Tulpehocken Creek/Berks Co./ 6/3/17

[nomad_archer]

Fished a few sections of the Tully from 9-12 .
Water was slightly off color in the deeper pockets but generally decent visibility.

Flow was ~221cfs and ~63 degrees.

There was a healthy crowd everywhere and a decent tan caddis hatch coming of and a few scattered risers. I fished nymphs and hooked into a handful of fish including one nice brown. I only managed to land one fish as the rest threw the hook which is ok by me. The bite seemed a bit off as the conditions were perfect but the fishing was on the slower side.

On the plus side I have yet to witness any of the "reported" fish abuse that has come up in other threads. I have fished the tully several times this year and all the fish I have witnessed caught were handled gently and returned unharmed.

 

[Mike]

It is possible that those incidences were early on and that with experience the offending anglers have learned what it takes to release large fish effectively. It may also be that the novelty has worn off for those anglers.

 

[nomad_archer]

Very true mike. It could be any of those factors. However I just remember reading comments that the Keystone Select designation was going to ruin the Tully. So far I have not witnessed anything that would indicate that. The Tully has really been a treat to fish so far this year. Thanks for all you do.

 

[wbranch]

I must of gone to the Tully at least a dozen times this year and was there again today from 9 - 3 and the caddis emergences and therefore the amount of rising trout seems way off compared to 2016 and prior.

I probably landed eight fish and missed an equal number but they came hard and I had to be creative in my fly selection. The typical success I have had in the past with Lafontaine emergent pupa was just not cutting it and I did better with a #20 Parachute Adams and a #20 CDC Olive Thorax dun. All 6X tippets. I have not once this year seen the heavier caddis emergences and the section of water I prefer to have at least a dozen steadily rising fish going on for hours.

Everyone I have spoken to seems to agree that the caddis numbers are down and so are the amount of rising fish. The fish may be there in the same numbers but they just aren't looking up as they have in prior year. I could go there virtually any day of the week (no weekends) and if I didn't raise at least 20 fish felt that I had a bad day.

 

[nomad_archer]

Interesting wbranch. I two weeks ago I was up there and there was a pretty good caddis hatch and the fish were rising but no one was catching anything. Guys were fishing dries, I was nymphing the fish just were not interested. I have done ok up there this year since the stocking but all my action has been on nymphs. I also find if I walk farther than everyone else I tend to get into some fish. If I just fish right at the access points the fishing has been pretty terrible.

 

[wbranch]

Archer wrote;

I have done ok up there this year since the stocking but all my action has been on nymphs.

Many guys are making that very same comment. Just yesterday I chatted with a fellow that was fishing in a spot I wanted to fish. I sat on the bank about 100' below him and about half an hour later he waded back to shore and started to walk towards me. I asked him if he was leaving and he said he was. We chatted about his success and he said he has been doing well but only on nymphs. Later he came back and fished below me and in short order he caught three, one about 15", nymphing with his indicator at least 10' up the leader. I'm assuming it was more of a strike indicator than to suspend the fly off the bottom.

I'm mainly responsible for my lack of success on waters wen the fish don't rise actively because I just flat out refuse to nymph. I rather stare blankly at the water and complain then put on a nymph rig. BTW I can nymph if pressured and do add a nymph behind my dry when on my annual Montana Missouri River trip. Sometimes my biggest browns eat the dropper rather than the dry.

This brown ate a #18 clear bead caddis pupa behind a CDC caddis on 4" long piece of 5X.

 

[nomad_archer]

That is a beautiful brown.

 

[Jimbot]

Hey now!

The last 3 weeks on the Tully the fish rising have been very selective to dark caddis with a green body. Grannoms I believe sp? shrug.

Anyways they are taking them as they are stuck in their shucks on the surface.

I had a hell of a time figuring it out...and im not gonna lie i had some help from a very kind older fly fisher who was killing it. Really nice man.

Anyways...anything that looks like this. It was size 16 and 18's Last weekend. It could change by this weekend who knows.

-Bot

 

[nomad_archer]

Interesting what I saw this past weekend was more of a tan caddis. Interestingly enough I have caught my fish on a pheasant tail not any of my caddis nymph patterns even though there were caddis coming off. Go figure.

 

[Jimbot]

There were tan caddis...i saw them even this Saturday. But I did scoop up the surface film and found plenty of struggling caddis in their shucks.

Im gonna try Jim Misurias trash bag emerger this weekend. Will report.

Heres a pic of pretty much the only size fish I was catching...like a 13ish.


I only caught 1 brown. Funny enough he was the only fish that jumped...love a brown trout. bad pic sorry

 

[wbranch]

Jimbot,

Thanks for sharing the very nice picture of the caddis emerger you had success with on the Tully. I'll tie a few after I get back from the Delaware on Friday.

 

[Jimbot]

No prob wbranch. You don't have to use biots by the way. I pulled that pic off the internet. I just tied mine with green dubbing.

 

[krayfish2]

Matt,
Don't forget the patterns I sent you. They work very well at both locations.

 

[wbranch]

Andy,

How was the nymphing marathon with the nephew? I came home Thursday bc I was sick as a dog. My buddy has still not come home. He hammered fish yesterday and today. I numbers are so high I would be accused of being a total BSer if I posted his tally, both how many and sizes. Not that there were any monsters but the range is very narrow - like not more than 3" and every fish was in the teens. Going up tomorrow for 2-3 days. It just poured up there my friend told me and the thermometer is really taking a nosedive. The high tomorrow is 54 and Wednesday only 56 so it might screw up the bugs.

 

[acesedgley]

Caught 5 last night in flat water on the Tully on 16 sulfer emerger. All browns 12-14 and a nice rock bass.

 

[nomad_archer]

Sounds like everyone is having some limited success on the tully. I am heading back up there on Friday and maybe Saturday. I will post another report.