tjsingle
Well-known member
Hey all-
Took this week from work and spent the first half up in Cape Cod for MDW. I decided somewhat last minute to shoot up to Penns to see what was up with the hatching bugs. I've seen a variety of reports so I figured it would be best to check it out myself.
Flows: 522 CFS @ Noon
Color/Clarity: A little stained, but visibility fine except for deep pools.
Temp: High 50s
Weather: Sunny, blue bird skies with passing clouds. WINDY @ 4-6PM.
Hatches: Cahills, Sulphur's, Slate Drakes, some caddis, occasional Green Drake coffin flies.
Between the various fly shop reports there was enough positive to make the 2.5 hour one way drive worth it. I wanted to fish the Green Drake hatch. So I planned on being there from noon till well after dark, like 930P. I didn't want to be on the water 12+ hours and then do the turn and burn drive home.
I quickly found out that the hatch from Tuesday was limited to the Coburn section, and that the Catch and Release section had a very brief 2 or 3 day emergence. Instead of fighting crowds for what was left of the drakes, I opted for solitude. Someone I talked to said that each pull off had like 4 cars in it...
Started off by fishing a streamer to anything with structure or heavy current. Moved several fish, had two hooked but headshaked and gone. I worked my way upstream with a dry and sometimes a dropper. Still no surface action. Had one tiny swipe at a dry but still nothing to net.
Ended nymphing for a bit until the bugs picked up a brownie. FINALLY. Took an emerger pattern I tied up.
Once the sun went over the mountain, the bugs picked up, but the fish still didn't. I fished my way back to the truck fishing two long pools looking for risers. At the last pool the fish started to rise pretty inconsistently and almost a little splashy. I figured some were smaller ones, but I did have eats from two fish that were solid but no connection. I talked to a guy while I was leaving and he said his experience was similar. There seemed to be a lot of dejected fisherman around, haha. Getting off the stream at 930P and making the 2.5hr drive home wasn't particularly fun, but it is what it is
All and all, weird day on Penns. If I would've caught all the fish I moved, it would've been a great day. But that's how it goes sometimes. I do somewhat regret not chasing the drakes more intently, but I really was doubtful of even finding parking based on hearing it was more of a Coburn event. Shoulder to shoulder didn't soud particularly fun either.
Interested to see if anyone else was out yesterday, and how they did?
Thanks,
Tom
Bonus wildlife:
Merganser sharing the sentiment of the day
Muskrat
Took this week from work and spent the first half up in Cape Cod for MDW. I decided somewhat last minute to shoot up to Penns to see what was up with the hatching bugs. I've seen a variety of reports so I figured it would be best to check it out myself.
Flows: 522 CFS @ Noon
Color/Clarity: A little stained, but visibility fine except for deep pools.
Temp: High 50s
Weather: Sunny, blue bird skies with passing clouds. WINDY @ 4-6PM.
Hatches: Cahills, Sulphur's, Slate Drakes, some caddis, occasional Green Drake coffin flies.
Between the various fly shop reports there was enough positive to make the 2.5 hour one way drive worth it. I wanted to fish the Green Drake hatch. So I planned on being there from noon till well after dark, like 930P. I didn't want to be on the water 12+ hours and then do the turn and burn drive home.
I quickly found out that the hatch from Tuesday was limited to the Coburn section, and that the Catch and Release section had a very brief 2 or 3 day emergence. Instead of fighting crowds for what was left of the drakes, I opted for solitude. Someone I talked to said that each pull off had like 4 cars in it...
Started off by fishing a streamer to anything with structure or heavy current. Moved several fish, had two hooked but headshaked and gone. I worked my way upstream with a dry and sometimes a dropper. Still no surface action. Had one tiny swipe at a dry but still nothing to net.
Ended nymphing for a bit until the bugs picked up a brownie. FINALLY. Took an emerger pattern I tied up.
All and all, weird day on Penns. If I would've caught all the fish I moved, it would've been a great day. But that's how it goes sometimes. I do somewhat regret not chasing the drakes more intently, but I really was doubtful of even finding parking based on hearing it was more of a Coburn event. Shoulder to shoulder didn't soud particularly fun either.
Interested to see if anyone else was out yesterday, and how they did?
Thanks,
Tom
Bonus wildlife:
Merganser sharing the sentiment of the day
Muskrat
