Trico's 2013

Decided to fish Trico's on Wed July 24th, arrived at 7:55 AM and the weather was cold and windy (did not realize just how strong the wind was), fished just above the old McCoys dam site below Bellefonte and they were there not strong but the fish were on them. Due to the heavy wind you had to look and target each fish, no more that 3' off the banks, the water was still up from the recent rains but it did have good color, temp. was 57 but wind dictated how to fish. Short accurate casts and not long floats over the fish, if it was past them get it off the water and back above them, nice fat healthy fish from 6" to 14" and a mix of rainbows and browns, did have a larger one on but with a 2 wt and 6.5X tippet material and the fast water there was no hope in landing it. Could not find any other fish rising after the spinner fall was over and with two 2 wts. in my trunk not much for an option, ok go to Penns and fish tan caddis. Arrived at the juction pool in Coburn and found the water to be a bit off color but the temp was 59.7 and that's really good. Targeted most of the water that was coming down from Elk & Pine and took fish on a #16 Tan CDC caddis dry, used Locha and I must say it did work well on the CDC. I sould have taken a 3wt along just in case I wanted to fish nymphs but I'll take dry fly fishing any time of the year.
  Did not see another fisherman and any time of the day or on either creek, hint it's your time to enjoy it.
Have a report that the "White Fly" is on below the Fiber Dam at Sunbury and that the bass are on them, will go down and give them a try from shore, it's just a bit high to wade out to the island.
  Took a trip to the Dam at Sunbury and watched the White Flies hatch, it is just wonderful to see them land on you and dthe dogs and in a matter of seconds they molt into spinners and are off with their trailing shucks in tow. With the recent rain fall in New York State the river is up at least 2/3" and I only saw 1 fish rise all night, give it at least a week. Remember that the White Fly is good for at least 3 weeks and it is mostly within the first 30 yards from shore, either the East or West shore is fine, West is clear and East has color.
  Just go down and watch and get covered with them, but if your not a fan of insects all over you don't go!

Bass Fishing with Tom Rall

Tom called and asked if I wanted to go bass fishing with him, have not done it for 15 years but I said OK. Showed up at Tom's at the appointed hour and we were off to Faylor Lake, no we ended up at Walker Lake? Before the trip I checked my bass tackle and found that I had "1" popper and a few streamers but what the heck I don't do it much so I figured I had enought, after I saw what Tom had we had enought to last us years, OK tackle was good. Tom's daughter Liz was with us, maybe to keep us from getting into trouble but she was a great help. We arrived at the lake and all hands started to get the boat ready to launch, looks a bit strange to have a Florida flats boat in an electric only PA lake but what the heck it's better than fishing from shore, boat launched and Tom back in- OH Wait the electric motor will not work!! Tom fussed with it for over an hour and we did get about 40 yards off shore but barley made it back, two batteries and two motor mounts later we figured it was a defective plug and packed up and returned home. For those of you who know Tom this is just something that hapens when your with him, kind of like the time he got beer and when it was time to drink a few we found out that he did not put it in the cooler.

  Attached ia a  video to show some action or not, packing up to come home.

Fair and Balanced Reporting?

I want to comment on a post that a fly shop owner put up the other day, he blamed the off color of Penns on a bridge repair in Coburn and railed about not fishing Penns in the FFF but wanted people to fish the lower water for small bass? Well the bridge has nothing to do with the off color, it's just a fact that the Penns Creek watershed has received a ton of rain over the last few weeks, just look at Spring and Bald Eagle Creek guages, coupled with the fact that upper Penns has a ton of farm fields that drain into it. This guy will say anything to discourage you from fishing Penns in the Coburn area, aside from the floaters this water stays cold due to the infulence of Elk & Pine Creeks but be mineful of the temps and if it 65+ do not fish.
  Have not seen any Trico's on Spring yet but any day they will make the annual apperance but you never know how strong they will be. The last few years they have been a bust, the emergence lasting about an hour, years a go they were strong and lasted all moring. You really need to be there in the first few weeks to see the trout chow down on them after that they get really picky, just saying make your first cast count you may not get another.
  New product that I just received and am in love with, maybe I might not loose it. Loon Outdoors- Lochsa gel floatant for all your flies including CDC. Wow a product that helps to rid of us bottles of different floatant, yes it really works on CDC and noncdc flies. It's about time someone did something about helping to get the dam CDC flies back up and working after you catch a fish, I just tied more flies and changed them when I took a few fish on the flies because you could never get them back in shape.I still use Loon Royal Gel for my spinners because it gives them a shimmer look and that helps them look more like the naturals. I still use an old tub of paste floatant the I got from Blue Ribbon because it works well on old poly, I'll test the Lochsa on them the next time I fish Iso emergers and report back but now it's Trico and beetle time. Oh you can get Lochsa at TCO in State College, at $9.50 not cheap but very effective.

Do not fish Penns FFF area

At this time of the year it is best not to fish Penns from Poe Paddy downstream it's just to darn hot plus the fact you'll catch chubs and smallmouths at best. The best water is from Coburn to below Ingleby because of the influx of cold water from Elk & Pine Creeks. OK all you Penns Creek snobs maybe it might be time to branch out and try Big Fishing Creek or Spring Creek for a cool change. I fished Coburn and found small olive spinners on the water at 8:00 AM, they reminded me of the damm spinner on Big Fishing Creek you see all the time but it never seems to fall on the water- the name escapes me now! Of course I only had Drunella emergers and spinners, they were to big but did find a few that I could cut down and it worked well, nice fish not large but fat and happy.
  At about 11:00 AM started to see tan caddis emerging so I tied on "2" organza caddis emergers and started to take fish on them, 1 larger tungsten and a smaller glass beaded one below it, the fish did not seem to care.  The flies are an off shoot of a Davie McPhail caddis emerger. All action over by 1:00 PM, tried beetles BUT not even a look!? Did not stay for the Drunella spinner fall, just too many hours to bake in the shade. Dam it cooled off and might have been great but just could not nap!
  I'll be on Fishing Creek this Thursday and post something from it. Did take some lessons on the GoPro and have it down pat until I spaz out on another good fish- Think Trico's  July is the month they start not on Penns- just another reson to move on and fish some place new.

Spring & Penns Creek Updates

 Last week Spring Creek in the morning fished very well with #18 scuds and  #14 Walt's Worms, these are some of the best food sources for the trout. The trout at the old McCoy's Dam site were hanging around the banks and a dry dropped did the trick as did a scud in light pink with a red spot in the body (the rainbows love this thing). Water temp and levels are good for this time of the year but we still need rain badly. All morning  long I saw a good number of #16/18 Lt. Tan Caddis emerge and the fish keyed on them, remember this will be a great key to taking fish all summer and early fall- even on Penns.
  Penns on Sunday night in a not so great spot (GP's spot was taken by a guide and 2 clients), looked for Drunella spinners but not in good numbers to get all the fish up, here is the run down;
Larger light sulphurs #14
Potamantus (sp) emergers and duns #12/14 the fish chased the nymphs to the surface
Larger Yellow Stonefly adults crashing the riffles.
Drunella Spinners #16 (they look like a 14 but look at the kink in their body to determine length)
Slate Drakes #12/14 , the key to them is fishing nymphs in every area including backwater's.
  We found fish in areas where guys would just walk over, look before you fish, there could be one at your feet. Same pattern will persist for weeks, be perpared for a smaller Baetis to make and apperance near the 4th of July!

Post Green Drake

Well it's over for another year (maybe still on Fishing Creek?) good bye now the fish can get some rest from the crowds. I had clients out Friday and when we arrived at Coburn in the morning there were a ton of fish up and taking Green Drake Duns, Coffin Fly Spinners and a few larger light Sulphurs! The action lasted till about 10:30 with the Sulphur the main attraction after the Drakes stopped, maybe something to remember next year- avoid the evening crowds and fish in the morning. One lesson to learn from this is at this time of year never forget the larger Sulphur, the fish seem to key on them and like the Gray Foxes they hatch all day long, carry lots of loop winged emergers. Forget that dam mustard colored one that is just a tease and it's the one we see the best and think that's what the fish are taking, not so much.
  Have been seeing a lot of action on Tan Caddis on Spring Creek, this will be a main stay all Summer & Fall, don't forget to pack them. Soon time for the raspberries to ripen and that's beetle time, a #12 black foam guy will do the trick for you.
  Yes the Summer Olives will start any day "Drunella" or the old Cornuta is a great all day emerger fish, target the pools and tail outs for the sippers and wait for the great spinner falls every night 6:30 to 8:30 PM, not every pool has them, you'll have to find them. Remember fish the tail outs for the spinners not the riffles!

Year is Complete but still will fish

Fished last night after a blistering hot day, about 6:00 PM a few fish started to work nothing great but some to keep you busy. I got myself into position across and up from the overhanging tree on the far bank and waited. One fish started to work on the bottom of the small indentation just out from under the tree after 6 good floats he took it, from the start I could see it was big, fumbled around and turned the video camera on (I pushed the button twice and got 3 seconds of video) it was a great fight and when I got him in my hand I could see it was not your typical Penns brown- a true measured 21"+ fish!!! What a relief to finaly get the bugger, sat down to catch my breath then waded back out to try for the top fish, which looks a bit larger. He started to work at the junction of the current and the back water, got at least 3 good presentations to him and of course when he took I was just too fast- nerves! I had the right combination to make the cast, Winston BIIX 8'6" #4 rod and a SA XPS WF4F Grey line with a TroutHunter 10' 5X leader and 18" of Rio 6X tippet attached to a #16 Parachute light Sulphur, using the XPS line gave me the distance that I needed to get to the far bank, something that has not happened while I was using SA Sharkskin lines (they tend to overload the rod at the wrong time). This is not a bullshit story just a fact that I was so dam excited that I screwed the camera up and will have the memory in my mind and the fact that the fish was measured! I need help with the camera operation-HELP.
  Oh heck the only real hatch was a light Invara or Rotunda larger sulphur nothing to write home about. At about 7:30 the sky looked very dark and the wind sounded like a train- time to get out an to the car- call it a night!
  Oh forgot to tell you how to measure a fish, yea Mike it can be done fast.
1. Carry a measure net, just net the fish and add up the total from both side of the net bottom, works well but I do not carry a net just got tired of having the dam thing hit me on the back of the head after it hung up on tree branches. Don't need another item to carry, I'd like to tone it all down, that's why I like Trico's and Terrestrial fishing- you need miminal items.
2. If you have a custom rod built have the maker put trim bands on the rod, above the hook keeper that way you can measure from the butt of the rod up to the marks.
3. Carry what I do, a small plastic bread wrapper tie and measure the fish from the rod butt up and attach the bread tie to the rod, release the fish then measure where the plastic tie is, easy and fast. I'm not big on screwing up a standard fly rod putting tape on it, takes away from the beauty of the finished product.