Winter Flies (SW PA)

[fishingkidPA]

Im new to fly fishing and want to get out in the winter and do some fishing. I will be fishing pine creek right now, i know the bites slow but what are some good choices for winter flies. Thanks

 

[PatriotFly26]

Welcome to PAFF! I'm from Upstate NY so I can't really help you with any specifics of SW PA. Our winter fishing sucks, because most of our rivers and streams are closed off, or iced over, but when it gets early to late in march, which is probably what you guys face most of the winter when dealing with ice on the water. Well.

BH stoneflies seem to work well at this time of year, and I usually see that the bigger you tie them, the better off you are. If you are attempting dry fly fishing, though I've had little luck(Meaning only shiners) you should go with midges. In hook sizes 22 and 24, but I really don't even bother with dries until April and even then it is usually with gnats, and small caddis. Nymphing is the way to go in my opinion. Good luck, and I'm sure there are many on here who could be more area specific than myself.

 

[albatross]

Try some small egg patterns or a pink san juan worm. I don't know if Pine gets the little black stonefly, but if it does a small black stonefly nymph (maybe size 16) can work as can a dry if you see fish rising. If you don't have a specific imitation for the little black stone dry, a black caddis in the appropriate sized will do in a pinch. Size 16-18 for the dry. My best success comes from skittering the dry on the surface.

 

[David]

albatross wrote:
I don't know if Pine gets the little black stonefly,

No stones that I've ever seen.
Start with a red san juan & midge pupa tandem. If that doesn't work, try a hares ear & caddis pupa. If that doesn't work...well, I don't think I've ever had to go beyond that on Pine.
Buggers, eggs, PTs...all the standards will work.

 

[fishingkidPA]

yea i mostly used my wooly buggers today, see if i could pick of some bass where i did last year with my spinning reel. No luck. Maybe at the end of this week since everything is warming up things will be more active.

 

[osprey]

Kid...........do you mean Pine creek in SWPA? or the Pine creek up state? Piney Run , Somerset county? Alby.........i too can't wait to skitter that first stonefly imitation over the top , that's my go to thing right off the bat in the spring , i caught a couple nice holdover browns from Laurel Hill creek last year , the first part of March , there was so much snow but those stones only need it to warm a little and it's on.

 

[David]

osprey wrote:
Kid...........do you mean Pine creek in SWPA? or the Pine creek up state? Piney Run , Somerset county?

Osprey,
my assumption was pine creek in allegheny county.

 

[dreamsofstreams]

kid-

If you're talking Pine Creek in Allegheny County (Shaler/Allison Park) then midges and buggers, Hare's Ear and Pheasant Tails, the occassional green weenie, and as temps warm you'll want ants and beetles and the smallest Elk Hair Caddis patterns you can thread (18-22's).

Unfortunately I wouldn't hold my breath on catching any trout until it gets stocked in March in the DHALO section. The dredging of North park Lake last year was very tough on the stream with significant warming and silting.

It's my go to stream for those precious few hours after work during the week, but I can't imagine much of anything holding over from last year.

If temps warm this week maybe give Neshannock or Slippery Rock Creek a shot as they should thaw and have much better chance of holding fish from last fall.

 

[fishingkidPA]

yea i really wasnt expecting to catch much of anything. And i was going to go up to neshannock this past weekend, but it was frozen so i went to slippery rock and no luck, but it was beautiful.

 

[dreamsofstreams]

It looks like the better part of this week is going to be well above freezing, so neshannock should open up by the weekend. Of the two Neshannock will definitely give you the better opportunity to catch holdovers pre-stocking. Slippery Rock gets pretty warm in the summer months and turns into a better Small Mouth fishery.

Stop at the Fly Shop right in Volant, tell them you're new to the sport and I'm sure they will point you in the right direction.

A tip on Slippery Rock - I've never thought too highly of the FFO Section - there is far better holding water upstream.

 

[ryguyfi]

I second everything that has been said. I fish all those streams pretty regularly. Slippery Rock does get a fall stocking, but I had the FFO section... no gradient. Check out the Neshannock in a few weeks. They'll stock it on March 5th, and the lunker stocking is March 12th. I'm going to organize a "beginner's outing" at the Neshannock probably sometime in April. I'll keep you posted. That'll be a good time for you to meet some people on the board and get a few lessons as a newbie. If you ever want to meet up and fish, let me know. I'd be more than happy to fish any of those streams with you.


Ryan

 

[fishingkidPA]

yea, this is my first year fly fishing actually im a couple weeks new to it. Slippery rock last year was fun with spinning gear on the first day, 60 trout total out of 2 ppl, in about 5 hours for me and my dad. Used a white roostertail. your definatly right about how it gets fished out. i really love small mouth fishing on my baitcasting gear, so it should be really fun on my fly rod if i can. I dont know many parts of the creek except about 500 yards in both directions right at the mcconnels mill and kennedy dam. but they are fun to fish, if you dont mind telling it would be cool if you would suggest some place for smallmouth on the creek with a fly rod.

 

[fishingkidPA]

are you allowed to fish the day of the stocking? ive only been up there a couple times in the delayed harvest area.

 

[bikerfish]

you can fish the day of stocking, you can fish it any day you want. but a better bet would be to let the fish go for a day and hit the pancake breakfast at the volant firehall!!

 

[ryguyfi]

Yep, the DHALO section is open all year round. There will be guys wading in the pool behind the shop just waiting for the buckets to be thrown in. Hopefully the stream will be up enough for them to float stock the whole section.

 

[fishingkidPA]

ok, i'm not to sure but correct me if i'm wrong, will be flies hatching in early march? i'm not sure but i don't think. if there aren't would it be best for me to use nymphs? i have gold bead prince nymphs, micro mayfly nymphs, and copper johns. I also just got some streamers including wooly buggers, muddler minnows and hornbergs. i will ask the guys at the shop but i just thought id ask you since you seem like you know the stream.

 

[ryguyfi]

have some caddis. Most streams all over the state have caddis. Also, one of the early season hatches are little black stoneflies. They're typically a sz 16 or 14. And have some sz 20-22 griffiths gnats for some midges. That should cover the next month around here.

 

[osprey]

OK.....so there's a Pine creek in Allegheney co with a DHAL section on it? LOL there's a pine creek in half the counties in the State........GOOD LUCK n HAVE FUN

 

[dreamsofstreams]

fishingkidPA wrote:
if you dont mind telling it would be cool if you would suggest some place for smallmouth on the creek with a fly rod.

The smallmouth fishing won't heat up until about June. I've always enjoyed the smallie fishing around the bridge at route 422.


Osprey-
Yep there is a DHALO section of Pine Creek in Allegheny County. It flows from North Park lake and empties into the Allegheny River down along 28. Great little place for those of us who live in the Pittsburgh area and need an afterwork fix, but nothing I would go out of my way to get to. If you're driving a couple hours from Jtown to fish, there are about 1000 streams that should be on your list before this one.

 

[fishingkidPA]

yea pine creek blows but.... i cant drive and hour every day to go fly fishing some where decent, so i will be learning on the creek. It will be hard to learn cause there are barely anyfish to catch so i wont know if im doing it right or wrong. lol