OMG go look at the river below the dam in Sunbury

We took the dog for a walk below the Fibra Dam at the South end of Sunbury and it is just hard to believe just how low the river is, never in my adult years have I seen it this bad, there were 18 white cranes and a larger one just eating minnows. Also there were at least 50 of the red head mergansers just going nuts chasing and eating minnows just off the boat launch area. If there was any smallmouth spawing this year I will bet most of the fry are gone by now. Jesus we need rain and not just a little but a lot. I am holding off fishing this week in order to do some fly rod and line cleaning, yes I do also clean my rods not the grips but just the rod shafts while also giving them a good lokk to see if I might have hit them with a stupid back cast. Oh by the way PLEASE go to the Fiberglass Manifesto blog and look at the 12 Prebble Mine tapes- those ass holes will not let this die and it is all based on LIES! So far Trump has not killed it either, so we have to keep fighing to get rid of this stupid gold mine! If we do get some rain get out after with flying ants and a lot of olives because it will be really good.

Get creative

It's time to get creative, not much going on on top so try swinging a big wet or an intruder (light on light days and a dark one on cloudy days), don't get too big yet about 3" is just right. The other day all I could get any fish to take was a 3" light tan intruder, BUT make sure you get them down and not high in water column. and keep them in the full swing. It's also time to target midge feeders on top, Penn's clears up really nice in late Sept and Oct, so clear that it's really easy to wade. The trout are on midges at this time and there are not a lot of them feeding but the ones that are tend to be good ones- this is really slow techinacle fishing with 6-7x tippet and careful wading in order to not wake them. Try it, only the very large pools tend to have this action, Stan's pllo has a good amount of them BUT make sure the water is cool and not in the 70's.

Trico time has gone

Sad to report that the Trico's are about done, maybe a few stragglers might show if the weather keeps warm but the rise is short and sweet. Still taking fish on beetles but it's a chore to find water that has not been fished over. I would expect to see ants after Friday, it is to be very nice they love that weather pattern. Now is the time to get you BWO boxes ready, cloudy days in the mid afternoon will bring them out in force. Remember that the BWO's come off in waves, they come then stop then come again. Yu my have to look for a spot that holds them because not every area has a good population of them. Carry #16 thru #20's I would also carry some 3" shiner streamer patterns to tease some ot the more aggresive fish with. Beat Covid 19- go fish!

Another Year Without Them

Yet another sign that something is just not right with the Susquehanna River, there were no clouds of White flies again. Years ago there were clouds of them and on the bridges that crossed the river on the first sections of them there were just piles of them on the burm and on the road but not the last few years. We fished to them below the Fibra Dam in Sunbury and it has just not happened at all, we noticed maybe 5-7 years ago that the amount and duration of the hatch and spinner fall was just getting smaller then- poof! I sure would love to know what has happened to them, be it water quality or someother factor, any ideas? You could count on the smallmouths being up and eating during that hatch but now all is quiet!?

Do Not Leave Home Without These!!

I forgot to say anything about the Fall flying ants, do not forget them for the next few weeks, if you do GO HOME for the fish will make a fool out of you. Have both black and cinn. ants with wings either upright or spent winged in sizes #16 thru #22 both colors and have a few #16-#18 black front and dark maghoney rears also. The swarm takes place in good weather that is usually just after pretty crappy weather but in this year we could see it just about any time. Makes sure your sticking you nose close to the waters surface. I saw a hell of a fish the other day while I was in the car looking but it would not even bother with a beetle BUT as soon as I got back into the car he came out and took something off the surface with a really nice wake, this boy moves water when he eats- mark him for another day!

Beetle time again

Yes it was beetle time again yesteday, some of the takes were on the suttle side but make no mistake this year has been the very best beetle fishing I have had in many years. If your going forget the middle of the stream and concentrate on the banks and even the shallow riffles. I have noticed that on the section that I fished on Tuesday, I have NOT taken a fish off the heavy wooded bank, go figure? A #12-14 black beetle with new Hends spectra dubbing underbody and 4 metalic blue legs with a bright pink post on top does the trick. After many fish and some of them bigger than normal my beetle was really beat up, time to strip the hook and just tie another. I wanted to do a scud morning on a section that I have not fished for at least 25 years but when I looked at it there were two very large trees downed in the best section of the area, oh well just wait for high water to take it. a #16-18 dark tan/grey scud will do the trick in this section. Time to get ready for the large Oct. caddis and another round of smaller Iso's if we get some water in Penn's. This year has been not so great with the tan caddis for some reason? Had one good morning on Bald Eagle using a tan bubble back caddis then have not seen many of them or maybe I have not paid that much attention to them all the while concentrating of Trico's and beetles!? Still tying flies every night, now tying the shit that I might not be able to tie ina couple of years. I tend to tied a ton of one pattern in a few sizes thereby not having to tie them every year, this is only viable if your pattern is proven and has not changed much over the years. Go fish and enjoy the Fall because the hunters will be out soon.