Crowds!!

Yes there will be even bigger crowds on Johnson's this year due to the bridge replacement at Cherry Run, in order to get to the parking lot you'll need to use the mountain roads from Route 45! That is a long trek and not the best to drive at any speed. That means that more than a few guys will park on the road past Doc's place and of course fish Blue Rock and Johnson's, hell it was full last week. Two people were nymphing the lower fringes of the riffle and they did very well but were in water to their waist, they did better than Piffy! Dredging the bottom payed off for them. Two other guys just seemed to wander up and down with no clear direction, I just waited till something rose and went after it. Took a few really good fish before the wind came up and blew us off, the nymphers were still at it! Olives and some Quill Gordon's were coming off (not every years has a good hatch of QG's) some little black stones were also around, all my fish were on a emerger. This week look for Hendrickson's and yes little black caddis just before the Grannom! It just might be a good time to target another section of the stream till the bridge is finished, sometime in June!!

They are on now!

The Olives are on Spring Creek coming off in waves after about 12:00 noon but again you'll have to look for them, do not assume that they will come off where you are, be mobile! It does help if you have seen them in an area before but not a guarantee they will be there, I would avoid any areas below Bellefonte because of the volume of water the spring and Logan Branch bring in. Look for a good riffle coming into a long deep pool to find the best area, a small #18-20 pheasant tail nymph fished deep and left to hang in the current at the end of a drift will work well before the main hatch. When the action starts nothing works better than a emerger or a small soft hackle dead drifted into the pod of rising fish. No need to fish spinners at this time, have never encountered them during this event. Do not leave if the fish stop rising just sit tight and wait, Olives come in waves, most of the action will be over by 5:00 or a bit later.
  If you head over to Fishing Creek, be aware that the water is still up but if you want to fish use a small Chimera pupa, #16-18 bright green thorax with a black or dark brown head and get it down. I have tied a few of these with Loon UV resin on the Datum Glo Brite Floss of flour. orange for the thorax. If you get your fly down to the bottom you'll find a ton of these attached to your hook when you inspect it at this time of year, the trout love them. Any other time I would fish a flour. green thorax pattern. The Chimera is also a wonderful pattern for Penn's.
  If your on the way to Penn's nothing works better than a #12-14 golden stone fly tumbled along the bottom. But a traditional Hare's Ear tied short on a standard length hook works really well. I tie them short meaning I don't tie them to the bend because if you look at a lot of the clinger type nymphs they are all a bit short in length, do by all means use Partridge for legs on them or if your a hunter good quality wood duck works well, legs and tails are very important for this pattern. Be careful if you wade, the water on both Penn's and Fishing Creek is cold and swift.
  A word about Patagonia, I have complained to them for the last couple of years about where they get their models from, all their sleeves are longer than normal, heck I have some new base lawyers that seem to fit people who have orangutan length! They have told me that in 2019 changes will be made so normal people can find clothing that fits them and not something you have to constantly push up to be comfortable. A solid buy can be fount at Dick's, a Patagonia Better Sweater is on sale now but get their fast before your size is gone, normal pricing is $99.00 now down to below $70.00, they are the warmest piece of clothing that you can take along fishing with out adding bulk to your body, check them out.

Oh well a couple of days is OK

Got in a couple of good days of Olive fishing but as of today 3/22/19 that will be over for a while, the entire middle and eastern part of PA just got hammered with yet more heavy rain! Will we ever return to a normal year, well only time will tell, in a normal year the moisture shuts off around the end of May and we go thru summer dry. We all have cabin fever this year due to either cold and ice or just too much rain and run off. I for one have no desire to fish heavy nymphs and fight the current or walk and find water to fish close to shore, even Big Fishing Creek is just too wild at this time again, even if you have the chance of catching a really big brown there, it is just very hard to do.
  The best thing about this year is that no one should ever need to tie flies during the season, heavens knows I have more than enough for a lifetime but you always seem to want to tie something different or improve a pattern that you have. I have been tying a lot of the new Peridon nymph patterns and have tried them when the olives have been on but still think a Pheasant tail is still the very best pattern to have in your box, yes the new style does get down fast and stays on the bottom and does catch fish but not any better than a PT.
  It's too bad the fly exchange that used to be held in The Union County Sportsman's Club is no more it gave a lot of guys a good shot in the arm to exchange ideas on fly tying and new patterns and just plain BS between good guys!
  In any event go outside and do an NON rain dance and see if it helps!!

March 2019

As the Spring comes into view, it is looking OK not great but just fine, not too much rain/snow and stream levels are going down, except on warm days the level will bump up due to melt. If your going try to find a stable day that does not have those big spikes of warmer temps because the inflow of cold water will put a damper on the trout. Yes Olives and Midges are happening but you have to look at many spots to find the feeding fish, these hatches are not universal T/O the streams. Just got word the even Big Fishing Creek has some rising fish but you'll have to look for them. An Olive emerger in a size #18-20 is doing the trick and a black midge size #22-24 is the thing to use ( I also use a dark grey pattern), don't forget the Grif's midge!
  I was in TCO fly shop in State College and picked up a new fly box, Tacky Hydrophobic SD Waterprooof Fly Box and about shit when I felt how much it weights- not for me! At my age I'm trying to eliminate weight not add to it. If you get your flies wet of put wet ones in your box just lay them open when you return from the stream to air dry and in a short time all will be fine- check out the Tacky and I think you might agree.
 

Saw One

Over the weekend I was in State College and of course fished Friday & Saturday but not Sunday in 40 mph winds. On Friday afternoon I found a small pod of fish rising in a slow riffle, took 3 of them but they were all small ( 5" - 8"), all browns, I got out of the water and looked down steam in the wide flat below and saw them, large fish pushing a good amount of water when they took the olives- wow dam how can I get to them? There is no way to get close to them, very deep and a steep bank and no way to get to them. Can't get below them the steep bank covered in snow and the wading up stream is extremely deep, I can do it if the water is in late summer levels! Yes they were on olives and eating them well but it is a watch and see exercise. One of the hardest things to do at this time is find a parking space, even the parking areas are not clear, the large one at "The Rock" was fine but aside from Paradise no parking was to be found. On both days the fish took olives well but you again would have to find them and not assume they would be where you wanted to fish. Paradise was a good bet for small nymphs but no rising fish were seen. I checked below Bellefonte but with the spring dumping a ton of water into Spring and chance to fish below town was out!
   Let's just hope and keep an good eye on the stream levels and make sure that Axeman is about 110 cfs or below to get a good fish. But go if you can, be watchful the spin and bait guys are out in full force! 

Maybe now?

It's Feb 19th and dam it might be time to hit the water to find some good Olive activity this weekend but first we need to get thru yet another snow/rain event! Given that the weekend is to be in the mid forties and cloudy it is looking very good. Also on the menu will be little black stoneflies but they are best fished as a small black pheasant tail under a indicator or perhaps a small olive emerger. Midges are also ever present at this time of year and the two best patterns are; Griffit's Gnat or a spent winged (no tail needed) #24/26 black or dark grey body and clear wing works best, be careful because the fish can switch from Olives to Midges and back again so be ready. Do not disparage if it seems as if the rising activity has stopped just wait and it will resume again shortly, for some reason the Olives seem to come in waves.
   A quick up date on the Intruder swing flies, everything is going well after getting all the materials needed plus understanding that the makeup of the flies is not bulk but layered to look like bulk but with a ton of under water motion. I will try and get a few pictures of them to post this weekend. I'll be on Spring Creek this entire weekend and tying all night while dog sitting in State College!

Into Swinging!

No not that kind, no wife swapping! I mean the West Coast steelhead/trout new streamer type fly swinging. I have always heard a lot about the West Coast guys coming to the Missouri River and using this technique and flies with great success but really never gave it much thought until a year ago. I loved to streamer fish but hated the idea of so many missed strikes and the big problem of getting the fly to the correct depth while at the same time moving to different and varied locations in the stream. I began to YouTube the subject and was surprised to see just how complex the flies were then but in the last year the "intruder" style flies have become much easier to understand and tie. Make no mistake getting everything to tie these guys is a bitch, shanks, trailer hooks, good materials like Artic Fox and trailer tube material, OK got it all BUT wait now you need a method to hold the shanks (either straight or Waddington) of course my Dyna King can't hold the straight shanks- OK get a new add on and now I'm all set. Why do I like these guys, well they are fun to tie (except for getting stuck by the trailer hook while tying) plus the fact you can vary the weight just by using different hour glass eyes (brass or lead), materials are pretty simple and they are just dam fun to do. OPST has a good variety of flies to look at and materials to buy, but if you want to see more just look up "Aqua Flies" they have a great selection of flies to look at plus YouTube "Intruder flies" and wow there they are a ton to watch they tie.
  I use mostly Artic Fox, marabou, ice chenille, mallard dyed and a ton of dyed rabbit strips, that's about it.
  Fishing these flies is a very easy and slow process, cast quarter down stream and hold the line in your rod holding hand and follow it thru the entire drift till the end and at this point give your rod a few gentle pull backs, this helps to stimulate a fish that has followed your fly into taking. You can vary the speed but just adjusting your entry into the water or mending downstream to slow the drift. With this style your not going to get many if any short strikes. Your wading will be minimal and this gives you a good chance to get some of the bigger fish that seem to hide in the mid pool or close to the far bank, if you use a longer rod you can use a two handed snap tee cast or for that matter you can do it with a single handed rod also, so your casting never gets to be a pain nor do you have to watch what is behind you. Given the slow method you will be surprised at how hard the takes will be and the different size fish that you'll get. Give them a try and you might become interested in swinging!