Money Talks!

OK most of you know that I do not like the present PA Fish Commission because they have no balls and will bend at the first sight of a storm, case in point now they want to pass a new department change in policy- "Stocking of Class A Trout Water", what the hell are they thinking? I know some of you hate TU but if not for them we would not know about this change, I have not seen any other organization telling anyone about this. If you read any of the current or older scientific studies that have been done on stocking of hatchery fish over wild fish populations you know what it does to the resident fish, hey wonder why Montana stopped stocking years ago- they believe in good science not this crap we have here, some rich ass hole or a gas company wants to stock fish to either cover up a kill or make sure some rich ass hole can catch a fish. What a shame our Fish Comm. has become a political toy and the director nothing but a figure head, I sure am glad I lived my life when I did, sad to say we have seem the best and it will not get any better from here on. Hell just look at the Susquehanna River no one wants to take any responsibility to help that body of water or better yet tell us what is going on with the bass population, hey guy's maybe you could just stock a shit load of bass and call it cured!
  I think that maybe you could send a e mail to the PA Fish and Boat Commission and tell them that stocking a Class A trout stream is a bad idea, I did and I have not gotten any reply, typical of any political organization the hell with the common people and coddle to the money guys- screw you! I for one have no respect for anything they do going forward but know if you have money you have power with them and the resource is not number one any more, it is money to survive.

Post Snow Storm

We got a healthy 7.4" at my house on Thursday and that blew the planned two day trip to State College now it was only to be Friday. Arrived to find nothing eating on top so it was to be the new dark olive caddis larvae, #2457 #16 with a black nickel tung. bead, it worked very well accounting for 8 nice browns in a few hours BUT if you did not get a strike within a few feet after placing it where you wanted it the fly & your shot would be covered with that dark green shit, what a pain in the ass to get off and clean your hands after, had that crap on the rod handle and my waders and oh how it stinks! After lunch at Sheetz I started to see rising fish and not just a few but a ton of them, they were in places that I have not seen them before, soft pockets on the edges of all the riffles, most of the times you see them in pools and not where they were today. OK tied on a #22 Grif's Gnat using 6x (if I use 6.5 or 7x I get a wonderful mess in a few casts because my stroke is a bit to fast) took a lot of fish from 5" to 14"what a trill to experience, no one else around! Would have loved to have been there on Thursday when it was snowing, I have fished in a storm before and the silence is just wonderful as is the tempo of the trout, I think they sense that they are a bit more protected and ten to feed with more gusto. If it is snowing go and experience it or if not go the next day BUT do not wear felt soles to walk in the snow because you will be wearing 4" heels.
  Oh never saw any Olives but really did not go looking for them, I had a 80 yard riffle to play in.

Not this week

No fishing this week because of PA deer season, with the color of our Simm's wader's it would be very easy for someone to mistake us for a deer- hey don't laugh they shoot cows! This week I have been tying experimental caddis larvae to use next week. If I fish Spring Creek in the area below Paradise it is a safe bet that I won't be shot for a deer but again one never knows. The month of December usually has the brown trout in a funk and not really aggressive in feeding but one would think they should be after expending all that energy spawning, it's just not a great month to fish. I'll post something after two days of fishing next week.
  A note about the fur I'm using, it is Aust. Opp. not beaver, all the beaver that I have really does not have the dark olive color that all the caddis have on Spring Creek, about every other time you had to clean your nymph off you would see a live larvae attached to your hook- OK let's tie some that imitate them!

More Nov. 2014 BWO fish

Fished again this Monday in the wonderful weather, high winds were the norm but the Olives came off as expected at about 12:30 PM before that I fished some new nymph patterns and found again that a hot spot does make a difference. Also found a ton of caddis larvae attached to the many weeds that were on my brace of flies, need to tie a #16 2487 or a 2457 hook with a "black" bead and a very dark olive (a hint of black and a pinch of yellow for sparkle) fur bodied imitation, my best fur would have to be a beaver blend it's soft and dubs very tight, I'll also rib it with 4lb. mono, these things are everywhere, maybe the larvae of the tan caddis that hatches all the time. If you have a chance go and see the BWO daily hatch or just fish nymphs. I did see some fish still on redds but most are done spawning for the year, be careful where you walk! I saw a ton of fish on the shore line and that would be a difficult presentation to try and get them to eat but maybe a dry just might do the trick.

Attached is a short film showing the spawning colors of a fish that was feeding and not mating.

Nov. 13, 2014

Our Granddaughter wanted to come home and spend the weekend with us to help us remember Trico so I decided to go to State College one day early and stay over and fish! Thursday morning was overcast and about 38 just about perfect, I checked out some of my favorite spots and did not find any rising fish that early but I did see some very large spawning fish and a ton of redds in Spring Creek, I even checked Bald Eagle below the Milesburg bridge- no rising fish. I took a chance and drove up the dirt road from the "shit plant" to the kayak hole and guess what rising fish all along the railroad tracks, #24 Black down winged midges or a Griffins Gnat did the trick on them, some of the fish were inches off the bank and some of them were very nice colored up fish, it is amazing to see how may fish do not spawn with the rest of the population. As I worked my way to the tail out I spied 5 huge redds and took a look at the residents that were in them, at least 4 of the females were well over 18" and maybe over 20", where the hell are they during a hatch? It was about lunch time so I decide to fish a good Olive spot after Sheetz hot dogs. Of course I slammed the GD car door on my right index finger as I parked for my lunch! I decided to fish the Willow hole above Hartles Bridge because of the amount of rising fish I was seeing, #22/24 Olives were coming off, so I put on my outerwear and was ready, this time I slammed the trunk on my keys but was able to push the button to unlock it! The fish rose till 3:30 and some rises were heavy and some just sips, noticed that the wind would catch some duns and make them move fast on the surface the results were great splashy rises while others were sips all you had to do is play to the music that was before you- what a nice way to spend a day, midges & olives it what Fall & Winter is all about. This week will bring more of the same but please stay out of the spawing beds.

Trico & TroutHunter

On Saturday we made the ultimate decision to end the suffering of our beloved Lab "Trico", I know he was just a dog but not to us and the hundreds of children he had contact with at Janet Weis Children's Hospital on his monthly visits along with Federal Prison's, Nursing Homes, VA Hospital's and Children's reading programs not to mention a great fisherman! There is a big hole in our hearts and we know it will take a long time to close.
  I forgot to mention that last Thursday I tried a new leader, "TroutHunter" Finesse Leader 9' 6x with 18" of 6.5x TroutHunter tippet tied to the end, right out of the UV resistant package I could see that it was a good bit softer than other packaged leaders and the nail knot was really easy to get a small one tied but on the water it performed like magic! The Finesse leader turned the #20 BWO emerger over with ease and it was a dream getting to the spot I wanted every time, great turn over & accuracy means a keeper in my book, cost is $4.75 each but with the 18" of tippet this leader will last a long time. Check out TroutHunter or Feather Craft to get them, also try their tippet material- it is simply the best I have every used.

Trout Food

Thursday I joined other TU members from Spring Creek & Lloyd Wilson chapters of TU and some local people just wanting to help pack fish food for TU's Trout in the Classroom, wow what an experience! We packed over 800 bags that will be shipped with the eggs next week for the class rooms to incubate and raise them to fingerling size then release them into an approved Brook Trout stream, it was cold,damp and stinky but worth it. I am amazed at how they get so much member participation in their projects, women, students and their use of a web page, Face book and general can do attitude gets people out, I'm one of them and love it.
  Fished Spring that afternoon and again found no one around but did fine BWO's and feeding fish, the Olives were very dark red brown and the males had big dark red eyes- they looked like a Halloween decoration! I fished the hole below the 550 Bridge (it's the first one that is not on private land), starting at the bottom and working upstream at a slow pace because they have not had a good hard flood rain yet- the mud and leaves are knee deep and it is a bitch to wade in it but it made me slow down, took a ton of fish there and move to Rock Road and saw the same thing hatching. A wonderful day and to top it off I got to spend the night helping my Granddaughter go Halloween, can't get much better!