Oil Creek, Venango Co, 5-15-21

[Prospector]

Time Fished: 545pm - 720pm

Weather Conditions: Mostly Sunny, 65 degrees

Water Conditions: 56 degrees, about normal flow for this date

Insects: Sulphurs and midges; between 545pm and 6pm a Sulphur was hatching every 30 secs or so. Most were high in the riffle above the main group of fish. The hills surrounding the creek began casting a shadow on the water about 640pm and that seem to slow the hat


I rigged up 3 wets at the truck with the intention of swinging a Caddis, Royal Coachman, small olive bugger. I only had 1 strike on the first pass. Second pass I switched the woolly bugger to a pheasant tail nymph trying to find something to simulate that hatching sulphurs. No strikes. Put on large bugger (replacing pheasant tail) and caught a brown. Also tried prince nymph, Walt’s Worm, Black woolly. and white Streamer. I was the one still on the creek at 7pm. Only saw 1 rise.

 

[dano]

Are you sure you were seeing sulphurs and not yellow craneflies or gray fox? The later two usually hatch before the sulphurs and many people on this stream assume that when they see a yellow bodied bug in the air, it's a sulphur.

 

[Sharknado5]

I guess I saw you last night as I walked the RR tracks back to my car a little after 6. I didn't see the sulfurs ( or whatever) hatching in the riffle but I did see the no rises in the flat water down below!

I also swung wets against the far bank. A futile exercise but it was a beautiful day.

 

[Prospector]

Dano,
Anything is possible since I didn’t catch any.
I did see one large light bodied mayfly that was obviously lumbering to get airborne (probably a gray fox). The insect in numbers had more of an orange cast and were in the sz 16-18 range. Again they weren’t in large enough numbers to catch any. A guy at the parking lot thought I was quitting rather than arriving and asked if I had seen any sulphurs. He planted the seed that they might be there. He had fished another area and was checking in as he drove past.

Shark, I was fishing the open water. When you mention “flat water below”, I assume you were at lower DHALO

 

[Sharknado5]

Yes Prospector I was at Petroleum Center. Very few anglers present and no bugs or fish working. The water level was good but maybe the high water the past week had some effect.

 

[Bllchar]

I was at Oil yesterday as well and found the same tough conditions. Within my first cast or two, around 3 pm, I caught one on a sulfur-type wet fly. Ended up the only fish for the day. Fished open water around the Blood Farm area as well as a section above Petroleum Center. Never did see a rise... Beautiful day but the fish definitely weren't cooperating.

 

[Clarmy]

I was there Weds 12th when water was still high. Three BB's above a Hornberg produced about 15 trout. Had to get it down deep. Caught my first Golden Rainbow. Steady action in that high water, surprising to me.

 

[CRB]

Fished Sunday AM till about 1 there was a bit of activity but head to tail raises in the riffles. I got double digits on nymphs. Lost 8 just before getting them into the net.

 

[dano]

So there's been a few sulphurs the past few afternoons. Maybe by next weekend we'll see a major hatch.