Little J Caddis Fun

Little Juniata:

Caddis provided for a fun afternoon for Brian's father Mark as he connected up with some good trout using an assortment of Caddis patterns during the early morning/afternoon.  He also got into a great fish using a Slump Buster pattern.   Various sources have said that the Sulphurs have been coming off at night and that there have been enough of them to induce some action on top.  I look forward to getting out there sometime in the next week to see if first hand.  Stay tuned for more updates on how the fishing ends up going on the Little J!

Tight lines! 

Brown taken by a Tan Caddis by Mark Michelotti

Slump Buster hook up for Mark Michelotti

Fish Porn Photo Submission!

Pat Williams was kind enough to share some of his fishing stories and excellent photography skills with us as well! Check out the pictures and the stories that go with them! Thanks Pat!

"This is basically of a tiny gathering of fish porn from Penns and Fishing Creek recently. As you know Penns Creek and Fishing Creek have really been doing well ever since the start of the year. The winter “stonefly pattern” season lived up to its expectations, but the early dry fly activity has been phenomenal. It really started for me on Fishing Creek in the first few days of February, when the BWO’s began popping heavy. Penns Creek let go next with a series of sizeable stonefly, Quill Gordon, Blue Quill, and BWO hatches. One day at Penns a very fishable hatch of Quill Gordon’s came off, and seeing large browns shoot out of that green water and annihilate those imitations set the tone fo! r the next several weeks. Both Fishing Creek and Penns then produced blizzard Grannom and Hendrickson hatches, which you guys obviously got into last week. I gathered up a couple pics from the more memorable fish in these good couple months on the water."

This fish was caught on Fishing creek, and this one spit my hook the previous 3 times I had him. Every time it was the same shake, shake, see a large open mouth and then gone routine with this guy. Finally got him that day and luckily managed to get a pic solo with an SLR. However, for that image there were 30 complete failures. Trying to hold a fish in a net bungee-chorded to the back of my pack while adjusting F-stop, shutter speed, and trying to get the head in frame witho ut the use of an LCD or viewfinder lead to some horrendous photography. But, thankfully this pic turned out pretty well.

This is a Brook Trout I caught on Fishing Creek during the early season BWO activity. The pod of brookies producing this guy and another on Penns Creek have provided great opportunities to catch many good sized natives on top.

This brown was caught on Fishing Creek that was sipping emergers under the cover of a bush during a Grannom/BWO hatch. First cast of that day was about 3 ft upstream of him, and though he was not interested in the Grannom dry pattern, he didn’t hesitate to take a thread bodied #18 nymph dropper.

This is a brown from Penns caught on a Quill Gordon pattern that was the only thing bringing them up top that day. First time I’ve experienced a fishable Quill Gordon hatch on Penns.

Pat excellent photography!! The stories are top notch as well! Keep up the good work and keep the pictures coming, and of course let us know if you tangle up with one of those illusive tiger trout! Best Hatches.

Some innovative patterns by:

Patrick Williams

Thanks Pat! We know these aren't your original patterns in the video but since you showed them to us I figured you at least deserved most of the credit! The pattern is phenomenal and more importantly it's easy!

"Brian and Kirk,

I’ve linked a good video of that widow’s web profile caddis I showed Brian in the shop and Greg (Hoover) in a club open tie. Walter (the guy who created it) guided me and a friend on the Yellowstone a few years back and introduced us to the “clacka caddis” pattern. It’s really a great pattern that floats forever (especially when ginked) and adaptable to any caddis/mayfly/stonefly wing profiles. The video gives a basic idea of what it’s about, but I’ve tied it in variations that imitate caddis (like in this video), catskill-style mayfly patterns, stimulator-like stonefly patterns, and even hoppers. All have produced fish on top, whether they be used to prospect with a dropper, or tied on when targeting a rising fish.

Tight Lines."

The cool material used in this video is widow's web. This stuff is new to me, it's kinda like all those other synthetic materials.. i.e. darlon, z-lon, poly yarn, etc.. except it's stiffer allowing for a great wing! and not just a post! It's awesome check it out at the montana fly company's website!

Lunchtime Caddis on Spring Creek

Spring Creek provided a very nice size 16 Tan Caddis hatch that had trout feeding heavily for a few hours in the afternoon.  We commonly refer to this as the "Lunchtime Caddis" hatch and if you're able to fish in between 1:30PM - 3:30PM (give or take a little bit) go fish! It's definitely worth it.  Shown below are a few pictures of some plump trout that were caught.  One brown trout in particular had very beautiful coloring on the adipose and tail.  Hopefully you get a free afternoon and are able to have some fun throwing dry flies!

Enjoy!

Fly Spotlight

March Brown Emerger

http://www.flyfishingconnection.com/patterns/flies/260/March+Brown+Deer+Hair+Emerger

These insects are coming off on Penns Creek pretty regularly during the evenings, but not thick enough to really focus on the adult yet. I think an emerger just like this could be the ticket for picking up some big fish. Feel free to substitute out the deer hair wing for CDC as they will both work well.

Recipe:

Hook: TMC 2488 Size 8-14
Thread: Rusty Orange 8/0
Body: Pale Yellowish Tan Beaver
Tail: Brown Z-lon or Darlon for trailing schuck
Wing: Coastal Deer Hair or CDC

"Treat" of the Week

The "Treat" of the week this weeks comes from Sam Duprey's last email to me from Chile. He was there for ten days after I left and had one more group of clients. This is the story of how his last float trip in Chile went.. It certainly did not go as planned...

Last wednesday, I drive down to do the Manihuales with the two guests- who are serious contenders for least favorite all season. Rex runs the shuttle for us, and we talk about how high the water is, and how fast the float is going to be. He tells me to be careful with the big water. I tell him not to worry, its the last float of the season, nothing will go wrong (whoops). Now, these guests are real world-beaters, so we are on the manihuales at 11:15, a full hour before we usually start the float. With the high fast water, and the wind blowing downstream, we are flying through the float. Pass the normal lunch site at 12:45. I stop the boat on the gravel bar where we had our little chat with sebastian- that gravel bar essentially gone, but there are a few small rocks just sticking out of the water so i can beach the boat on it while the guests wade that little channel down the left bank. I do this because there is no way to slow down the float on the normal right bank, the water is moving way too fast, and none of those logs are sticking out of the water, literally none of them. It was that way all and up and down the river that day, no logs sticking out anywhere, no rocks, it was just way too high, and the water was chocolate milk. Anyway, we wade that section for a little bit. Then we get in the boat. I hope to have lunch on the Niregua confluence so they can fish eggs for a bit and hopefully pick up a few more fish. No dice. No riffle there anymore. No spots to pull over for lunch. Water too high. So, I pull the boat over downstream right just after where the Nirequa comes in, just above the long slow bank. Also, the long slow bank (above the sewage treatment plant) has serious current coming down it, so I dont know how long I will be able to fish it, but right now its lunch, and I'mm happy to eat. Pasta salad day- Fernando forgot to put his secret sauce on. So, pasta salad with nothing on it except Aji. Woof. Anyway, as im cleaning up, the wind switches directions out of nowhere, and starts blowing real hard upstream. Blows lunch stuff all over the palce. I scramble to pick it up. After a minute I get it all back together and notice that... the raft is floating down the middle of the river, with nobody in it, and all of our gear in it... AWESOME..

At first I try to see if I can wade to it, but of course, that long 'slow' stretch is deep as hell, too deep to wade even on a normal day, and the river is real high that day. So I run downstream, thinking I can cross at the gravel island below the sewage treatment plant (which is mostly underwater now). I get down there (before the boat cause im running my ass off) and there is no way to wade across, way too deep. But the boat has blown all the way to the far side of the river, and is making its way downstream fast. I've got no choice here. All of our gear is in the boat, I can't lose all that gear, plus the boat. And, even if I gave up on the boat, we had no way of getting back across the river and getting to the car. Needed that boat. Nowhere else to cross. So I stripped down to my underarmour, and jumped in...

After about 5 yards of swimming my muscles freeze up. I think partly from running 500 yards down the river bank in all my waders and shit, and mostly from the cold. I am swimming as hard as I can, but keep getting swept downstream. No lie, I thought I was going to die. I was like "I'm going to die my last week here in this shithole country, this sucks". By some miracle I make it across the river, but the current has swept me a full 200 yards downstream of the gravel island. I sit on the far bank, freezing my ass off, waiting for the boat to come by. After 10 mintues, no show. I think damnit- I just swam across this damn river and got hypothermia just to have the boat flip and lose all the gear anyway. I climb higher up on the bank and see that the boat is stuck in a tree right at the shit plant. So I climb two barbed wire fences and run a few hundred yards upstream to the boat, barefoot. It's a steep cut bank below the shit plant, so I have to jump into the tree the boat is stuck on. Then climb down the tree. Then, as I get to the lower branches of the tree, the boat starts coming loose. So, I jump out of the tree, back into the water, swim after the boat downstream. Catch, and get in just in time to start rowing before the boat flips over a log in that little side channel. Row back around the island and to the right bank. Tie the boat up, get dressed, walk all the way back up to the lunch site, get the cooler and table, walk all the way back down to the boat, and explain to the douche bag father that his winston rod is gone, donated to the manihuales. so now i have to buy him a new rod. Worst day of guiding in my life. I froze my ass off for the rest of the float while just the kid fished for 3 hours, and didn't get a single strike. I won't miss you Chile...

Spring Creek Update (4/8/2012)

I got a chance to fish Spring Creek the last couple of days when I had a few hours of free time.  The Grannom Caddis activity was not near the craziness that Brian and I have witnessed the last few trips to Fishing Creek, but it was almost as much fun fishing Sucker Spawn and Pheasant Tail nymphs combinations.  The water continues to plummet lower and lower but the fish seem to be feeding just as heavily.  


With the water conditions continuing to get lower and lower make sure you are very wary of your movements on the stream.  The lower the water the more aware the fish are about unwarranted lateral line stimulation.  Make cautious and calculated movements in the water to optimize the number of fish you will be able to hook into.    


Here are a few pictures that I captured on my last few stops to various portions of Spring Creek.