Little Sandy Special Regs, Venango Cty. 4/4/10

[PennKev]

Stopped at the special regs area on Little Sandy on the way back from hitting some small brookie streams. Seems to be lots of fish around. Got 6 below the old railroad bridge including a not-so-uncommon 4" wild brown. A few hit streamers and the rest took a #12 Zug Bug. All but two were bows. Not much insect activity today and no risers. Only fished there about an hour so the action was pretty good for a quick stop.

BTW, Please check out the angler survey box that Oil Creek TU has set up at the upper end of the special regs area. (Pump House)


Kev

 

[troutslammer]

kev , what time were u there ? surprising no caddis coming off , i really like that stream alot

 

[PennKev]

Around 2:00 PM. Usually the C&R area is pretty reliable to find fish rising to something, just not today. The water had a fair amount of color to it. Even if there are no caddis or mayflies, the fish usually midge like crazy all through the regs area. Also, terrestrials should start heating up soon too and they always produce for me.

I think we have been in a sort of post-grannom "break" in the caddis action. It seems to happen every year, but I also think that caddis will pick back up very soon. I've noticed this on other streams too this time of year. FWIW, I usually have good luck fishing caddis around or on cinco de mayo. 😛int:

Kev

 

[greenghost]

Kev,
Good to hear about the brownie fingerling. It's been awhile since I caught small wild fish there.

As far as the caddis go, I was at Neshannock late last week and a pretty good hatch came off in the evening. Size #16 or #18 I didn't catch one to see what color their body was. But it was pretty cool... Waves of them were flying upstream. They got the fish working pretty good. But it was frustrating at first for me... I threw every dry caddis imitation I had and only got a couple of looks. Finally, I tied on a bead head green pupa and fished it a couple of feet below an indicator. Caught 6 in 1/2 an hour. The aggressive "rises" should have registered sooner with me. Dah.

 

[PennKev]

Good to hear about the brownie fingerling. It's been awhile since I caught small wild fish there.

There's quite a few in the low special regs water from the RR bridge down to around Rt. 62. They are not uncommon at all.

And other places too! Very much a sleeper stream for wild fish...

:-D

Kev

 

[greenghost]

I used to catch native brookies throughout from way above the pump house all the way to the mouth. The last one I caught was 7 or 8 years ago above the RR bridge. I haven't seen or heard of any being caught.

I'd like to see a survey done on that stream. You may be right... it could be very eye-opening. One thing for sure, it's not an easy stream to fish, especially later in the summer. Because of its size -- stealth and careful fishing are required -- and if somebody fished an area right before you, you may as well pack it in. I also think poachers do their share of damage.

 

[troutslammer]

yes i have seen a few bait guys in the regs area and told em get out ! they had dead fish on a stringer too , your right about the midges kev , a dry dropper with a midge nymph works wonders too , i hit a awesome october caddis hatch last year and the fish will flip their body at the fly , it was weird so i started pulling the caddis under and letting it pop back up and tugging it under etc.. and the fish hammered it , dead drift and nothing going for it , weird day , streamers when the water is high is mighty surprising too !

 

[PennKev]

I believe the October caddis are the big ones that create a large messy case out of sticks and debris. At any rate, some areas of the creek have so many of these larva on the bottom that it is amazing. You can literaly reach down and scoop a bunch up. They are big too, almost an inch long without their case. I've been trying to catch their hatch but have missed it so far.

It doesn't help that they stock directly above the regs area for the put and take crowd. However, the opening day crowd thins out pretty quick from my experience. The only time I've seen anyone fishing the open water is during opening week.

Kev

 

[Gone4Day]

It was surveyed a few years back. Don't know what the average mass was, but as I recall they found a bit over 100 wild trout in the lower 300 m of the FFO section. One of them over 16", but about half were sub legal. Mostly brown but a few brook trout mixed in. It prompted the PFBC to cut the stocking allocation in half. Good or bad, OCTU made up the difference with supplemental stockings from coop hatcheries.

My theory, when the bucket brigade arrives, the wild trout scatter. They find some spider hole until the commotion subsides, then go back about their business. The stocked fish take most of the beating.

I own property nearby, and although not stream front, I keep an eye on the place. It gets fished regularly, often several times a day. I sometimes feel sorry for folks that may have driven 75 miles out of rush hour traffic, only to find a small stream, thoroughly worked over by previous anglers.

I'll sneak in and cherry pick a few spots once in a while but for the most part, I leave it alone for the tourists. There are other places to go.