With all of the prep for our "Customer Appreciation Weekend" I must apologize that I missed last weeks report. With both the Pennsylvania and Delaware Trout openers behind us all of our local Trout rivers are fishing well. The White Clay in DE. and PA, the East Branch of the Brandywine and the West Branch of the Octoraro all are receiving weekly or Bi-weekly stockings. Fresh stockers are suckers for attractor patterns. Green Weenies, San Juan worms in pink or maroon and bright colored Buggers should all bring fish to hand. If you prefer to stick to the "hatch" side of things Midges still seem to be the preferred choice. The Red Zebra Midge, especially on the White Clay, seems to be the ticket. I personally fished the White Clay two times this past weekend and can report good numbers of fish throughout the entire river.
Saturday I met my buddy Mark at the meeting house at 6:00 am. I figured I could get a few hours of "stockie chasing" before I had to go open the shop. Mark is not a fly fisherman (I know, I know, I am working on him also) so we decided to fish the main stem above the Delaware line. He was throwing his favorite Rooster Tail and I tied up a triple Nymph rig and drifted my three offerings under an indicator. The top fly was a #18 Red Zebra, the middle fly was a #14 Pheasant Tail I have been working on with a bright orange thorax, and the bottom fly was a #20 Olive Al's Rat. I guess I got lucky because of the first 4 fish I landed all three flies had been eaten. Mark and I had a great morning with several fish landed between the two of us.
Saturday I met my buddy Mark at the meeting house at 6:00 am. I figured I could get a few hours of "stockie chasing" before I had to go open the shop. Mark is not a fly fisherman (I know, I know, I am working on him also) so we decided to fish the main stem above the Delaware line. He was throwing his favorite Rooster Tail and I tied up a triple Nymph rig and drifted my three offerings under an indicator. The top fly was a #18 Red Zebra, the middle fly was a #14 Pheasant Tail I have been working on with a bright orange thorax, and the bottom fly was a #20 Olive Al's Rat. I guess I got lucky because of the first 4 fish I landed all three flies had been eaten. Mark and I had a great morning with several fish landed between the two of us.
As we were walking out we met up with my buddy "One Boot Ed." Ed was swinging his new favorite fly, the Clouser Swimming Nymph and picked up a few fish above the London Tract Bridge.
This guy swam within 10 feet of me!!!! Damn Beavers are big!
Sunday evening I was back on the White Clay, this time on the Middle branch. I fished the same rig all evening and had similar results. Several fish landed on all three flies on the rig. I also got a chance to fish my new Waterworks / Lamson Black Guru. This is the second time they have done a limited run of black in this reel and we have them in stock now. Stop by and check them out, you will be glad you did!
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That black is just plain sexy!
Four hours and several fish landed including these two brutes. Believe it or not both of these fish took the smallest fly on the rig, the #20 Olive Al's Rat.
Ok, ok now the report everybody has been waiting for. Things at Deer Creek seem to be picking up. A few good reports from last weekend were followed by the shutdown caused by Wednesday's rain and several cold nights in a row. I had planned on giving it a try one day this weekend, but started to re think my plan. All the reports we received on Friday and Saturday morning were not favorable. With the Brandywine running well over 800 CFS and Deer Creek shutdown I was planing a Trout day on Sunday. Around 3:00 in the afternoon on Saturday we started receiving reports that Deer Creek was "on" again. Just about that time "One Boot Ed" sent me a text asking if I had heard anything about the Shad in Deer Creek. I told him we have gotten several good reports in the last 2 hours. I think he was out the door before he responded "on my way". Ed said the action was steady and the fish were eating flies and fighting hard. That sealed the deal, I was heading to Conowingo early Sunday morning and Ed and I were gonna lay the smack down on some Shad!
Well, I was not ready for that, but the anticipation of hard fighting fish had me up and getting ready well before the sun came up. On my way down I got a call from Ed...
On your Way?
Just passed Nottingham
Ok, I am about 3 minutes ahead of you
Cool, see you in the parking lot.
On your Way?
Just passed Nottingham
Ok, I am about 3 minutes ahead of you
Cool, see you in the parking lot.
I actually stopped on the side of the road and snapped this picture. I love these colors when the sun comes up in the morning.
We rigged up and headed to our spot. I guess because it was Easter morning many people did not come out. The river was not crowded at all. The water was 52 degrees and the fish were full on into their spawning ritual. I started with my favorite Shad fly, one of my micro Clouser Minnows in black and chartreuse. I am surprised to say I received no love with my old standby. I switched to my second favorite color, pink, and was into fish on the first cast. We fished for about 3 hours and had a medium pick of fish until the sun got high above then they shut down. It was not every cast, buy there was no time to get bored either.
We rigged up and headed to our spot. I guess because it was Easter morning many people did not come out. The river was not crowded at all. The water was 52 degrees and the fish were full on into their spawning ritual. I started with my favorite Shad fly, one of my micro Clouser Minnows in black and chartreuse. I am surprised to say I received no love with my old standby. I switched to my second favorite color, pink, and was into fish on the first cast. We fished for about 3 hours and had a medium pick of fish until the sun got high above then they shut down. It was not every cast, buy there was no time to get bored either.
My 5 wt Loomis light spey rod was tailor made for Hickories
There is Ed at the top of the picture behind the trees
With the warming weather these next two weeks are full of opportunities. Get out and fish!
Tight lines..Tim
Tight lines..Tim
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