OIL CREEK (5/17/10

T

troutslammer

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fished the open water with sulfur nymphs , not producing too good , went to the delayed harvest , caught a few on sulfurs nymphs there and as i made my way down stream below a big set of riffle i noticed alot of sulfur duns floating down , water was still high but a little clearer than the previous day , then the splashing started ! caught many many fish for about an hour arround 5 pm on sulfur parachute size 14 , fish were not picky , if they rose and u covered em u slammed em period ! water temp was just a few degrees under sixty because of the rain we had all day , tiny BWO worked well too for my buddy , almost the same as the sulfur dry , in the next couple weeks things are really gonna heat up on oil , nows the time if anyone wants to fish a blizzard hatch of sulfurs !!!!
 
Thanks for the report, be there in about a week. gonna be in the area Sunday evening through Thursday afternoon.
 
Would you recommend any campgrounds in the area?

Hoping to fish June 7,8,9 and we were thinking about hitting Oil Creek...

Boss
 
Maybe try for campgrounds in the ANF, Cooks Forest and Clear Creek State Park (On Clarion)- there not located right there but not very far. There might be others closer but I am unwware of them.
 
there is oil creek campground , i think it is open with all the bridge constuction in the area , if your coming , have size 22 BWO , size 16 bright green caddis , sulfurs , (14&16) tan caddis size 16 , olive caddis size 14 & 16 , crane flys size 16 , light cahills size 14 & 16 should have u covered along with nymphs for each
 
Thanks for the heads up...does it get a green drake hatch or will I have missed that already...where is the bridge out at...

Boss
 
There is an "oil creek family campground." Never been there, can't tell ya much on it. The state park itself also offers reservable "backpack camping." I can't tell ya much about that either, but it's probably at supplied spots and far from any roads.

There's tons of camping in Cooks Forest area, both the park and satellite private campgrounds. There's a campground in Tionesta, just below the dam, owned by the State Park. There are some campgrounds in the ANF. And in the ANF, you don't need a campground, you can pull off and camp anywhere. Those roads have plenty of pull offs that people use for that purpose. But all of those options are at least a half hour away from Oil, most a little further.

Oil Creek is not exactly in the middle of nowhere. Titusville, Oil City, and Franklin are all decent sized towns with the full compliment of hotels, etc.
 
Don't believe Oil to have drakes. That area of the state doesn't have drakes in general. Some streams do have hex's, including the Allegheny. I don't know Oil to have hex's and have never encountered a hex hatch there, but it wouldn't shock me. Didn't really know it to have BWO's either though, I was surprised to see troutslammer mention them. Perhaps they're taking them for midges or microcaddis, or perhaps there are BWO's, I dunno.

March browns, sulfurs, and various caddis can be expected.
 
no green drakes on oil as pcray has mentioned , there are loads of blue wings , different sizes at different times , different parts of the stream see different insects too , sometimes on one section there is bwo and downstream a 1/4 mile there are sulfurs , just be prepared but sulfurs will probably be the main course unless it is rainy and overcast then be prepared to see BWO and swarms of midges
 
troutslammer,

I'm interested in the BWO's. Fished Oil creek a fair amount, but always in May-July, never encountered BWO's. And you also said they're size 22's, which is smaller than most BWO's I'm familiar with, thats more like trico size.

But BWO is one of those labels that people tag on a large number of different species, and different areas can have their own names. Do you happen to know the species? When I hear BWO I typically think of Baetis, which are about an 18 and most typical in early spring (March) and then again in the fall (October), and generally a mid-day hatch. But you may be talking about a different species that I associate a different name to?

Boss - Seriously, have march browns ready. I was there the first week of June last year. We saw sulfurs, but March Browns were crazy, and we had a lot of fun.
 
Boss,

I have stayed here and found it to be a good campground, but it's not exactly close to Oil, maybe an hour from Titusville. You'll have LOTS of options though if you stay in that area.
 
BWO can be clear down to a size 24 , there are a few different species found in oil creek ,these are 2 that i know baetis sp (ephemeroptera ) , plauditus sp , old name pseudocloeon , they hatch sporadically all summer and even winter , mostly drizzly over cast days , most people think there are 2 caddis in oil too , but there are grannoms , bright green caddis , tan caddis , olive caddis , midges have a distinctively different wing than a mayfly , if u get to oil and see them up close they are small bwo . if you look up biological studys on oil creek u will find it has hendicksons , march brown , sulfurs , bwo , blue quills , quill gordons , caddis , crane flys , gray fox , etc. pcray - the pseudocloeon blue wing olive is size 3-5 mm , which correlates to hook size 20-28 , different species of blue wing olives are different sizes . hope this helps , i am no expert though
 
Thanks. I always knew there were many, many species of caddis in oil. I'd have guessed dozens of them, actually, though with caddis many species can look very similar and have the same basic imitation. I've seen grannoms, a bright green body, light green/olive body, and several shades of tan, from sizes 14-22.

As for mayflies, on Oil I knew of hendricksons, march browns (grey fox is same species as March Brown), sulfurs (several types, including cahills), blue quills, quill gordons, and have encountered all of them to varying degrees. I also knew of several types of caddis, craneflies, and various midges. As far as exceptional, prolific hatches, I've run into various caddis, MB's and sulfurs, and considered those the most important to prepare for as a fisherman.
 
troutslamer,
Looks like I was a day late.
Yesterday afternoon was a bit frustrating as there were so many sulphurs on the water that I kept loosing track of my fly. What complicated things was that the cold drizzle and rising water kept the duns from taking flight. About half the bugs on the surface were stillborn and drowned duns. Fish rose without rhythm. I did ok early in the hatch when there were fewer bugs on the water.
 
Troutslammer knows.
Oil Creek has many of those flies we label as BWO.
An excellent hatch of #16 Cornutta in late May and June.
And many of those tiny Acentrella and Baetis from 18-26.
Two weeks ago, 24's blanketed the water.
In Juy, 26's out number the 24 trico spinners.
Yesterday it was 22's.
 
Oh, I wasn't questioning his knowledge, he's there a lot more than me. I was just confused by it, and trying to understand, thats all.
 
dano is an expert in my opinion on oil , caldwell , pine creek , and the tribs on lake erie ,for pete sake the guy has a 10 yr log of water conditions , flys that worked , water temps ,. time of day bugs came off , its unreal ! we will be getting together this weekend dano if the rain holds off or maybe even if it doesn't ..
 
I was out at Oil Creek in the Delayed harvest at petroleum center yesterday. Didn't catch anything but there were lots of Sulphurs flying around and fish jumping everywhere. I think your best bet is gonna be sulphurs size 16.
 
oil was blown out yesterday , was running over 4 feet on the gauge , running at almost 1500 cfs. not even wadable in my opinion ,
 
Based on the gauge, it's lookin like its fishable again already.

Of course, it could get dumped on again tomorrow. I might make it up there by Sunday evening, but will almost certainly be there Monday-Thursday evenings.
 
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