Appenzell Creek, Monroe County - 29 DEC 2013

Unfortunately I couldn't fish yesterday when it was sunny and in the high 40's so I decided to fish today in the rain when it was in the low 30's (as was the water temp). I did some scouting on local Class A's and ended up knocking on some doors. 2nd house was the winner. Nice gentleman granted me permission to access Appenzell Creek from his residence. I fished upstream  for 2 hours and fished the same olive/black wooly bugger the whole time. Landed 2 browns and missed another all by dead drifting the bugger along deep and slower moving banks. I skipped over 80% of the water and strictly fished the prime winter holding spots mostly because I was wet and cold but I also didn't want to waste my time. Appenzell is much bigger than I expected and I'm guessing it's flowing about average for this time of the year. The section I fished had a medium gradient which provided some nice plunge pools which I'll explore next spring.

Summer Pocono and Colorado Fly Fishing - July 2013

The weather is currently beautiful and the stream temperatures are lower (less than 70*). I've been fishing at least once a week for the past few weeks. Here are some highlights.

South Platte River below 11 Mile Canyon, Colorado - My work brought me to Colorado Springs so I researched good streams less than 2 hr drive and it brought me to 11 Mile Canyon. The guys at Angler's Covey Fly Shop also recommended this river. This tailwater river (I would call a stream) is gorgeous. There are huge rock croppings, consistent flows/temperatures, and a variety of trout species. The 1 lane tunnels along the stream road were very unique as well. I wish I would have taken more pictures but I was primarily focused on catching trout. I got to the stream at around 3 pm and drove all the way up to the dam and talked to a guy fishing a good looking spot. He gave me some good information and I noticed some subtle rises near where he was fishing. He moved downstream so I got the waders on and started fishing where I saw the rises. I fished the same 50 yard stretch of stream until pitch dark. My primary goal was to catch a cutthroat since I never have but I caught all browns and rainbows. The size on the bows were 14-17" while the browns were a little smaller. I missed 2 trout that were around the 20" mark. I landed over a dozen trout with most being on dries. Most people informed me that I would have to nymph if I wanted to catch trout but the trout were taking emergers all day and especially the last hour of fishing. At one point, I had 2 nymphs below an emerger which produced results. The most common hatch I saw was caddis so obviously, a tan cdc caddis emerger was the best fly of the day but it was hard to see after sunset so I switch to a 16 light cahill and still caught fish. The strange thing of the day was how many fish hit my fly and I missed. I'd estimate I missed around 30 takes. Why? Sometimes I set the hook too soon and others I think the trout actually missed their mark but for the majority of the times I have no clue why I missed so many as I normally have a good hookup rate %.

Pohopoco Creek - I fished the last 2 hours of daylight on the Po last week. Stream temp was low 60's and the fish were active. I caught over a dozen browns but nothing of size. CDC caddis emerger was the ticket here as well. All fish were caught in "slower riffles". I also caught a couple of fall fish that fought well.

Brodhead Creek - There are still trout in the BHC that survived our hot July. I've fished the creek 2 times in the past week and I have had several hits and a couple of hookups but I can't land them. Again, no clue why I'm missing so many trout but at least I'm getting action. Yesterday there was a small (18) BWO hatch as it was drizzly and overcast. I missed roughly a dozen "fish" in a 1 1/2 hour span (3-430 pm). I know some of the hits were smallmouth bass but I positively id'd some trout as well. I had to keep changing flies to regain the fish interest. It seemed the larger (14-16) Iso and March brown catskill style patters worked best as long as they were drifted properly. Last Sunday, a black slumpbuster also got into some nice fish that I think were bass but I didn't land them. Frustrating! Hopefully this doesn't continue but it could be worse. Misses are better than nothing at all.

Below are some pictures I dumped from my camera.

Pocono Creek near Martz Road - Bartonsville

Pocono Creek - Wayyyy headwaters

11 Mile Canyon Dam - South Platte River, CO

Same

South Platte River

Summer Slowdown Fly Fishing in the Pocono's - June/July 2013

I had been fishing weekly prior to this heat wave. Streams I fished were Brodhead, Pocono, and Pohopoco Creeks.

The Brodhead slowed once the water started getting warm. Fish were active in the morning/evening but now I'm guess the low water and high temps are killing off some of the remaining stockers. I didn't witness any slate drakes the past 2-3 weeks but I'm guessing they are still around. I came across a very small BWO (18-20) a couple weeks ago. They were coming off in a fast riffle right below a Brodhead style plunge pool. I didn't land many fish. I missed a few as well. I haven't caught any bass yet this year on the BHC but based on previous years, I'm guessing there are some nice smallies in there now.

Pocono - I landed some large wild browns in June in the Pocono headwaters in a place I'd wanted to try for years. First cast produced a gorgeous 15 inch wild brown. I caught 3-4 other nice browns all on a wooly bugger. The place I fished sees very little activity as there was no trash or trails next to the stream. I also caught some nice sized brookies that were all over 12". If there is a local stream that would have a tiger trout, it would be this section of the Pocono. Funny thing, I fished the same stretch with the same fly 5 days later and got skunked. I fished longer (duration) and further downstream even but the fish weren't hitting it. If I didn't catch those larger browns/brookies 5 days earlier, I wouldn't even think they got that big in that section of Pocono.

Pohopoco - I fished one evening on the Po headwaters. I caught several fallfish and then a small evening hatch came off before dark. I landed a couple of smaller browns on a light cahill. I noticed this section of the PO has grasshoppers and the tall grass is right over top of the stream bank. It reminds me of what a  Montana stream would look like. I think I could do well fishing a hopper/dropper especially on a windy day. Also, I don't know why the PO headwaters don't get above 70 degrees even in this recent heat wave. Tobyhanna creek is almost 80 degrees while the PO is 64-68 in the heat of the day. Spring influence up above along Rt. 115? Something is going on there. Whatever it is, it helps create a good Class A wild brown trout fishery.

I surveyed the Lehigh headwaters this week in the Gouldsboro area. The stream is very tanic and looks like it should hold brookies. It was so hot and I was paranoid of snakes so I didn't venture too far. I'll wait to fall and take the 3 weight with me. I'll be fishing Colorado streams next week and then to Alaska in the beginning of August so I'll get some colder water fly fishing in soon again!

Upper Lehigh

Upper Lehigh

Upper Lehigh

There were hundreds of these blue and black butterfly looking guys fluttering around

Brodhead super hatch - June 6 2013

Rain and drizzle started today at around 230 pm. My wife knew I had that look in my eye so she let me head out fishing! I can't say enough how good fishing is on overcast rainy days. I saw the birds hovering over the stream as I put the Honda in park.  Fish were actively feeding although I didn't know for sure what they were targeting the whole time I fished. Fortunately, that doesn't generally equal a skunking. I expected BWO's like other rainy days. I noticed small BWO's right away (size 18-20). Small BWO's don't normally come out until the early fall or so I thought. Nonetheless, there were caddis of course and as my time on the stream lengthened, a larger mayfly began to emerge and the fish went nuts. I caught a couple of the mayflies and I'm pretty sure they were slate drakes, roughly size 12. I remember slate drakes being pretty active last year on the Brodhead as well.

I brought 6-7 to hand with the below bow being the largest. I didn't take the time to measure it since it was already stressed. The stream is getting warmer and it took me a while to land it. I caught it on a size 18 bh pheasant tail under an adams parachute size 14. I believe that was the first trout I've caught on a dropper and the big bow actually "surfaced" to take my bhpt as it was only 12 inches below the adams. I hooked into an even bigger brown right before I left at 6 pm. I would estimate it went 20 inches while the bow was high teens. The brown got off as I was getting him close to the  net. I was fishing the opposite bank of the stream so I had to deal with current as I landed him. That combined with my drag not seeming to function smoothly prevented me from getting him to the net. Yes, no blame on me! haha. Today consisted of lots of bugs and I saw lots of fish with some real big ones exposing themselves. I wish I could fish every day because I'll be thinking about it tomorrow when I'm work. Tomorrow's forecast is calling for light rain again! Early quits?

Almost looks like a steelhead

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

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!

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.

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!

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.

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!

 

 

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

Pohopoco Creek, March 30 & 31 2013

March 30 - This was the nicest day we've had so far this spring. It was sunny and mid 50's. I fished the PO from 2-5 pm. There were hatches of BWO's, light colored caddis, and black stones. I noticed trout taking naturals as soon as I got to the stream. Majority of all trout were caught on a 16-18 Adams parachute. I landed roughly 8 and missed just as many.

March 31 - Easter Sunday was not as nice at the day earlier. It was overcast with temps in the low 50's. My 7' 3# had trouble casting dry flies since it was quite windy. I fished from noon-2pm. I missed a couple of hits on the dry and had a fair amount of nosed refusals. I scouted further down the stream and ended up tying on a green BH wooly bugger. I caught 1 small brown on the WB in a crazy deep hole. The current water levels are low and that hole was at least 6 foot deep. On my way back to the car, I stopped by an area close to the farmyard where I saw fish earlier. I tossed the WB and the 14-15" brown below practically came out of the water to hammer it. Beautiful brown!

 It's always good to have some small ones as well!

 

Pohopoco Creek

 

14-15" Easter surprise



Pohopoco Creek, Monroe County, PA - March 16 2013

I was lucky enough to fish a beautiful stretch of Pohopoco Creek today. Unfortunately, the outside air temperature was in the 30's and it started snowing halfway through my fishing but I was able to scout out a mile or so of private water. I was amazed on how deep some the sections were. This stream has it all, deep holes, riffles, slow water, bugs, and fairly easy casting.

I started fishing an Adams dry without luck and then moved to a black wooly bugger. I had a couple of small browns roll up on the WB but they wouldn't commit. The last 1/2 hour, I decided to nymph. I used a 16 BH pheasant tail only about 12 inches under my indicator. I had 1 brown hammer it after a couple of minutes in a deeper slow moving seam. The landed brown was on the small side but based on the characteristics of the stream, I'm guessing there are some 16 + inch browns in there. The headwaters of the Po (above Beltzville Lake) contain all wild trout. There is no stocking by the state. The fish that are in there now are very hardy considering the hot and dry summer we had last year. I didn't get a stream temperature today because my digital thermometer needs a new battery but I'd guess it was high 30's. It was overcast outside. No bug activity.

 



Paradise Creek - March 11, 2013

I fished Paradise Creek today in Paradise Township, Monroe County. This was the first time I fished this stream since I was previously unaware of any public access along this creek. The 1/2 - 1 mile stretch that I fished is right in between private fishing clubs.

I started fishing a black wooly bugger but I changed to a hi viz griffiths gnat after a couple of minutes. The water level was low and the WB was tough to fish, especially on my 3 weight. I landed a beautiful brown on my 6th cast. I landed 1 additional brown and missed another couple. The size of browns in Paradise seems larger than in Devils Hole, which is only a couple of miles away and feeds into Paradise.

The previous 2 days were in the 50's so I figured today would be a good day with possible hatches. Water temp was 46 degrees. Outside temp was high 40's and overcast. I saw little black stones and midges. I saw 2 trout rise to naturals as well which is pretty early considering this past weekend was our first warm stretch in months.

 1st brown caught

 

Nice stretch of Paradise Creek