Olives- Olives in June

Wanted to fish Penns on Friday with the cloudy conditions but the weather report said they expected late day clearing and that would push the Cornuta spinner fall later in the evening, so I decided to go about 10:00 AM. I checked various pools and runs but could not find any rising fish and really did not want to fish nymphs, then I stopped at the Junction pool in Coburn and it was alive with rising fish! Got dressed and in the stream just above the water was clouds of small spinners- the same we see all summer on Fishing Creek, tied on a #20 dark rusty spent wing and did not even get a look- what the heck? Above me there were at least 8 fish rising well, so I put my nose on the water and it did not take long to see what they were taking- #20 Olives (dark bodies and large slate wings) so on went a #20 Olive emerger and Wow what an afternoon I had. There were fish up everywhere in the pool, fish from 7" to 17" and willing to take if the float was a good one, if not you would not even get a look. The fish that reside on the North bank that normally hide in the overhangs were out and about and ready and willing to eat but as with typical olives they come in waves and the fish rise in waves- strong for a while then very few then strong again. I think the reason the hatch was strong there is because of the influence that Pine Creek has on it, I did notice that they were good rising fish on Pine as I drove in along side of it. Before stopping to check I did look at all the other spots below Coburn and found "0", just saying look at specific locations and don't think this is everywhere. I did see some tan caddis (few) and a few summer Cahills (lt. yellow) but we are about 1 to 2 weeks away from a strong caddis emergence, check out the raspberries, when they are ripe the caddis are on. Birds everywhere and the Eagles were on the dead trees at the tail out talking to me perhaps telling me to leave? A nice afternoon came to an end when the clouds disappeared and the sun came out strong, think about the next cloudy day and head out looking for a strong olive hatch. I did have one of the escaped big boys on for a few moments but just could not hold it, these guys come down stream from Donnie Beaver's place and seem to stay for a while or till someone takes them out.
Enjoy

 

New Olive Spinner pattern

For the past few weeks the Drunella cornuta spinners have been falling every night starting about 6:30 PM, the rise to them has been very good maybe not every night but good with plenty of very good fish up. I have been using a pattern that I tied years ago and have had very good success with but it just is not what I have been seeking, so to the tying bench I went. I used a wing material that I got from Russ Bowersox years ago, it is a Zelon type material that came from Megee carpet in Bloomsburg, PA, he still has some but the cost maybe high after this? The material has a very good off color that matches the wings of cornuta spinners and can be tied sparsely, it resembles Zelon but much stiffer. I tie it in spent winged and lash it down well and glue it with super glue at this stage, I always tie the wings in first to make sure the porportutions are correct and it also makes it very easy to glue it well, the super glue is very important because this material is very dense and it is hard to get it tied in to prevent it slipping when you get this first fish! I use microfibbits for tails (2) dark dun in color and spread wide but not more than 1x hook shake length. The body is Vevus body quill in olive built up well, these guys have a hump in their bodies at the rear wing and it is very apparent when you look at one. I use dark olive mole fur spun on olive thread to dub around the wings in a figure eight pattern then a bit more dubbing ahead of the wings. I then use Loon flow UV cure resin on the body and cure it with a strong UV light, it adds depth and a enhanced look to the body of the fly. I use Tiemco #101 or #921 size #16 for the pattern, tried some 921 #14 tied short but the fish did not like them so I'm sticking with 16's, I also tied a few with one wing tied at a rear facing angle and took fish. This week the Penns Creek tarpon were out in force and to get to the good fish you had to catch the little guys and give them flying lessons in order to get to the good trout, took a few nice guys and then noticed a really good one that I worked on for about 30 min's and took the fly away from him before he had a chance to turn downward, I just was on a razor edge because this guy is a really good one! I could see him well and did notice that more than a few times he took something under the surface because he never came near the surface and he opened his moth or turned in a fast motion - note tie some weighted spinners in the same manner that we have done for the Trico's or tie a small wighted pheasant tail as a dropper for this guy. This hatch is not heavy every night but it gets enough fish up to keep you busy, just get the dam chubs out of the way, give them flying lessons.

  Attached is a typical brown that has a scar from the Green Drake hatch but he was eating olives well.

OK the nuts are gone!!!

The Drake is over and all the one week wonders are gone, thanks for small favors. I do enjoy just seeing the wonder of a full blown drake hatch and the frenzy of feeding fish it brings but have never enjoyed the hoards it brings and the incessant talking and yelling that happens between the one week wonders, hell they can't even park right let alone have any manners at all. Now we have some of the very best fishing before us now, Drunlella coruta (old Conrutta) small Olives (Drunella corutella & Drunella lata) and ISO's are on tap as is the ever present ants,beetles and hoppers. Remember we also have some very large PE Duns in bright yellow and orange and the fish do key in on them from time to time, a dun or a floating nymph will usually do the trick if you can find that one fish that has taken a few of the duns.
  I love this time of year for one other insect the light tan caddis that will be present from now till fall, count on these guys every morning even during the Trico hatches, speaking of which usually starts around July 15. I have not seen Trico's on Penns except for a small population on uppers Penns but have heard that the fishing can be good from Spring Mills to Coburn, give it a try. For the caddis a CDC bubble back light tan caddis adult in size #16  or a caddis emerger will get you most of the fish but you might have to resort to something else to fool that one special fish your looking for some can be tough to fool but not the ton's of rainbows in Bald Eagle
   We can fish in relative peace and quiet till next year, what a blessing to have Penns to us free from the nut jobs who chase the Drake. Speaking of nuts I had an encounter with a guide from The Hook who wanted to put his client in front of me, never asking if it was ok or if I was done with the spot- well I hope they liked fishing to rock fish, what an ass hole.
  Fished Monday night and yes the big stoneflies are crashing the riffles, time to get the big stimulators and high floating "Big" dries out and search the riffles with them. Did also see some "Fish flies" but just not that many of them. The big happening was the Drunlella "Cornuta" spinner fall it was big, I saw nymphs everywhere on my hands as I handles the line and duns but the spinners were just nuts! The water was a bit off color and it was hard to see the feeding lanes the trout were in but boy did they eat and were they picky- you gave them the right color and size or don't even try it. I'll be back every other night to get some of the big guys I saw!