Fishing Creek, PA (07/11/2013)

The past few weeks have been filled with excessive rainfall and it has kept me busy observing all of the flow levels on the USGS database.  Most days you could still fish but the conditions were not optimal by any stretch of the imagination.  When I've gone out to Spring Creek we have had a lot of fish but nothing gigantic like Jeff hooked into on Thursday.

Due to the precipitation that we received in Central PA on Wednesday night I checked some of the stream gauges and decided that we would take a gamble and check out Fishing Creek.  The numbers were not insane but the fish we hooked into were healthy to say the least.  The first fish of the day was a nice brown trout and then we worked further up the stream and I heard Jeff say "I don't even know what to do with this trout."  Knowing him and our fishing conversations, I knew it had to be a hefty trout because I've never heard him say that when he hooked up with a fish.

After making my way downstream to him, I caught a glimpse of this trout's body and knew this was potentially the fish of the summer.  He was using 4x tippet so he was nervous to apply a significant amount of pressure onto the fish, so he let it make a few runs and applied minimal side pressure until we got his head out of the water.  Once Jeff got its head out of the water, I knew the Nomad hand net was about to be engulfed by this huge brown trout.

I was glad to be a part of this big brown as I netted it for Jeff but the conversations that were had about this fish kept us busy for the remainder of the day and into the night.  We reminisced stories about the fish like it was Bill Brasky from Saturday Night Live.

Enjoy a few of the pictures of this toad of a brown trout! Special shout out to my dad Greg Hoover for capturing these photos, he was clicking that camera like Marty Stouffer.

Jeff and his big brown trout

Nomad net saves the day again! 

Destination: State College, PA Fishing Creek

Part 2 is all about Fishing Creek. Fishing Creek became my favorite home river this year. There are so many advantages in my mind to being on that river. The most important is the peace.. On Fishing Creek there aren't people every where and you don't feel like you have to cover your fishing hole because people don't low hole you there. The fish are bigger and they are smarter. It's a challenge every time you fish it and that makes it awesome.


The best hatch, in my oppinion, on Fishing Creek is the Grannom hatch. It is the first major hatch of the season and it's your best bet to find some dumb, hungry fish. This year it was tremendous fishing, the fish were hungry, and the water boiled. I had my best Pennsylvania days on Fishing Creek during the Grannom Hatch. This year it was late March into early April. The prime time this year was the first week of April. That said it's usually a little later than that, but everything was early this year. 


Now let's give it over to Pat Williams, for some more of his infamous fish porn and some good stories from this year on Fishing Creek. 


This collection is from Fishing Creek fish caught at the end of spring (about May 25 – June 25). It should be clearly stated though that Penns Creek is in no way fishable now due to high water temps, and probably won’t be until early fall. All of these pics were taken from fish caught on top using my own adaptations (to mayflies, stoneflies, or similar caddisflies) using that widow's web wing material, similar to that clacka caddis pattern I gave you guys earlier tied by Walter Wiese at Parks Fly Shop in Gardiner, MT. They were also all caught around dusk or at night. Below are stories/captions for each photo.

This fish was caught on Fishing Creek during an evening filled with dark blue sedge fluttering over the water. I’ve only caught this fish once, but I know where its home is, and I can always instantly ID it by that beacon of a flaming red tail. It’s not the largest fish, but more of a further example to illustrate just how pretty Fishing Creek trout can get. It was sipping bugs under a tree branch hanging over the water, providing it protection via wiry branches, creating a dome-like structure over its feeding lie. However, there was an opening in the front, and a cast with a slack leader about 5 ft upstream allowed for the perfect drag-free drift to this feeding brown. It was taken on a #12 black caddis pattern.

The next day (after the red-tailed fish was caught), this brown was caught under a similar tree branch structure sipping dark blue sedge in the evening. It was feeding literally right on the bank, and took the same fly as the red-tailed fish. For once, I was not fishing in my typical solo psychopath fashion, and was with someone else that day. I would like to thank Andy Reynolds for taking this shot.

I thought I was lucky the first time I got a large tiger on Fishing Creek, but this second one confirms that the horseshoe is still firmly imbedded in my ass. This one was not as big as the last (about 13”), but it was every bit as unique. I caught this one on top with a #14 light cahill pattern just after dark at about 9:30. There were lots of risers right before dark, but this one started eating very aggressively right as the last light of the day was fading. I actually fished this same spot about 10 days later and once again caught this tiger after dark on top, this time on a #14 rusty spinner.

This is another angle of the same tiger which highlights its insane kype. This thing literally started to bend right after the crease in its mouth and at no point stopped its curvature. I would say that relative to the lateral line of the fish, the point at the bottom of its jaw was probably bent upwards at least 45 degrees, something I have never seen on a 13” fish. This tiger even developed a small notch in its upper jaw just so it could semi keep its mouth closed. The first tiger I got on Fishing Creek was much more pretty, but this one was UGLY, which sometimes is just as good.

Fishing Creek Update

Last night I had an opportunity to get back on the PA streams by visiting Fishing Creek. The most surprising thing of the night occurred right from the start when I was rigging up my 5-weight TFO rod. After fishing a 12-weight rod for most of my time spent in Florida, I was shocked at how my 5-weight felt like I was casting a toothpick. Keeping this in mind I knew the hook set would be a little different compared to the saltwater species I encountered in Florida. 

I started out by taking several trout on a Blue-Winged Olive spinner and then I switched to a size 18 Sulphur. As the night went on there were some Light Cahills and Slate Drakes flying in the air but they were not in abundance to make the switch to either of the larger insects. The dry fly activity was good throughout the night with a few lulls in between the changing hatches.

I lucked into a few brooke Trout as well as brown trout but nothing was above 13 - 14 inches. All in all it was a great night on the stream with my father! Below are a few pictures of the fish that I captured throughout the night, enjoy!

Weekly Fishing Report

I may not live there anymore but I still have contacts to let me know what's going on in those rivers in central PA. Most important news that everyone should take note of. The green drakes are starting! Seriously, this is traditionally a hatch that happens around memorial day weekend or even the first week of June, and it's starting now. I don't know what to tell you other than tie some green drake nymphs and some adults and seriously pay close attention because any day now it could break into full bore and you will miss it. Things to think about when fishing the "shad" hatch:

1. You don't have to fish only green drakes, sulphurs, march browns, caddisflies will all work leading up to and through the hatch. 

2. Fish subsurface before and during the green drakes. 80% of fish feeding happens subsurface drake nymphs and other traditional nymphs will work well when everyone else is struggling to match the 8 million flies on the surface

3. Fish the coffin fly, just before it gets black dark tie on a coffin fly and fish that instead of your drake I have always had more luck with the coffin fly plus it's white so you can see if with the shine of the moon. 

Now for whats going on, on the rest rivers in our area!


Spring Creek


Water levels are elevated and flowing at 235cfs and normally the flows are 124cfs.  The good thing about Spring Creek is that the water levels drop quickly in comparison to the other local streams.  The dry fly fishing has remained great (prior to the rainfall) with sulphurs, cahills, crane flies, and tan caddis.


Hatches-
Sulphur size 14 - 18
Light Cahill size 12 - 16
Tan Caddis size 14 - 16
Crane Flies size 16 - 20


Hot Fly-
Orange Sulphur Sparkle Dun size 14
Yellow Parachute Sulphur size 14
Pheasant Tail size 14 - 18

Fishing Creek

The rain has pushed up the water levels a decent amount and it's probably a little high and off color. Think about giving it a day or two and head out there looking for fish feeding on sulphurs and in a week or two the drakes will be there as well!

Hatches-

Sulphurs size 14 - 16

Tan Caddis size 14

Black Midges size 24

Some stoneflies lingering around too. 

Hot Fly- 

Sulphur Sparkle Dun size 14

Penns Creek

Penns Creek has near perfect conditions for throwing streamers through the day and hitting some big fish on dries through the evening bite. Of course the drakes are starting but the sulphurs are still in full swing. I would focus on that with a side of slump busters because they always catch fish on Penns when the water is up and off color. 

Hatches-

Sulphurs size 14 - 16

Tan and green caddis size 14

Orange craneflies size 16

March Browns size 10

Hot Fly-

Green Drake Nymph size 10


Little Juniata/Spruce Creek




The Little Juniata and Spruce Creek have not received the amount of rain compared to the other Central Pennsylvania Streams and it has continued to drop close to normal levels.  If you have time go and fish go to the Little Juniata.  




Hatches-
Sulphur size 14 - 16
Gray Fox size 12 - 14
Light Cahill size 12 - 14
Crane Fly size 16 - 20


Hot Fly-

Orange Sulphur Comparadun/Sparkle Dun size 14

Yellow Parachute Sulphur size 14

Pheasant Tail size 14 - 18