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

What a Week!

I was on the water 5 out of the last 7 days from the Little J to the Tully, we even spent a day fishing out of the boat. The fishing has continued to be fantastic. Sulphurs are around but all the fish still seem to be keying in on caddis. They are taking the pupas all day long, and when the opportunity to eat an adult floats by they take that as well. The water is at a perfect level just about everywhere but with all the rain look for the Tully to go up soon. If you are in the state college area, the Sulphurs are still coming off strong and there have been sightings of Drakes on many different creeks. The stoneflies are starting to crawl towards the banks, sot they won't be long either.

Hot Flies: CDC Sulphur Dun, Bird of Prey Caddis, Primetime Caddis Pupa, CDC Bubble Back Caddis, CDC Caddis.

Stay Local - Get Out and Explore

 Many times our thoughts about fishing can be over taken by our memories of a destination trip out west, or a trip to the warm flats of Belize. I am guilty of talking trash on my local waters, when thinking about how great the fishing is other places in the US. Well sometimes we have to take a step back and remember the gems that we have in our backyards. Shane and I have been exploring some local streams on the class A list, that are within an hour of the shop, and he have not been disappointed. So next time you are dreaming about your last destination trip, stop, and think about the beauty in our backyards. PA has some of the best fishing in the USA, get out an explore a new stream next time you have some free time!

 

A Good Day - Tully

Finally, I went trout fishing. It's been a while since I've fished my home waters; the Tully was fishing awesome this morning. Spent caddis and trico spinners were all over the place, with steady action from all trout. It was a little slower down river, so I started the day off nymphing, small pheasant tails, and caddis pupa. After a while, I headed up stream to find some open water around the water works. The fishing was awesome, but with low water comes picky fish and small tippet, 8x to the dries and 6x to the nymphs. Play your fish smart and get them in and out as quick as possible. The temp gauge is busted right now, so while I was out, I checked the temps everywhere I went. It's getting warm out there, mid 60's so please be mindful of the temps when fishing from here on out. 

Weekend Guiding

This past weekend I had 3 trips: 2 on Valley Creek and 1 on the Tulpehocken Creek. Valley was a little off color after the past few days of rain, but it was still very productive for my clients. Early in the morning the fish were keyed in on emerging caddis, so the dry dropper rig was the key. Starting with a CDC Caddis on top with either a caddis larva or caddis pupa fly pattern below did the trick. With fish rising regularly in the afternoon, we stuck with just a single caddis dry and occasionally put a dropper on.

The Tully was and is still at 794 cfs. Despite that, my clients decided to go for it and were rewarded for their decision. We stayed down river, where we had fish rising all night to caddis and sulphurs. The hot flies of the night were: CDC Caddis (both tan and green), CDC Sulphurs, Z-Wing caddis, and the Sugar Daddy.

Here are a few Pictures from the stream. Enjoy!

Josh with a nice Valley brown

Josh with another nice brown fooled by a CDC Caddis

Spencer with a well deserved Tully Brown

A little Tully bug life

 

 

 

Oliver with a nice brown fooled my a Parachute Sulphur

Nice picture of the river

Caddis on the Tully

Joe and I decided to hit the Tully this afternoon despite the high flows (875cfs). Joe decided to go with a dry fly regardless of the flow to try out is new Winston BIIt,  I was going to fish streamers. By the time I changed my rig to fish dries Joe had already landed 2 nice browns. For the next couple hours we fished to rising fish until we couldn't see any more!

Joe with a nice hold over Brown

Very Nice Brown

His mouth was full of caddis