discomidge
Well-known member
I ditched work yesterday afternoon and hit the stream. When I got to the mid state trail lot around 1:30 I saw a single BWO and that was enough to convince me to break out my dry fly rod. I didn't really expect to get to fish on top very much, but boy howdy was I wrong.
It was mostly sunny, a little breezy, and about 50 degrees when I got to the first pool I like to scope. The water was 48 degrees and that perfect Penns Creek green with decent clarity. It was on the high side, around 600cfs. There were Quill Gordons and a couple BWOs coming off but only one fish sporadically rising to them. I promptly put it down with some crappy casting.
I then hiked upstream to my favorite spot and saw a few fish rising to Quill Gordons and by god I picked them off. They all ate a #14 Catskills-style Quill Gordon. I kind of forgot how fun dry flies bigger than #20 are. After that I figured my day was made and everything after that was gravy. But after that it clouded over. And after the clouds showed up so did the HENDRICKSONS.
The stream blew up for about 2 hours. It was a strong hatch and the fish were chomping. At first I predominantly saw males on the water so I tied on my go-to darker #12 parachute hendo and caught a few fish, but I had to work for them. Fish that were actively rising often couldn't be coaxed to even come up and reject that fly most of the time. So I switched to a pink #14 parachute hendo and it was game on. No idea how many fish I caught, but I spent more time netting fish and dusting up my fly than actually casting. It absolutely ruled.
Nothing beats dry fly fishing in my book, but once the hatch ended I sniped a few more straggling risers then switched over to tight line nymphing and, wouldn't you know it, I caught more fish. They were just plain eating yesterday. A #14 iron lotus and a #16 BH PT soft hackle both produced about equally.
Man, I love hendricksons. One other note - almost all the fish I caught were pretty fat. I guess they've been eating well.
It was mostly sunny, a little breezy, and about 50 degrees when I got to the first pool I like to scope. The water was 48 degrees and that perfect Penns Creek green with decent clarity. It was on the high side, around 600cfs. There were Quill Gordons and a couple BWOs coming off but only one fish sporadically rising to them. I promptly put it down with some crappy casting.
I then hiked upstream to my favorite spot and saw a few fish rising to Quill Gordons and by god I picked them off. They all ate a #14 Catskills-style Quill Gordon. I kind of forgot how fun dry flies bigger than #20 are. After that I figured my day was made and everything after that was gravy. But after that it clouded over. And after the clouds showed up so did the HENDRICKSONS.
The stream blew up for about 2 hours. It was a strong hatch and the fish were chomping. At first I predominantly saw males on the water so I tied on my go-to darker #12 parachute hendo and caught a few fish, but I had to work for them. Fish that were actively rising often couldn't be coaxed to even come up and reject that fly most of the time. So I switched to a pink #14 parachute hendo and it was game on. No idea how many fish I caught, but I spent more time netting fish and dusting up my fly than actually casting. It absolutely ruled.
Nothing beats dry fly fishing in my book, but once the hatch ended I sniped a few more straggling risers then switched over to tight line nymphing and, wouldn't you know it, I caught more fish. They were just plain eating yesterday. A #14 iron lotus and a #16 BH PT soft hackle both produced about equally.
Man, I love hendricksons. One other note - almost all the fish I caught were pretty fat. I guess they've been eating well.
