The harbinger of spring has arrived!!

[fishingnoob]

Fished neshannock creek in volant, mercer county today. No luck with the fish but found this little guy crawling in the snow along the bank. Only found one other so probably still early but a good sign that spring is right around the corner.

 

[streamerguy]

I was just there yesterday(didn't fish, had to stop at the shop) and the creek actually looked pretty good. Not as much ice as I thought.

I definitely can't wait for spring!!!!!!

 

[krayfish]

That guy is lost..he's waaay early. There time for you to knit him s hat before the cold snap next week.

You normally see midges in the winter but last time it warmed up, I had 4 caddis on my back window. Found that strange

 

[fishingnoob]

Streamerguy,

Long time bud, how things going. The water was perfect today, problem is my dumb self forgot my waders and didn't realize it till I arrived so I had to make the best of it. I'm definitely gearing up for spring. Just finished up a few olive and tan x-caddis's. Lemme post one

 

[fishingnoob]

there ya go

 

[StarvinMarvin]

Neshanock always has a wicked amount of stoners in winter.

 

[streamerguy]

Streamerguy,

Long time bud, how things going. The water was perfect today, problem is my dumb self forgot my waders and didn't realize it till I arrived so I had to make the best of it. I'm definitely gearing up for spring. Just finished up a few olive and tan x-caddis's. Lemme post one

Pretty good, though my summer's been busy since we last fished. Still got out a ton, just hard planning trips ahead of time with stuff going on. You?

Sometimes forgetting waders is a good thing this time of year. One of the only times where I took a swim and almost completely filled my waders was on Neshannock, in January! Good thing I had a change of clothes, but man it was COLD!! Next time I'm there I'll have to ask Bob about the deer. And nice tie. That'll catch fish...

 

[fishingnoob]

Doing good. Summer was pretty uneventful as far as fishing goes because of all the rain we had. But I did manage a few bass while kayaking on Pymatuning. Fall and winter has mainly consisted of tying and occasionally going down to Neshannock. The state cutbacks for fall stocking has made it a downer. I have only been able to do steelhead once so far this season in October. Had a buddy of mine come up the weekend of my birthday to get his first taste of steel and he got a nice 24 inch female on elk. I hope to get up there again but rather not take that long drive just to freeze my butt off

 

[sniperfreak223]

where I used to live in Susquehanna County, we used to get a pretty heavy caddis hatch every year around my birthday (January 18), but I've never seen or heard of it anywhere else.

 

[MattBoyer]

krayfish wrote:
That guy is lost..he's waaay early. There time for you to knit him s hat before the cold snap next week.

You normally see midges in the winter but last time it warmed up, I had 4 caddis on my back window. Found that strange

They were all over the deck and cars in the parking lot at Duke's in Wormleysburg around January 20th lat year, so not that early. Maybe they know something about spring that we don't. ;-)

Boyer

 

[Maurice]

Little Black stones are not a harbinger of spring. They are a winter bug. Rarely are they still around when spring arrives.

 

[StarvinMarvin]

Maurice thank you for reassuring me that I'm not crazy.

 

[Chaz]

I've fished over stones into the first week of April and they hatch sporadically all year. I don't know if it's all the same species though.

 

[StarvinMarvin]

Winter stones from my experience are really small, and I see them crawling on the snow and wiggling there way in the surface to the banks, but the ones I see in early April and big, say size 12 and I always see them flying

 

[afishinado]

Maurice wrote:
Little Black stones are not a harbinger of spring. They are a winter bug. Rarely are they still around when spring arrives.

True that! Still a great time to get out, but they excite the fishermen a lot more than the fish. We should all rejoice when they are gone, rather than when they appear.

 

[JackM]

Harbinger of hatches or a tease-- you decide.

 

[laszlo]

I'd like to see that puppy today, it's -2 here, it would break in 1/2 if you blew on it.

 

[MD_Gene]

Lets not forget, in less than 5 weeks the pitchers and catchers report for spring training. Next to a bunch of robins in your yard, you can't beat that for a sign of spring. ;-)

 

[Sylvaneous]

I've been told that the tiny black stonefly actually starts hatching in fall. All that shows is that its' winter. And I assume it will be a long one. When it's sunny and warmer and the fish are biting, well, that will be when it's sunny and warmer and the fish are biting! Not getting any shortcuts till then.

 

[streamerguy]

Has anyone had much success during little black stonefly hatches? It seems whenever I come across a good fishable hatch(usually March-ish) the fish don't really look up for them. My theory is the colder water temps, but also when I do come across a good hatch in the early spring the fish(stockies, never fished a little black stone hatch on wilds yet) are still fresh and not used to the current food sources, so I guess that could be another reason.