Clavemeister's reports-Penns 2005(long)

The Year of the Drakes.........last season, it was decided, over WAY too
much Yuengling, that this year we would aim the clave later. Two reasons
prevailed: A hope for lower water and near-sure fishing over the World
Famous Green Drake hatch. Both hopes came true, and both added their own set
of challenges.
First, due to the holiday week, and an assortment of other reasons, the
crowd at the Clave was smaller....20 folks in all showed up, about 14 or 15
of them actually ROFF posting regulars. The recent dry weather provided us
with a Penn's most of the visitors had never seen, low, clear and full of
finicky brown trout. On the latter point, several of the local regulars
noted that Penn's has the best population of 16 inch plus browns we can
remember in nearly 20 years of fishing it. These are NOT pushover fish, but
could be taken during the daytime with a variety of
oddball techniques. I used wetflies to imitate the tan caddis, others used
smallish sulfur patterns, others still used nymphs. Daylight fishing took
patience, however, and was not easy.
Now, on to the evening hatches......while the Drake hatch kept building in
intensity, sulfurs were also hatching in good numbers, and their spinners
fell nearly every night. Also, olives were about, as were some late Grey
Foxes and March Browns. One evening, I counted 8 different mayfly species,
along with a couple of different caddis, two craneflies and a stonefly
about. From my arrival night, on Saturday, through Tuesday night, fish rose
consistently for about the last hour of light into the darkness, and one had
to guess what they were taking in the stretch one was fishing. If you got it
right, you could land a half-dozen fine trout, otherwise, you could fail
miserably. I got the chance to do both.
On Wednesday afternoon, the decision was made to go to Ingleby, a scenic
spot, which mental calculations told me might be near the peak of the Drake
hatch. Sure enough the duns were coming off well, and Coffin Flies danced in
the air. One could still catch a fish or three pre-darkness, but it almost
seemed as if the fish were waiting for something. Right as darkness fell,
the air filled with egg-laying female Coffin Flies and the water exploded.
One could do a stream census....every fish, of every size came up in the
Creek, and you fished into the darkness with imitations of the huge
spinners. I only landed a couple of fish that night, but both were decent
sized.
Thursday's plan, for the Handyman and myself was to fish Ingleby all day.
We arrived late, due to oversleeping and such, but arrived at 10 am to a sky
already full of dancing Coffin Flies. These were males, but the fish were
keying to them touching the surface. I landed 5 fish, lost several more,
including a VERY serious fish that broke me off, all on Catskill(Dette)
Coffin Flies. Things slowed down in the afternoon, and we were joined in
time for hotdogs, chips and beer by Frank, John, and JR. The latter three
and I headed on a mini deathmarch downstream to a fine pool, closer to Poe
Paddy than Ingleby proper, which I hadn't fished in 7 or 8 years. The
choice, to be honest, was Frank's, but proved to be a good one. We staked
out the pool around 4 pm or so, and spent the next 4 hours largely fending
off invading anglers(eventually 4 persistent souls wedged into/above us). I
tried to liven up the proceedings by landing a couple of fish, but nothing
massive. Around 8 pm, the sky started to fill with Coffin flies.....and it
filled more......and more....By 8:45, the fish were on a full-out blitz, a
feeding frenzy. Several fish were landed, including a couple by yours truly,
as dark approached rapidly. At that point, an enormous swarm of egglaying
females headed upstream for the final drop, and the stretch I thought held
12 or 15 decent trout showed itself to hold at least 40!! I am talking
about the area within an easy cast of where I stood, maybe 60 or 70 feet of
streambed. I had been trying to target good fish all night, and had landed
two of 17 inches or so, but persisted on in the dark. A fresh fly rose a
trout with a hearty 'slurp' that had risen no more than 12 feet from my
position. A 30 second slugfest put a trout into my net that measured from
the the back of the reel to the first guide.....just measured at home with a
tape measure and came up with 22 1/4 inches. My battered fly went out again
and landed a fish of probably 18 or 19 inches. It was now 9:20, I was
near-exhausted, but thrilled.
I hope that the choice of this week led all attendees to some different
Penn's challenges. My temptation is to avoid running the clave this late in
the future, due to the crowd of anglers, and the odd emphasis on the bitter
end of the evening/dark for prime angling. Feedback is appreciated, but I am
thinking a week or two earlier for 2006. I sincerely appreciate all who
showed up. I will single out the following: Handyman Mike for general
all-around services and cooking; similar cooking kudos to Frank Reid, his
pal John, the boys from Massachusetts; Makela and Dave PA for guiding
assistance; Joel for excellence in Rafflemeistering, and finally,
Indian Joe for persisting on a bum leg and providing fascinating commentary.
Finally, distance kudos to JR(Oregon) and John from California, as well as
Petah, who apparently enjoyed the drive down from Ontario so much on Sunday,
that he chose to relive it on Tuesday!! Also, concern for Mark from
Maryland(geez, do I suck at last names), whose quick departure was due to
the sudden illness of his little girl.....I can only hope that she is doing
fine. Great Clave, guys!!!!