Awaiting the Grannom

LetortAngler

LetortAngler

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SWPA
I can remember my first experience as if it were only 5 years ago.. Wait.. It was 5 years ago, and my drive to the Little Juniata was long but the warm weather and bright skies lifted my morning as they do every April (and a Starbucks). My fly box full of earthy colored and diffrent sized Elk Hair Caddis patterns in hope to match the grannom precisely (the peacock body winning). I've heard of the intensity of the hatch but have never seen it in full swing. Driving along Spruce Creek I started to notice the grannoms filling the air as I got closer to the little J, and by the time I arrived, it turned from a hatch to more of a swarm. A seemingly never ending hatch of grannoms flying upstream while the water boiled below with too many rises to even count.. Still to this day I have not seen a hatch to compare. That was my first memory of the spectacular, and my favorite caddis hatch..The Grannom.
 
Started tying some peacock and partridge wets yesterday getting ready for the hatch. Can't wait.
 
The grannom is by far my favorite hatch, I'm a swinger
 
Wrong forum for swinging. Turn off internet safe filter and try again.
 
One of my favorits as well. 2-years ago opening day on the Lehigh. It looks like a snow storm.

GC
 
Krayfish, it's not my fault that when I googled local swingers, I was directed to this site.
 
Lmao. Can't speak for others but I'm out. After the divorce I went a little crazy but that's in the past now :p
 
mario66pens wrote:
Krayfish, it's not my fault that when I googled local swingers, I was directed to this site.


Yup. Google "knows" your browsing habits. This is the results I got when I Googled it.

Shame on you K-fish.. :roll:
 
Here is a modification of the best grannom swinger I have ever seen.

It is wet fly water guides pattern

His has turkey quill as the back, chartreuse ultra wire and red grouse for the hackle.

The modification has peacock as the back, black ultra wire, and starling hackle.

IMG_5455.jpg
 
It literally snowed during the hatch I was on last year.
 
There is a tying of grannoms discussion on the LJRA website right now. Bill Anderson's grannom ties look like the real deal.
 
I don't think Bill's is that spot on IMO. Here's a pic. The top is mottled, both brown and black. He also mentions the body is almost black and his body is like a peacock dubbing. I do a 50/50 mix of black and dark brown dubbing for mine with typical EHC and . The cdc is nice on his, but it makes the body too thick. Caddis are a pretty slim figured bug.

I love fishing on top, and the grannoms do bring the fish up, but swinging wets for this hatch will produce the most fish. I haven't tried too many patterns for wets, but a simple peacock and partridge with a wire rib to keep it together has worked well for me.

DSCF1953.jpg
 
This is a great bug to fish isn't it? I like Dave Allbaugh's tie, he uses a 50/50 mix of black & dark brown dubbing as well with red grouse. I first saw it last year luckily prior to the hatch. It's a great pattern & fish taker as well.
 
ryguyfi wrote:
I don't think Bill's is that spot on IMO. Here's a pic. The top is mottled, both brown and black. He also mentions the body is almost black and his body is like a peacock dubbing. I do a 50/50 mix of black and dark brown dubbing for mine with typical EHC and . The cdc is nice on his, but it makes the body too thick. Caddis are a pretty slim figured bug.

I don't think you're looking at the correct bug.
All of the "Grannom" species in PA have a green hue to them.
The most common dark grannoms (those on the Little J) have a black-olive body.
The light grannom (Apple Caddis) is bright green, and the Little Dark Grannom (nigrosoma) is the darkest of olive - almost black.
Your black and brown dubbing blend may work, but it's not the correct color to imitate the dark grannom that hatch in Central PA.
 
It's that time of year! I've posted this link for the last 7 or 8 years. It's a post from the Troutnut site by Lloyd Gonzales, the author of Fly-fishing Pressured Waters (great book, BTW). Anyway, it's explains in detail the different species of caddis that hatch in PA:

Grannom, American Grannom, Shadfly, Apple Caddis, Mother's Day Caddis, and Black Caddis are all common names applied to Brachycentrus species. Mother's Day Caddis is the most common Western nickname for Brachycentrus occidentalis, a Western "grannom," but I have also heard this name applied generally to "grannoms" here in the East.

In PA, it is useful to think of "dark grannoms" and "light grannoms." The species your flies are imitating are more typical of the dark grannoms. The "apple caddis" is a light grannom. Most of the important (PA) Brachycentrus species have overlapping hatch periods, so either dark or light imitations (or both) can be called for, depending on the stream.

Here's my current breakdown for important PA species:

Brachycentrus numerosus--Penn's Creek Caddisfly, Dark Grannom, Dark Shadfly; adults have dark-mottled wings and dark blackish green bodies; pupae usually dark with green lateral stripes and dark wingcases.

Brachycentrus lateralis--Striped Grannom, Dark Grannom, Black Caddis; adults have dark wings and pupae are typically dark olive with tan lateral stripes and dark wingcases.

Brachycentrus nigrosoma--Little Dark Grannom, Little Black Caddis; adults/pupae are smaller and darker than numerosus.

Brachycentrus appalachia--Apple Caddis, Light Shadfly, Light Grannom; adults have very light tannish or grayish wings (almost white when freshly emerged) and apple green bodies; pupae are apple green with tan wingcases.

(Brachycentrus solomoni and incanu are also found in PA. B. solomoni is very similar to numerosus, and incanu is rather rare.)

Most "grannom" activity in PA occurs from mid-April to mid-May. During that time, if you carry imitations of dark and light grannoms (adults and pupae) in sizes #14-16, you should have most bases covered.

You are right that the adult imitations are seldom very good during the emergence (pupa or emerger patterns are best). During the egg-laying activity, however, they are often very effective. The fish may prefer skittered, dead-drifted, or wet adult imitations depending upon the concentrations around their lies.



Link to source: http://www.troutnut.com/topic/298/grannom-caddis
 
A lot of hatches occur between now and then, just saying.
 
Has anyone ever seen the light and dark grannoms hatching at the same time ? Or even on the same stream?
I sure haven't - which has led me to kinda think that a waterway either has light ones or dark ones - but not both. From my experience anyway.
I've fished the dark ones on northeast pa freestone steams sugar and oil creeks. And also on all the big central pa limestone's - spring, penns, fishing creeks, and the little j river.
I've fished the light ones - usually referred to as apple caddis - on the north central freestone streams - sinnamahoning, kettle, and pine creeks. And also the delaware river
 
.
 
dryflyguy wrote:
Has anyone ever seen the light and dark grannoms hatching at the same time ?

Thanks to the mayfly and caddis write-ups on the blog, I'm just beginning to understand the insect and hatch aspect of fly fishing.

I've seen pics of hatches that look like snow. Are those light grannoms?
 
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