We need rain

Wow do we need a good shot of rain, it's very low and clear to fish streamer's effectively unless your out very early or late in the day. Our days have been filled with too much sun for the BWO's to really be effective, some #20 dark tan caddis hanging around the stream edges, October caddis out but not in mass some Paralep's are found around Coburn but you never know when they will fall. Yes we have had a few great days of flying ants but you have to be in the perfect spot to take advantage of their flights ( they are normally found a good sunny day after a period of cloudy wet weather) and a few good days of just fishing a #16 black foam ant in the surface film or a #16 wet black ant under a dry have been a good bet but we need water. I have seen a few browns getting ready to spawn but there is just not enough water for them to get started, plus the water temps are not in the zone yet, will be have any early spawn we will if we don't get a good amount of water before the end of the month, so do your little rain dance and let the streams rise to give our fish some room.
  One saving daily event has been a great midge hatch on a few specific holes on Penns, Johnson's and Stan's Bridge pool are two of the best but you have to be spot on casting and slip striking with a side motion to keep the fish from running around the pool and putting all the others down, a #24 black or cream down wing midge patter is all you need.
  Another bet is Spring Creek for the same midge hatch but if your there and a few clouds do come in look for #20 BWO's to hatch.

What was large is now small

The other week I was fishing with a long time friend and the conversation turned to how all the streams seem smaller than they were 40 years ago. We seem to be able to fish were we at times had a hard time to reach, is it better wading gear, better rods or better lines. I know that way back we were using Seal Dri's with cotton blue jeans underneath (freezing all the while, or melting hot) and old rubber soled wading shoes but with youth we were able to get most anywhere we wanted. We had 9' rods, I have one of the first 9'0" #4 Scott graphite rods ever build and used and sold ton's of old Fenwick HMG 905's, we even played with Scott 10'0" #5 rods ( can't land a fish with them, hard to get them close to you) and we had T&T's, Winston's along with a few really good fiberglass rods, so I think our rods selection was fine. Our fly line selection was limited to SA & Cortland, back then we had a Pro Shop line of 444 lines but they were soft and really would not shoot that well and SA back then was a joke. Now we have unlimited choices of rods, lines and wading gear but is that what makes everything looks smaller or are the streams not that big any more with the loss of water? Heck you can hit about any spot in Penns, Fishing Creek, Spring Creek and Bald Eagle, heck even the Madison seems to be not over powering like it was those 40 years ago. Any ideas and don't say it's because were a getting bigger or older, hell when your old you shrink, the question still baffles us?
  OK it just might be the lines but it still seams that all the streams are smaller in volume or is it because were have fished them so many times we have become familiar with the water shed? A very interesting conversation to be part of.
  A note of interest, there might be another fly shop open in the former Penns Creek Angler spot, time will tell?

Last Week 10/2 & 3

Had a TU meeting in State College last Thursday night and on my way decided to give Penns in Coburn a look, there were fish up everywhere but they were not consistent nor were there any indication of a hatch- no Paralep spinners. Drove by two locals and they asked me to park and shoot the shit, what a wonderful time I had with them, just hearing about the eagles, osprey's and heron's and of course how hard the fish are to catch today, really nice guys who care about the stream and know what's going on about the total local environment, if you see a tall bearded fellow with a Vietnam Vet hat on stop and ask to see his pictures- they are special.
  I fished and took all my fish on a #16 black ant fished in the surface film, slow wading was key, you had to wait for the fish to show where they were, a nice easy time, low water and pleasant temp's. We need a shot of water then a good cloud cover to get the Olives going on Penns or you'll be fishing to midges till Nov.!
  Checked Spring Creek after I was done with Penns and found fish up in a few locations, Bald Eagle was running very dirty but Spring was fine but low. Picked my area for Friday and was off to help pick up my Granddaughter from preschool, what a wonderful experience to be able to do, retirement has benefits.
  Went to the Spring Creek Chapter of TU meeting and was well informed about the Little J, what a great org, they have to protect that water shed . I changed my membership to Spring Creek from RB Winter due to the local chapter not wanting to do much of anything. The next time your fishing Spring Creek just look at the new parking areas, Paradise (2), Rock Road and the in stream improvements that are apparent, not to mention the other projects they have completed this past year now that's what I want to be involved with! They make you feel welcome and keep you in touch with wonderful e mails that fully explain what they are doing and what they need- you to help- your are part of them. We felt that form the very first meeting with them, now my wife and daughter are involved with them. To all you TU members how many of you signed up your wife or daughter under the special offer, we have two more TU member in our family.
  Spring Creek on Friday was alive with rising fish but not at every hole, you had to find them- under Hartle's bridge below Paradise was one such spot, #20 BWO emergers was the ticket. There are two very large fish under the bridge and I hooked one but he took off upstream and had me into the backing in a few seconds and pop off he was. I remember 30 years ago Jim Leathers fishing under the same bridge for the resident big boys and how much fun he had doing it, just made me stop and think about guys like him that I was honored to fish with, that is a sign of getting old.
  This week will not be a good one, my Lab Trico has cancer and he will leave us very shortly, no more fishing for him but I know that he will be waiting for me at The Rainbow Bridge then we will fish every day. If you have a dog give them a special hug, that's all they ask for. My guy has been a Therapy dog for 9 years and in the time he and his sister have visited VA Hopitals, Federal Prisions,
Schools, Nursing Homes and Janet Weis Children's Hospital giving out those soft warm kisses that make everything OK, I will  miss seeing how much we help people forget about their pain if only for a brief moment in time. Time is running out and I know it is the right thing to do but why does it have to hurt soo very much.

Sun-Wind and Trico that were not!

Fished Bald Eagle Thursday and even though it was to be sunny and clear the valley fog was dense the temp. was only 56, just great for a Sept. morning. Took two rods in order to hit some of the very deep holes with a bead head PT and a dry rod to fish caddis & Trico's. Nothing home in the deep holes on nymphs but the darn small rainbows were every where and I mean everywhere, they are not just located in one small area heck they were upstream 500 yards, so much for the hatchery dump theory. The bow's ate tan caddis (soft hackles fished by Sherwin) an Iris pattern and a bubble back dry, it did not matter they just eat. Started to see some Trico's as the sky was clearing and I was sure we would have a great spinner fall, Sherwin reported that he saw a huge cloud down by the RT. 80 bridge. But as they say it was not to be, the wind came up and the leaves covered the surface, the Trico's either got blown away or moved downstream to the wooded cover out of the wind, it would have been like finding a needle in a haystack, the day was a good one with a ton of small fish landed but only 3 browns were among them. Most of the truly big fish here do not feed in the high skies and it must have a great hatch to get them up, next cloudy shitty day I'm there with big meat patterns!
  The attached video will show the average size of the rainbows!!!!

Paralep's again

Fished Penns on Tuesday and again found most of the trout mid morning in the soft seams just taking Paralep spinners (#20 dark olive spent wing ), you could just look down a seam and spot the fish taking them, yes there was some fish taking tan caddis and you could spot them fast. All you had to do is find a seam and line your fly floating downstream to take the spinner sipping guys. The caddis taking fish were different at least 75% of them missed the fly the first time and they were dead drifting? If a fish missed your fly just pick it off the water and hit them on the head ASAP, it worked to some degree but not every time, the caddis guys were just in one of those moods? Before I fished I stood on the foot bridge below Coburn and watched an eagle slowly fly down stream over me and then head back up stream and land in a dead tree just below me but on my way in I almost hit one on the road as I came around a corner coming in from Milheim, I guess it was looking for road kill? According to the locals this mature pair have had "2" offspring and all are doing very well, never saw that 40 years ago!
   Give Penns a try and remember to have those #20 spinners in you box just in cast you see them on the water.
  For you guys who do not know what Paralep's are we call them summer blue quills and on Big Fishing Creek they never seem to fall when your there.

Numbers Games

A few posts ago I made mention of how many small rainbows that I caught in Bald Eagle and one of my friends some what made fun of me counting, well he just fished there on Friday and his total was 47. He took all his fish on soft hackle wets, his total could have been greater if he had stayed longer but a State TU meeting was at hand and time was running short. It's not the number that you catch but this fishery is noting short of wonderful, small rainbows are everywhere and I have not had any good explanations of where they come from, one source tells us it's a hatchery dump but that does not make sense, they have been there for years and their size never seems to increase? At the next Spring Creek TU meeting I'll ask the membership for their insight then maybe we can get some answers. In the mean time go give it a try and see for yourself what I'm talking about. Just below the Milesburg bridge it's all small browns then the rainbows will show up aprox. 50 yards below that, as the stream goes more East the number of rainbows seem to increase to about 1-2 miles below Curtin Bridge, oh yea there are some very large browns that seem to like to eat the rainbows and these guys are not everywhere but they are there no less. Just to take 8+ small rainbows from one small seam makes you smile, it's all about enjoyment in the outdoors, go experience it, see the Eagles and all the other birds that make this place their home no less the 13 miles where 100,000 people watch the Lion's play football!

How To

The attached video shows how to get young people interested in our sport, get them excited about going fishing, make it an event and make the trip to a farm pond that is loaded with Bluegill's both large and small. Our Granddaughter and I have been watching trout and other fishing video's for the last year and in that time she has become very interested in going, make them want to go do not just make them go, make it their fun time. We fished in our goldfish pond without a hook and did not catch any then we went to the Spring Creek TU family picnic and tried Spring Creek again without a hook and to get her to really want to fish. She was with us for 6 days and we planned the fishing adventure for Saturday night, I checked with the land owner and he said "any time you want to come please do so", we purchased some bobber's, circle hooks and of course "bait" butter worms. after a few lessons we cast into the pond and it did not take long for her first fish, then 4 more were landed before it was more interesting to walk after the ducks then throw stones into the pond with Grandma but when we left she said "I got my wish for a little fish and I want to go again". Next time we will try a fly rod with some small poppers- she's hooked for life!