Saturday, May 25, 2013

Pocono Creek - May 24 2013

Fished the Pocono Creek yesterday in the early afternoon. It was overcast and drizzly with moderate rain at times (perfect for fly fishing). I chose the PC because we received additional rain throughout the night and I thought some of the larger streams may be to dirty (brown water) to effectively catch fish. The PC was slightly off color and it was runner much faster than when I fished it earlier in the month. On the upside is that these conditions produced more and bigger fish. Stealth played little role in catching as well since the water was slightly off color. I fished a smaller olive WB the whole time I fished the creek. I landed around 5 browns but missed several others (10 +). Not sure why I missed so many as typically fishing with a WB has a good catch percentage. The hook was sharp and the fish were big enough to eat it. Hmmmm... Not sure. One of my misses appeared to be a larger brown possibly in the 15-16" range which is a dandy for a wild brown on the stream the size of PC.

I hit up the Brodhead for an hour or so before I went home. There were birds hovering the whole creek and fish were practically jumping. This could only mean one thing.....BWO's........! Yup sure enough, they were everywhere and the fish were taking them. I caught and missed a few more on the BHC and then finally went home. Once again, you've got to love rainy days in the Pocono's for fly fishing!

Pocono Brown

Wild trout under I-80

Thursday, May 23, 2013

20 inch Brown Trout Brodhead Creek, May 23rd, 2013

Today was overcast, humid, and had scattered thunderstorms. I took 2 hours off work early hoping to catch a rainy day hatch. I fished from 3-515 pm. I stopped at McMichael's Creek first but it was blown out with coffee stained water and much debris. I thought the Brodhead may be running clearer since it doesn't have the "dirt banks" like on MCC. The BHC was night and day difference from the MCC. The water was clear and running normal. I didn't notice any hatches and I had luck on big streamers a few weeks earlier so I tied on a #6 hares ear slumpbuster. I had a LARGE fish roll out of the water when the streamer hit the water once and I missed a couple of others. I caught a rainbow and smaller brown with a BH olive wooly bugger with a split shot on top of it to get it down. I tried the slumpbuster again before I left hoping that the "Big One" would strike again but it didn't. I started to see a couple of rises so I figured I'd try a dry for a few casts before I left. I decided on a big march brown as I figured they have been hatching the past week or so and the trout were probably keying in on them when they were out. I spotted a recent riser less than a foot from the opposite bank over 2-3 different currents. My first 2 casts failed with drag but my third cast had a nice drift and the riser sucked the MB in. After I set the hook, I could feel the weight but didn't think it was a biggun until it started taking drag. The "Big One" that rolled my streamer looked bigger than this one but who knows. I was lucky to get my hands on him and take a picture as you can see from the excessively bent hook below. No net again today. If I start taking my net, I won't catch any more big trout.....! I've never caught a 20 inch brown in daylight hours before. This took place about 1-2  hours after a thunderstorm rolled through. Maybe the big browns are more confident to rise during daylight (overcast) hours after a storm. I know I'll keep that in the back of my mind during the next Tstorm.

1st 20 incher of the year

Won't be using this fly again!

Saturday, May 18, 2013

West Branch Delaware, May 16-17 2013

I made it up to the WB of the Delaware River in northeast Wayne County, PA. It was a beautiful drive from the Pocono's with all county roads after I got off I-380 North/Route 6. The flows have been low on the WB for a few weeks so I knew wading would be doable but I didn't realize that I could cross the river at almost any section I fished. There were few deep holes that would go past my chest waders. I fished mostly the state game lands on the PA side and below Balls Eddy boat ramp. Thursday brought a lot of bugs in the morning and a crazy evening hatch. There were caddis throughout the day and fish were rising to them but the wind was blowing hard which made it difficult to apply a good cast/presentation. The water was gin clear, the skies were blue bird, but the fish were still actively feeding in the middle of the day but most rises were in slow water which allows these educated fish all the time in the world to inspect your fly. Not good for me! I didn't experience any of the famed "super hatches" but caddis filled the sky after 4 pm and the spinner fall in the evening was insane. 3-4 different types of spinners were floating spent in the current. What were the trout keying on? Who knows! A rusty spinner pretty much covered most of the spinners that were floating down the river.

I landed 3 browns. One on a yellow partridge wet, one on a sulphur emerger, and one on a pale evening dun. I was amazed by how many trout I visually saw on the river. Once I would stop and read the water for 5 minutes or less, I'd start to see subtle rises. There were some splashy rises for emergers but most were sipping spinners.

I stayed at the Capra Inn Motel in Hancock for $50/night (after taxes)! They really cater to fisherman as they have a place to clean/hang your waders, free ice, boat shuttle, etc...The rooms are of a typical motel but they were clean and served its purpose. There were other anglers fishing the WB on Thursday and Friday morning but it was not crowded. I moved upstream from the upper state game lands parking lot and had a 1/2 mile on both sides of me to myself.  Not bad for this famous river! I imagine the weekends are more crowded.

Conclusion: Next time I'll try to fish it on a cloudy or drizzly day with less wind but I was impressed by the river and everything that I'd read was true. It's a genuine dry fly river and it has quantity and quality and it took me less than 2 hours to drive there.

WB of PA state game lands

All packed up with extra rod and camelbak

1st brown

Sunset before the bugs came out


Last and biggest brown

Stopped at Lehigh River headwaters on my way home.

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Brodhead Creek Fatties - May 11, 2013

I finally took the time to spend an evening on the BHC tonight. I fished from 745-845 pm. There was a small amount of spinners falling and some small sulphur looking duns coming off at dusk. Caddis were out in good numbers as well. I noticed some splashy rises that I'm guessing were from emergers. I threw a green wooly bugger most of the night and landed the below fatties. The brown measured at 19 inches. I'm not sure if they stocked these pigs or if they've been gorging on something. Nonetheless, they're eating well!


Friday, May 10, 2013

Brook Trout Monroe County - May 9 2013

I fished for some brookies on Thursday, May 9 2013 from around 1230-330 at Devils Hole Creek. The stream was absolutely loaded with brookies. Plunge pool after plunge pool produced brookies. I used wooly buggers and dries. Fly choice really didn't matter. I landed 40 or so and missed at least that many as well. If I ever want to catch 100 trout in a day, this would be the stream. Beautiful colors on these brookies. Nothing big but they all were feisty and aggressive when hitting the fly.





Saturday, May 4, 2013

Lehigh River and unnamed brookie stream, Carbon County, May 3 2013


My day started off with turkey hunting. After an unsuccessful morning hunt, I strung up my fly pole and tied on a royal wulf. My first catch resulted in the below brookie.  Not even 2 minutes after the brookie, I heard a gobbler close range. I only  had half my camo on, no decoys set up, and my shotgun was 20 feet away! I crawled to my gun and backed up to the tree it was resting against. After I called once, the gobbler showed himself at 50 yards. I turned the safety off and waited. He got within 40 yards but wouldn't give me a clean shot with all the mountain laurel. Eventually he took a 90 degree turn and went out of range. I'm not sure why he didn't continue my way. Possibly, he saw the sun reflection off my fly pole as it was still leaning  against the tree by the stream.
Next I headed to the Lehigh River after a quick stop at the Evening Hatch fly shop. The Lehigh flows were perfect for wading at right around 350 cfs. I fished below Rockport in the Gorge. There were tons of caddis performing touch and go's on the water but no rises. I didn't see 1 mayfly while fishing from 11-4. Skies were clear and water temperature showed high 50's on the surface with an infrared thermometer.
I fished streamers 90% of the day. I had 3-4 fish roll up on my streamer but only 1 committed. I hooked in to a beautiful brown in some slower water with a #4 olive slumpbuster. The brown measured just under 18" and flopped out of my hand when measuring it so a picture wasn't an option. One of the few days I wish I carried a net with me. I saw numerous bikers on the Gorge trail but not one other fisherman! I ran out of drinking water at about 3 pm and knew I had a good hike back to the car so I stopped early. All in all, a good day minus my sunburn and the snake sunning himself on the rocks that scared the crap out of me!
 



 

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Paradise Creek and Brodhead Creek (Analomink) - May 2nd 2013


Fished Paradise and BHC today from 1230-4 pm. I saw trout rising to naturals on Paradise as soon as my boots got wet. I believe they were little sally stoneflies around a size 14-16. I fished 1/2 the public section and then let an out-of-towner fish the rest since he doesn't have the opportunity to fish it as much as I do. I caught 2 browns and missed a couple of others. I used a yellow stimulator and an orangish sulphur parachute.

On my way home I scouted Cranberry Creek but I couldn't find very much public access. There were areas that weren't posted but that doesn't necessary mean "welcome". I then drove down to the Brodhead Creek near Analomink. This stretch of the BHC is so much nicer than in town. It has tons of boulders. It probably looks the way that the lower BHC use to look like before it was channelized. Gorgeous section! I mostly scouted but I did fish a little bit before I noticed my fly line was severely cracked. The crack was about 5 inches below the welded loop. It’s a mid range orvis fly line and on my 4 weight BBSII reel. It is less than a year old. I contacted the Evening Hatch, where I purchased it, and they're going to make me a new loop before I fish the Lehigh tomorrow and they recommended that I contact orvis directly to try to get new fly line. The guys at the Evening Hatch are great but I doubt I'll buy orvis fly line again. I guess that is why fly fishers always have a back up rod and reel when they're out.

Weather: low 70’s outside air temperature. Water temp was high 50’s. Sunny. No clouds.
Bugs: little yellow sallies, caddis, and a couple of sporadic mayflies.

 Paradise Brown
 
BHC near Analomink

Yellow Sally?

Cracked Orvis line