Happy Holidays

As December comes to a close and Santa is only a few days away, who is thinking of trout, we all are! Last night we had heavy rain and the streams are up again, not fishable till maybe mid week if your lucky! On Thursday I saw the first Little Black Stonefly of the season and if I saw it you can be sure the trout have seen them, a #16/18 black pheasant tail would be a great choice the next time you go. Given the fact that this year has to be one of the wettest on record, the trout should grow big and fat without the normal pressure given to them, maybe Spring Creek has had the most pressure but there are still sections that receive little attention. Streams like Penns, Big Fishing Creek (blown out most of the year) and Bald Eagle have had a break from the steady pounding of late summer and fall. It looks as if this year will be a great young of the year hatch and the amount of bank cover and wood in our streams will help keep the predation of the fry down, our hope is that we will see a few really small guys next spring waiting to eat our flies. Lots of new products on the market that I really need to try, more as I use them. I'm still working on the Simms aluminun studs, can't get in the water to test them yet.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

What Customer Service Really Is!

A couple of months ago I wrote about Simms new "Stream Tread" soles, well I have to amend what I said and expand a bit. I have tried the new soles and have found them to be great walking shoes and have had good results with them in Spring Creek, I had a bit of problem with them in Penns but did add the "Hardbite Star Cleats". I have had no problems in Spring & Penns Creeks but when I tried to wade in Bald Eagle it was like walking on ice, I have no grip and could not stop sliding, I had no idea what the heck was wrong. Given the fact that I do not walk that much in Penns, expecialy in faster water, mostly targeting rising fish in the pools and tail outs, given up on the fast water nymphing at my age. With Spring Creek the pace is slower and more to the point of moving from location to location, standing in a pool and targeting specific fish before I move on. Bald Eagle creek on the other hand demands movement from you to target fish, they are in very specific loactions and some of the water is very pushy and not that hard to move around in but with the new wading shoes on- not so much. I have trouble moving in water than was no more than knee deep! It may be beacuse some of the bottom does not have total coverage with alge on the rocks? Well being a Simms guide I sent them an e mail and asked what was going on, after some specific questions on the water depth, flow rate and bottom structure they asked if I would try som "AlumBite" cleats- now that's service not just a blow off but a serious desire to help. When was the last time any company helped you. I have worn Simms gear for years and will forever, everything they make just plane works, if it doesn't they will make it right! I'll give you an update on the new "AlumBite" cleats as soon as the dam water goes down enough to wade but I'm thinking maybe the soft aluminum might make the difference?

Blown Out Yet Again

I guess it is only fitting to have all our streams blown out yet again, Penns is at 3480 CFS as of 11:30 AM today and Spring Creek is at 420 CFS not at all what we needed to spend Black Friday in peace and quiet! I'm not really sure that even Spring will come down enough to fish on Sunday and Penns is out for the near term future. I'm not a fan of fishing durning deer season having gone thru two experiences in the past, one on Fishing Creek and the other on Spring Creek, not something I want again. We are coming up on that time of year when the trout seem to get in a funk and just are off, this is usualy the month of Dec and the better part of Jan, they then tend to pick the pace up in Feb. In no way do I mean they are all off the feed just that some of them seem not interested. I wish we would have the same old midge fishing we had years ago in the "Sipping Pool" on Fishing Creek, those guys would work all winter long but that is long gone. When the water comes down be on the hunt for the midges of winter and enjoy the sipping. A few years ago we fished during a midge hatch using very small brassies on greased leaders, watching the leaders move and setting the hook with a slip strike when it moved, a wonderful experience but make sure the light is in your favor.  Happy Thanksgiving.
Dream of a Trout

Olives, steady as she goes

Olives & more olives, they keep on going just like the Bunny, if the sun shines or not it's game on. About 10:30 to 11:00 AM they begin and will go strong till 3-3:30 PM the size 20 duns are on. This dun is a typical\ olive that has a small body to wing ratio, a 20 thin dark olive body with very large 16/18 wings that are  dark dun, either fish a parachute or an emerger for the best result. Make sure that you look at every riseform to determine the exact choice the fish are eating, do not assume that your float was not correct or on time- look and determine what stage they are eating. It would also be a good time to add a dropper about 3-4" below the main fly, a #20 pheasant tail would be a great choice. The fish in Spring Creek don't seem to mind the droppes as much as the Penns Creek browns do. If the temps stay about the same this should go on for the rest of the month and in to Dec. One word of caution if you fish the first week of deer season- for heavens sake wear some very bright colors, our wading gear is very close to a deer's natural color!
Tight lines.

Spawn is Over

Fished Saturday Nov. 12, most all the redds are empty now, did see a few pairs but it's over for this year. In most years we are waiting for our normal late fall flush of leaves but it apperas that it happened early with the high water and along with the colder water temps the mating occured earlier than normal, yes it is the early part of Nov. but in most years around Thanksgiving is the time frame to see big numbers. I hope that the 2/3 week jump will result in a large number of fry for our streams.
  Not to fear the trout have really keyed on Midges & Olives, walking the banks of Spring Creek you will see clouds of Midges hatching and flying around the shore cover. About 11:00 AM the #20 Olives start and true to their form come in waves, believe me the trout know them very well. This Olive is not like the ones that you'll see on Penns this one does not care if the sun is out, they hatch! This occurance is likley to go on as long as the water & air temps stay about where they are now, if they both go down, it's Midge time. You will have to check out a lot of water to find the areas that hold both the Olive and Midge eaters, this does not happen the entire stream lenght.
  Looks as if Penns just might be in shape to fish Midges this weekend, a wonderful time to fish them- the water clears up and makes it a bit eaier to wade (at least you can see), the takes are very slow and you will have the opportunity to land some very nice fish. Again this does not happen on every part of Penns- you'll need to put the time in and find the holes, a very slow approach using caution to not wake them will be your reward if you use a #22 Griffiths Gnat or any of your patterns but keep them dark!
 

The Spawn is On

Tried to fish Bald Eagle on Saturday Nov. 5th with no sucess, the water is still really up and the push is just to much to handle, it needs another good week to get into shape. Normaly the Eagle comes up and goes down the same as most freestone streams but not this fall. Spring is still up a bit maybe 20/30 cfs but thats not eought to hurt the Eagle. Just could not get a good grip on the bottom and the pressure was just to great to wade to spots where we know fish are.
  Ate lunch and went to Spring Creek to look at the overall population of spawing fish, they are there in wonderful numbers, maybe not quite at full spawn yet but close. It is a wonder where the heck some of those fish hid thru the year. Some of the hens are quite impressive just to see the size of them, the males are not of the same size but it is wonderful to see how they pair up in regards to size. At one spot there was no less than 20 redds in a small area of maybe 30-40 yards, quite impressive. No wonder Spring seems to have a great population of smaller browns, sure beats dumping hatchery fish into our streams.
  Sunday found my wife and I walking the dogs from the FFF parking lot upstream to the Fish Commission cabin, water still high and not a thing rising. Our kids ran around and of course swam in the pool, walked back and took them to Johnson's to rinse the dirt off, the air was filled with midges, small tan caddis and olives but no risers, water level is just to high for that but in normal years Nov. is midge time on Penns, the water clears and the wading is easy as the trout rsise all day long if the sun is shining.
  If we have a good drying week we should have great levels to deal with, it's great to see most of the guys hunting and not along the streams.

Got Wood?

Fished this weekend and after the high water we have experienced over the past few months I was really anxious to see the end results of the flooding. Some sections seem to have had the muck and mud washed out of the main stream bed, there is more gravel and sand in these areas and the large gravel areas look as if they have been washed and cleaned resulting in a much better spawing substrate for the trout to take advantage of. The one result of the high water is the fact that wood is everwhere along the shores, this is one of the single greatest factors of juvenile trout recrutment over the winter, according to the studies by The Henry's Fork Foundation, wood along the shores of a stream offers the best possible safe haven for just hatched fry. The wood was everywhere and some of the old wood was still in the normal places, the adult trout are using the new wood for cover and feeding opportunities.
  The best combo was a size #18 tan caddis emerger and a copper john two rig nymph sets up. During the afternoon the trout looked up and stayed up all afernoon, a great approach and a good drift resulted in many landed fish, ants were the order of the day. Most all the fish were eating midges but at this time of year they seem to eat an ant if it comes by, never had to put a midge on. All morning the midges and caddis were everywhere but we watied till afternoon the look for rising fish. Left very happy because caught some nice fish and there was no one around!