37 years to understand and that it some times means that you stop fishing and just watch or fish with someone who you can take turns fishing to a specific fish and working on why and how to catch the dam thing. I'm not really sure that it's the pattern, well maybe a little, if it's the correct size and close to the correct color and most importantly if it drifts correctly maybe the trout will take it. I see guys all the time who can't cast worth a shit and really never consider how the fly will drift to the fish change flies till they find the secret fly, that's not what you need you need some work on presentation, just get the fly close and maybe if you don't line the fish he might take. I see so many guys with a straight upstream cast and they wonder why the fish refuse their offering, maybe they see your leader or maybe your cast lander like a branch hitting the surface, think softer landing and maybe a down or across presentation and maybe you'll see better results.
 Ask Sherwin how many time we fished together and talked all the time about trout behavior and fly presentations and maybe you'll understand how much real work goes into this secret fly shit. For the guys who don't understand this and want a magic fly, call Orvis, how that's, oh right you want it free!
  As a good example why will the Rainbows in the Missouri River take a #20 secret Baetis emerger during a #24 Pseudo full blow hatch, ever consider that a good float in to them might just make them eat?