Prospector
Well-known member
Time Fished: 830am - 245pm
Weather Conditions: 74-85 degrees, Mostly Cloudy, sun peeked out a few times, Thunder was clearly heard most of the day but storms avoided the Valley I was in (first storm stayed north, second stayed south). It never rained.
Water Conditions: 57 degrees & crystal clear....coming out of the bottom release dam. With the very cold water here I’m surprised it is classified as a delayed harvest section. It should just be catch and release unless some construction on the dam may limit the water flow later in the year.
Insects: Saw a few sz 16 caddis hatch and one sz 18 dark mayfly hatch. Saw another couple dozen caddis throughout the day.
When I started, the trout were rising more than they would as the day wore on. I didn’t see any insects hatching and I was very close to the source of the outflow so it wasnt spinners from the previous night. Spinners from the previous night would have been long gone.
Some local spin fisherman were there when I arrived and they had caught a few rainbows each on spinners (the metal kind).
Initially I swung wets just to quickly check out the water and to distance myself from the other guys. Had a few on but landed none. I wanted to fish dries so although the rises had tailed off, I put on a small tan caddis and brought up quite a few fish. They obviously had seen dry flies before and thoroughly checked things out. They followed it so long and were so close, it was almost as if they were waiting for the fly to move before sucking it in. I somehow caught 4. When they stopped coming up for the caddis I thought a beetle might work since most were stationed under tree branches but none even came up to look.
I was unfamiliar with this stretch and overlooked a short but deep run below me that was loaded with trout. Three friends set up shop surrounding it and pulled out a bunch of fish while Czech Nymphing. One appeared to be 18”-20”. After watching all the splashing below me, I reluctantly switched to a prince nymph and caught 3 and missed several others.
I drove downstream to check out a different stretch of water and found quite a few fish there too. Some were rising and I caught 2. I finished up by swinging a prince and had 3 takers that I quickly lost, but it just confirmed that several trout were present there too.
I ended the day with 9 (5 browns, 3 rainbows and a brook). I think during a hatch things could get interesting here, but I doubt if there are many hatches left this summer.
The pleasant surprise of the day was flushing a brood of young grouse from the streamside ferns as I walked back upstream. I’d guess they were a month old.
With the East Branch of the Clarion having a great temp of 57 degrees, I stopped at 5 other streams on the way home to compare where they were. Here are the results.
—West Branch Clarion 72 & Clear
—South Branch Tionesta 68 & murky but fishable
—West Branch Tionesta 69 & very muddy
—Tionesta creek 72 & Muddy
—Spring Creek (in Forest Co) 66 & slightly off color
Weather Conditions: 74-85 degrees, Mostly Cloudy, sun peeked out a few times, Thunder was clearly heard most of the day but storms avoided the Valley I was in (first storm stayed north, second stayed south). It never rained.
Water Conditions: 57 degrees & crystal clear....coming out of the bottom release dam. With the very cold water here I’m surprised it is classified as a delayed harvest section. It should just be catch and release unless some construction on the dam may limit the water flow later in the year.
Insects: Saw a few sz 16 caddis hatch and one sz 18 dark mayfly hatch. Saw another couple dozen caddis throughout the day.
When I started, the trout were rising more than they would as the day wore on. I didn’t see any insects hatching and I was very close to the source of the outflow so it wasnt spinners from the previous night. Spinners from the previous night would have been long gone.
Some local spin fisherman were there when I arrived and they had caught a few rainbows each on spinners (the metal kind).
Initially I swung wets just to quickly check out the water and to distance myself from the other guys. Had a few on but landed none. I wanted to fish dries so although the rises had tailed off, I put on a small tan caddis and brought up quite a few fish. They obviously had seen dry flies before and thoroughly checked things out. They followed it so long and were so close, it was almost as if they were waiting for the fly to move before sucking it in. I somehow caught 4. When they stopped coming up for the caddis I thought a beetle might work since most were stationed under tree branches but none even came up to look.
I was unfamiliar with this stretch and overlooked a short but deep run below me that was loaded with trout. Three friends set up shop surrounding it and pulled out a bunch of fish while Czech Nymphing. One appeared to be 18”-20”. After watching all the splashing below me, I reluctantly switched to a prince nymph and caught 3 and missed several others.
I drove downstream to check out a different stretch of water and found quite a few fish there too. Some were rising and I caught 2. I finished up by swinging a prince and had 3 takers that I quickly lost, but it just confirmed that several trout were present there too.
I ended the day with 9 (5 browns, 3 rainbows and a brook). I think during a hatch things could get interesting here, but I doubt if there are many hatches left this summer.
The pleasant surprise of the day was flushing a brood of young grouse from the streamside ferns as I walked back upstream. I’d guess they were a month old.
With the East Branch of the Clarion having a great temp of 57 degrees, I stopped at 5 other streams on the way home to compare where they were. Here are the results.
—West Branch Clarion 72 & Clear
—South Branch Tionesta 68 & murky but fishable
—West Branch Tionesta 69 & very muddy
—Tionesta creek 72 & Muddy
—Spring Creek (in Forest Co) 66 & slightly off color
