Prospector
Well-known member
Time Fished: 300pm - 845pm
Weather Conditions: 66 degrees & Rain
Water Conditions: 59 degrees, mostly clear but slightly off color.
Insects: March Browns, Sulpurs, Caddis, stoneflies, Paraleptaphebia, I’m forgetting some too.
I wasn’t fishing in the DHALO.
I had a feeling that today’s rain might trigger a decent amount of insect hatching and that was the case. I grew up in New Castle and fished the Neshannock Creek over 6 decades and I don’t recall seeing such a diverse group of insects at one time. I’m sure the water quality has dramatically improved over time and since I don’t fish it much lately, I didn’t know the strides that were made. It was delightful to watch. Unfortunately there were too many insects to get samples of each.
I rigged up at the truck so I was unaware what was happening on the water. I chose a standard setup with olive woolly bugger and a Royal Coachman wet. I fished this rig on the first pass of a large hole. On this first pass covering over 100 yards I caught 3 browns and had about 8 strikes. All fish took the Royal coachman. I suspect these trout have seen many olive woolly buggers.
Next pass I changed the flies up a bit. I noticed several March Browns on the first pass so I put a MB nymph on point and a MB wet as the top dropper. On this pass I caught 2 browns and a Smallmouth Bass on 5 strikes. The trout took the coachman and the bass grabbed the Woolly Bugger.
The fishing got tougher at this point as the rain was coming down harder. I tried 2 different streamers, one was a dud and the other caught a nice brown.
Desperate, I tried another wet fly setup without any luck. When I got back to the head of the riffle I went outside the box. I clipped off the point fly and tied on a #16 Yellow Fore n’ Aft. I decided to leave the Royal coachman wet on since I probably was going to swing wets with the next setup. I have tried a dry dropper only a few times in my life with no luck. About 10 mins in, I noticed the dry fly disappeared. I thought it was the current pulling it under but when I pulled I had a nice brown on the dropper. But that’s my first trout on a dry/dropper. I see how the dry/dropper works.
I finished the day catching a brown on a dry fly near dark. Sulphur imitation.
It wasn’t a pretty night but it was enlightening. With all of those insects hatching, the Neshannock Creek might fish well on Monday night when they are ready to lay those eggs.
I ended up catching 8 browns and one SM Bass on 32 strikes.
An osprey flew over me about 4 times during the evening. I imagine it does quite a bit of fishing in the hole I was in. It called every time it flew over.
Weather Conditions: 66 degrees & Rain
Water Conditions: 59 degrees, mostly clear but slightly off color.
Insects: March Browns, Sulpurs, Caddis, stoneflies, Paraleptaphebia, I’m forgetting some too.
I wasn’t fishing in the DHALO.
I had a feeling that today’s rain might trigger a decent amount of insect hatching and that was the case. I grew up in New Castle and fished the Neshannock Creek over 6 decades and I don’t recall seeing such a diverse group of insects at one time. I’m sure the water quality has dramatically improved over time and since I don’t fish it much lately, I didn’t know the strides that were made. It was delightful to watch. Unfortunately there were too many insects to get samples of each.
I rigged up at the truck so I was unaware what was happening on the water. I chose a standard setup with olive woolly bugger and a Royal Coachman wet. I fished this rig on the first pass of a large hole. On this first pass covering over 100 yards I caught 3 browns and had about 8 strikes. All fish took the Royal coachman. I suspect these trout have seen many olive woolly buggers.
Next pass I changed the flies up a bit. I noticed several March Browns on the first pass so I put a MB nymph on point and a MB wet as the top dropper. On this pass I caught 2 browns and a Smallmouth Bass on 5 strikes. The trout took the coachman and the bass grabbed the Woolly Bugger.
The fishing got tougher at this point as the rain was coming down harder. I tried 2 different streamers, one was a dud and the other caught a nice brown.
Desperate, I tried another wet fly setup without any luck. When I got back to the head of the riffle I went outside the box. I clipped off the point fly and tied on a #16 Yellow Fore n’ Aft. I decided to leave the Royal coachman wet on since I probably was going to swing wets with the next setup. I have tried a dry dropper only a few times in my life with no luck. About 10 mins in, I noticed the dry fly disappeared. I thought it was the current pulling it under but when I pulled I had a nice brown on the dropper. But that’s my first trout on a dry/dropper. I see how the dry/dropper works.
I finished the day catching a brown on a dry fly near dark. Sulphur imitation.
It wasn’t a pretty night but it was enlightening. With all of those insects hatching, the Neshannock Creek might fish well on Monday night when they are ready to lay those eggs.
I ended up catching 8 browns and one SM Bass on 32 strikes.
An osprey flew over me about 4 times during the evening. I imagine it does quite a bit of fishing in the hole I was in. It called every time it flew over.
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