Repopulation

We at TCO, have to thank everyone for your support towards our new Fingerling Program! We raised enough money last year to put 1,500 fingerlings in this year, at this years movie night we did the same, next year we will be putting in another 1,500 fish. We hope to keep this tradition alive each year. The fingerlings are now swimming around the Tully!

Big Thank You to everyone who helped, and supported our cause!

Fall on the West Branch

After a very successful movie night at the shop, I woke up to my alarm at 3 am, in a semi zombie state, I went outside and hooked the boat up. Jack, Casey, and I were headed for the west branch with 6wts, sinking lines, and boat boxes full of streamers. Jack had asked me about 2 months ago if we could go strip streamers on the WB in the fall, umm yeah! So we checked the gauges and it looked perfect. I 100% forgot to look at the wind, opps 10 to 15 mph with gusts up to 40, I rowed my ass off. But we managed 2 fish on streamers, and 2 nymphing the fast water. Cold beer, deer sausage, and brats for a hot lunch, and home made monkey bread for dessert. A short story but some awesome pictures to go with, enjoy!

Calendar of Events - TCO Reading

We have been busy planning a few fall and winter events. Below you will see dates, times, and costs of the events. But first I want to talk about the first event coming up, October 5th we will be having our second TCO Movie night to raise money for the Tully Fingerling Program. Last year we had plans to stock them the weekend Sandy hit, high water, turning into cold water, made us postpone the stocking. This year we will be stocking 1500 fingerlings on the 14th of October. We will plan on doing this each year for as long as we can. We will be having Frank "Chip" Swarner Tying flies at the shop all day, and throughout the event. Every fly he ties that day will go into a box and be raffled off to support the program. Just like last year, we will have a silent auction, including a 1/2 day guide trip with me, Chip's flies, and a few other products, and a raffle at the end of the event. We will have a local micro brew supplying beer, Pizza, and other drinks. Oh yeah and the movie, Low and Clear a steelhead video from BC, with some Colorado Trout, and Texas Redfish, an awesome video with great footage, and fish. So come out and support your local fly shop, and help us put fingerlings back in the stream we all love!!!

Calendar of Events

October 5^th: Movie Night 

Movie -  Low and Clear

Beer – Working with a local brew company – saucony creek or Appalachian 

Start Time – 5pm

Movie Start Time – Dark 

October 5^th: Frank “Chip” Swarner Fly Tying 

Time -  All Day 

Tying Salmon and Steelhead Flies

Details – Chip will be donating the flies he ties that day to the raffle, Stop by throughout the day, and check out Chip’s talents with tying steelhead flies. Pick is brain about his extensive knowledge of these fish and the waters around the Great Lakes where he fishes.

October 9^th: Fly Tying with Casey 65.00 per person

Time 6:00 – 8:00 pm

Lake Erie Basics

Details – Casey has been fishing and tying flies for Lake Erie steelhead for over 10 years now. He knows the ins and outs of size, color, and style fly to tie for Erie success. He will be teaching how to tie some of his go to flies, from eggs to small nymphs that will work any given time you go up.

October 12^th: Fly Tying with Frank Chip Swarner 65.00 per person 

Time: Noon 

Steelhead and Salmon Beginner Class 

Want to learn how to tie steelhead flies? Chip will be going over the basics for steelhead fly tying, types of hooks, materials, and of course tying them. You will learn how to tie stoneflies, Eggs, and everything in between. Get yourself ready for the fall, learn skills that will help you fill that steelhead box for any Great Lakes Trip you have planned for the season. 

October 23: Fly Tying with Jake – 65.00 per person 

Steelhead Tube Flies

Time: 6:00 Pm 

Details – Join Jake for a fly tying lesson, learning one of his favorite types of flies to tie. Tube Flies have been around for a while now, and there is so much to learn about tying on them. Jake had been tying tubes for steelhead, trout, and bass for some time now, check out these awesome flies, and learn the technology behind them.

November 6^th:  Fly Tying with Jake – 65.00 per person 

Time: 6:00 – 8:00pm

Stoneflies and other Natural flies for Steelhead

The creator of the Thumpin Jack Flash Stonefly, Jake is borderline obsessed with tying stonefly nymphs for great lakes steelhead and browns. Come learn how to tie “guide simple” stones, to more complex stones. Jake has almost 10 years of steelhead experience from Alaska to New York, and one thing has stayed the same, he’s always loaded up with stoneflies. 

November 13^th:  Fly Tying with Casey 65.00 per person

Time: 6:00 – 8:00pm

Lake Erie Streamers

Now that you have the nymphs down, come check out some of Casey’s go to streamers for Lake Erie steelhead. Size is everything out there when the water is low and clear, pick Casey’s brain about his years of experience walking the banks of Elk and many other Erie streams, while he teaches you his favorite streamers.

November 16^th:  Fly Tying with Chip 65.00 per person

Time: Noon 

Intermediate Steelhead and Salmon Class

Ok, now that you have the basics down, sign up to take the next step in fly tying for steelhead and salmon. Chip will be teaching the fine art of streamer tying for the great lakes. You will learn skills like, tying in a shank with stinger hook, and tying on a hook directly. Chip has been swinging and striping flies for great lakes fish for over a decade, so while he is teaching pick his brain on, anything great lakes. 

December 14^th: Tropical Movie Night 

Time: 5:00 pm

Are you ready for it to warm up yet? Well if you are, take a break from tying your steelhead flies, come grab a beer, some pizza, and relax while we show a movie “not sure yet” to warm your thoughts up. Enjoy a 10% off coupon for your next purchase at TCO for the holiday season. We will have fly tying demos, Holiday gift ideas, food, and drinks. So Stop out and say hi and enjoy a nice evening at your local fly shop.

September Smallmouth

Eric Snyder from Maryland came up yesterday for a full day float. Eric is a repeat client from last year, and a commercial fly tier, he specializes in foam topwater bugs. TCO has carried a few of his patterns in the past, and will be carrying more next year.

Ok back to the fishing, the water was the lowest I've seen all year, it was a bit sunny out, and gin clear. Despite the odds, Eric fished hard all day, good things come to those who wait. We ended up landing one of the biggest bass of the year, had a musky follow a huge crayfish, and saw at least 4 other musky in one hole. As the sun went down, the fish got a bit more active and we managed a couple more fish. The water is cooling off nicely, hopefully with this next storm rolling in, we will get some water, and the fall feed will be on. I also got some awesome shots of crayfish yesterday, and a couple darters (little baitfish), anyone that tells you there are no crayfish in the Schuylkill are dead wrong, I counted over 50 right at the launch, then at least that many, when we stopped for lunch.

Hot Flies: Crayfish, Zuddlers, and Mice

Here are a couple examples of Eric's work:

Trout Fishing in the Summer

Well I cant remember the last time I fished the Tully, the water has just been too warm to fish, or I've been out chasing smallies, either way its been a while. I have made one trip up to the delaware in the past month and fished a little brown trout stream only once since I started for bass. This seems to be the norm for me the past few summers. I do love trout, but when I can float a beautiful river, sight fishing for bass, with almost no one around, I do that. But back to the trout, if you have been thinking about trout fishing, many of the State College streams are still in good condition to fish, Spring has been fishing well, the Little J, has had decent fishing, and Penns is low, but its cold. Also the spring creeks down by Harrisburg have been fishing well with terrestrials, and lots of reports from the Yellow Breaches too. So if bass are not your thing and you are chomping at the bit to get our and find some fish, Check the water temps first, but there are still plenty of trout to be had.

Simms Ambassador

Well its a good day. I have been picked to be a Simms Ambassador. Simms has always been my number one wader choice, as well as the choice of guides worldwide. They make some of the best and most reliable waders, and wading accessories out there today.

 I'm Pumped. Check out my profile on the site. Simms Ambassador

More Smallies

Even with the weather man calling for 50% plus chance of rain, we decided to gamble yet again. From the moment I got in the car yesterday, I couldn't help but think top myself, damn lost again. It rained the first 3 hours of our trip, fishing was slow, but we made the best of it. Then coming into the last half of the trip, the rain stopped and the fish were on. Its hard to say if it was exactly when the last raindrop hit the water, or a few minutes after, but it didn't matter, the bass put their feed bags on.

For the past couple weeks, We have all been putting in a lot of time floating the Schuylkill, The bass are hungry and getting bigger. This year has been an awesome year so far, we have 2 more months to go, ill be praying that it doesn't slow up. Casey and Kyle have been floating every Saturday for the past month, so I can say someone from the shop has fished the Schuylkill at least 4 days a week, some weeks hitting 7 days.

Beautiful  scenery, very few people, and happy, healthy fish, I love this river.