Saw One

Over the weekend I was in State College and of course fished Friday & Saturday but not Sunday in 40 mph winds. On Friday afternoon I found a small pod of fish rising in a slow riffle, took 3 of them but they were all small ( 5" - 8"), all browns, I got out of the water and looked down steam in the wide flat below and saw them, large fish pushing a good amount of water when they took the olives- wow dam how can I get to them? There is no way to get close to them, very deep and a steep bank and no way to get to them. Can't get below them the steep bank covered in snow and the wading up stream is extremely deep, I can do it if the water is in late summer levels! Yes they were on olives and eating them well but it is a watch and see exercise. One of the hardest things to do at this time is find a parking space, even the parking areas are not clear, the large one at "The Rock" was fine but aside from Paradise no parking was to be found. On both days the fish took olives well but you again would have to find them and not assume they would be where you wanted to fish. Paradise was a good bet for small nymphs but no rising fish were seen. I checked below Bellefonte but with the spring dumping a ton of water into Spring and chance to fish below town was out!
   Let's just hope and keep an good eye on the stream levels and make sure that Axeman is about 110 cfs or below to get a good fish. But go if you can, be watchful the spin and bait guys are out in full force! 

Maybe now?

It's Feb 19th and dam it might be time to hit the water to find some good Olive activity this weekend but first we need to get thru yet another snow/rain event! Given that the weekend is to be in the mid forties and cloudy it is looking very good. Also on the menu will be little black stoneflies but they are best fished as a small black pheasant tail under a indicator or perhaps a small olive emerger. Midges are also ever present at this time of year and the two best patterns are; Griffit's Gnat or a spent winged (no tail needed) #24/26 black or dark grey body and clear wing works best, be careful because the fish can switch from Olives to Midges and back again so be ready. Do not disparage if it seems as if the rising activity has stopped just wait and it will resume again shortly, for some reason the Olives seem to come in waves.
   A quick up date on the Intruder swing flies, everything is going well after getting all the materials needed plus understanding that the makeup of the flies is not bulk but layered to look like bulk but with a ton of under water motion. I will try and get a few pictures of them to post this weekend. I'll be on Spring Creek this entire weekend and tying all night while dog sitting in State College!

Into Swinging!

No not that kind, no wife swapping! I mean the West Coast steelhead/trout new streamer type fly swinging. I have always heard a lot about the West Coast guys coming to the Missouri River and using this technique and flies with great success but really never gave it much thought until a year ago. I loved to streamer fish but hated the idea of so many missed strikes and the big problem of getting the fly to the correct depth while at the same time moving to different and varied locations in the stream. I began to YouTube the subject and was surprised to see just how complex the flies were then but in the last year the "intruder" style flies have become much easier to understand and tie. Make no mistake getting everything to tie these guys is a bitch, shanks, trailer hooks, good materials like Artic Fox and trailer tube material, OK got it all BUT wait now you need a method to hold the shanks (either straight or Waddington) of course my Dyna King can't hold the straight shanks- OK get a new add on and now I'm all set. Why do I like these guys, well they are fun to tie (except for getting stuck by the trailer hook while tying) plus the fact you can vary the weight just by using different hour glass eyes (brass or lead), materials are pretty simple and they are just dam fun to do. OPST has a good variety of flies to look at and materials to buy, but if you want to see more just look up "Aqua Flies" they have a great selection of flies to look at plus YouTube "Intruder flies" and wow there they are a ton to watch they tie.
  I use mostly Artic Fox, marabou, ice chenille, mallard dyed and a ton of dyed rabbit strips, that's about it.
  Fishing these flies is a very easy and slow process, cast quarter down stream and hold the line in your rod holding hand and follow it thru the entire drift till the end and at this point give your rod a few gentle pull backs, this helps to stimulate a fish that has followed your fly into taking. You can vary the speed but just adjusting your entry into the water or mending downstream to slow the drift. With this style your not going to get many if any short strikes. Your wading will be minimal and this gives you a good chance to get some of the bigger fish that seem to hide in the mid pool or close to the far bank, if you use a longer rod you can use a two handed snap tee cast or for that matter you can do it with a single handed rod also, so your casting never gets to be a pain nor do you have to watch what is behind you. Given the slow method you will be surprised at how hard the takes will be and the different size fish that you'll get. Give them a try and you might become interested in swinging!