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