The morning dawned chilly and clear, so a trip to the Tulpehocken seemed
like a fine idea over my morning coffee. The fishing car is always packed
and ready to go, so out I headed. I reckoned that the famed trico hatch, if
it were still going on, would be later in the morning due to the cool air
temperatures. A few cars were parked along the creek on the drive in, but
not too big a throng. It felt good to gear up beside the stream, despite
limited bug sightings and no rises at first glance. Wow! The last fishing
I'd done was with an 11 foot heavy surf rod, casting chunks of spot for
sharks on Assateague. Quite a different feel to a 9 foot 3-weight St Croix,
damned pleasant item to carry through the trees to the streamside clearing.
An hour into the trip, I was pretty well convinced that I'd had a nice
little walk, and a chance to enjoy pastoral settings, with mediocre fishing
to be had. Tricos were coming off, but very sparsely, no trout interested at
all. Then, around 9 am, it started. Flying insects picked up until tricos in
clouds covered the stream from bank to bank, flying up off the surface to
join the massing crowd of insects flying upstream. A glance into the
downstream foliage would have made one think that a mist, or even fog, was
blanketing the stream. No, it was just little mayflies, about a size 24 hook
size, hatching by the millions. The trout at first were less impressed,
probably to be expected as the trico hatch lasts for months.
Eventually, a splash here and there gave way to frenzied feeding over a 100
yard stretch near me. Close inspection with polaroid glasses revealed dozens
of trout, mostly browns, cruising a stuffing themselves in little clumps of
10-20 fish in each clump.
I started fishing to these pods with a female spinner that is my most
reliable trico imitation. Nothing. In fact, under the conditions, one could
easily watch the fish avoid the fly to continue feeding. In quieter moments,
you could probably hear them chuckle, as well. I changed to a CDC emerger,
noting that few spinners were dropping from the little clouds of bugs. That
worked......instantly. Several browns took it in confidently as I worked up
the fish-filled stretch. A second pass through, however, found them in
avoidance mode, having learned the lesson like good Tulpehocken trout. A
little black wet fly in size 20 interested a couple more and then the
attention turned to spinners. I had to change back and forth between
female(whitish abdomen) and male
(black/olive abdomen) imitations, but kept on raising, hooking, and
generally landing nice sized brown trout. I didn't catch a rainbow, although
there were a few swimming about. The presentation had to be right down the
flow to the targeted fish, and size was important, both for flies and
leaders. 7x tippet was a must, 6x would not work, no matter how nice a cast
I got with it. Flies had to be #24.....22's were generally ignored and
always refused. The exception to that was the little wet fly, but somehow,
one always seems to be able to get away with larger wets than the needed
small dries.
All in all, a lot of fun for a September morning. I might just head out
again tomorrow. I do have to do a bit of wader repair, and am coming to the
point where the old McKenzie lightweights might have to be replaced. The
Pirate talks of pennies per day from the Simms. These waders cost me all of
$55, 12 years ago, and have headed to the stream at least 700 times since.
Pennies per day, indeed! They will give way next season to a pair of
Cabelas, or whatever Bruce Fisher has for me up at his shop near Penns, but
have more than earned their keep.
Tom