trip report

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

"Tom Littleton" wrote in message
...
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

Great report snipped

A very good read Tom. The size of your flies interests me as we fish with
considerably larger offerings here in the UK.

Bill

Tom Littleton wrote:
The morning dawned chilly and clear, so a trip to the Tulpehocken seemed
like a fine idea over my morning coffee.
snip

Nice. Thanks for the report.

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.

I've bought two waders in over 30 years, both of them LLBean's.
The first pair is still watertight and usable but they appear
to have "shrunk" a little bit. ;-) The last pair I bought a
couple of years ago and I expect them to last 30 years as well.

http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/50071

I can't understand spending more than $100 on waders.

Usual disclaimer, no stock in LLBean etc etc

--
Ken Fortenberry

"Ken Fortenberry" wrote in message
...
I can't understand spending more than $100 on waders.

Usual disclaimer, no stock in LLBean etc etc

--
Bean is another perfectly fine option, and I agree with you on the wader
thing. I'm sure Simms makes a fine product, but I'm entirely too cheap to
see paying for them, at the prices they ask. The only brand I would avoid at
this point is Bailey's, as I must know 4 or 5 people who have had Dan
Bailey's waders go to crap on them.
Tom

On 2010-09-05 14:22:11 -0400, "Tom Littleton" said:

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

Thank you for the trip report. Excellent and exactly what I need -
getting a bit of cabin fever waiting until our trip next Sunday to the
Rapid. Twelve years at $55 is pretty good. I doubt I could get that
many. In the past I have had inexpensive waders but they lasted me
less than a year with all the holes, rips, ungluing of neoprene, etc.
But, if it works for you......... d;o) I'll stick with my pennies a
day Simms thankyouverymuch.

Again, thanks. Needed that.

Dave

On 2010-09-05 18:09:54 -0400, Ken Fortenberry
said:

I've bought two waders in over 30 years, both of them LLBean's.
The first pair is still watertight and usable but they appear
to have "shrunk" a little bit. ;-) The last pair I bought a
couple of years ago and I expect them to last 30 years as well.

http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/50071

I can't understand spending more than $100 on waders.

Usual disclaimer, no stock in LLBean etc etc

I bought a pair of LLBeans for a little over a hundred - somewhere
between the Orvis and Patagonias. They lasted a couple of years before
I had too many holes in them.

Oppps, I forgot, you aren't reading my posts.

Dave

On 2010-09-05 18:41:29 -0400, "Tom Littleton" said:


"Ken Fortenberry" wrote in message
...
I can't understand spending more than $100 on waders.

Usual disclaimer, no stock in LLBean etc etc

--
Bean is another perfectly fine option, and I agree with you on the wader
thing. I'm sure Simms makes a fine product, but I'm entirely too cheap to
see paying for them, at the prices they ask. The only brand I would avoid at
this point is Bailey's, as I must know 4 or 5 people who have had Dan
Bailey's waders go to crap on them.
Tom

Have heard the same thing about Bailey's *and* Orivis and Patagonia.
My Patagonias kept failing in the suspenders soon after I bought them,
and in the booties within a year.

Simms are expensive, no doubt, but they are the only wader I have had
that have NOT failed me, and to be in them for more than five years is
astounding to me.

Dave

"Bill Grey" wrote in message
...
The size of your flies interests me as we fish with
considerably larger offerings here in the UK.


One of the beauties, Bill, of trout fishing in Pennsylvania is the wide
range of flies to imitate. For a tyer, it is a virtual laboratory.
Yesterday, I was fishing with size 24s, back in May, I was using Green
Drakes on a
size 10 4xl hook.........dry!
Tom

"Todd" wrote in message
...
I would
like to ask you a bunch of beginner's questions that you do not
have to answer, although I would appreciate it if you would.
Everyone has to start at the beginning.

will try....

From your description, I could not tell if your trico "hatch" was
the "Naiad (nymph) to Subimago (Dun)" phase or the "Imago (Spinner)"
phase. You may have been describing both. Which stage of
"social" behavior were you experiencing?

tricos, unlike other species, go VERY quickly from dun to spinner. No real
molt, they shed the old skin either in the air or at the edge of the stream.
Duns that hatch at 8 am are spinners by 10. Thus, one has to watch what
stage of life the trout are feeding on.

Your use of a "CDC emerger" sounds like the "Naiad (nymph) to Subimago
(Dun)" phase.

exactly. The CDC wing hangs in the film(visible to the angler), while the
dark body and sparkle yarn shuck/tail lie below. The duns, being tiny, tend
to spend little time on the surface, not needing the drying time one sees
with, say, Hendricksons, which have larger wings to dry in what tends to be
colder, wetter conditions outside.



the Naiads try to fight against the air bubble
that draws them to the surface. Were you trying to imitate this
(a gas filled Naiad caught in the drift)? If so, what were you
using to do this? Was this the black bug you were referring to?
Did you try to make it "glitter"?

the emerger, and the wet I used, both have a wee bit of sparkle yarn for a
tail/shuck. This, along with CDC in the emerger, creates small air bubbles.
When you said you switched to spinners male and female, I was
wondering why the male? I thought trico male imago's (spinners)
flew off into the brush and died after mating? Was there a
special reason for the males, or are your trout not that picky?

I have no reason to doubt Ralph Cutter's observations, but it seems to me
that rafts of dead spinners both male and female come down the Tulpehocken.
At any rate, the fish on that stream ARE picky, and it might be simply a
different pattern doesn't arouse suspicion. Especially, when one is over
podded fish, with the occaisional unfortunate pod member being pulled away
periodicallyg.

Did you drift your spinner imitations above or under the film?
(I drift mine under the film.) Did it even matter?

hell, my eyes aren't that good as to guess. I just Gink them up and lob them
out. Probably, they start out in the film, but I have taken fish on sunken
spinner, that much I know.

If it does not give away the farm or violate the offical secrets
act, what did your use to imitate your spinners?

my patterns are pretty mundane. As follows:
Tails--two microfibets, clear or pale dun, 4x the length of the hook
Body--female: white thread
male: black thread
Thorax--mix of black and olive beaver fur
Wings--clear antron.
That's all.

And, one last question. Did you fish the still water or the
rapids or both?

The stretch I fished today was a slower, deeper run right below a narrow
faster stretch. Water levels were very low. I've seen the behavior described
at other times on the quicker runs, and, in fact, don't always see the pods
feeding as they did today. It was a case, as fly fishing often is, of
observing, adjusting and playing the game which the trout dictate to you.

hope this helped,
Tom

quick followup. Was out running errands and had to stop by another section
of the creek late this morning. Once again, little clumps of trout,not as
many as the spot yesterday, in more of current flow than yesterday. Same
effect, though....they were gorging on spent spinners and in an hour, I
hooked 5, landed 3 on spent females on 7x. That will do it for me, for the
tricos, this season. Coming weeks look busy, and fall(streamer time) will
arrive with cooler weather and some rain.
Tom