Neshannock Creek ATW 04/18/2009

[ryguyfi]

We were supposed to meet up with a few guys later in the day. They told me to go to the bridge up past the covered bridge in the ATW. Didn't know which one, so a buddy and I parked and just fished. Never did meet up with the other guys. We got suited up and started fishing just after 8am. I saw a few black stones early, but then the caddis started right around 9-9:30. I knew they were coming, but I was in for a surprise. It was a snowstorm of caddis. They were clung to the rocks, in the trees, all over the water. I ended up walking, and fishing about 2+ miles of the stream, without seeing too many rises. I think the water temp was still a bit cold, but didn't take a reading.

I came to a nice run I pointed out to my buddy, and picked up 3 small rainbows in the tail of the run. I got most of my hits all day on SJW, and prince nymphs. I threw every caddis pattern I had at them... Lafontaines - nymph and emerger, dries in dark light, green, emergers in all colors... not a strike! I couldn't believe it.

My buddy was diabetic and walked back to the car to get some food. It was his first time fly fishing. He struggled a bit in the morning, just learning to cast, but by the end of the day he was hitting close to his mark. I walked back to the car and found him fishing below the bridge we parked by... go figure there were fish there.

I came down to him and he said he caught 2 trout already, so he was pumped. He continued to catch some fish on a sjw. On the ride up, I said that for his fly fishing lesson, if there's a golden rainbow, I've got dibs on it. Was fishing under the bridge and there were 2. I fished over the smaller of the two for about 20 minutes... then I hooked him! He had one head shake and was off..... what a disapointment. I continued to fish and caught a few rainbows, a chub here and there and a decent sucker under the bridge... then I saw the golden again. On the second drift he took my cotton candy fly (blue egg with pink dot). He took off like a bullet, stripping drag off of me for about 50 ft downstream. I finally landed him! I just needed my one golden... now I'm content. He was right at the 17" mark, so one of the biggest trout I've caught to date too. The other golden was much larger... I estimated atleast 22" if not bigger. Tried to entice him to strike, but no luck.

Got 8 phone calls from my wife, so that's never a good sign... I was 3 hours later than she expected. I told her that the first day of trout is like a national holiday for me, It's my Christmas... she didn't think it was funny... All in all, it was worth it!

Here's a few pics (I have 2 settings on the camera. One for close up, and one far away... no one seems to be able to use the right one... but pics of me, my buddy, the caddis, and the golden.)

 

[PennKev]

Wow, that's a lot of bugs. Last year we had ton of caddis, probably the most I've ever see on Neshannock, looks like this year will be a repeat. As a side note, I feel that as a whole, the hatches on Neshannock are improving compared to those of 10 or 12 yrs ago.

BTW, if you can't get fish on top with caddis or by drifting emergers, try swinging the emergers at the end of the drift. Rig up and fish as you would with a nymph setup. Make your cast, get the fly get down, and after a short drift, stop the rod and let the fly rise toward the surface. The fish usually crush the fly right as it starts to swing off the bottom. All you really need to do is pause at the end of the drift before you pick up for another cast. The fish just need a shot at your swinging fly. This usually outfishes dead drifting by a large margain when fish are on caddis.

Kev

 

[ryguyfi]

Thanks... I've never really swung wets before... might try it now. In the afternoon I saw 2 or 3 rainbows rising in a run and threw everything at them. Talked to a few guys at a large pool who said they saw rises in the morning, but I didn't see many. Most rises I saw were chubs.... small aggressive rises in the shallows. I think some people who don't know too much about bug activity, also can't recognize the difference between a trout and a chub rise.

The hatch was INCREDIBLE. Borderline disgusting(But I loved it)... dont face upwind or you'd get a bug in the eye. I had them down my shirt, in my ear... they were everywhere. I don't usually wear a hat when I fish, but I'm glad I did that day.

I was walking on the opposite side of shore from most fisherman (realized I really need to get a wading staff) and they were all through the trees and rocks... I would look down periodically and see about 50 of them clung to my waders. I think later in the day the fish were feeding on the spent caddis, but didn't have a spent pattern... anyone use a spent caddis pattern?

I had a blast and might go back sometime this week. Probably fish the DHALO due to a lack of fish in the sections I fished.

 

[PennKev]

It's really not a classic "wet fly swing." Just dead drifting with a pause somewhere in the drift or a pause at the end.

BTW, I recognize the area in your pics and can't believe there aren't a million guys all around you.

Kev

 

[Acristickid]

I was all ready to fish wets for a caddis hatch and the fish would'nt really have it. I had luck with a wet behind my nymphs and wets under the dry but the fish would'nt take any on the swing. That kinda threw me off. Never can tell these hatches.

 

[ryguyfi]

I saw a decent amount of cars and guys, but we walked a lot to get to some open water. That bridge where I caught the golden is where we caught most of our fish. There were about 4 or 5 guys on the shore with kids, but it was later in the day... maybe 3:00. I be the whole day in walking 2+ miles of the stream, I saw maybe 40 guys.

 

[riz]

i was there too. that was an incredible hatch. water was 44 at 9:00 am. i only had 1 hit on top everything else was with nymphs. but nothing consistant. my friend did well with an olive puppa on a swing. i tried but did not have the technique right or something. on of the top 5 best hatches i've seen. but then aagin i've had better results with less bugs in the air.