Memorial Day - May 31, 2004

Wave that flag!!! Now that summertime is here - keep an eye out for these. They are one of only a handful of mayflies where the male and female each have small eyes. Common name is the yellow drake.

Yesterday we had a special guest lined up to float the Lehigh, but Mother Nature would not let us pull it off. The heavy rains up on the Pocono Plateau, combined with an all out surge of water, released by the Army Corp, had us looking for other options.

So with the cancellation we were able to hook-up with TCO Fly Shop owner Tony Gehman for a little small-stream action. We found plenty of native browns and brookies in Mud Run, that were willing to pounced all over our nymphs. It really did not matter if it was a braided stone, hare's ear, pheasant tail or nitro! Little or no action was found on top.

From there we decided to hit the Pohopoco for some sulphur action. But due to some some higher than normal releases and 51 degree water, the bugs never materialized. However, there were some caddis though and the fish did come up for these sporatically. Flashback pheasant tails, nitros and shop vacs also were producers. This stream right now is just loaded with fish - nothing too big, but lots of action to be had on a 4wt. This is a really neat stream that does not get much pressure. Just think if the Lehigh coming outta FEW had these temps?!

Going into the weekend it looks like the Lehigh will continue to have non-fishing friendly flows per the post on the ACE website. We did need the rain though since water temps were getting up there. Other streams should be perfect...so get out there and enjoy the long holiday weekend.

The MV countdown is on!!!!

Here is a good look at the recent flows on the Lehigh. This dam was built for
flood control, god forbid they hold back any more than they have to...
.especially since flows over 800cfs have been determined to
be detrimental to the downstream environs.

The weather gods have moved us right into the summer season. The hatches have been coming off fast and furious, and seem to be occurring in shorter duration and later in the day. We need some cooler weather and some rain for our coldwater streams..

This past weekend had Dean out on Spring Creek and Penns Creek with Bob and Karl. This was our annual TCO Spring Creek/Penns Creek Weekend. They found some decent fishing on Spring with a bunch of native brownies coming to net. The fishing on Spring was a walk in the park compared to Penns, but if you put in your time on Penns, it can be very rewarding. Lots of caddis came off on Spring during the daytime, but the group moved to Penns in the pm in order to hit up some big water. The highlight on Penns was a FAT 16" rainbow pulled out of a heavy run. Then as the light began to fade the stream came alive with bugs and fish. Penns right now is loaded with fish. Get out there!!! Penns bugs included sulphurs, march browns, grey foxes - along with their respective spinners. The legendary green drakes also began to make an appearance. These are definitely hatching earlier than normal. Water levels were great. If you are ever curious about this river, feel free to shoot us an email….we will give you the real-deal on the current stream conditions.

On Monday Jake had out Phil and Andy for some afternoon/ evening fishing on the Lehigh. The bugs came off in big numbers…especially the sulphurs! There were also a few olives, and big yellow stones, along with a blizzard hatch of cream midges right at dark. These guys were able to cast extremely well and put the fly in the zone just about the whole time. Hooking up though was a different story…not sure what it was, but they did get into one rainbow that went about 14", a few smallies and one FAT fallfish that sipped in a sulphur. We were able to dodge the weather and had a very enjoyable evening on the river. One thing to keep an eye out for is the rising water temps - anglers should definitely key on the low-light periods of the day when water temps are at their lowest. Some cooler nights will help that out.

With the condensed spring season we have already
begun to notice a few of the above - slate drakes.

Valley Creek, Friday morning, was fishing well when I had the opportunity to host Christian Berg of the Morning Call newspaper. He and many other outdoor writers were in the Valley Forge area for the Annual Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association (POWA) conference. Along with Berg on the Valley Creek trip were POWA member and VFNHP volunteer - Bob Ballantyne and POWA Member- Harry Guyer, Jr. of Loysburg.

Most fish took either the Ultimate or the Nitro, but some were hungry enough to exert the extra energy for the dry fly. Hardly any bugs were seen, but there were a few risers here and there. Being able to read the water and hitting up the really fishey spots were the key. A weekday does not hurt either ;^) Water temp was about 60 degrees and the clarity was great for us fisherman. Weather was overcast and damp! Fantastic outing!! Bergman loved it!

In the evening this nice 14"+ was landed.

For being a stream located in such a close proximity to a large population like Philly - Valley Creek is an absolute GEM!!! Shoot us an email to find out more about this fishery or to learn how to get involved in protecting it!!!

May 9, 2004 - Update

The sulphurs have arrived!!! However, the hatch does not seem to have kicked into high gear yet. On streams where this mayfly occurs, a sub-surface rig consisting of a pheasant tail, can really be effective. And vary up those nymphs with flashbacks and beadheads.

On Saturday the Lehigh was too high to float. Hopefully the flows will come down some so we can get into some dry fly action. As for the wade fisherman - conditions have been far from perfect. Borderline untouchable!

Spots are available for our Penns Weekend in June.
Check it out!!!

May 4, 2004 - Penns

This past weekend we hit Penns Creek for our first annual Penns Creek Ex-Stream Trip - sponsored by TCO. With us were Ron, Jim and Dave. Ron and Jim have fished Penns before with limited success and looked to increase their odds. Dave, a die-hard steelie fisherman, wanted to experience dry fly fishing over some of PA's wiliest brown trout.

With decent conditions - expectations were met. Even though at times our clients were questioning our approach on how we tackle this difficult stream. But they did persevere and were rewarded with some phenomenal fishing in our minds.

Ron was high-hooks for the weekend, however only a limited number came to net. Actually the joke was on Ron this weekend because we tied our special hook-less flies to the end of his tippet. Jim is now hooked on fly fishing. Jim caught some absolutely beautiful wild brown trout and throw in 3 wild brookies to boot. All of the brookies were taken off the top. Very cool!! Dave got off to a slow start, trying to adjust from slinging lead, to more of a delicate cast. But he honed his skills enough to entice an awesome 17" Penns brownie. This fish was also taken off the top, holding tight to the bank. This was the largest fish of the weekend.

Apologies go to Dave for not getting a pic of this beauty. Immediately after netting the fish, Dave practiced his lasso technique on Dean - wrapping him up with his line, leader and fly. During the chaos the fish got away…that is a tough one!

Below are some pics. Great weekend!! We are already looking forward to the next Penns trip scheduled for June.

Dean and Jim sporting a beauty!! Take notice of that water color - prime sub-surface conditions.

May 1-2, 2004 - X-Stream Penns Outing


Just some really quick pics from the past few days on Penns....good flows and some cooperative fish made the weekend on one of PA's most difficlut trout fisheries a great time - Ron, Dave and Jim - it was our pleasure! Look for this good action to only continue. But more precip is on the way - so keep an eye on those flows!! All fish were fat and extremely heathy looking. Check back for more updates.

Dave doing some deep water nymping. Even though this is central-PA, this water looks steelie-green!

Ron hooked-up.

This one took a spinner.