North Fork Redbank Creek, Jefferson Co, 5-19-2024

[Prospector]

Time Fished: 1000am - 1145am

Weather Conditions: Mostly Cloudy, Air Temp 66 degrees

Water Conditions: Good flow, just a little off color, water temp 60 degrees

Insects: saw some light mayflies at a distance, not much else

When I arrived there were about 10-12 people fishing. Most people fish in the water directly adjacent to the parking lot. Two guys may have been using dries. Several people were nymphing using an indicator. Two other guys were running streamers, like I was.

I knew I was only staying a short time as I was driving home from the Jam at Seven Mountains. It wasn’t an ideal timeslot to fish, but the overcast skies helped a lot.

I jumped into the first open spot and fished a streamer downstream for above 250 yards. First cast was met with a swipe and a miss confirming the browns were chasing streamers. I worked my way through 3 holes and had strikes in each hole. On my first pass I landed 4 browns on about 19 strikes. I went back to the 2 best holes and used 2 new streamers and didn’t have a strike. That dry spell coincided with the cloud cover pushing out, leaving the area in full sun.

 

[Sharknado5]

Thanks for the report. I fished North Fork near Brookville in the late 60s basically right underneath where the the I-80 bridge is now, I think it was a fly project, or some kind of project at the time. My neighbor took me and his son, we always fished salmon eggs with spinning rods mostly in Cameron/Potter county and did very well on stocked trout. That was back when they stocked the hell out of those streams. But we had to switch to fly gear for this trip. We all had fly rods and usually automatic reels for fishing with salted minnows and worms in smaller streams "up north" where the camps were. North Fork/Redbank felt weird to me, lots of acid mine influence at that time, And we did awful. So as a young teenager I decided fly fishing was for the birds. But when I moved to State college in the 80s I changed my mind.

 

[Prospector]

Sharknado5,

That is the same water. It is 1.9 miles of Catch and Release Fly Fishing Only with the I80 bridges directly overhead. If I am standing in a certain spot where they can see me, the truckers will honk when the go past. My mistake for leaving that out of the designation in the post title.

 

[dryflyguy]

I fly fished that area once a long time ago.
Stopped on my way back from kettle creek.
Nothing was hatching or rising, and I wasn't very impressed.

How is it now, 40 years later?
You'd think a FFO section would have some hatching activity.

But then again, Slippery Rock creek has a FFO section too.......

 

[Sharknado5]

Thanks, Prospector, and thanks for your reports. It's almost like being there!

I'm near the Potter/Cameron county line right now, and pretty much every bug that could be hatching now is doing so. Hard to figure out what the trout want. Water level is nice to but coming down pretty fast.

 

[Prospector]

I fly fished that area once a long time ago.
Stopped on my way back from kettle creek.
Nothing was hatching or rising, and I wasn't very impressed.

How is it now, 40 years later?
You'd think a FFO section would have some hatching activity.

But then again, Slippery Rock creek has a FFO section too.......

My previous report on North Fork was from 5-19-2022 and I noted that Caddis and Small BWO were hatching or at least on the water. I tried drys that day but the trout were selective. I think 2 guys were fishing dries yesterday.

 

[Mike]

I fly fished that area once a long time ago.
Stopped on my way back from kettle creek.
Nothing was hatching or rising, and I wasn't very impressed.

How is it now, 40 years later?
You'd think a FFO section would have some hatching activity.

But then again, Slippery Rock creek has a FFO section too.......

dfg,
The Fly Fishing Only Program locations were rarely if ever situated based on hatch activity. They were almost entirely or entirely established through a combination of sportsmen’s proposals and thoughts of Conservation Officers, That was a long time ago. In essence, they were socially motivated. The only biological component at the time was reduced mortality caused by fly anglers who were C&R fishing, but that was because research on spin fishing mortality either did not exist at the time or was not fully developed depending upon the time period being considered. FFO, as I have said before, is a remnant of a time when knowledge was limited.

 

[dryflyguy]

dfg,
The Fly Fishing Only Program locations were rarely if ever situated based on hatch activity. They were almost entirely or entirely established through a combination of sportsmen’s proposals and thoughts of Conservation Officers, That was a long time ago. In essence, they were socially motivated. The only biological component at the time was reduced mortality caused by fly anglers who were C&R fishing, but that was because research on spin fishing mortality either did not exist at the time or was not fully developed depending upon the time period being considered. FFO, as I have said before, is a remnant of a time when knowledge was limited.

There are some really good ones out there

Yellow creek creek FFO is a gem.
I've found insects hatching there almost all year.
The one on Kettle Creek - which used to be FFO, not sure what it is now - always had great hatches

 

[Prospector]

There are some really good ones out there

Yellow creek creek FFO is a gem.
I've found insects hatching there almost all year.
The one on Kettle Creek - which used to be FFO, not sure what it is now - always had great hatches

The Kettle stretch is still FFO.