Unfortunately work, family commitments and overall just being busy have kept me off of the water the past week. I did get out and temp a few of our local streams this morning and with temps in the low to mid 60's. It looks like Trout season is right around the corner. We did get a message across the wire that the state will be stocking the middle branch of the White Clay on Monday, October 1st. They are looking for volunteers to help with the stocking. Anyone interested can meet at the Good Hope bridge at approximately 2:00 pm. Between the state and the White Clay Fly fishers holiday stocking there should be enough fish to keep the river fishing through the winter. Remember, we have the tickets as well as the rod that will be raffled off to raise money for the holiday stocking. 100% of the money raised will go the the holiday stocking. Stop in, get a few tickets, and support a great cause. Who knows, you might walk away with a custom Gatti 9' 5 weight built by club president Rick Daring.

One boot Ed did text me a pic of a few smallies he picked up earlier in the week. The big boys should be getting ready to strap on the feed bag to get ready for the winter. I would be swinging BIG streamers, buggers, and crayfish patterns this time of year. Low and slow will be the ticket and the most important thing to remember this time of year is to be patient. Gone are the July and August times of super active fish that are hungry and willing to eat. Fish are more lethargic this time of year and they don't need to eat as much. If you find a good run that you suspect is holding fish, take your time and fish it thoroughly. When you get a hook up you will be glad you did.

Stripers are starting to show up down south. mostly small stuff right now, but the big boys should not be too far behind. As the migration continues we will keep you up to date.


Tight Lines....
Tim

The new Sage Circa rods were delivered to the shop on Thursday. As soon as I saw the deep yellow rod tube I could tell it was something different. When I assembled the rod for the first time I knew it was something different. The first thing I noticed was the low profile ferrules. According to Sage the advancement of the Konnetic technology has allowed them to lighten the ferrules buy 70% without a loss of strength. this also allows for an overall lighter rod and much better aerodynamics while moving through the casting stroke. These rods are so incredibly slim and light weight...the 8' 9" 4 weight only weighs 2 3/8 ounces! The blank is a deep green color and the thread wraps are olive with grey accents. The rod has a half wells cork handle, Vera wood reel seat, Fuji stripper guides, and hard chrome snakes and tip top. The overall appearance of the rod can be summed up with only one phrase, "work of art".

 Enough of that stuff, let’s get to the meat and potatoes, how does it preform? Well, I took the 8' 9" 4 weight out and gave it a go. The load point of this rod is deep in the butt section. I used 2 different lines and feel a longer taper like the Trout LT to be a good choice, I didn't have one to try, but I actually want to try the old double taper on this rod. I think that will perform equally well. As mentioned the load point is deep, but the rod is not what I would consider "soft" it actually is quite crisp and VERY accurate. I had no trouble hitting targets from as close as 15 feet to an estimated 40 or so feet. Ultra-light in the hand and silky smooth you could cast this rod all day and never get tired. A wide loop is a byproduct of the slower action and I did notice wind to be an issue on a few casts. Probably not the best choice if you are throwing a tandem nymph rig with an indicator and shot, but if small flies and delicate presentations are your game put this one on your list of "must try" rods.

 Available in 2 thru 5 weights and lengths of 7' 9" or 8' 9" there is a weight and a length to suit the needs of most anglers. Please feel free to stop in and give one of these rods a try, You will be glad you did.

                                                                                                                                                     Tim

I love this not because he lost the fish, but because Ed was VERY excited when he got into some good action. Ed said it was an estimated "solid" 18 inch fish. He said he is going back and "throwing everything he has at him this weekend" I hope you get him buddy!

There is NOTHING like a big Smallmouth!

 The White Clay Fly Fishers are doing the raffle for the fall stocking again this year. This year Rick Daring has built a beautiful 9 foot 5 weight rod and donated it to the club. The rod is a deep green color with gold accents. It is finished off with a very interesting integral wood handle and reel seat combo.

 All proceeds from the raffle will go directly to the Holiday Stocking program. last year enough money was raised to stock almost 1000 fish, all of which were put in the middle branch of the White Clay right before Christmas.

 tickets are $5.00 each or 5 for $20.00. Stop in the shop and take a look at a beautiful work of art and support a good cause.

 Cooler nighttime temps. are bringing cooler water. One Boot Ed and I fished the main stem of the White Clay on Friday morning and could not believe it when I temped the water at 62 degrees. We "put in" just below the confluence of the middle branch and the main stem. We have been getting good reports of Smallmouth action the last few weeks and I decided to check it out. I showed Ed where we were going to be starting and he went ahead as I stayed back to deal with an equipment issue. Less than a minute later I rounded the corner to see Ed already tight to a good smallie. I tied on my favorite streamer, you know the one you always use when you are fishing some ware new, or aren't sure what to use.

  We worked our way down stream to just below the Delaware line. It was a beautiful morning to be on the river, I had deer move through just above me on the ridge, saw some waterfowl, and witnessed the biggest Trico hatch I have seen on the White Clay. Unfortunately the fish didn't really cooperate and although the morning was great the fishing "success" was minimal. We did see a bunch of Trout and Smallmouth as the water was gin clear, but low. Come on rain!

 Sunday found me back on the Brandywine. The water temp was a bit warmer as the b-wine usually runs a little warmer. It was 68 when I hit the water at 4:00. I chose to fish a section that is a good run, but short. I had the two hander with me and was really working on my "swing" technique. I fished the run 4 times with 4 different flies. This was as much as a fishing outing as it was a casting practice and test a few new patterns outing. I would fish the run to the bottom, get out of the water and walk to the top, change flies and do it again.

 I tried 4 new flies, used spey casts the whole night, swung flies the whole time and caught a Smallmouth on 3 of the 4 flies. All in all a good night.

 Rat squad member Lee Powers fished the Codorus on Sunday. he only got to fish for about 30min. The water temp was around 52 degrees. for a half hour of fishing on a river he has never fished he seemed to do pretty well.

  My son, Tyler fished northern Potter county this weekend. He had a good morning on Kettle Creek with Smallmouth of all things landing 3 in a morning.

The next day they fished the 'Young Woman's Creek". Several nice native Brookies came to hand that morning. I guess it was worth the walk "all the way down and back up the mountain" Good job dude. 

 Terry is leaving for his annual False Albacore trip to Maratha's Vineyard tomorrow. The shop will be open Tuesday thru Saturday as usual, but the opening times will be a little different for this week only.

Our hours will be as follows;

Monday: Closed
Tuesday: 12:00 n to 7:00 pm
Wednesday: 12:00 n to 7:00 pm
Thursday: 12:00 n to 7:00 pm
Friday: 12:00 n to 7:00 pm
Saturday 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Sunday: closed.

 If you need anything during the closed times please give us a call at (302) 654-6515 or go the the "contacts" section of the site and sh

With this Echo Practice rod you can practice all of your single hand casting and with the new Spey adapter you can work on your two handed skills as well. Inside or out, single or Spey casts, this is a must have fly fishermen of all skill levels.

  Reports about the Brandywine are still coming in strong. I fished the river two times this weekend. I got about an hour and a half  in on Saturday morning before I opened the shop and my son and I spent about three and a half hours Sunday evening.  The USGS site showed the flow to be around 125 on Saturday morning, i did not check it Sunday, but I am confident it was about the same. Water temps were down a little hovering between 72 and 75 degrees depending on what time of day I temped it. 

  I have decided to fish my two handers as much as possible in hopes of tuning up for a trip to the lower Potomac later this month. (stay tuned). Saturday was spent knocking the rust off of my two handed cast (that is actually an insult to the rust!) and I definitely spent more time "casting" rather than "fishing". Toward the end I was putting it together and I felt much better as I left the river to open up the shop. 

 Sunday saw my son, Tyler and I on the river at around 4:00. The conditions could not have been better. The air temp was perfect. The water level and clarity were perfect, and the two handed cast was working. Tyler was armed with his favorite 6wt single hander and we decided to fish the same fly, something I NEVER do when fishing with 2 people. This was to be the initial test for the "Mr Collins Rubber Legged Weenie" and I wanted to give it an honest shot. 

  The effectiveness of the fly was clear from the start as Tyler landed 3 Smallies within the first 10 minutes, including one with some kind of defect (see picture below). We fished together for about 45 minutes then we split up and Tyler went about 200 yards down stream. I continued fishing the run I was in and picked off a few fish. My phone rang and it was Tyler. The first thing he said is "I feel sick!" Well it turns out junior got to tussle with his first 18" class fish and it gave him a very quick education...better luck next time dude. He did manage to land a solid fish of about 16". We met up again in our favorite spot and fished till dark. All in all I guess we landed 15 or so Smallmouth between the 2 of us. I would say the test for the new fly was a success. It was just a great night to be on the water. 

  We should have good Smallmouth action for several more weeks, and don't forget, fall trout stocking is right around the corner. This is truly one of the best times of the year. 

                                                                                                                                      Tight lines...
                                                                                                                                                        Tim

Terry,Thanks very much for Abbey's lesson....she really enjoyed it and it paid dividends on the water on Friday.  Abbey's comfort with casting was beautiful to watch!  I think she's a natural. She caught ten or twelve during the course of the afternoon just dead drifting....smallies, falls and sunnies.  She outfished me, but that, of course, is what a grandfather wants!  Next year, I think I will do the refresher lesson thing with each of the grandkids before we go out....thanks again for such great instruction.

Best regards,

Bill

  Well, yesterday one of our very good customers, Ed Collins stopped in. Ed, like most of us has been having an epic Smallmouth season and last Saturday was no exception. While floating a section of the Brandywine Ed was telling me of fish after fish he and his buddy Mark were catching. Ed told me "I was actually tired of catching Smallmouth" A little later in the conversation he pulled out a shop fly cup with several of our Brandywine staple fly's the "Mr Rubber Legs" . These flys have definitely seen better days. Having all of his rubber legs chewed up beyond use Ed switched to another productive fly for this year the Green Weenie and continued to bang fish. 

   As we continued the conversation It dawned on us; what if we combined the two patterns into one? We were split on what colors to do the legs. The two choices were Black and Clear with red flecks. Ultimately we decided on black. After tying a few today I am confident the black was the right choice. I am headed to the river this evening to try them out. I will let you know how they work out. 

Here is the recipe for the " Mr Collins Rubber legged Weenie"


Hook = TMC 5263 size 6
Weight = .015 lead substitute wire wrapped the length of the shank
Legs = Black Life Flex
Body = Chartreuse Chenille  

Enjoy...