Yough - 10-21-07

[highsticker]

Fished the Yough yesterday from Ramcat down 3 miles. I knew from the USGS gauge info that the water was warm, but until you stand in it, you don't realize how warm 60's water is! In the am, the air was about 40, so I would put my hands in the water to warm them up! That's just ODD for late October!

Anyway, we didn't do any good in the morning. We fished great holes, with nymphs and streamers I know for a fact work, but nothing would take. Finally at about 12:30 I picked up a 12" tiger trout on a white streamer.

At around 1:00 - 2:30 there was a bit of a hatch, which I'm still trying to figure out. If there are any entomologists that were fishing on Sunday that could tell me what those flies were, please reply here. They looked like black caddis, but if you looked at them, they had wings that laid down flat on their back, unlike a caddis with the "tent" wings. The other difference was the absence of the signature caddis antennae. These looked more like a black crane fly than a caddis. Regardless, we started picking up fish on size 16 black soft hackle emergers fished just under the surface film. It turned out to be a nice day.

Now if the Army Corps of Engineers would just lower the temp of the river, it might turn on!

 

[tomgamber]

if the wings were flat it was some kind of moth.

 

[highsticker]

That's sort of what I was thinking, but the body was very thin, and black, it had 6 legs and really resembled a tiny stonefly or cranefly. Really irrelevant I guess since the lack of antennae and wing configuration didn't really change the fact that a 16 black caddis and black emerger pattern did the trick.

BTW. I guess we're neighbors. I live in Jeannette.

 

[tomgamber]

If they were eating it I guess it really doesn't matter. Were the wings overlapped or side by side...I wasn't even thinking stonefly.

 

[highsticker]

They were overlapping. Not delta like a cranefly typically is. I thought stonefly too, but it didn't have long antennae. I've been scouring the web today trying to find images of whatever it was.

This stone is the closest thing. They just didn't have the long antennae that I remember. Wish someone else who fished it saw them and knows what they were would see this.

 

[LehighRegular]

Now if the Army Corps of Engineers would just lower the temp of the river, it might turn on!

Its very likely that the lake ran out of coldwater. If I recall past posts, the reservoir usually looses its coldwater during this time of year as the Corps draws down the lake.

Once the coldwater is gone....its gone. Untill next spring when the Corps fills the reservoir with coldwater again.

 

[schrec]

highsticker,
I fished the Yough yesterday -- MOnday 10/23. I saw the same bug. I actually caught one. The wings were mottled grey/black, the body was olive. The wings on the one I caught did appear to be tent-like. I assumed it was some kind of caddis. It was fairly large, size 14. They were flying close to the surface, to lay eggs probably, the trout were splashing and clearing the water giving chase. I tried skittering a grey cadddis pattern, but got no interest. But I did pick up a few on a dark brown soft hackle.

Water temp; 66 degrees.
Water level; too high for my tastes