Two Favorites - Dry Flies

With the caddis and sulphurs in full swing here in PA, I wanted to share two of my favorite dries.

The first is the Bubble Back Caddis, it is a Rene Harrop original with a spin. I love this fly for almost any situation during a caddis hatch. It can be a cripple, emerger, or an adult, or maybe not, but the fish still seem to gobble it down at all times. It is a great fly to use for a dry dropper rig when the fish are keyed in on emergers. With lots of loose cdc fibers it is easy to see at all distances and it can hold up a tungsten bead head fly with ease.

Bubble Back Caddis

Materials:
Hook: Partridge Patriot Dry - 12-18
Thread: UNI Thread 8/0 - Tan
Tail: Wood Duck - Lemon Barred
Wing: CDC Feathers -Natural Brown
Body: East Coast Dubbing - Yellow/Tan Caddis
Collar: Partridge Feather - Natural
Antena: Wood Duck - Lemon Barred
Head: East Coast Dubbing - Caddis Thorax 

The second is another stand by that I love. This is a CDC Parachute Sulphur. I love to use the cdc as a post because it always lands perfect on the water. It is also a lot lighter and drops on the water much quieter than para post material. I like to tie mine with very sparse hackle, just enough to make a footprint on the water. This is another one that can be used as an indicator fly, I tie it with Chart. or pink cdc feathers to see it easier.

CDC Parachute Sulphur

Materials:
Hook: Partridge Patriot Dry 12-18
Thread:  UNI Thread 8/0 - Yellow
Tail: CDL Fibers - Dark
Abdomen: Goode Biot - Sulphur Yellow
Para Post: CDC Feathers - Chart.
Wing: Grizzly Hackle
Thorax:  East Coast Dubbing - Sulphur Yellow

Trout Days - From a Guides Eyes

Wow, its been a while since my last post. I am going to try my hardest to keep up on a more regular basis. The last couple weeks of April and the first week of May have been had a mixture of bass and trout trips. This post will be about all the trout trips thus far.

We have been very busy and my new company Relentless Fly Fishing has hit the ground running. With the other guys in the shops we have 6 guides on the water these days, and everyone is doing a great job. The trout have been willing to please, and the bugs have started to come off nicely. The Tully and Breeches have been fishing very well, we have seen caddis, for a while now, and the sulphurs have started as well.

The spring creeks have also been fishing very well, they are all low and super clear right now, but if your approach and presentation are good, you will be successful. We have been seeing some caddis on most of them, but the sulphurs are starting up and the fish have noticed.

Some of my favorite patterns for this have been the Dead Ringer caddis pupa, CDC Parachute Sulphur, CDC Caddis, CDC Bubble Back caddis, Split Back Sulphur Nymph, and more.

It has been a wonderful season so far, and we have plenty of openings and new offerings on the guide side. Please give the shops a call if you are interested in hearing about all we have to offer.

Early Season Go-Tos

The weather is warming up and the fish are starting to get hungry. The number one question that we get in the shop right now is, "what are the hitting on today?". So Im going to answer that question for you all, so you don't have to come into the shop and ask. With the Tully and the Breeches both being stocked streams, its not surprise that then Sexy Walts Worm is a must have. They are both caddis filled systems, so the RT Tube Steak Caddis Larva is another must have, the last one is Kevin Compton's Hot Butt Caddis Jig.

Sexy Walt's Worm 
Hook: Partridge Jig
Bead: Tungsten Bead
Rib: Pearl Tinsel - Sm.
Body: Hares Ear Plus #1
Collar: UNI 6/0 Fl. Fire Orangee

RT Tube Steak 
Hook: Partridge Straight Eye Grub
Bead: Tungsten Bead
Rib: Stretch Tubbing - Micro
Body: SLF Bug Dub
Collar: SLF Bug Dub

Compton's Peaking Caddis
Hook: Partridge Jig
Bead: Tungsten Bomb Bead
Rib: Ultra Wire - Copper
Hotspot: Chart. Floss
Body: Jack's English Hares Ear 

These all mimic some sort of natural food, but I want to be honest with you all... They also look like food pellets :).

This is why I have lots of each of these in my boxes to start the season off.

Plan B

It seemed that the whole trip started to crumble as we were leaving. People backed out, mother nature said no, and the campground shut down on us. So Rob and I were left to decided what to do. After countless text messages to friends and phone calls that seemed to never stop, we finally decided to head to State College and fish the little J and Spruce creek. I have always loved the little J and never fished spruce before so it was going to be fun. As Andy said "lets just go fish for steelhead locally" he wasn't kidding. Oh yeah and Rob kinda might have broke his toe so there wasn't much hiking in the forecast for us, so that limited us too. So Rob and I fished the little J together in the snow/rain/wind and got into some fish, then Andy meet up with us for some BBQ and late evening fishing. Day 2 was our day on Spruce, if you haven't done it, you need to. There are plenty of fish, both wild and stocked and they eat flies very very well :). Unlike some stocked private water, these fish have a regular diet of insects both nymphs and adults(with a side of food pellets), so they actually feed like they are supposed to. I have some great guide friends that have access to some beautiful private water. Day 3, well that one kinda sucked, I got sick so after a 3 hour car ride home I spent the rest of the day sleeping. Take a look at the pictures, thank you Andy and Kyle for the hospitality. You may also want to check Kyle's blog out The Fishing Flow, its awesome.