Results of trout tracking

As I said on the other post a presentation at Spring Creek TU by Dr. Uma Ramakrishnnan Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at Juniata at College on Monitoring Brown Trout Movement Using Radio Trackers: Lessons Learned. I got the results of the 1st stage and they are as follows;
The results so far are very inconclusive, the only verifiable conclusion is that trout will move to try to get away from turbidity. Just as a note I will follow up on this topic from time to time from her web site and e mail to her about any other results they may find. This is a good tip to remember when your faced with a feeder dumping muddy or off colored water into your main stream, trout will hold on that line between the two, makes sense because trout are sight feeders.
  On Nov. 22 I will be helping Spring Creek TU with their redd count on Spring Creek, this is done every few years to help the PA Fish & Boat Comm. determine the relative health of the Brown Trout population and give us a chance to see just how many redds  there are over the entire stream length, I will be able to see the results because we all report back to the event heads and enjoy some food and drink while they tally up the results, this is the kind of activity that is needed on Penns but sadly there is none!

Time to do this

November is the best time of year to hunt some very large trout with streamers but be careful not to target the reeds of spawners! It might be a bit early for a good amount of the brown trout to be in the mating mood but I have seen some evidence of pre spawn behavior in some of the smaller males that are around. It's just unfortunate that we have not had a good water year and that our streams are on the low side of normal and the leaf litter in the water is at times bad, but if you can find some deep dark holes and some deeper water below good gravel bars the fish will at some point in the near future start staging in these areas. For flies I like to use light colors on bright days and darker ones on those dark overcast days (I really like purple and electric blue), I have a bunch of new tandem flies that I am just itching to try out, I hope that I do not see any adverse effect of hooking fish near their eyes or in the gills- if so these flies will be retired fast. I have only thought of using tandem's because sometimes you will suffer short strikes and only have swirls to your credit and no good pulls, if only we had the reflexes to stop the fly when a short strike or swirl occurs because sometimes I think the fish tries to disorient their pry and come back to finish them off but after all those years we strike and  hope for the best.
  One more thing we can all do is when we are on streams that have a lot of feeders take some time and make sure our brown trout have access to the feeder by cleaning our the mouth of any debris or rocks that may block their ascent to their spawning grounds, this is especial true in this low water year. it would be also a good dead if you are walking in the stream to watch where you are stepping, avoid the new reeds because they are our future.
  Last night a Dr. presented a show to the Spring Creek Chapter of TU about radio tagged mature brown trout to learn where they spent their time, I will try and get a copy and post it.
  I have at least 2 lbs. of yellow water Iris seeds that I will be planting this winter and spring in Penns, Big Fishing Creek and Spring Creek, look at my planting at Johnson's on Penns. I also have 5 small Ginko seedlings that will be planted along Penns on a bluff to avoid high water, some where that I can watch their growth- maybe they can take the place of all those Ash trees we have lost- hey feel free to plant a tree, it is heart warming to see something that you planted to mature- I have one in front of Station 22 on Penns that I planted at least 15 years ago and it is doing well, every time I see it I smile because of the memory of my black lab Abby and Warren Fisher  and I working to get the darn thing up the road to plant it (had 2 Ginko's and a second Maple that did not make it) just happy to remember those memories.

October on Penns

October is one of the best times to fish Penns if your into midges, for some reason the stream clears and does not have that limestone tint to it, the wading becomes easy at this time of year and the trout key on midges during warm sunny afternoons. This is not easy fishing but can be very rewarding for you if you have the skill set, very small patterns and accurate casting are the norm. Your pattern should be a grey or black midge in size #22 thru 26 even Grif's Gnats work well if you can tie them correctly so they do not twist your 6-7x tippets (my casting stroke gets me in trouble here). You need to look in mid to the tails outs of the pools, careful and pick your fish carefully and make sure you use a side slip strike on the hook set because if you have no control the fish will put the others down fast, side pressure is the key. Not all sections will have this activity you will need to search the pools out but the big pool below Rainbow Riffle is a good one if your up for a good walk, Stan's pool is also a great choice. Be sure to pack some Oct caddis patterns because you will see some awesome takes on the naturals and they will take a good imitation quickly. Be aware if it's a cloudy day "think Olives".

You know your old

Fished an old favorite 1  mile section of Spring Creek before the rain came, this is a very challenging section to fish when your alone, it is best fished having someone with you because of spotting and tight casting areas plus getting one another out of trouble. I had no problem with the section that runs along the Houserville Road as it turns away from the road the trouble begins getting over a small but high stone dam, ok got over it then a nice pool that has in the past held some nice fish in good cover, using beetles and hoppers brought them to my hand, then the next section was before me up the bank and get over "2" fallen trees ( last year I got stuck here when I fell thru with one leg and had a hell of a time getting out) this year no problem till I saw what was ahead! The next pool holds a lot of fish and some good ones at that,well now it has a "Big" tree over the entire stream- no room under it and I sure as hell can not get over it- ok just climb up the bank and go around it- no way in hell can I get up either bank, they are just too steep, now what the heck do I do go back to those "2" downed trees and try to bush whack my way around this tree, well that is what I did and it was not easy, shit growing up everywhere and most above my shoulders- just to old for this crap. Then as I did manage to get around this dam tree I could not get down the bank with out killing my self, I looked like an old river otter sliding down a bank. Just sad to see this really good hole is now off limits till very high water takes that tree out, at least the trout will have some time to them self's to eat and grow with out being disturbed other than an old fart falling around them. As I slipped it the water I began to work my way up stream casting the #12 black foam beetle in all the right places and the trout ate it big time, took a good 15" brown from a small run where a few years ago I had a similar fish take the same set up, it was not the same fish but shows that if good lies are the same you can expect the same results if your presentation is good. The rest of the water is as it has been, very productive and challenging but oh how nice it would be to share it with someone else, at this age you just might need help to be able to get out or in to a trout stream. When I speak of fishing with someone I don't mean go with someone and split up, I mean fish with someone, so both of you help each other and become much better doing what we love to do, number's do not count when your doing this it is the experience that counts and it will be some thing that you will remember, both of you will grow in your ability to problem solve. I remember a good friend of mine and I working for a good half an hour on an impossible fish in a very difficult position only to finally catch him and find that he was a 9" fish, it was good for the problem solving lesson of the day.

Do not forget these

If your out and about in this wonderful weather we have been having and happen to be along a trout stream in the afternoon and early evening- do not for get to carry a good selection of flying ants, if you do not have them and the trout begin to feed on them go home because it will be one of the most frustrating time you will every have. Trout become very selective when they are on the ant feed and will reject your offering if it is not the correct color and size, carry the following just to be sure;
#14 thru #20 Black spent winged ants
#14 thru #20 Red spent winged ants
#14-#16 Black front and cinnamon rear end ants these guys make an appearance on occasion. Your pattern has to have "2' body parts and either spent or swept back wings as long as they are there and some hackle, very simple patterns but if you do not have them along and the swarm occurs you are out of luck. This is the time of the year when the ants will swam to develop new colonies and warm sunny afternoon's are the perfect time, sleep in an arrive by noon and you will be fine. The following streams have very strong ant activity, Penn's, Big Fishing Creek, Bald Eagle and Spring Creek BUT this is a very specific area occurrence so you might have to walk and look for them.
  Also carry some Iso's just in case and the Olives should be along any day if the weather turns shitty, oh and a few smaller streamers would help, light & dark to cover the light condition.
Good Luck

At Last!

At last the Trico's were out in numbers and there were rising fish but had to wait till 10:30 AM for it to warm up. Fished Spring Creek early with a #16 red floating, under trees and in the shade, the browns like to eat the little guy, nice slow confident risers! Took off to look below the Milesburg bridge and what do you know they were up and in good rhythm, had to pick your fish because there are just too many of those smaller rainbows around but they are really fat and fight well. Took "2" really good browns in the shade and was on the move for a third one till the GD ducks decided that a fight was in order and raised hell on the water, count that good fish down! A #24 black spent wing Trico did the trick on 6.5x Head Hunter tippet and a WF #2 SA line just nice slow fishing with really good rising fish that were not in a hurry, this action lasted till 12:15 and then it was over! Asked a few guys at Fisherman's Paradise and they said the Trico's were there but that no steady rising fish showed, again that is why you have to look around till you find the fish that want to eat. All in all a very nice day, have to get them in before my new puppy gets here, fishing and dog training really do not go that well together but this guy will fish with me, look for us after the end of Sept.

There are none !

OK I have been checking Turkey Hill, Valerio and Panera for signs of the "White Fly" and there have not been any, I see some other smaller light yellow duns and spinners and a few Iso's but no white guys. What the heck happened, I will not accept the suggestion that is has been to hot, heck about every year we have low water and high water temp's but this years no flies, how can a population just not appear for a year, yes it has been true that the volume in the past few years has not been what it was at one time and we do expect that any population will have swings in density but to have them just disappear is just a puzzle. Might there be a correlation between the black fly spraying and the demise of the white flies? Why the heck does the State of PA waste money spraying for the black flies when it is a species that does not bite, oh yea it does bother the big guys while they golf at the country club- might that be the reason they keep spraying, oh no! Why take that amount of biomass and kill it rather that have it be food for our fish population, the logic is puzzling of course any thing the State does makes little or no sense. It would do no good to call the PA Fish Comm. because they are more concerned with their own agenda and would not want to bother with a trivial thing like the loss of a population if insects, just another bug lost oh well no big deal, remember the passenger pigeon! Anyone have any ideas?