Wednesday, June 25, 2014

GREEN DRAKE HATCH ON THE UPPER PINE CREEK 2014

This year the green drakes had some tough conditions to deal with. It seemed to rain every other day in late may and early June. These really wet/cool conditions seemed to put a hold on the hatch and keep the numbers of flies down as I did not see the heavy clouds of flies that I have in past years. Plus a flood in mid may did not help matters at all. Then the water went up to over 9 ft down creek at the cedar run gauge and camper trailers on the bank at the camp had to be moved for fear of being washed away.But on Tues the 10th of June the fish finally came up and ate these flies.
I got out early at 6.00 am and right away caught a 3 lb palomino trout on a size 4 long shank green drake coffin fly pattern tied down to 3x. When fishing these or other large mayflies you should tie down to heavier tippet so they wont spin when cast., and don't let anyone tell you "its too heavy" "The trout will see it"  The trout don't care! How do I know? Because I have been using heavy tippet on large flies for 30 years and have caught more trout over 20 inches then almost everyone I know.

Fishing was great! It was as if all the big trout decided to feed on top that day as anywhere I cast I not only hooked a trout but half of them were over 2 lbs. after one hour in the camps lower pool I went up to the next one and caught more fish, then it occurred to me to go up to the big flat above the camp and fish there as it had been heavily stocked with fish, many over 3 lbs. There were not too many green drakes in the air but if I cast my fly on the water I would get a strike and almost all strikes were a hook up. After catching and releasing many more trout from 1 to 3 lbs I hooked a palomino trout that had to go over 5 lbs and 24 inches. This trout when hooked immediately ran to its right and jumped out of the creek turning upside down and at the same time was kicking its tail so fast it sounded like a Pheasants wing, the trout then hit the water and took off upstream so fast pulling the fly out as it swam away at maybe 20 miles per hour,...ZOOM! off it went. Then after re tying  my fly as you should after any action with big fish I hooked a 3 lb male brook trout that had to go 18 inches after releasing him I ran back to the camper to make a sandwich and eat it in record time and went back to the lower pool where I saw another 24 inch palomino trout feeding on the big coffin flies across the pool so I cast three to four times and hooked her. This tout was also about 4 and a half pounds and a solid 24 inches long I played her to my side of the creek and had my iphone videoing the whole fight as I did a few of the other fish. running any camera and fighting a fish at the same time is not easy so the video looks like the ones you see on tv about UFO,S But at least I got it on video.

All in all I caught over 20 trout that day and half were over 2 lbs A few over 3 lbs and two over 5 lbs I figure I caught and released 45lbs of trout that day,.ALL FISH on the same pattern all by 4 pm.                     I then celebrated with a great meal and a great many beers in a very , very hearty manner!

This is the stuff that keeps me going through the rest of the year and on those cold winter days, knowing the drakes will come again.                  

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

May 4th to May 13th report on the Pine creek north central PA.

This week has been great fishing on the Pine with water levels very good and temps perfect.  In the morning water temps have been mid to upper 40s and mid to upper 50s in the afternoon. Hatches have been great with plenty of Caddis in size 16 and 14 tan wing green body.This year they have been so thick that at times the flies were 5 inches apart over the creek. And on some days it seemed like they were there all day. But that was back in the end of April and the water was very cold and you could only move fish to beadheads with lots of split shot.Now the trout arte very willing to take them in a dry fly form here but even more so they will take the Hendrickson in a size 16 although they are on their way out. Red quills were working well also in a size 16 as well as Adams attractor flies in same size.

Most days start out with Me fishing Bead head nymphs size 16 in a green Caddis pattern with a prince nymph and a pheasant tail tied into my leader and lots of split shot to get em down. this way I cover all food sources and keep all fish happy and well fed. I fish the riffles in camp and do pretty good some mornings I stung maybe 18 landing 9 one day. later in the morning I can fish dries and start getting a steady pick of trout that way for the rest of the day off and on til dark with after 4 in the afternoon being best time for most action.

Yesterday a friend and I went down creek all the way to slate run and thinking ahead like I try to do I brought some Green Drakes with me just in case. I'm sure glad I did as they were just starting to show in the afternoon there and at Navel run I caught a 15 inch rainbow on the male Drake pattern I was tossing. We did not move to many more fish but got three before leaving to come back to my camp on the upper Pine some 30 miles through the most  beautiful mountain farm country you might see in PA. The weather has been typical with thunderstorms almost everyday somewhere out here and today one must have been heavy up creek this afternoon cause when I went to fish the water was high and off color a bit so I got my steamer rod with the rio 150 density compensated line on the reel out and casted some big rabbit fur flies along the shore and got one tiger trout that went 13 inches then I went back to my site to make dinner early as not much was happening on the water.  

Over all its been a great trip and I cant wait to get back here in another week or so to keep up the great fishing. we stock many big fish very soon and The green drakes should be on up here in camp in another two weeks here and that's what I live for. BIG TROUT ON BIG FLIES!   

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

3/10/2014 TRIP TO THE PEQUEST RIVER

Yesterday A buddy of mine and I fished the Pequest river near the hatchery. The snow is still pretty deep up there and now very slushy. It makes for tough walking along the bank but its worth it considering how good the fishing can be. As is the case most all winter we had to fish very small nymphs. When using size 20 flies I like to tie into my leader Rios,shock gum. Its a rubber band like material that is about 26 thousands of an inch thick, so I tie it up leader just off the first section. This way when you hook a solid three pound trout it cant pull the fly free so easily. Its hard to tie in though however I find a uni knot works for me also a surgeons knot will work as well but the stuff is so stretchy and soft it is a challenge to get to stay tied, and you MUST cover your knots with Loons knot sense. Its so good to have in place cause it holds onto those doosey fish that we all want to catch. Last year I caught a solid 25 1/2 inch female rainbow on it right here on the Pequest that went almost 6lbs I was using 4x and if I did not use it she would have pulled the tiny pheasant tail (20) fly she took.We started off right near the lot and my buddy hooked a good rainbow within mins It poped off after a few mins of play and he fished on,.. A little while later he hooked and played another @ about 17 inches and that fish shook the hook at his feet. He then said to me "alright, give me some of that stuff " I tied it into his leader and he then went downstream where about a half hour afterwards I could hear him hollering "Hey Paul"  I go stompin through the snow down there to find him tight-lined to an 18 Inch male rainbow that had to go 3lbs he played it into the net and that fish only had the fly in its upper jaw at the very outside edge of its mouth. If he had not used the shock gum I think it would likely have pulled free like the other trout he had hooked as he was on 5x fluorocarbon tippet. Many guys say you HAVE to go to 6x at least with flies that small and some use 7x. I find this is not true, Not true at all! I fish stone flies on 3x and they are often size 16. I drift them through some slow pools and I have caught many good fish that way.  However fluorocarbon has almost NO STRETCH. so trout can pull flies right out as the size 20 hooks have a very small purchase when set. We fished for a couple of more hours and landed almost all the fish we both hooked. I think that if more guys used Shock gum they would also have a better catch rate. Like I always say,"when it comes to big fish",... "SHOULDA,COULDA,WOULDA" is a terrible thing to have to say!
Laying in bed thinking "maybe i shoulda this or coulda that is so unsettling. My pillow however is very soft!