July 17, 2011 Brodhead Creek fly fishing report

I fished the evening of July 16th from 815-945 pm and had good luck. I landed three trout, all on a Royal Wulf dry fly, and missed over half dozen more. Two trout were Rainbows in the 14-15 inch range and they were very fat. I was tempted to take one home and clean it to see what it had been eating but I seldom keep my trout and especially not when I get home at 10 o'clock at night. I dead drifted the Royal Wulf in medium paced current. The bites were light and sometimes not even visually noticeable. There wasn't much insect activity but fish still came to a rise when the fly was presented properly.

I fished the morning of July 17th from 7-9 am. Insects were plentiful this morning. I was able to snatch a small caddis, a few spinners, and a small (#18) yellow fly with big buggy eyes. I tried to match each of these flies with flies in my box but I only had one unsuccessful hit the whole morning. I fished dries again but wish I would have drifted some nymphs during my two hour skunking.

Water levels are normal. Fish are still plentiful. Fishermen are scarce. Water temperatures are high but not too critical. I'm not landing multiple fish like I did in March and June but the action is still consistent. The stocked trout are obviously getting smarter as well so an amateur fly fisher like me (2 years) has more difficulty in landing fish as the season extends but that only makes me become better.

July 2, 2011 evening hatch on Brodhead Creek (Trout and Fireworks)

I went back to my proven trout grounds tonight from 8:45-9:30 pm. The fishing wasn't hot but fish were rising and taking. I fished a sulphur with high vizz parachute tonight so I could see the fly in the low light. There weren't any sulphurs out but I feel presentation in the evening is more important than color. I can verify that I don't have any drag when I can see my fly and a high vizz white parachute at night is the easiest to see. I landed 3 browns and missed several others. The bites were light and when I was fishing solely by sound, I had a real hard time hearing the rise before I knew to set the hook. I learned one new trick tonight. Red lights allow enough light to tie on a fly but they don't attract the swarms of mosquitoes.


As the skies got darker tonight, neighborhood firework displays became plentiful. There were various firework displays all around me while I waded ankle deep in the BHC. Great temperature, no wind, clear skies, stars, hungry fish, and fireworks! That can only happen this time of the year and to make things better, no fisherman to compete with.

JUNE 30 on Brodhead Creek

I fished the evening hatch on BHC last evening. Actually there really wasn't an evening hatch. I spotted a couple of sulphurs at 9:05 pm but that was about it. There was not the normal "flies everywhere" scene I've come to expect after the sun goes down. I had one trout on for a few seconds and one miss but that's it! I was fishing next to a couple of experienced locals and they didn't do much better. I fished dries from 8-930 pm. I haven't fished the past 2 weeks but I expected better. I'll try to hit up some of my more traditional hot spots this holiday weekend in hopes that my success will be better.

Father's Day evening hatch on the Brodhead Creek (JUNE 19, 2011)

The fishing has slowed and the only times of the day that are worth spending time on the water are dusk and dawn. The water temperature is high, the flow is normal, and the trout are stressed when caught.  I've had to really take my time when taking the fly out in order to avoid killing them. I am using a 5X tippet so I can almost "horse" them in to avoid long fighting times. The morning's have slowed down for me with dries but the evening is still good. The sulphurs still are coming out at about 9 pm. I caught a nice bass below on a sulphur dry last night along with a few Browns.

Bass caught on sulphur at night

Mosquito breeding grounds

June 11 and 12 on Brodhead Creek, Monroe County, PA

11 JUN - Fished the AM from 630-930. Landed roughly 7 trout and missed several others. There was no BWO hatch but its dry still brought them to the top. There was very little bug activity this morning and most trout were caught in very shallow water (1-2 feet deep). Weather was light rain to a drizzle, overcast, and temperatures in the high 60's to low 70's.

12 JUN - Fished the AM again from 730-900. Fishing was slow. I landed 1 nice Bow and had another trout spit out the fly after being hooked for a few seconds. I caught both trout on a self-tied parachute BWO dry. I tried various other flies without luck since it was so slow. Very little bug activity again this morning. Weather was a drizzle, overcast, and temperatures in the high 60's to low 70's. Spoke with a very experienced fly angler this morning and he mentioned it was uncommonly slow for him too.

I won't be fishing locally for few days because I'll be in Colorado for work. I won't have a lot of time while I’m there but I'll probably bring my fly rod as a carry-on. Some of Colorado's famed rivers are within a 1/2 hour drive of where I'll be.

It's still HOT on the Brodhead Creek - June 6th and 9th

June 6 – The fishing wasn't as hot as the night before but a friend and me still caught several trout from roughly 8-9 pm on the BHC. Sulphurs, hendricksons, tan/black caddis were all out. We caught mostly browns.

June 9 - It has been hot the past couple days with temperatures ranging from mid 80's and higher. I fished before work on this day from 630-830 am. Actually I went to work late because the fish kept biting! There's nothing better than sitting at my desk after a morning fishing session and suddenly getting a whiff of my fishy fingers and remembering the fun I had before work. Best times to fish right now is dusk and dawn and extra care is needed when handling and releasing the trout. I had my first "slow return" this morning from a brown. Fishing this morning was excellent with all trout taken with dry flies. There was small BWO hatch and once I switch to a BWO dry, I started getting many more hits. I landed roughly 6-7 trout and missed over a dozen more this morning. Below are some pictures I took. Enjoy!

 BWO

Spent



Early June 2011 on the Brodhead Creek - Things are HOT HOT HOT!

3 JUN 2011 - Took my son fishing for the first time on Friday (he's 11 months). We fished the BHC for about 45 minutes before his attention turned and until he was no longer hungry for snacks! I didn't bring the fly rod because it was the first time with him. We caught 2 Bows on a rooster tail. He smiled at the fish but didn't seem too interested - YET. We fished in the mid afternoon.

5 JUN 2011 - I fished from 7-930 am on Sunday. Fished BHC. I started using nymphs for about 10 minutes but I kept seeing "risers" so I switched to a dry. There wasn't much bug activity so I'm guessing they were eating emergers but I still managed to catch a few on a tan caddis and PMD. I missed several. I also fished the evening this same day and it was AWSOME!!!! I caught my largest Brown trout ever with  light cahill dry fly at 9 pm. He measured 22 inches and took me about 7-8 minutes to get in. I had tried to rush in another large trout earlier and he broke me off so I was careful with this one. It was too dark to see my fly but I heard him surface so I set the hook and the fun began! I didn't know how big he was until I netted him because it was so dark out. I landed over a dozen other trout that night and missed over twenty. The sulphurs and caddis were out like mad at dawn. You could throw anything light in color out there and successfully catch trout as long as the fly didn’t have drag. I had this whole section to myself. I love to fish this time of year! Of course I didn't have my good camera with me to photo the big brown but I managed a "decent" shot with a cell phone and a flashlight. See below. I'm going out again tonight so hopefully my friend will still be hungry.Something that seemed odd this night was that I normally catch 95% Rainbows in this spot but I caught 95% Browns this night. I'd take a Brown over a Bow any day.