What should I take tomorrow for flys?

[brookiesRfun]

Hello fellow fly fishermen,
I am planning on going out tomorrow and with the weather and water here in NW pa what do you think would work best for some wild brownies? I would guess water temps will be a little on the low side.
Give me some advice....I gotta go this weekend as I won't have another weekend off till snow is flying and trout don't bite well when its really cold. Nursing classes and working full time have put a damper on ffing.
Thanks much
Greg
BTW if I catch anything I will post the picts and report on what I caught trout on.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Take Caddis, Buggers and BWO's

 

[Swattie87]

Sal's advice is solid I think and covers you pretty well.

Depends on the kind of stream though too, not to get overly complicated. In addition to Sal's recommendations I'd probably have the following in my box too depending on the situation.

Small Infertile Headwater: Dry attractors - Royal Wulff and Stimulators probably. The Caddis should work fine here though too.

Larger, more fertile Freestoner: Sal's list should cover you well, maybe throw in some BH nymphs too.

Limestoner - Scuds, a few basic nymphs.

In all of the above I'd probably throw in a few terrestrials too...it's still warm enough for them to be effective. I like ants, but beetles and hoppers would probably be good too.

 

[ryguyfi]

NW=no limestone.

Depending on flows, you might just have to stick to some heavy buggers and big nymphs. I doubt with the rain that there will be much in the way of top water action, but it also depends on where you are headed. The smaller streams will be less effected by the rain closer to the headwaters. In high water situations on small streams my fishing typically increases the farther up I go. Don't be afraid to change tactics even on the same stream. Cover LOTS of water. Cast 5-8 times max in a hole and move on.

 

[brookiesRfun]

Thanks for the suggestios.
The waters I fished today are some fertile wild brown stream.
I ended up with two to hand both on a olive streamer size 8. What was most suprising is the second one I caught was a 19 inch male brown! he had a kype and was all colored up really nice.
All in all it was a great day considering how much it rained ad how cold it was. No doubt the big male came from another stream several miles down stream. Probably migrated up stream to get to cooler water and now its close to spawn time.
Seems to me when its early spring or Oct I have the best sucess on streamers ad buggers. The water was a little stained.
Tight lines guys
Greg

 

[Swattie87]

NICE!

I was thinking about this thread and my suggestions while I was out on the stream today. I was fishing an infertile headwater Brookie stream...actually a fairly decent sized one for that kind of stream though. I couldn't raise a single fish to a dry today though...switched to a small BH Bugger fished downstream of me and got a few hits and landed one...it was a nice one though. In hindsight my answer to your question would be just pack a box full of Buggers! Congrats on the big Brown again.

 

[brookiesRfun]

Swattie87 wrote:
NICE!

I was thinking about this thread and my suggestions while I was out on the stream today. I was fishing an infertile headwater Brookie stream...actually a fairly decent sized one for that kind of stream though. I couldn't raise a single fish to a dry today though...switched to a small BH Bugger fished downstream of me and got a few hits and landed one...it was a nice one though. In hindsight my answer to your question would be just pack a box full of Buggers! Congrats on the big Brown again.[/quote
Hello Swattie,
Up here next to lake erie the water is already pretty cold. I was shivering by the time I caught the second fish. (it didn't help I only had on knee high boots and fell in while trying to land the large trout I wrote about earlier.....) I could see my breath all day and the water was cold probably high 50s. So there won't be much top water action till next may. However my streamers/woolly buggers will get lots of use. I was suprised to see that big trout chasing my streamer. He actually took 5 swipes at it before I hooked him...musta been hungery

 

[salmonoid]

ryguyfi wrote:
NW=no limestone.

Depending on flows, you might just have to stick to some heavy buggers and big nymphs. I doubt with the rain that there will be much in the way of top water action, but it also depends on where you are headed. The smaller streams will be less effected by the rain closer to the headwaters. In high water situations on small streams my fishing typically increases the farther up I go. Don't be afraid to change tactics even on the same stream. Cover LOTS of water. Cast 5-8 times max in a hole and move on.

The NW part of the state does have limestone. However unlike the central part of the state, the beds are much thinner, and I'd describe the nature of some of the streams as very fertile freestoners, in some cases, or even hybrid limestone/freestone streams, akin to Fishing Creek. Generally speaking (and my opinion only, as I don't have any thing more than anecdotal evidence to back this up), I don't think wild browns grow to 21" - 30" in smaller streams, unless there's some sort of limestone influence, although I have generated one exception to that rule in my fishing lifetime (freestoner in NC PA, no limestone influence). However, I have seen fish of that size in some ditch sized streams in NW PA, and those streams have some limestone influence.

The general exception to that would be during the spawn, when the browns make their runs up out of the larger streams; then you could find fish of that size in some of the smaller freestone streams. So I think the OP guess about the 19" brown being a pre-spawner is probably correct.

 

[brookiesRfun]

salmonoid wrote:

ryguyfi wrote:
NW=no limestone.

Depending on flows, you might just have to stick to some heavy buggers and big nymphs. I doubt with the rain that there will be much in the way of top water action, but it also depends on where you are headed. The smaller streams will be less effected by the rain closer to the headwaters. In high water situations on small streams my fishing typically increases the farther up I go. Don't be afraid to change tactics even on the same stream. Cover LOTS of water. Cast 5-8 times max in a hole and move on.

The NW part of the state does have limestone. However unlike the central part of the state, the beds are much thinner, and I'd describe the nature of some of the streams as very fertile freestoners, in some cases, or even hybrid limestone/freestone streams, akin to Fishing Creek. Generally speaking (and my opinion only, as I don't have any thing more than anecdotal evidence to back this up), I don't think wild browns grow to 21" - 30" in smaller streams, unless there's some sort of limestone influence, although I have generated one exception to that rule in my fishing lifetime (freestoner in NC PA, no limestone influence). However, I have seen fish of that size in some ditch sized streams in NW PA, and those streams have some limestone influence.

The general exception to that would be during the spawn, when the browns make their runs up out of the larger streams; then you could find fish of that size in some of the smaller freestone streams. So I think the OP guess about the 19" brown being a pre-spawner is probably correct.

It wouldn't suprise me if this creek has some limestone influence. It is fertile. The 19" brown came up from a larger stream that is stocked... he had his spawning colors on. My guess is he came upstream when the weather was hot as I noticed a influx of holdovers and fresh stockies in areas that usually hold wild browns when the temps started to go up. I hope he finds a mate and they produce more great trout The creek in mid summer is little more than a ditch when it is dry.