What can I say about the Caddis? It’s one of the most reliable go to flies in a fly box. The Caddis can be fished in several different ways, but the most effective way to fish them in Winter is the larva stage. I had a pretty good day with one of these little green guys the other day, what a great pattern.
Well I started my day of fishing about 10:00 am. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to let the temps rise a little bit to get the trout active. The water temperature was about 42 and the trout would probably be willing to give me a good time. Now, given the time of year, I had to fish slow and not get to quick on the hook sets. I decided to tie on a size 18 caddis larva with a few split shot and I was ready. The trout were hitting softly and were just a little sluggish, but I was up for the challenge. I was really fishing the water thoroughly with a few takes. Finally one of the subtle takes rewarded me with a beautiful trout that gave a valiant fight. I moved on, picking up a few more trout as I was heading up stream. This was turning out to be a pretty good day, and I was enjoying it.
Like I said, I was fishing a larva below the surface and picking up some fish, the other four fisherman I seen were all fishing dries. Needless to say, I didn’t see any of them land a fish. I did talk to one fellow and we had a conversation on how difficult the stream was fishing. I shared some information about my rig and he was soon to change his set up. I carried on and found some really nice water that I had all to myself, that’s one good thing about Winter fly fishing.
I started thinking about changing my set up to maybe a pheasant tail or hare’s ear, but thought why mess with what’s working. A few more effortless cast and a nice drift and bang. I raised the rod, the line got tight and the fight was on. I could see this trout easily, it was thrashing about showing off his beautiful colors. When I did get my hands on him I was really excited about the colors of this fish. This brown trout had the colors of gold from head to tail and was about 14 inches. Not the biggest fish, but one of the prettiest I’ve caught in a while. After releasing the brown I fished a little longer and called it a day.
It just goes to show you that winter fishing is a great way to get your fly fishing fix. The fish have to eat, so why not fool them with a caddis larva. I had a great day on the water and will hopefully have many more before springs among us. Remember, in the winter, take your time with these fish. They may not be as chipper as we like, but they will still bring you joy if you slow it down. Subtle takes are just as rewarding when you bring the fish to the net, at least I think so!!!
Wow, where should I begin telling the tale of Potter County trout fishing? First off, let me say that it’s one of the best places for a weekend outing with a few friends or a week getaway with the family.
I’ve been going to Potter county fly fishing for about 10 years now. In this period of time my buddy Philip and myself had a lot of great trips. The fishing is usually spectacular, but sometimes you hit that weekend that things just don’t click. When one of these weekends hit, you can either fish til your arm falls off with little success or sit around your campfire telling stories about the great weekends in the past.
My last trip to our northern county was a great time. Philip couldn’t make this trip, he was swamped at work, but my buddy John and I loaded his camper and set out for a weekend of trout, beer and of course “good times.” We arrived at our destination ready to set up camp and hit the stream. Our anticipation of the catch had us excited and ready. After the camper was set up we headed out on our first evening. Not much fishing was done that first evening, but some slight exploring showed us that we were gonna have some company on the stream the following morning.
Now, back at the camp, we found some supper to cook on the fire and a few cans of that golden nectar. The next several hours went by with many stories of past trips and just being in the wilderness by a warm fire, cold beer in hand. John and myself were soon going to bed so that the trout wouldn’t have a chance the next morning. Boy were we wrong.
The morning proved to be super tough fishing with crowds of people in all the easily accessible areas. We hiked up the stream a good piece and found some open water, but soon realized why it was open water. Not a lot of activity in the catching department, although John did catch 2 really nice brookies. A little more exploring and fishing and we called it a morning. We arrived back at camp and had a much needed lunch and some more of Johns fresh ground coffee. I’m telling you what, I’ve had some good coffee before, but my god was this coffee good. Couldn’t wait til the next morning to have some more.
That evening was pretty much the same as the morning, but our expectations were still high. The next morning we went over the mountain to a camp owned by John’s relatives. We hung around camp for a while shooting the breeze before we hit the water. This was some really nice water we were fishing, with some unusually low numbers of fish brought to the net. We tried everything, fished deep, fished on top, and fished hard with just a couple trout to show for it. Decided to call it a day and head back to camp for a few coldies and some supper. Log after log the night grew late telling stories and having a few beers. Off to bed, had to try again in the morning. You didn’t think a few slow days would make us quit did you?
The next couple days passed with the same results. We fished hard and only caught a handful of trout in our 4 day outing. That doesn’t mean we didn’t have a blast. This was a great trip, just goes to show you that fisherman don’t have to catch a bunch of fish to have a good time, although it helps. We had a great 4 days, couldn’t have asked for much more.
Trout- beautiful fish that call Pennsylvania home and have been fooling anglers for years.
Beer- the drink most outdoorsman and women, enjoy by the fire after a tough day in the wilderness.
Finally, a day on the stream worth writing about. We’ve had a wet spring here in western Pa, and when the water wasn’t high and muddy, there were weddings and first day crowds and work. Rusty and I attempted to break in 2008 last weekend (4-20-08) but the streams were blown out, and the tailraces were packed with people. We agreed to wipe that outing off the books.
This weekend was the next attempt, and was to be a unique first day out as I wanted to get a co-worker, John Z, out fly-fishing for the first time in his life. Rusty got called to work, so it was just John and I this time. We met up early and walked the 3/4 mile from the hard road down through the woods to the stream which was running at a decent flow and pretty clear for this time of year. A big relief after last weekend’s blow out when the same stream looked like Nestle Quick.
This was the first time that I’ve gone out fishing with a first timer. John was eager to learn though, and it was a perfect day to get someone on fish. I don’t consider myself much of an instructor, and honestly, I think fly-fishing is something that just takes time and practice to learn. I did my best to give him some basic tips and point him in the right direction without being too overbearing. Being a nymph fan (highsticker), I pointed out that we’d be fishing deep as opposed to dry which is what everyone thinks of when you mention fly-fishing. We turned over some rocks to illustrate what the nymphs were designed to replicate, and it was on to fishing.
The water was in perfect shape with a good flow and just enough tint to help our situation. The fish seemed to want to cooperate right off the bat. In the first hole we had several takers on the tandem rig I set John up with which was a very basic nymphing rig. A #16 bead head hare’s ear with a #18 gunmetal flashback beadhead pheasant tail (see movies section). I could see John looking at me funny when I tied these on and could tell he wanted to ask if the fish could see them. He made a comment about that later in the day. It still amazes me that they can matrix out a #18 mayfly nymph a foot above them in the water colum flying at them at what would probably be 60 mph to us and manuever themselves into position to eat the bug/fly.
Watching John reminded me of when I started out. It’s a daunting sport to jump into, with all the equipment, insect biology, water reading etc. and then enter the fact that you’re in a stream with other fishermen around watching you, and you’ve got a down right nerve wracking experience. I guess that’s what defines us eventually in this hobby. The ability to ignore all those factors and move ahead or to give up. Regardless, John did great for the first time he’d ever casted a fly rod. By the end of the day I could see a huge improvement in casting and line handling. It was great to watch, and I’m glad I got to be a part of that.
John was able to land one fish, and had another one for as long as I would consider a “caught” fish, so we’ll say 2. I had a few while poking around. I was more interested in being out on the water on a nice day, helping John learn, playing with my new waterproof camera and just relaxing than slaying fish. It’s funny, to me anymore, it’s not about numbers. I’ve had those days of 30 – 40 fish each with Rusty, and they are fun. This same stream last year wore Rusty and I out. I still don’t know how many fish we caught that day, but it was simply amazing. Sometimes though, it’s nice to take it slow, catch a few and just enjoy the outdoors.
We saw a lot of fish, and a lot of fish swinging at flies. I rolled a huge bow at the last hole we fished, and I’m sure if I would’ve pounded the water to a froth, I could’ve managed a few more. We hiked the long hike back out and I just couldn’t resist poking around in the leaves under the apple trees near the lot. John took off, and I stayed for another hour harvesting wild mushrooms. Morel mushrooms. If you haven’t heard of them or seen them, they’re great! You can only find them for a few weeks during the end of April and beginning of May (in Pennsylvania), and you can only find them in very specific areas like the North side of a hill with aged apple trees. They’re really hard to see too, so the pic below should help you find them. Here’s a link to a site about Morels. http://thegreatmorel.com/index.shtml
It’s easy to do. To get caught up in the technical aspect of fly-fishing. There are so many products out there, so many aquatic insects, so many different types of streams and so much equipment. It’s easy for a person to forget the the basic wonder of fly-fishing.
I think it’s the time we have on the water. Most of us are caught up in our careers, or our life off the stream in general. We look for any angle we can to improve our catch totals or to help ensure we catch fish in the limited precious time we have on the stream. We get lured into buying that $700 rod because we think it will help us catch fish, thus ensuring our morning time on the stream will result in a fish slaying adventure.
Sure, it’s about catching fish, but don’t get so focused on catching fish that you forget to enjoy the scenery, or enjoy the fact that you’re standing waste deep in a roaring river, and not sitting in your chair at the office, or breaking your back at the factory. Don’t forget that people have been catching fish since the dawn of time, and that Orvis was just founded recently relative to that amount of time.
I’ve been focusing on enjoying my time out, keeping my fishing gear simple and still catching fish, though catching fish is really just an extra for me. This held true on a recent trip (the photo below actually) where my fishing partner Rusty Foreman and I fished a popular eastern tailwater. We got there early on Saturday and fished through the am and into noon with one fish between the two of us. Something was obviously wrong. We were fishing water we’d had success on in weeks prior, and fishing flies we knew were working on the river.
The key for me was not getting too caught up in the fact that we weren’t catching fish, and to just enjoy being where I was versus where I typically am. We walked out in the mid day and started talking to others on the river. We soon discovered that nobody was catching fish. One group of eight guys had one fish in four days of fishing! We fished the evening, and picked up one more fish between the two of us. We hit the river hard at daybreak the next morning, and managed one each before the river was bumped to unwadable conditions, and the fish shut down.
What caused the no-bite conditions is a mystery still. Monday at work, I scoured the interent in search of an answer. My journey led me through moon phase charts, barometric pressure theories and river temperature thoughts. In all of that reading, I came away with the feeling that people tend to read far too much into this. The truth is that the fish we seek are complicated creatures. I know from keeping thirteen aquariums in my home and dozens of fish that they are complex animals with needs and wants that we can only guess at.
Rusty fished on Thursday this week in our “home waters”, under conditions that my research had pointed to as “unfavorable conditions”, though my instincts told me that the conditions were perfect based on past days on the stream under those conditions, and he made a killing. Managing a 22″ + bow and landing close to 20. Proving that the moon phase, and barometer aren’t sure fire ways to know the fishs’ tendancies.
Just enjoy your time on the water. Even if you’re skunked. We never know what tomorrow brings, or for some of us, even the next time we’ll fish, so take every moment for what it is, and if a fish blesses you with a strike, then great.
