Call Noah

Gees just when the levels were getting manageable this shit started again, I had 1.9" of rain Sunday and most all the Central PA. area had about the same! If this keeps up like last year our trout will be huge when we can get to the water, they feed very well in high water. Even if you decide to toss some really heavy streamers it will be very hard to get them down deep enough. How about trying some of our smaller streams around, Weikert Run, Laurel Run or maybe White Deer may be good choices if you just need to wet a line, just remember to downsize your rod length. The same nymphs and streamers will work well on them but maybe a bit smaller, the choice for dries is pretty simple- think Adams.
  I have more flies than any one person can ever think to use in their life time, now I'm going back and looking at all my boxes and giving them the once over to see if I can improve any of them. I did find that my selection of caddis emergers was a bit thin given the sheer length of time we see our tan caddis emerge. The organza ribbon caddis emeger tied like Davie McPhail is just a killer pattern and fishing it suspended off a Blue Ribbon tan Iris dry is just killer about the time our local raspberries are rip to pick!
  Another option is to find a good pond and practice casting with a long leader and some weighted wet flies for Sunfish, they just god wild for them or us some bait. I take my granddaughter to the pond at Tussey Mt. Ski area and we just have a ball catching Sunfish but we use wax worms and Eagle Claw Circle Bait hooks, these work well for younger people because the fish hook themselves- only make sure you have good hemostats because they do hook and hold well. Sometimes when we are there the larger bass begin to get active and try to eat the fish she has on her line while she is reeling them in this makes for total chaos. Give this type of fishing a try, it will help calm the itch you have!

Everything will pop at once!

If you look at what is happening on Penn's, Fishing Creek and Spring it appears that all the major May hatches will pop at about the same time due in part because of the water temp. We will have Grey Fox, March Brown's, Tan Caddis and Sulphur's all at once- boy it will be tough to tell what they are eating. For my money I'll take the Grey Fox (fished off the banks mid pool to tail out) and the tan caddis (Blue Ribbon's Iris Caddis pattern is the best every). The tan caddis is a long a wonderful hatch lasting till Trico time and beyond, emergers in the AM and adults most of the day.
  Sulphur's on Penn's and Spring can be just wonderful but it presents a hard puzzle to solve as to what stage the trout are eating on any given day, just slow down and watch before you blast that cast. After that sprinkle in some Crane Flies and a lot of spinners and no wonder all the fish look like little pigs when you land them in May. Beware the Drake fever might be higher than normal this year due to more water under special reg's (this tends to bring more people to an area), I for one hate that hatch because of the nuts it brings and what it does to the fish when guys rip them and then let them go, we see more dead fish after that hatch than any other time of the year.
  I just finished an order for intruder trout flies and can attest to the fact that OPST trailer hooks have to be the sharpest hooks on the market, drove one in my thumb and had to push it out the other side and pinch the barb down before backing it out, the hooks can either be up or down and when up they get in your way till you put a hair clip over it!
  I see the next "7" days are to be cloudy with showers- any more perfect on could not want- just go!