3 Tips for Fishing Montana's Salmon Fly Hatch
By Brian McGeehan at Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Montana’s rich and varied wild trout fisheries offer anglers year round fishing opportunities. While it is difficult to elevate any one time of the year as the “best” time to fish the Big Sky state’s blue ribbon rivers, there is no doubt that the most anticipated time of year coincides with the emergence of the legendary salmonfly hatch.
Salmonflies, which derive their name from their salmon orange abdomens as adults, are the largest aquatic insects found in our local rivers. They are a type of stonefly that are found in rocky and swift flowing rivers and are part of the Pteronarcys genus. Salmonflies dwarf most other aquatic insects and often exceed 2 inches in length. It is the large size of the insect that garners so much attention from fly fisherman. While smaller trout will spend their day hunting much smaller morsels of food; large trout tend to eat large meals less frequently. Most of the year anglers in search of truly large trout need to fish subsurface patterns such as streamers that imitate small fish. The salmonfly hatch is one of the rare times when even the largest fish in the river will be tempted to feed on the surface to intercept the oversized adult insects.
As juveniles salmonflies spend 3-4 years as immature nymphs in the river before hatching into adults. Although the nymphs can be a year round food source, they become much more accessible to trout just before the emergence when they migrate towards the banks.
Salmonflies begin hatching in lower elevation rivers that warm faster such as the Smith and as late as mid July on the Upper reaches of the Yellowstone River inside of Yellowstone National Park. Although the hatch can be encountered in different rivers over the course of several weeks, on any one section of river they are only on the water as...
Perkiomen Valley Trout Unlimited Summer Picnic 2023
Rick Nyles (PVTU/Sky Blue Outfitters) and Derek Eberly (Sky Blue Outfitters)
PVTU member, Rick Nyles, organized the day's activities, and the Sky Blue Outfitters Guide Team, including expert caster Derek Eberly, volunteered to teach casting techniques throughout the day. Also everyone had the pleasure of hearing from Dave Rothrock, of the Ranting Angler, who shared his knowledge on drop shot fishing techniques and led an entertaining entomology program right by the stream.
Dave Rothrock of the Ranting Angler
To raise funds for chapter projects, there were silent auctions and raffles with a great selection of prizes to choose from.
Let's talk about the food—it was simply exceptional! We were treated to a mouthwatering pig roast, accompanied by delicious salads, side dishes, and desserts. Kudos to Rick and other organizers for making sure we were well-fed and happy!
Who doesn't love a good summer pig roast?
After the scrumptious lunch, Bryan Fulop, the Chapter President, provided us with important...
Beginner’s Strategy for Locating Small, Wild Trout Streams in the Wilds of Pennsylvania
I often see a common question come up early in the learning curve for anglers looking to get into small stream, wild trout angling: How do I find good streams to fish? It can be an intimidating first hurdle to overcome, but once over it, the way is open to a very rewarding angling experience. It requires some homework, often good for a cold evening in the dead of winter with your beverage of choice. You’ll swing and miss sometimes, but the home runs you hit will be well worth the strikeouts.
Below is the method that I’ve developed and relied on, and that has led me to many good small stream days in the woods of Pennsylvania:
1. Locate via some simple Googling, the following three lists published, and regularly updated by the PFBC: 1) Natural Reproduction List. 2) Class A Wild Trout List. 3) Wilderness Trout Streams List. They contain different information, and there is some overlap between them, but it is all useful. They all indicate the county the stream is in, so you can use that to begin to narrow things down.
2. (Optional, but not necessary. Good for a beginner with this method, but the more successful you get, you’ll find you’ll rely on these less.) Purchase a couple of PA stream guide books. Dwight Landis’ is very good, and is my personal favorite, but there’s several other good options out there as well. Again, some simple Googling will head you in the right direction if you wish to purchase these. They all run about $20-$30.
3. Review the above-mentioned lists and books and locate some streams in a given area that you think interest you. Cross reference those stream’s locations with a good mapping software. Google Maps works very well for this, and of course, is free. Are the streams on publicly owned land? If not, who owns the land? What are the potential access points? Of course, it goes without saying, always...
B-52's and the attack on First Fork
"So Dave, how’s it going?" This was the booming voice of Ron "Trout Dog" Kolman. Ron is somewhat of a local legend for about 50 yards of guardrails along Route 872 on the special regs section of First Fork in Potter County. We were staying up at Greg Sipos's camp for one of our annual spring pilgrimages to God's Country. Both of them were kind enough to take me under their wings and teach me how to fly fish some years earlier.
Over the years, I learned Ron's inquiry was usually more of a competitive interest and not to be misconstrued with my wellbeing. All part of the usual banter I learned was part of fly fishing.
The casual evening was busy with sulphur duns on the water, and as the sun started to set, we tied on our traditional #16 rusty spinners for the anticipated spinner fall. By casual evening, I mean fierce competition to see who could catch more trout. The primary measure of any angler's worth versus their friends is the number of fish, of course. The first of us to make it to the Century Club was an award better than any trophy served up to a little kid playing soccer on Sunday afternoon.
After a day of trout triumphs, we fell into the Wharton Inn for a cold one or ten and a replay of our great fishing heroics. This usually involved a big trout that was on the far bank, behind a rock, in a bad drift, that eventually you schooled. You know...
When Big Bass are Easy: Mastering Pre-Spawn Bass Fishing Techniques
By Dave Weaver (Dave_W)
While most Pennsylvania fly fishermen target river smallmouths during the summer, bass can be successfully targeted all year and the "pre-spawn" is among the best times, especially if you're after large fish. When water temps hit the mid 40s - this would usually coincide with mid March here in the southcentral part of the state - river smallies become noticeably more active and move up out of their winter hibernacula. These winter locations are usually the deepest part of a river, often the low, deep, slack water in front of dams. As bass become more active, they start to spread out a bit but still tend to eschew current.
By this time of year, they start to feed quite a bit more but, unlike summer when most of the bass lay up in front of boulders and mid river structure and aggressively hit poppers, my experience has been that pre-spawn bass are shoreline denizens. In part, this is simply due to the higher, cloudier, water conditions so often prevalent in March and April. However, this preference for specific shoreline locations makes locating pre-spawn river bass more predictable. When you catch a bass, there's usually more in the same spot. Often these are large females staging to move to eventual spawning sites later in May.
Post written by David
Finding these spots starts in summer. If you've got a bass river nearby, walk the bank during summer and familiarize yourself with the shape of the shoreline when the water is low and clear. Come high water, you'll know where to go. Perhaps the ideal pre-spawn location would be a point of land that projects out into the river, especially if there are large chunk rocks or boulders on it. Oftentimes there are river willows or vegetation that grow on the point in summer, but that often has water flowing thru it this time of year. If downstream from this point, there is an eddy (there almost...