Penns Creek Angling During Our Recent Cold Spell

With the recent cold temperatures that we've experienced around Central PA, I've made trips to fish Penns Creek after taking water temperature readings of 62 and 64 degrees.  The fishing has been great in the early morning when I fished with Patrick Williams and then Jeff Scipione later in the week.  

Both days were productive and the main fly patterns were green weenies, stoneflies, hellgrammites and a variety of meaty streamer patterns.  Below are a few pictures from some of the fish that we caught, missing in the photographs are the two fish that tore me off while fishing 3x tippet.  The first time it happened, I thought was the bottom and then it took off downstream and the other was around eleven o'clock when a trout took my mouse pattern and its splash sounded like a bear chasing sockeye salmon in Alaska.  

The opportunities to fish Penns Creek under ideal water temperatures during the summer are few and far between but if you do make the trip to fish Penns Creek make sure you take a stream temperature to not put excess stress on the trout during the summer months. 

All in all, it was two great days fishing Penns Creek.  We had the opportunity to see a lot of trout, bass, a bald eagle, a dobsonfly attack Patrick, whitetail fawns, what a bat sounds like when it gets hooked and on top of it all, Central PA will miss Patrick Williams as he leaves to teach in North Carolina.  I know that a lot of anglers will miss talking to you in the fly shop but I can't say the same as the trout will not miss you Patrick, good luck!

Enjoy!

The fattest 6 inch trout I've ever caught. 

Nice brown trout caught by Jeff Scipione on a slumpbuster

Patrick Williams throwing some fly line.

Sulphurs are still going strong on the Little J...

I find it hard to believe that I would frequent the Little J over Spring Creek in the early hatches of the 2013 fly fishing season.  Every angling experience that I partake in on the Little J presents multiple opportunities to get into great fish.  The last two evenings have had abundant spinner falls and the dry fly activity has been great.  

On Monday, I could not fish all evening as I had to call it quits around 6:00PM, but the nymph fishing was very productive.  I started the afternoon fishing an inch worm due to the increased winds the last few days and caught a bunch of fish.  After that I switched to a sulphur nymph once I saw a few duns and picked up a few additional solid brown trout.  

One other notable observation that I made was due to the low water conditions and that these trout have be subject to a lot of dry flies, you may want to use a smaller diameter tippet.  A no brainer, I know but sometimes I find myself being a creature of habit and I forget to take specific variables into account.  With that being said I typically use 4X tippet but recently have had trout rise up completely vertical to refuse to eat dry flies.  After making the switch to a 24 - 30 inch 5X tippet segment, fish began to attack my fly once again.  Try it out, as I'm sure most would be able to make these distinction but it is often worth trying if you find yourself experiencing similar refusals in shallow or slower moving water.   

Below is a group of photos of some of the fish that ended up in one of Kevin Best's beautiful Nomad hand net.  

Blue Winged Olive fun on Spring Creek!

Hello everyone!

With the continuation of the blue winged olive hatch, I thought I would post and tell everyone how exciting the fishing has been on Spring Creek the last few weeks!  

On Sunday, I had an always entertaining and exciting opportunity to fish with my father.  We started around 1:00PM and didn't end until around 5:30PM.  The first step I took into the water I saw fish rising to take blue winged olives and it remained constant for the next several hours.  After that the fish holding along the seems in the heart of the stream fed more irregularly while their counterparts were still taking insects in eddies and slower moving pools along the side channels with ferocity.  This would eventually diminish as well and I packed it in and met dad at the car to debrief our day on the stream.  

Flies that worked: sucker spawn, blue winged olive nymphs, emergers, klinkhammers and duns. 

Below are a selection of photos of a few fish that I caught, enjoy!  

South Platte Photo Submission

This weeks user submission comes to us from Will Torres. By the sounds of it Will has been spending this summer chasing trout on the South Platte River. Now that fall has arrived he is just as excited as I am to start getting into some seriously hungry fish. Well thanks Will for the pictures and keep us in the loop if you have any new pics to share! 

Fall fly fishing out on all areas of the South Platte River is my favorite time of the year to catch some nice trout! I caught these browns all in the Deckers area on #20 BWO. I have had good trips all summer long out on the Platte just been waiting for fall and now its here and I'm making my trips up to lip every sipping trout I get!

Bald Eagle (09/16/2012)...Beautiful Day on the Stream

Sunday September 16th, 2012 marked a perfect day for fishing.  I had never fished the Bald Eagle, but after driving to a few sections of Spring Creek and seeing that it was extremely low with excessive vegetation, I dedicated the day to finding a new place that I've never fished.  I drove through Milesburg, and found a place off the beaten path that offered a series of deep runs and riffles that looked promising.  I still wasn't certain I was going to fish it, but after taking a stream temperature that recorded 58 degrees, I was on board.  

The entire afternoon was devoted to nymphing.  In all I caught a lot of fish and I thoroughly enjoyed the aggressive hits that I got due to the cooler stream temperatures.  The final fish of the day (pictured in the last three photos) hit so hard that I had to grip the handle tight because it almost took the rod out of my hands!

If you've never fished the Bald Eagle, I would give it a try.  I plan to explore this stream as frequently as possible over the next week or so to see if I can catch a few more beautiful brown trout like the ones pictured below.  

Enjoy!

"Treat" of the Week

This week I bring to you another installment of... More memorable moments. These moments are "firsts." These past years have been full of firsts, and these are just a couple of pictures that captured some of my "first" moments.

First Barracuda On the Fly

First Peacock Bass On the Fly

First Sunrise in Alaska

First Condor Sighting in Chile

First Brown Trout in Chile

Alpine Fishing: Slate Creek

As some of you may know by now I was away in Colorado for the past week and a half chasing elk around the Eagles Nest Wilderness of Summit County. While the elk hunting wasn't a complete success it did allow me to spend some time chasing another illusive species that I had been craving, wild mountain trout. The watershed we fished was approximately 8,500- 9,000 feet above sea level. A small difference from the 16 feet of elevation I currently live at.. Slate Creek gets legs from Upper Slate Lake (12,000 Feet above sea level) and flows through the Slate Creek Valley, which happened to be within walking distance (3 miles) from our hunting camp. 

We decided after one of our longer, more excruciating excursions into the wilderness that it was time for a break and to see if we couldn't catch a couple fish. It was exactly what we needed, the fishing was excellent the weather broke, and you couldn't imagine a more pristine backdrop. The three mile hike in seems like nothing when I finally was able to break my troutless streak. 

Lucky for the photographs the Brooke Trout were beginning their spawning cycle and boy were the colors vibrant. Bright sunrise orange bellies with dark black mouths brought me back to Alaska and their cousins Dolly Varden. It truly was a trip to remember and this little fishing trip in the middle of it was just the tip of the iceberg. 

The Intern Strike Back!

For those of you who wondered where Brian is, he is archery hunting for elk in Colorado.  No word on how he has done yet, but I'm sure if he has a good story he will share it with everyone.  A big thank you to Harry Tomlin on his photo submission or a recent brown trout caught on Spring Creek.    

"Hey guys fished spring creek on labor day.  This fish was last cast.  You can tell by the head it was big.  Forgot the Nomad net and had to take a quick pic and release. Really was last cast on a less than productive afternoon.  My favorite little bwo emerger floating behind a stymie. Above the pink trailer in a log jam,  thought I had hung everything up as planned." 
 Thanks and peace.

The intern,

Harry Tomlin

Spring Creek Update (08/29/2012)

Spring Creek is always a safe bet as a fly fisherman.  An angler always has a great chance of hooking into good trout on a variety of fly patterns.  These trout feed frequently and when a fly is presented to them in a drift free manner, they do not waste an opportunity to eat.  Sure the fish are a bit sluggish compared to early fall and spring months but if you fish during the coldest temperatures of the day, you will be able to hook into several trout.  

Enjoy a few of the pictures from a recent trip on Spring Creek.  One of the most memorable moments on Spring Creek this summer happened when I caught the first two trout pictured on back to back casts.  They aren't gigantic but they were extremely beautiful fish between 15 - 17 inches.  

Cast #1

Cast #2

Clay Blunk's biggest trout on the fly!

Nomad nets get the job done again!

Spruce Creek (08/25 - 08/27)

This past week I spent several nights fishing Spruce Creek.  The temperatures weren't extremely warm so Jeff Scipione and I decided we would go and check out the big fish that lurk in Spruce Creek.  We did very well fishing inch-worms, stoneflies and slumpbusters once the sun went down.  It was a lot of fun and we caught several fish near or around the 20 inch mark.  Two of the fish that I hooked into the first night were ones that I will be going back for because I didn't get a chance to land them.  One was a huge rainbow that I've caught once before on a pheasant tail earlier this year and the other was a massive brown that I've never seen before.  Needless to say it lies at the top of my most wanted fish to hook into!!

The craziest thing was, right before the rain shower and thunderstorm the trout went into a feeding frenzy.  It was like a switch went on, unfortunately we didn't get to fish it through because we had to get out of the water once the storm rolled in.  I'm sure the fish continued to feed voraciously, but we didn't want to get struck by lightning!

Enjoy some of the pictures that we've compiled over the last few adventures on the public section of Spruce Creek!