Oil Creek, Venango Country, 04/24/2021

[Sylvaneous]

Low and clear. Sunny morning. Mix of still and windy. The little grannoms have shown up. They started emerging after 10AM. Heavy hatch activity. Something close to every fish was feeding off the top.
Let's see if they hatch well tomorrow. You can guess YES, but it could be, as I've seen it, be NO. Started with a snowshoe hare wing caddis with not good results. I thought they weren't grannoms so I was fishing a tan/green body. Results were MUCH better with CDC, sz. 18. That's the shizzle, iff'n you wanna know. Dark chocolate body.
A combination of running low on effective flies, many fish caught and the onset of illness (still can't shake my headache), I headed home to tie.

IF you do get to OIl Creek, try to stay in the straight, flat water along the picknick section of the Delayed Harvest section in Petroleum center. It looked like the thing to do. When I left, there still wasn't anyone fishing below the Petroleum Center bridge.
The trout and the bugs are abundant and everywhere. Don't fish in a crowd. (Or do. It saves more spots for me. )

 

[dano]

Same flies were coming off Pine, Lower Caldwell and Thompson Run. All three streams fished well yesterday with a nice mix of early brownstones on Pine.
I didn't make it to Oil until later in the afternoon and the grannoms fished well from above Jersey Bridge through the usual spots down to Drakes. #16 Fluttering Caddis high and dry.
Lots of hikers and bikers but saw no other fishermen until Drakes.

 

[Bruno]

Sylvaneous wrote:
IF you do get to OIl Creek, try to stay in the straight, flat water along the picknick section of the Delayed Harvest section in Petroleum center. It looked like the thing to do.

Funny - I fished Oil yesterday from 2pm till 6. Had the whole place to myself more or less. Bugs and fish everywhere.

 

[Sylvaneous]

Sunday:
the rain was only sprinkles at best and the sunny day promised did not materialize. The tiny grannoms arrived. They were much later, like 12, than 10:30 on the sunny Saturday. When the sun would poke out from the clouds, it initiated a pulse in the caddis emergence. A dark chocolate sz. 18 (16 2 X short from TMC) CDC caddis of TCO variety did the trick all day. No idea where between 20 and 40 fish I landed. It was pretty much one after another BUT you did have to do it right. Casts and drifts had to be good or you had to sink the dry. Maybe a tiny bit of action.
The slow action guaranteed rising from noon till whenever. i stopped at Blood farm just to look and saw bugs and some risers. I re-strung my rod and fished in slippers from shore and caught 5 more.
2 neat things. 1) Caught my 2nd fly rod palomino ever. A big one. Fought great. 2) fished 1 single caddis fly the entire time I was at Petroleum Centre (Center?) Then at Blood farm, I tried to hoist a rainbow up to me (I wasn't in the water and only had on slippers) and snapped off the tippet at the knot. But it was a different CDC caddis. I still have the 'warrior' fly. Ironic

 

[nomad_archer]

I fished oil on Monday 5/3. It was running at 600 cfs after the 2" if rain in friday. I fished at Drakes from 11-2 until the rain soaked through my rain coat. It was high, fast and stained. I managed 8 rainbows. 6 on a #14 beadhead cdc/squirrel emerger and 2 on a #12 olive walts with a 4.0mm bead. The walts was only there to try and get down and slow my drift. I know I would have done better but the conditions were pretty tough.

I've only ever fished drakes but I think next year I will try some of the other areas. My dad struck out as he is just learning to fly fish and the water was a little to fast for him to run an indicator rig.


One thing I've yet to figure out is where the "green posts" are that delineates the upper end of the DHALO section at drakes. Does anyone know where those are?

 

[dryflyguy]

Can't help with the DLALO boundaries at Drake Well
Although I would think that the bridge would be one of them.

I fished there for the first time several weeks ago during the Grannom hatch.
Pretty nice emergence that day. But only a few fish were rising to them, and sporadically at best.
Everything I caught was small

 

[dennisw]

I will try and explain where the green post is. If you walk in at the visitor center and store. Stay on gravel path along the pump house which is on your left side. When you walk to the end where the monument for the daughters of the revolution stands and walk up on the high bank there. It will be downstream about 50 yards. It is really hard to see, but if you look in that general area you will see it. It is actually at the end of the first fast run and then the creek is a slow straight run. Hope this helps.

 

[nomad_archer]

Thanks that does help. Now at least I have some context on where to look next time I am there. I kind of wish they would have chosen something easier to identify like the bridge or possibly some better signage.

I am only curious because I am the only fly fisherman, everyone else at camp primarily fishes bait and I'd like to keep them on the right side of the rules.