Time to take a look at Penns

It is about the time we should be looking at Penns, cooler nights and some rain will keep her temp's cooler than the last few years. Fish either Iso. nymphs or if you see a good amount of spinners in the air an Iso' spinner will do the trick, they are big #12 -14 dark red brown bodied that float flush in the surface film. I have seen spinners falls in August and early Sept. in the late afternoon/evening time frame. The best way to fish Iso's is a nymph, a very dark brown or black slim bodied fly with a white stripe on the back will do the trick, the newer jig hooks and a tungsten bead will get it down and prevent it from getting hooked on the bottom at least a little! Iso. nymphs can swim so a little tight line nymphing will work even if you have a bit of drag on it. Fish these guys in the riffles and even at the very top of the run before the water breaks into choppy water but keep a low profile.
  Another option is ants and beetles fished in shallow water early or late in the day, present an ant softly and a beetle not soft at all- plop it! Years ago we collected a bunch of hoppers and crickets and tossed them in at Johnson's pool to observe just how the trout ate them, hoppers would be inspected and most time taken downstream but crickets were just eaten when inspected, this is not for the faint of heart, the fish are slow and determined but slow!
  Do not forget about the #16-18 tan caddis at this time of year, an Iris caddis imitation will do the trick on emergers as will a good soft hackle wet (simple body and hackle) but I love to cast a CDC loop winged adult imitation at the trout but tie a load of them because the CDC gets soaked fast. Yes I know you can use dry fly beads but it just does not bring them back well enough- tie a lot of them up.
  It will be soon time for the browns to start to feel their oats, prespawn time is streamer time. I have been watching the European guys and their new tying materials and techniques for hints of how to tie more effective patterns, one thing for sure they do not use a ton of material on their flies but they have the apperaence of a full bodied fly, check out "Tie TV" on You Tube, some of the patterns taka long time to tie because of the instructions and the guys can be a little hard to understand but the video is just great. Another good one on You Tube is "Hackles & Wings" and Michael Jensen- give the a look and you might get hooked on them.