Report on Penn's

First I do not understand why everyone is so focused on the C&R section pf Penn's. the parking lot was full and 1 car at Cherry Run but no cars at Little Mtn, AFREO, or log cabin or for that matter at Herndon Rod & Gun Club? There is lenty of water to fish and with the new regulations you'll have more than eought larger fish to keep you busy below the C&R section. Monday was one of those days when it was better to stay in bed than fight the cold and sun, sparse Gray Fox and March Brown activity was found. The best action was on nymphs and wets, the Europen March Brown wet worked very well. Not much going on in the evening so went home but I would kill to be there today (Thursday), cloudy overcast and a bit of drizzle would make for a great day. Tying a lot of patterns that have weight and partridge hackle at the collar, Guides Choice is what they call it but I don't use peacock instead I prefer to use some of the new syn. paecock blends, they make for a far more durable fly. I did break into some of my older Mustad hooks (9671 & 9672) and I find that the eyes on them seem to be at a odd angle compared to the new hooks, they work well but just seem unhandy. I guess progress makes you find old stand bys somehow different. There is nothing wrong with using older hooks or materials, crap cost a lot now. A BIG NOTE; don't believe the hype about the 17 year cicada's they are not coming to upper Penn's, Big Fishing Creek, Spring Creek or Bald Eagle ti 2025, Grey Hoover confirmed this in s TU zoom meeting this winter. I checked with my Dr. to see when I had finger surgery, during the last cicada emergence I got my finger infected when I cleaned my gold fish pond out with an open cut on my finger, it hurt like hell but I still went to catch all those CARP, hell we gave up on the trout so we could land all the really larger carp. If your looking for cicada fishing look South or maybe a little East of here, remember the ground has to warm up before they emerge. I have seen a ton of cicada patterns on YouTube this past few months, easy ties just foam and dubbing with poly wings, think about making your flies do the plop and give them a little movement but wait till the fish get them in the mouths, if your too quick on the set you'll not hook up.

Grey Fox and March Brown's are on the stream

If your not looking , a little heads up, the Grey Fox and March Brown annual emergence has begun. This is a wonderful time of the year, still dealing with cold water and it takes a bit of time for the larger insects to come off the water. Look for both of them to emerge in the softer water below the riffles and on the edges are the favorite areas for the fish to take them. If your seeing splashy rises leave them alone and target the quiet sipper guys instead. Penn's has a great population of both of them so carry pattersn from #10 2x L to 14 2 xL in wets, emergers and dry's. I never get to excited about the spinners because it's like they appear and then dissaper before ever coming down. I have a new March Brown wet the was develpoed in Europe, it has a brass bead just behind the partridge hackle, it should make for a really good pattern. The fishing on Fishing Creek has been wonderful these past few weeks, you have to hunt to find the rising fish but they are there, nymphs work best there BUT you need to get them down fast and keep them down. I am using a new euorpean nymph line that looks like a shooting line of years ago, casts ok but it has no drag on the drif, like you see Joe Humphries using in some of his YouTube videos, catch it quick because he says very little about it. I see more and more guys out there using these types of lines- they are deadly. I was never a fan of weighted flies until the past few years, it helps to get down and keep your flies in front of the trout, I use a lot of flat lead from Europe and it helps build bodies on the flies. I'll post a report on Penn's Tuesday.

Tying Game Changers & Spring 2021

Have been tying game changers for a few days and to say they are easy is a plus BUT it's the darn material that is very hard to first understand then find a place that has it all. You will need the following to start: Thread- Black or White Danville's 140 denier flymaster plus+ Body- Fish Skull Articulated Fish Spines in the following 1-FS-AS-FSTS Tail Shank 1-FS-AS-FS 10 mm Spine 1-FS-AS-FS 15 mm Spine 1-FS-AS-FS 20 mm Spine The above is for normal trout size you could add a 25 mm Spine for a larger size to use in the fall Tail is a combo of marabou and any flash material, and body wrap Body wrap- Just Add Water Streamer Brush in 1/2", 3/4" and 1", this is from Just Add Water H2O, S. Africa. The Caddis Fly Shop in OR has all you will need. OR any good old hen saddle will make great bodies, just keep the feathers getting larger as you tie up the larger shanks. Hooks- Gamakatsu B10S #4 or #2 for the larger ones Eyes to get down - brass or lead double puple eyes tied on the botton of the B10S Head- Senyo's Laser Dub to match body or add a contrast. The tying is pretty easy just watch a video to understand how to insert the tail shank to get started, you will go thru material so make sure you get enough. Fish Skull offers a starter kit (of shanks and tail section only) and I suggest that's what you start with till you decide that you want to really get creative. Make sure you have a good bobbin that does not fray the thread as one of my new ones did! I bought a few new bobbins to load thread for larger flies so I didn't have to change thread often, well both of the new ones are sharp on the tips thereby rendering them crap. Becareful when wraping the brush material on, keep it at a 90 degree angle to the hook and you'll get a full look if not you'll end up with a section that is not full and the proper size. These are to get lager in size as you work your way up the shanks. Well for a time it looked as if we would get a low or normal water year this spring till Saturday and Sunday as we had 1" each day/night and Penn's is now over 2k cfs! It was a nice Spring with Grannoms and a few Hendirckson just coming off on Fishing Creek, Grannom's were also on Spring Creek as Penn's was getting into it as well. Well you'll just have to wait a bit longer to get back to it.