3 Days of Fishing

This weekend marks 4 out of 10 states for 2012. I went down to Maryland for the weekend. With all of the "big" game fish out in deep water or up river spawning, we had to turn our attention to one on the only species around this time of year. Yellow Perch make their way up-river between February and March to spawn, so fishing the mouth of creeks with minnows and chartreuse jigs has always been the method to success. Instead of minnows and 6ft light spin rods, I had an Olive Zuddler minnow and 5 weight fly rod.

Over 15" Yellow Perch

 Hot Fly: Olive Zuddler

After a nice weekend in MD, Chris and I decided to take out the eight weights and try our hand at a few winter Musky. The good news is we found one, but the bad news is he didn't eat. If you have ever gone Musky fishing you know that often times this is the case, however we still fish relentlessly for these apex predators. Most of the time it is the anticipation of the take that keeps us fishing for these beasts.

Musky Fly

Not bad for an IPhone - Musky in the trees

Hot Flies: Who knows!

Finally, Joey and I decided to hit the Tully this morning for a couple hours before work. If you ask Joey the fishing was Awesome... Me not so much. Joey ended up with about 6 to hand, all were beautiful hold-over fish. Some days its just not your day, and today was that day for me. Maybe tomorrow :)

Beautiful Tully Trout

Hot Flies: Prince Nymph, Zebra Midge

Another Great Blog

A good friend of mine Brian Michelotti, who also works at the TCO State College store just started a new blog. He was a guide in AK for 4 seasons, and 1 season in Patagonia.

He has a wealth fo fishing knowledge, a whole lot of stories (good and bad) about his many years on the water.

Check out his blog ---  Flies & Lies

State College Rendezvous

After a long weekend at the Fly Fishing Show in Lancaster, I couldn't think of a better way to relax and enjoy the weather than getting up at 6am to meet up with Lenny and Jared. With promising weather and a weekend of talking fly fishing, the 3 of us decided to head west, meeting up with Brian from TCO State College. We decided that Penn's Creek would be our best choice of location.

There were plenty of bugs flying around--Blue Wing Olives, and midges for the most part. However with winter water and air temps here, nymphing was still the best bet.

We spent all morning on Penn's with decent action, but decided to jump in the car around 2 and head to Spring Creek for the remainder of the day. Jared had his fingers crossed the whole way, hoping for some rising fish. Getting there at "Prime" time, the fishing pressure was high. The fishing was slow, but Jared's wishing came true.

Enjoy

Jared with his first Penns Creek fish on

Brian working a nice section of water

Hot Patterns: Henry's Golden Stone, Sugar Daddy, Zebra Midge, BWO Emerger, Wooly Buggers, Pheasant Tail

With some Snow and Rain

It was another great morning on the Tully. With the dam release just right (143cfs) Joey, Leland, and I hit the stream around 8. There was a slight drizzle all morning, until the snow started flying and the rain picked up. But we sill fished, and it was no stop action all morning. We all landed a couple fish and had a few other lucky ones come off.

Its going to be another great weekend so get out and enjoy the great fishing.

Hot Flies: San Juan Worm, Sugar Daddy, Sugar Shot, Zebra Midge, Prince Nymph

Featured Fly - GD's Czech Cat Nip

With the launch of George Daniel's new book, Dynamic Nymphing, and having added a few of these to my nymph box, I knew this would be the perfect featured fly for my blog. George is a world-renown fly angler, a stand up individual, and a good friend. On top of that his fly patter is a very effective one to have in your arsenal year round. It is a great anchor fly for the winter, having a bit of flash to induce those picky fish hugging the bottom of the river. It works well as a caddis larva, or just a prospecting nymph. 

Materials

Hook: TMC 2499 SPBL - sz. 6 - 12

Bead:  Black Tungsten 

Weight: Lead Wire - .020 to .035

Thread: UNI Thread 8/0 - Black 

Rib:  Mono - 8lb

Body: Micro Polar Chenille - Chart. or Olive 

Thorax: Micro Polar Chenille - Black

Shellback: Mottled Oak Thin Skin - Olive 

Step 1: Slide the Tungsten Bead on.

Step 2:  Wrap lead wire 5 or 6 times.

 Step 3: Add the mono for the rib.

Step 4: Tie in the Micro Polar Chenille.

Step 5: Palmer the chenille forward, leaving about 3 wraps for the thorax.

Step 6: Tie in the black Polar Chenille.

Step 7: Wrap 3 or 4 times, tie off.

Step 8: Add the shellback, adjust to length, make one wrap of thread to hold in place.

 Step 9: Wrap the mono securing the shellback, making a rib.

Step 10: Tie off mono, then trim excess shellback. Whip Finish.

Finished Fly:

Another Good Day

With the weather forecast very similar to yesterday, I decided to get out of bed a little early again. The water flow was the same and the water temp was unchanged.


Yesterday I went to the Paper Mill, today I decided to fish Reber's Bridge. It was another great day on the water.

Hot Flies: San Juan Worm, Sugar Shot, GD Cat Nip, Zebra Midge