Redd Count Follow Up

As most of you know each year the Spring Creek Chapter of TU helps the PA Boat and Fish Comm. count the redd's, the event was on Sunday Nov. 18  and to say that the water was not perfect is a gross misstatement! Ray and I counted the same section that we have for the last few years, Section 9a, from the Rock Road parking lot down stream to the bridge at Benner Spring's, our total was 66 defined redd's, now that is about HALF of our normal count, other teams had similar results, but the numbers reflect similar yearly results in most sections. This years water was very high with decreased visibility, so there were sections based on that and the glare on the water surface that made us sure we missed some. One section of Slab Cabin Run in the meadow section had a count of "88" to be sure lower than normal but still good, looks like the fish picked the trib's and the easier side section's to spawn this year. Our sites had really good clean gravel and good flow over them. We should have a good year of reproduction and with all the wood in the stream I believe hold over will be excellent. I will post more results as I get them, the Fish Comm. called off their count below Bellefonte due to high water, this section is really pushing still! , all of the red's we located were empty as were most other sections, the fish spawned earlier than normal and at a very fast pace!

2018 Redd Count

Sunday Nov. 18th is Spring Creek Chapter of TU's annual Spring Creek redd count, meeting at Spring Creek Park in Lemont @ 10:00 AM. This year promises to be a challenge to say the least, with high winds brining down more dead ash trees and the excessive high water it will be hard to see all the redds that are normally easy to see. As soon as I get the results I'll make sure that I post them- hope for no more hard rain. Heavens knows the leaf flush has already happened and all should be good to go.
   I have you ever noticed when you fish an area that you fished years ago so how it seems smaller that before. I remember that even with Scott 904's some areas on Penn's seemed to be hard to cast to but now it seems easier, I think a lot has to do with the quality of lines we are using now? Anyone else have the same observation?

New Hooks "Firehole vs. Fulling Mill"

Ever since the last experience that I had on the Missouri River with hooks getting opened up with hard fighting fish I have looked for better hooks. I like the quality and service that I have been getting from Firehole Outdoors" fireholeoutdoors.com ", they have a good selection but the Firehole #316 nymph/emerger 2 xg medium is a bit on the light side, their black color is nice and the entire line has a really good selection. Firehole Sticks are $10.00 for 50 and that is not bad, their service is just great, you can get them via first class mail from Bozeman, MT in a matter of days, all in all a very good value and product.
  The other hook company is Fulling Mill "fullingmill.com " , this is the same company the Davie McPhail uses on his YouTube channel, yes it is British but they have a wharehouse in NH and any order that you place is here via first class mail in a matter of days, cost is $12.95 for 50 hooks with some a bit more and the quanity a bit less but still a good value. The selection and the black nickel finish is just perfect, the #35115 Heavyweight Grub Black Nickel 2x short/ 3x heavy is just the hook you need to hook and hold those very strong Missouri River rainbows, not bad for Penn's either!
  All in all both companies offer some really good selections and sizes but I really think Fulling Mill has a bit better finish. Give either of them a try and you will be happy with them, saves a trip to the fly shop that is better served fishing.

Penns Creek Update

Either you will like or hate the following news? As of Jan 1st.2019 a section of Penns will become class "A" wild trout catch and release, it will be from roughly the Weikert bridge upstream to the bottom boundary of the current Fish For Fun area. This can either be good news for you or bad news if you have either dreamed of having a longer C&R area or enjoyed taking a few fish to eat, I understand both sides. You have to really take a hard look at the current state of the PA Fish & Boat Comm. and know that any chance they see an area where they can save money by not having to stock they will take it and make it appear as if they are doing us a favor, they really are. Oh sure they will stock below but I will bet in the near future the total number of stocked fish will decrease in time, maybe not but we shall see. The Fish Comm. is doing anything they can do in order to save money and resources, this time it is a giant plus for those of us who just love to catch "wild trout". I know this area will become a destination area and will have anglers from the East Coast coming to fish and it will not be the typical 3-4 week wonders that follow the stocking trucks, we'll see these anglers all Summer & Fall! Get ready for some crowded areas and parking areas that will fill up as does the present FFF bottom parking lot above Cherry Run. In the end this is nothing but great news for our trout and they will grow big and increase in numbers over time. We will have many conftations with bait chuckers and be advise the Fish Comm. will be nowhere to be found. If you see an infraction and call the Commission they will ask you to do what they wanted me to do when I saw guys taking fish from Spring Creek "did you get their licence number- what the "F' are you stupid or what just patrol it and catch them. Have not seen a Waterways Patrol on Penn's, Spring or Fishing Creek in years, they spend all their time on the river or lakes looking for boating problems!
  Any way you look at this news it is good for our sport, it will bring a lot of business to the area and make the case for more of these areas in the future, economic growth is good for all of us. I can see someone with small cabins to rent getting a real shot at a great business plan.
  A side note I fished Fishing Creek the other week and of course the water was up BUT the fish were there- fat and full of fight. Need to use bigger flies and a shit load of weight to get it down to their level. I have never been a fan of putting weight in my nymphs but at this time have started to tie a few up because of using bigger shot and a double rig then having the weight get tangled up because of the heaver items moving faster in the cast than the flies do- translation bugger line tangles.
  Look for a new comp of Fire Stick hooks and Fulling Mills hooks that Davey McPhail is now using, both offer great delivery and good prices but one has a much better finish and better sizes.

Spruce Creek

Got a chance to fish Spruce Creek this past week and of course jumped at it, have not been there for 20 years and had such a good time trying to fool the resident browns. A friend of mine that I meet while doing dog training ask me to go with him on the trip that was sponsored by his pension fund managers, heck my guys don't sponsor this for us! We found the correct final location after driving thru the valley and commenting on how beautiful all the farms look and how well the land was managed. Found the turn off and the cabin location, to call it a cabin is a total disservice, it is a jewel, our guide was ready and waiting, our host arrived as we were dressing. After getting to know everyone we were given a lesson in the length of the property and where to begin and where to stop, this is all very private land in the valley and the only public area is the George Harvey Penn State area down stream. I did not start but choose to just walk around a look at the water while the other guys were set up and getting some instructions. I rigged up and decided to start in a small depression along side a big rock, well the rainbow I hooked made very short order of my rig breaking off the bottom fly and bending the top PT hook straight, so much for fine wire hooks. This same thing happened most of the day except for the normal sized browns and rainbows that took the flies and were manageable enough to land! The really big bow's were another story, just big bruts that did not respond the pressure all the while exerting all their force on your equipment. I had to choose my flies as to the realitive hook strength, could not use the same ones I use in Spring and Penn's otherwise pop the hooks were opened up. A #14 Bead Head PT with a #14 rainbow hot spot scud tied on a Tiemco 2457 would do the trick unless the fight lasted too longthen POP.
   Our property owner is the President of the Phila Federal Reserve, a Bucknell grad and avid Penn State football fan who lets TCO host some day trips for this pension fund management business. What fun it was, yes the really big rainbows are stocked and feed on a regular basis but they are fun and no one gets hurt. The only down side to the entire day is mosquitoes- hoards of them everywhere and just loving your blood. With the wet conditions this year the populations have just exploded. We finished just after noon and all of us were tired of landing or fighting fish and bitten up. We went to the Spruce Creek Café for lunch and just to let you know a tray of French fries beat 5 of us, could not finish it.

  I have attached a video of one of the big rainbows that I landed, you can see the shoulders on them. If it does not load I will keep trying to get it to work over the next few days

RIP Charlie Meck

Sorry to hear the passing of Charlie Meck on Sept. 18, he was a good friend and author, writing many articles and books sharing his vast angling knowledge. I did disagree with him many times when he shared too many locations that did not need to be well known but we agreed to disagree. He and I had the same idea some 40+ years ago that we needed to tie spent winged spinners blue, so I tied both king fisher blue and dark blue spinners and tried them to no end, I gave a few dozen to Charlie to try- we both had the same result- "0", oh well nothing tried nothing gained. Sad to see all these good guys going on to fish forever! Did see Joe Humphries the other day and he said that he was doing great, had a back operation 2 weeks ago and of course he was teaching at Paradise, he just never sits down!
   OK Penn's is 1000 cfs and Spring is 200 cfs at Axeman- what the heck, now they are calling for 2.5" plus rain over the next two days, here we go again. Just think small head waters and you can find some enjoyment but tone down your equipment to really enjoy the fight of smaller fish. Brook trout will take a #14 hair winged fly just about any time of the year, just go.
  A short note about the new Trout Hunter tippet material "Evo" I hear it gets cloudy after using it for a time, hold off till they solve this problem, at $10.00 a spool it is not cheap.

Penn's & Spring Creek up again

It is Sept. 10 and has been raining for the past 24 hours, Penn's is at 3000 cfs and Spring is at 367 cfs @ Axeman (normal is 68 cfs), that my friends means we will have plenty of water for the Fall and early Winter. The silver lining to all this moisture is that spawning will be very good this year, the leaf drop should wash out and the brown's should find plenty of open gravel to do their thing in good flows.

  A note to a new product- Hoffman CDL Tailing Pack, Pardo will take the place of the small and very expensive Coq De Leon packs ( 4-5 feathers in a pack for $8.95) vs. the Hoffman very large chunk at $15.00, quite a good deal. I have never been a fan of the small packs and the realitive soft nature of the feathers, I know everyone uses them for tails on nymphs and dry's but I have found them not be that stiff for dry fly applications. I have used the Hoffman CDL for a few weeks and found them to be perfectly marked as the imported birds are, also quite a bit stiffer. If you want to learn more about what Hoffman is doing with these birds, check You Tube Fly Fish Food channel and find the tour of the hatchery facility, you will not believe what he is working on. When Dr. Whiting talks about the CDL birds that he is working on, they have speckle on both sides of their feathers you get a sense he will deliver superior products to us fly tyers!
   Take this time to tie more flies and wait this crap out, it might just be a banner Winter season for us, think Olives on top and really "Big" streamers to hunt the big guys.

As I write this on 9/11/18 Spring is over 1300 cfs @ Axeman, can not even imagine what that must look like, over the road below the bridge down from Fisherman's Paradise!!

  Remember our fallen hero's from 9/11

We might fish after labor day???

I have never seen Spring Creek over 1300 cfs at Axeman (this is just down from Fisherman's Paradise)! At my house last week we had over 13" of rain and this past week we got more every day but on Thursday & Friday State College just got hammered and the result is like "Katrina"aftermath.
Maybe we can fish Trico's after August but more like Olives in September. Hey stat home and cut the grass and tie flies for the fall. This is just one really strange year but we should have ample water to get us thru the fall spawn.

Tan Caddis/raspberry's and of course Pseudo's

Now is the time to enjoy a morning of wild black raspberry's and #16 tan caddis on Penn's or Spring Creek, I snack on them going to the stream and when I am done walking back to the car. Tan caddis emergence is a morning thing and boy do the trout get on them all morning long, first emergers then adults. I fish an Iris caddis (#16 tan) at the start of the hatch and at some time will switch over to a bubble back caddis dry, I have a new pattern that incorporates legs and it lands right side up every time and seems to float very high on the waters surface. At some point I will take a video of how I tie it and post it. I don't fish soft hackles in Penn's much but will do it on Spring and Bald Eagle at start and mid morning till I see solid rising fish. This emergence will go on till October but sadly not the raspberry's! Some days my hands look as if I were crushing grapes for a living I eat so dam may of them. Spring Creek has the most berries and has a good strong hatch but Bald Eagle has the most fish that key on the caddis. Penn's has a good hatch but not in every section of the stream.
   No Iso's in Coburn this morning but clouds of Pesudo's in the air, same as Fishing Creek in the summer. According to Greg Hoover they do fall to the stream surface so you better have a #20 black spent wing spinner in your box, Stan's bridge was just a cloud surrounding it.
   Not much longer till the "Trico's" come off Spring and Bald Eagle that means morning Trico fishing and afternoon beetle fishing, a most wonderful time of the year. Nothing like plopping a black size 12 beetle and watch the wake come a inhale it, a great experience to have.
  Stay away from Rock Road on Spring Creek next week they are doing a stream improvement project that I feel is a total waste on money, just take the stupid dam out at the "Rock" and you would have a much better flow upstream, compare it to what happened when McCoy's dam was removed- no one could believe how far upstream was effected by the dam removal. This section of Spring could use some bank work but if the water was lower it would be fine. Another Fish Commission bull shit action.

Corntua "where oh where are you"

OK I know this year has been a really weird year but to miss a hatch is not something that happens much but I can't seem to find the Cornuta (sp Drunella) blue wing olive duns and spinners. Was at Penn's the other day and spent most all afternoon and evening at Johnson's Pool, t/o the day the water looked a little brown but as the sun went off the water it became more like the color we know, lite olive. Took a few small fish in the heavy riff using a bigger yellow stone dry with rubber legs. Began to see more rising fish T/O the pool and of course I had my olive spinner tied on but noticed as I waded out into position it was a good hatch of ISO's big and juicy duns! Took quite a few fish on top that were not great but still nice fish. Video will be attached soon showing how think they are but not overly large. I got out and began to walk along the bank looking for the good ones in mid-pool, OK spotted one at the old swimming hole rope pine tree, he was just poking his head out and taking emergers or duns like a pig! It took a long time for me to get out picking my way on the rocks all the while trying to stuff my vest into my waders with my Go-pro chest harness on but the water was not that deep at this spot a bit above the pine tree. I got into position and left him feed downstream and moving up then doing it over again, got a good float over him and that big mouth just come out of the water and came down on top of my floating nymph, set the hook and he was on and really heavy, be cool and not get too excited, turn the camera on- OH SHIT I lost him!*#! I left a sting of swear words the must have scared all the birds because it got really quiet. I looked at my fly #12 2x long ISO floating nymph and saw why, the hook gap was small and with that big jaw I really never got a good hook penetration on him, that has been corrected! I saw another good one mid stream above the new wood obstruction, it took a bit of time to get his location but on the first good float- he gave me the brown trout finger, that full body swirl refusal never to return. All in all a great day but still know olive spinners?
  I have to guess that it might be the weird weather that has the olives screwed up, can't check Coburn now because of the "rubber hatch" there, last time it was 40+ of them!

  I also have or will attach a video of Johnson's pool.

Long live the Drake

I for one am glad it is over for another year, Jesus you would think everyone who has a fly rod has to flock to Penn's for the annual event and it shows, now this week we see the dead fish laying on the bottom. Why the hell do theses part timers play the hell out of the fish is beyond me, hell they use heavy tippet but maybe just rip the fly out of the fish and have them bleeding.
  Now the real fishing starts on Penn's, Drunella (old Cornuta), Slate Drakes both duns and spinners of each, Sulphurs which are mostly over but still remain, large Sulphurs and orange and very yellow duns, just to figure out what and the stage the trout are taking is the name of the game. If you see Drunella spinners and can't get them to take either move down to mid pool or a tail out or put on a Slate Drake spinner or look up and see Sulphur spinners, it is hard to key in on just what the trout are taking. Still just enjoy the peace and quiet of only the birds singing and not all those idiots yelling and talking loudly about the Drake.
   Be careful be very careful we are starting to see more and more rattle snake along the roads and stream banks of Penn's this year and some of them are not giving you any warning!

Build a Ark!

Gees all it does is rain and not a good soft drizzle but hard rain, I have recorded more 1" plus days of rain this Spring than I have in the past! Yes the fish do eat in these conditions but on Penns it is just too dangerous to even think about wading, you can fish the edges but so will any other guys around. this time of year most of the cabins are full with people dreaming about the Green Drakes- so go some where else till it is over.
  Fishing Creek in the narrows between Tylersville and Larmar is a good choice BUT not on a Sunday or when the cabins are occupied! I was there a few weeks ago at my favorite spot for Grannomns until I looked over the bridge and saw a sign on the bank that said "Please do not fish in front of cabin", just another stupid person that thinks all fishermen and women will take all the trout from their water and not leave any for their kids. This kind of though is something that tends to make decisions on restricted waters that much harder to make, land owners that have very stale ideas and are not really in tune with the catch and release population. This same though process is playing out on Penns now, both sides are now claiming cabin residents on their side and telling the PA Boat and Fish Comm. to do what they want them to do. I for one would love to see the C&R section expanded but also understand that the people who want to take some fish deserve space, both sides have merits. From an economic stand point the expansion of the C&R would reap many benefits far more than those who tend to fish in April and May then give it up, the men and women who like the C&R rules and wild trout tend to travel more and spend far more money in the local area but the Fish Comm. has it's own way of deciding what to do. We shall see, I thought is was funny when the fellow from the club told John Arway about the 1000 fingerling's that they stocked without Comm. permission, can you say stupid. When will these guys understand that the stocking of fish sometimes does more harm than good.
  You can take off and go to Spring Creek for the Sulphurs BUT you will have a ton of company there, with the high water elsewhere Spring is the place to be.
   When I was at Penns the other day I came up a pair of Northern Water snakes mating and tried to film them with my GoPro, for some reason it would not work till I got home and took it apart, shit. The moral here is that the wiggly guys are active now, so tread lightly and look for them! Hell we had an Garder snake in our back yard garden, she would not go away till we caught her and took her to the forest, yea I know but I can not kill anything except mice!
  Still looking to give some stuff away!

Grannom's, Hendrickson's are gone!

Time to move on to Grey Fox, March Brown's and Sulphur's plus do not forget the dreaded Crane Fly. Look for a cloudy day and target the edges of a good hole that has a really good riffle coming into it for Grey Fox and March Brown emegers, this is really a easy fish. Watch on the water near the banks for some really good fish, they target them emergers and will eat about everyone of them. I use a flush floating pattern that I am now using Firehole Sticks hooks and have found the hooking power of them to be wonderful, give them a try.
  Sulphurs are the magic time of the year but can present a ton of trouble for then angler, best advice is to stop casting and look at what stage the trout are taking before you go casting to them and put them off. A nice soft hackle patterns presented in the early stages of the night seems to get them going, remember to impart a little action just before it gets in their window. The trout feed on all stages and not all the trout in the pool will be on the same stage, stop and look. Be aware for the Grey Fox spinners and sulphurs also. A good yellow or cream Crane Fly can really screw you up so beware of them, trout just love them!
  It is also a good time to carry some yellow Stim's or any high floating adult stonefly patterns, you will see them crash into the riffles and get eaten up FAST, use a heavy tippet for this.
   See you when the clouds come back. Be careful the other day we ran into two snakes, no danger but something to be aware of. Also if it gets windy get away from all the dead trees!

Hatchs and Nipper Comparison

Fished Tuesday, Wednesday  and Thursday of this week and what a tail of different days, Tuesday and Wed. were cloudy and cooler with overcast skies and the result was just waves of #20 Olives, the fish ate well. Saw fish in the shallows were I have not seen them in years, nice fish that were very wary but catch able when the wind would allow for a good cast. The hatch went on from about 11:00 AM to 2:30 PM just as always in waves the trout would all start raising then after a bit stop then resume in a while, typical of a good Olive hatch. I stopped at Fisherman's Paradise (the actual place) to change back into street cloths and talked to a few fellows that said the hatch has been good in the Paradise waters and really good in the canyon section. I talked to one of my very old friends and he told me about the Grannom really becoming a good hatch below Bellefonte especially where they took out the dam a few years ago (McCoy's Dam), he said they are pretty good around here also, below Paradise. OK Thursday came and it was misting a bit but I thought it would be another Olive day BUT when I pulled into the Lazy Daisy parking spot every trout in the pool was up and not sipping, aggressive rising to Grannomns and for the next few hours it was heaven! A #16 Dark Olive bodied bubble back CDC caddis did the trick, catch one and dump the fly in the desiccant and go again. By about 12:00 things were over, typical of caddis emergence but I bet the mating flight will be good tonight or Saturday night! The forchita are not even blooming yet and that is a very good indication of the Grannomn hatch. Get ready for Penns to explode soon, I never got a chance to try my new extended body wet fly but hope to on Fishing Creek next week!

I have been comparing nippers for a few weeks and the results will surprise you. First I have been using a Abel black line nippers for the past two years and have not been totally in love with them, they cost $85.00 and cut OK but some time just not like I think they should. I wanted to try a pair of Simms Guide Nippers @ $49.95 but was warned they were not that good, I called Simms and told them what a fly shop told me and they did agree they did have some trouble with the first run of them and they assured me they were fine, well I got one and wow they are great for about half the price, they come in some killer colors and now I have one on every set up I have. What a sad commentary for Abel because years ago their shit was the best. I guess I'll send them back to be reworked but that costs $10.00 plus shipping, lesson earned- ask someone you see using what you might want to buy!

Fly VS. Jerks New Season

Sorry for being late with this as the fishing show Fly VS. Jerks just finished up it's season 9th. on kanalgratisdotse.com. This year it was 3 days of fishing with four teams, 2 fly and 2 hard wear teams fishing in Europe. The quality of the film is just amazing and the amount of fish they all caught is nothing short of amazing. Team Vision Sweden caught 122 pike in 8 hours one day and team Vision Finland landed a gigantic pike of over 12 kilos to win the overall championship of the competition, you need to give it a try just to see how the Europeans are using different materials and equipment along with the newer clothing that they have. It looks as if Vision is the leader in fly fishing supplies over there, some of their rods are different, some have foam handles (not my choice) their lines are different colored and of course their flies are really on the cutting edge of patterns. The guys are using a lot of tube flies, this is something we just never bother with here but maybe we should be, they are easy to tie and don't use that much material and sure can be changed easily.
This series is on every early spring and the quality of the show is just amazing, some of the language is not fit for younger people but that is Europe TV. Give it a watch and you might just see some ideas for big streamers that would get some really big browns moving. I know some of the patterns they are using would get some of the muskies that reside in the section of Penns below Selinsgrove at the junction of Penns and Middle Creek running into the Susquehanna River!
   On another note I see the babies of the Fish Commission are pissed at the Director because they told him to save money and he decided to close some hatcheries thereby pissing some of the Directors off, they must of gotten phone calls telling them they wanted their stocked fish for the money they spent on a licence. Now the Commission wants to limit the term of the Director, wow looks as if he mad some of them mad! Where is the common sense that tells them to manage the resource and balance the budget in a sensible manner not like little kids? I be we will have to spend money if we fish for browns,brooks,rainbows,bluegills,bass,walleyes and any other species we catch, they will sell us a specific tag for each of them and fine us if we catch any on them and do not have a tag- kind of like the Game Commission now does with hunting tags for everything.

When not to fish in the Winter/Spring

I can tell you one of the very best days to fish in the Winter/Spring is when the Olives are going strong and it is snowing, you will never experience such quiet on a stream, even the birds are silent. Snow doesn't seem to bother the Olives and or Midges they just keep coming. now I am not talking about a full blown blizzard just a nice soft snow, we all know that rain gives the Olives a good kick in the pants but it is not that quiet and still. Hopefully we are done with the snow and the wind that seems to be ever present this year. I can tell you one of worst times to fish is after a good snow fall and it begins to melt, this will take the water temp's down and put the fish off. Between the snows we have seen water temp's slowly climb (not much but a little) and the fish become active then boom the temp goes down just a little and they turn off! Give it a few days to begin to warm up and get rid of most of the snow cover that is exposed to the sun, the remaining snow will melt when the air temps begin to rise enough. Next week with the for cast of 50's and 60's will get some more snow melt going but if you plan on getting on the stream early you should be OK, most of the heavy melt occurs later in the afternoon. Now none of this applies to Fishing Creek- hell the sun does not hit it till April, or it just seems that way but it does stay colder than the other streams at this time of year. Small black pheasant tails and Chimera caddis larva & pupa imitations are just the ticket now. Scuds and shrimp will always bring fish to you, just keep them on the smaller size #16 & 18 will do the trick. Penns is good for the bigger stuff, black stoneflies in size #6 & 8 along with yellow stones in #10 & 12 will work provided you get them down near the bottom, with cold water temps the fish just will not move that far for a treat.
  Enjoy

Good By to Lefty

Sad news in the fly fishing world, Lefty Kreh has passed on, to say he was a one of a kind is a gross understatement. I meet him years ago when I attended The Brotherhood of The Jungle Cock" annual summer camp out in Thurmount, MD, as always his knowledge was given to anyone who asked any and all questions. I was stunned at just what he could do with a fly rod, sometimes just throwing it down on the ground on a fore cast and yes it always hit the mark! One could ask him anything about fly tying and he would give knowledge and help on the spot, many times he would just sit down and show you how and why to do something. We never got to fish together but we kept in touch thru the years most of the time it was about fly tying materials and new hooks, he was in a position where he saw most everything that was new on the market well before most of us did.
  I will miss the laugh and that Baltimore draw that he had but most of all the simple fact that he shared his knowledge so freely. He used to give me hell saying that you PA guys do not share your fishing locations to the general public. I know he is fishing now, maybe he and Joe Brooks just hooked a very large bonefish.

It Can Happen

The more the world changes the more we think that some established business will stand the test of a competitor, well they do not. Gone are the days in which a company can withstand another company trying to take over, here is an example.
  During the 80's Mustad was the best and one of the very few fly tying hooks on the market, we all remember those little white boxes with the white semi waxed paper inside of them holding 100 hooks. Mustad had the fly tying market cornered except for some of the Partridge hooks from England, one of them was the Vince Marinaro dry fly hooks, they were crap, soft. I am not sure if the hooks were that soft or it was our new tippet material that was strong and we did not play our fish that long, because we were told to get the trout in fast and get them back. Not many people used the English hooks back then and they were not cheap because they were hand made. Well we did not see any other hooks making a dent in the Mustad market, then we began to see a lot of 94840 & 94833 #14 & 16 hooks that were soft and began to open at the bend when a fish was hooked, some of my clients began to complain about this and we started to check the hooks and yes there was a problem maybe not as bad as first though, again maybe it was the new tippet material, Cortland had Nylorfe from France and it was very strong as was Maxima from Germany. Low and behold we began to see a new hook on the market "Tiemco" from Japan, not cheap but dam good quality and super sharp. What began as a problem for one company became an opportunity for another and history was made. Tiemco became the hook of choice on the market and Mustad began to become less available to fly tyers in this country. We saw the little white boxes now sporting the Tiemco label on them and the white paper inside holding new an exciting hook designs. Given the cost difference Tiemco had to come up with a new package, they put 25 hooks on a G-Dam magnet and enclosed it in a plastic bag thereby lowering the cost. I for one hate those magnets because it does not allow me to line my hooks up by dozens in a neat fashion, the hooks stick to my tweezers.
  Now in 2018 we have a ton of hooks on the market most of them are good but once in a while you will find some of the European ones may have the same soft problem, the hook opens up just enough after hooking a fish that you can not get a good hook set on a fish and wonder why your not hooking fish- check you fly and see if it did in fact open at the bend- if so get it off because bending it back is not the answer. Go home a tie more flies with better hooks. We have seen new manufactures coming out every year, look at new one "Ahrex from Sweden/Norway- really great wire, styles and super sharp. Yes even Partridge has a line of Predator hooks that are super as does Gamagatsu!
  Case in point if your in business never think that you will not have someone who can do it better than you can because they can and will
  If you think the streams are crowded, well they are just look how many fly tying hook companies are out there making a living off us, no wonder sometimes you just want to go home and not deal with the crowds.

Is It Age or Hoarder Disorder?

Ok the weather sucks, the waters are high and I do not feel like chucking heavy nymph rigs, call me lazy or old, so I tie flies and go thru my boxes seeing what needs to be replaced or what flies to experiment with. Well I wanted to tie up a crap load of scuds and other patterns that I use on Spring Creek and Bald Eagle, OK so I go thru my tying cabinet and low and behold what do I find, shit I forgot that I had and some of it in doubles, now what is going on. The other week I ordered some material and glue after receiving it I was going thru a drawer that holds most of my glue and head cements, well you guessed it, what I just got I had in the drawer. The sad part is I wanted to use some tack wax, gees I only had 6 of them, 4 were so dam old the wax was dry, now I just had to start looking at my materials to see what else I either forgot I had or had too much.
  The results are in I either have deminta or have a hoarding issue because I just have too much stuff that I will never use in my life time. I talked to a PT nurse the other day at Geisinger who's husband I taught to tie 40 years ago at Geisinger in the evenings, he has done the same thing ordered something then to find that he already had it.
  OK so here is the deal, you need some thing, ask and if I have more than I need I will get it to you, cover the cost of postage and if I need packaging cover that also and it will be yours. Please no hooks (well maybe the shit ones) or really good dry fly and wet fly hackle capes, I value the hen necks more than the rooster necks and refuse to give them up. If I have a good Metz, Hoffman or Hebert neck that I will never use all you have to do is cover the old cost not the new cost and I might part with it.
  The weather here sucks and the water is high and I have a G. dam cold so life sucks for now.
My e mail is jhepner@ptd.net

Results of meeting on Penns scetion 5

I was sick with a terrible cold and could not make the meeting (presentation) concerning Penns Creek section 5 rule change. This does not take effect till 2019 and it was posted on YouTube, well I tried to watch it and all I saw was some old fart going on about how bad a job  is doing and on and on, ok get to your point, I just could not watch it any longer. From what I hear it will be the same as the Coburn section, a slot limit and continued stocking of fish to Glen Iron (some say it is too warm there but they did in fact stock it that far down years before), long story short is the Fish & Boat boys need to save money and this will get them where they want to be. The Coburn section has always had a very good population of resident fish and has suffered only because of one very good old guy that keeps taking all the big fish he catches, other than that the population might have gotten a bit smaller but has held up good.  Check out YouTube "PA Woods and Water channel to get a good idea of the relative size of fish there. I hear that Joe Humphries was one of the few who wanted the section to stay the same and to continue stocking, strange coming from him? We shall see what the future brings for our beloved stream, just don't screw up the FFF area!
   A short note on where to buy stuff if you shop local and need tying materials it is hard to beat Jerry at Fly Tiers Heaven but if you need more, try "Fly Fish Food" or "Worley Bugger Fly Co." for mail order they are very fast, your order will be there from Utah or Washington. If you are looking for the very best materials on the market, then try Worley's selection of " Natures Spirit". Everything that I have ever gotten from Natures Sprit has been top quality. I first ran into them when I ordered material from Trout Hunter, never knowing that it had been packed for them from Spirit,I was in Helena and found a huge selection of their material in a big sporting goods store, it was just a quality selection but they did not do mail order nor does Spirit sell direct to consumers. If you need something give them Worley a try.

Meeting That Effects Penns Creek!

The PA Boat & Fish Commission has a meeting scheduled for Monday February 26, 2018 6:30-8:00 PM in the Mifflinburg Are High School- Cafeteria to discuss new regulations for Section 05 witch is the section just below the FFA near Cherry Run to the bridge at Weikert and hear public in put. They are looking to change the rules to either of following, Catch & Release (very unlikely), Class A Wild Trout (very unlikely), Slot limit or Delayed harvest (I am betting on a slot limit- just as the Coburn area has)! The boys at the Fish Commission have got to come up with novel ideas to save money by decreasing the stocking of trout,  wait till you hear the bitching and moaning at the meeting about not having trout for the grand kids to catch and the threats from some land owners to close off access if they do not get their way, in the end I an almost certain the Fish boys already have their mind made up, this is just another dog and pony show they seem to want to put on every time they need to save money. The could care less about the resource or the economic benefits that a strong catch and release or a totally wild trout stream has on the local and area economy. I still think that the idea Sherwin has is the best long term solution to the cost of raising trout, make the hatcheries private and just purchase the trout from them, thereby saving costs on health benefits and retirement coupled with no cost for general upkeep of the hatcheries. This ever changing of the rules for section of the stream has a adverse effect, no one reads the rule book or the signs posted on the trees or the people who just do not give a shit and do what they want. A case in point is the old guy that fishes the Coburn area and kills every big trout he catches (he uses minnows and is good at it) he will tell you that he will not get arrested because no one ever checks that section. This is a real problem on all the good trout water- no enforcement of the regulations takes place. I remember a few years ago I witnessed three guys taking fish on Spring Creek and I called the Regional office and it took "3" days for a call back and I was told next time try to get their license numbers-WTF- no have someone at least drive around and look rather that you guys patrolling in your boats on the lakes and rivers! We are going to see this kind more often than we care to think about just to save money, remember that they just has a hissey fit because they wanted to raise prices and were turned down, maybe they can do what the Game Commission has done, make a license for every species that you fish for!
  In any event it is a meeting you need to attend but you to sit on your hands and just take in the focus and scope of the event.

Noticed something interesting

I have my list of flies to replace or redo this winter and have noticed a trend that has happened over the years, everything that I tie has gotten sparser! Case in point is the Drunella (Cornuta) spinners that fall after the Drake's over, thru the years I have tied them thinner and the wings sparser, maybe at some time I will regret toning down the wings because of the loss of eyesight but not yet. My caddis emergers also have been getting thinner with less material not that I want to preserve material I just think that most of us have tied flies that are too robust. Most all my spinners now have some 2mm foam on top of the wings to help them float but if they float flush so much the better, years ago we saw trout swing up and reject spinners that seemed to float to high in the surface film, we would cut some material from the bottom of the wing and get them to float flush- boom a take! Even my nymphs have lost some weight thru the years as has their color, most now are med/dark tan in overall color to mimic the bottom of the stream bed, except for olives and stone flies, not to mention cress bugs and shrimp patterns. My cress bug are round but not fat, just pick out the dubbing when finished tying and trim excess fur from the bottom, my shrimp and sow bugs are tied with various colors with pink and orange being the go to colors. My cress bugs are brown/grey or in some streams that have a lot of underwater grass olive is the key.
  The oxy to the above is streamers- I like them big and black or light colors- mostly tandem tied, throw in a few "rainbow" like colors and that is that. Try some Hareline "Ripple Ice Fiber" for your streamers, not much is needed but boy do they look great in the water. If I could figure out how the hell to record fly tying I would post a new fly every week!
  Heads up I just tried some Duku hooks from Europe and they are just crap- soft- hell some of them bent in the vise!

They Just Keep Trying To Kill Our Resources

The Proposed Prebble Mine, subject of 20 years of controversy, 2.2 million public comments, a dozen Congressional hearings, multiple documentary films, media campaigns, ballot initiatives, lawsuits, and the most ubiquitous sticker in all of fishingdom, is back on the table. Seemingly the result of one 30 minute meeting between two men: EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and Prebble CEO Tom Collier.!!!!!!!!!
  The above is from an article in "The Drake magazine,Winter 2017 issue titled;Reignited, EPA moves to scrap Prebble Mine restrictions By Mark Menlove, read it and wonder what the hell is going on!

In the same issue is an article "Yellowstoned" Locals fight to protect Paradise Valley from mining By Jesse Robbins,  Can you imagine drilling on public lands adjacent to Yellowstone National Park, read this one and think what the hell is going on.
  I also read another article about the continued assult on Public land in Utah, these guys will not rest until every public land we hold dear has a oil or gas well on and guess what we will still pay $2.75 a gallon for gas at the pump. We are helpless in this fight.

Baby it's cold outside

Spent quite a few days in State College in the past weeks  watching the temp's carefully in the hopes of getting a Christmas or New Years trout but not with a high of 10 degrees most days and a strong wind, so I did the next best thing- took a daily ride along Spring Creek. Above Paradise along Rock Road the stream was clear with only minor shelf ice but in Paradise and up the walk in road it was just covered with ice and only a few open water pockets available, not till the outflow from the hatchery joined Spring just at the end of Paradise did the water become open and remained that way to Bellefonte. I assume that the canyon section must get really cold and battered by the wind but I also assume that just below the hatchery outflow of  Benner Springs the water would also be open. Any section that is open would be a good spot to just give it a chance this week, maybe Friday?
  Most of the time I have been cleaning fly lines and finally cleaning out fly boxes that I have not taken care of, when I'm fishing and need to replace a soaked fly I just toss it back in the box and tell myself that I'll pick it out and dry it when home- ok I do dry them with the box open on my desk but most of the time never take the time to fluff them back up- so that is what I am doing now plus taking inventory. Most of the time I have more than enough flies but I never seem to have enough of the #16 tan caddis CDC bubble back caddis dries that I need, note to self you dumb ass tie more!!!
  I have a new pattern that I have been messing with for a few years and here it is, tan caddis;
#14-16 Tiemco #921
Body; tan Aust. Opp.
Wing; tan CDC under wing & Med dark deer hair on top, with the head clipped
Legs; poly tied spent winged style on the top of the hook then clipped short to just come out past the clipped deer hair head
  Using this has given me a fly that lands just about perfect every time and floats higher on the surface. The best poly is a clear or slightly darker off shade, do not use much and don't tie it in on a bare hook (it moves) when done with the head clipping just turn the fly over and hit it with a bit of glue. I am tying it in both tan and a sotty darker olive for the Grannom.
  Happy tying!