Sylvaneous
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2006
- Messages
- 1,137
Arrived later than expected. It is road construction season and 80 looked like 95 on a Friday afternoon. Stopped at the closest water in Milesburg at 730. Surprising number of Grey Fox spinners. Some sulfur spinners, but not many. Very light hatching activity, and essentially no risers.
Next day I nymphed some of the lower waters, finding places where I could avoid fishermen which is NOT EASY in May. Did well on mostly smaller fish. Most were below 12" with about 3 or 4 up in the 12 to 14 inch category. All on a sz. 14 sulfur nymph. Saw some caddis and a FEW sulfurs hatching, but not enough caddis to make me switch. And I don't like 2 nymph rigs, even though I use them. Quit around 1.
After doing some things down at the caw-lidge, as my native State College cousin, Tim says it (goin' down to the cawlidge, but I only got a couple a'-dawlers. I don't think it's a local accent, I think it's just Tim.) I bolted to the Little J.
It rained some and showered some on my way along 45. The bugs were already in effect when I got there before 6. My heavens, there are a TON of Grey Foxes on the Little J! I've never seen as many Grey Foxes hatching anywhere: Penns, Oil Creek, Pine, none of those bug factories have shown me so much Size 12 butter yellow as the Little Juniata. The sulfurs, which I now remember have a more peachy-tan cast to them here, were popping off in decent numbers. The fish were eating but not SUPER on them. When they are rising in these situations, I would expect them to eat more freely and aggressively. It took a good deal of coaxing to get them to take. I started with a simple spent shuck snowshoe emerger pattern. It took the 1st one, but I had difficulty with other risers. It seemed they were taking full-on duns, so I grabbed the one parachute that I saw in my box. (I don't really tie them anymore. They land sideways too much with mends and hook casts and require good rooster hackle, which is expensive AND they take more steps than comparaduns) The trout didn't jump all over it, but it did work. I caught, hmmmm... 6 or 7 in one spot, 2 real nice 15" fish. by 630, the hatch was mostly over. I begrudgingly switched back to a 14 sulfur nymph and worked upstream. I caught several more fish, overall smaller, but a couple nice. Chatted with a nice fellow, which is unfortunately more rare than it used to be. (guys are more congenial steelhead fishing. too many trout fishermen seem like other fishermen are stealing their lunch. grumpy bastards. Prolly a result of a pressured, fractured and distracted populace). We shared our similar experiences (nice its not just me) and he moved on downstream. by now its 730. The flat he just left had some risers. I had seen a few spinners with eggs over the water for maybe 20 minutes. I tied on a store-bought polywing and caught another 5 fish on my way out to my car. Bonus! I was literally leaving and stumbled into what, up until now, would have been a decent DAY fishing! Caught a nicely sized riser on my last cast and said DONE, again on my way walking out of the creek. The little J is good, but when it's really good, it's great!
Oh, don't bother going this weekend or next. I rarely see more cars and fishermen along Penns for Green Drakes. Very busy in the lower 1/2 of the section from Spruce creek on up.
I love the drive down 45 and seeing the immaculate dairies with Spruce Creek running through them. While it is a shame to have essentially an entire watershed locked away from the citizenry of the commonwealth, I ponder when I see it, "Who would pay $400 to fish THAT!". But I didn't see any ex-presidents or Robber Barons out today.
Next day I nymphed some of the lower waters, finding places where I could avoid fishermen which is NOT EASY in May. Did well on mostly smaller fish. Most were below 12" with about 3 or 4 up in the 12 to 14 inch category. All on a sz. 14 sulfur nymph. Saw some caddis and a FEW sulfurs hatching, but not enough caddis to make me switch. And I don't like 2 nymph rigs, even though I use them. Quit around 1.
After doing some things down at the caw-lidge, as my native State College cousin, Tim says it (goin' down to the cawlidge, but I only got a couple a'-dawlers. I don't think it's a local accent, I think it's just Tim.) I bolted to the Little J.
It rained some and showered some on my way along 45. The bugs were already in effect when I got there before 6. My heavens, there are a TON of Grey Foxes on the Little J! I've never seen as many Grey Foxes hatching anywhere: Penns, Oil Creek, Pine, none of those bug factories have shown me so much Size 12 butter yellow as the Little Juniata. The sulfurs, which I now remember have a more peachy-tan cast to them here, were popping off in decent numbers. The fish were eating but not SUPER on them. When they are rising in these situations, I would expect them to eat more freely and aggressively. It took a good deal of coaxing to get them to take. I started with a simple spent shuck snowshoe emerger pattern. It took the 1st one, but I had difficulty with other risers. It seemed they were taking full-on duns, so I grabbed the one parachute that I saw in my box. (I don't really tie them anymore. They land sideways too much with mends and hook casts and require good rooster hackle, which is expensive AND they take more steps than comparaduns) The trout didn't jump all over it, but it did work. I caught, hmmmm... 6 or 7 in one spot, 2 real nice 15" fish. by 630, the hatch was mostly over. I begrudgingly switched back to a 14 sulfur nymph and worked upstream. I caught several more fish, overall smaller, but a couple nice. Chatted with a nice fellow, which is unfortunately more rare than it used to be. (guys are more congenial steelhead fishing. too many trout fishermen seem like other fishermen are stealing their lunch. grumpy bastards. Prolly a result of a pressured, fractured and distracted populace). We shared our similar experiences (nice its not just me) and he moved on downstream. by now its 730. The flat he just left had some risers. I had seen a few spinners with eggs over the water for maybe 20 minutes. I tied on a store-bought polywing and caught another 5 fish on my way out to my car. Bonus! I was literally leaving and stumbled into what, up until now, would have been a decent DAY fishing! Caught a nicely sized riser on my last cast and said DONE, again on my way walking out of the creek. The little J is good, but when it's really good, it's great!
Oh, don't bother going this weekend or next. I rarely see more cars and fishermen along Penns for Green Drakes. Very busy in the lower 1/2 of the section from Spruce creek on up.
I love the drive down 45 and seeing the immaculate dairies with Spruce Creek running through them. While it is a shame to have essentially an entire watershed locked away from the citizenry of the commonwealth, I ponder when I see it, "Who would pay $400 to fish THAT!". But I didn't see any ex-presidents or Robber Barons out today.
