Monday, May 23, 2016

Gotta go but really do not want to

Really want to keep fishing because it has been good but with the Green Drake starting to hatch I'm not inclined to fight the nuts that come with this event. Most Drakes begin to hatch when the water temp reaches 50 and stays there for at least three days, then the magic happens. While it is a wonderful sight to see it is the people who ruin it, ass holes who have no idea of how to act on the stream, I have seen guys slide down the banks right in from of you while your working on a fish and they have no idea what they have done! You will see some awful shit on the end of their leaders and at some time they might catch one, after the crowds go we see many dead fish floating in the stream because of over playing or just ripping hooks from their mouths- sad to see such wonderful fish wasted but at least the idiots are gone and we can get down to some serious business of working on our choice of fish! The best pattern that I have ever seen for a dun Drake is the George Harvey bright yellow calf tail winged Wulff varation, easy to see and floats like a cork, for the nymph I like a pattern by Al Troth- simple and it works or try a Michigan Hex. pattern, for the spinner any big white body spent winged pattern that has hackle wings works well, the wings are just too big to use poly or another synth. material on them.
Enjoy and keep some big stoneflies in your box! The Olives will follow by the start of June and that means 3-4 weeks of great fishing with limited people around.

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Loving something too much

Been fishing Penns this past 10 days and have seen nothing but a ton of people, heck even on Monday night it was full of guys everywhere! I see that the rental cabin is full all the time with as many as 8 cars there and guess where they end up Blue Rock or Johnson's, so try to avoid them if you can at least for now and till the "Drake" is over! Have been below Korten's riffle and have been seeing March Brown's, Grey Fox, Caddis and a few adult stoneflies on the water- time to get the big dry's out to get the egg laying stonefly eating trout. Not much happens on Penns on a sunny to partly sunny day till the sun gets off the water then thing begin to heat up, Sulphurs and spinners are on the menu for the trout, be careful, make sure you know what they are eating, they tend to switch as the night goes on. Grey Fox spinners then maybe Olive spinners then maybe spent caddis and Sulphurs but each pool holds it's own menu. Speaking of Sulphurs make sure you pick a good pool to fully enjoy this hatch, they tend to like to ride the water for a time so just make sure you are in a good long pool with a good riffle coming into it, think "Station 21" pool it is long and the bugs ride on the surface for a very long time before flying off. Station 21 pool is a bitch to get to, you need to be on the opposite bank from the cabin and grossing is not easy neither is walking the bank, cross at the bottom of the pool and walk back into the forest before you start upstream- along the bank is not an option! I like to fish the emergers and duns downstream, cast float and maybe drop down a few feet, your in a place where they are most time no other guys on the far bank because of the steep terrain, peace and quiet! At this time of year if it is a humid night make sure you have long sleaves on or very good bug spray- the dog pecker flies are a bitch.
  If you go try a new section to avoid the crowds, check out the parking lot- most times it is full and if it is a week day it will be anglers and on the weekend it tends to be a lot of walkers and bikers.