Last week brought with it a huge rain storm on Friday into Saturday night. Cooler weather moved through after the storm and some great fishing was had later in the week. All of our local rivers are fishing well right now and the recent rain seems to have the water levels holding, at least for now. We need these rains to continue through April and May to ensure we have good water to fish through the summer.
Reports from the White Clay continue to be positive. With the Pennsylvania and Delaware sections of the river receiving fresh stockings of fish on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, all branches of the "Clay" are full of fish. Attractor patterns will work well on the fresh stockies, and the Green Weenie is hard to beat. Buggers in all colors will bring many fish to hand as well as attractor type wets and large, bright streamers. If you prefer to fish on top we have many great attractor dries, Wolfs, Stimulators and Humpys are all great choices. If you prefer to stay on the science side of things Caddis seem to be coming on strong the last week or so. As reported last time we saw a blanket Caddis hatch on the Brandywine while scouting for Shad two weeks ago. Plenty of Caddis larva are under the rocks right now and as the temps continue to rise these guys should become more and more active.
One of our good customers reported good topwater action on the east branch of the Brandywine last week. Greg said the fish were rising every night and a #14 tan Elk Hair Caddis was the ticket. Two evenings were good to Greg as he had double-digit totals both times he was out. The section at the "wall" seems to be particularly productive. Anyone who has fished this river knows about the wall. I had a great morning there a few years ago. This was the first time I purposefully fished a dry under water. I was fishing a dry and dropper rig with a Elk Hair Caddis on top and a Bead Head off of the bend. The first two fish I landed took the Caddis as it swung down stream and the drag on the line and leader submerged the dry. I clipped the dropper off, put a micro shot in front of the dry and fished it on the swing like a soft hackle. Remember, go to school on the first few fish you get and let them tell you what they want.
The west branch of the Octoraro continues to produce. Again, Caddis seem to dominate the hatch and a dry and dropper rig would be deadly on that water right now. Be sure your Caddis box is well stocked for the next two or three weeks as this should be the predominate hatch until we get to the best time of year for the Trout fisherman in our area, Sulphur time.
We are getting half a dozen calls a day asking about the Shad and if it is time yet. Through our own scouting trips, reports from the "rat squad" and our good customers are as follows; Deer Creek was barren at the end of last week into this week. We had several reports from people who had fished the river, many reports from different times of the day. All of the reports were the same. The guys at the mouth of Deer Creek and out in the river were getting some Hickories in fair numbers, but no fish had moved up into Deer Creek yet. About mid week things seemed to change a bit. Some Herring and male Hickories were moving up and had been spotted up at the pumping station. The female Shad that had been caught were still full and not spawned yet. The weather for this weekend looks promising. I just might ride down Sunday evening and check things out for myself.
These reports are changing daily. Please feel free to call the shop and get an instant, real time report. See you on the water.
Tight lines...
Reports from the White Clay continue to be positive. With the Pennsylvania and Delaware sections of the river receiving fresh stockings of fish on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, all branches of the "Clay" are full of fish. Attractor patterns will work well on the fresh stockies, and the Green Weenie is hard to beat. Buggers in all colors will bring many fish to hand as well as attractor type wets and large, bright streamers. If you prefer to fish on top we have many great attractor dries, Wolfs, Stimulators and Humpys are all great choices. If you prefer to stay on the science side of things Caddis seem to be coming on strong the last week or so. As reported last time we saw a blanket Caddis hatch on the Brandywine while scouting for Shad two weeks ago. Plenty of Caddis larva are under the rocks right now and as the temps continue to rise these guys should become more and more active.
One of our good customers reported good topwater action on the east branch of the Brandywine last week. Greg said the fish were rising every night and a #14 tan Elk Hair Caddis was the ticket. Two evenings were good to Greg as he had double-digit totals both times he was out. The section at the "wall" seems to be particularly productive. Anyone who has fished this river knows about the wall. I had a great morning there a few years ago. This was the first time I purposefully fished a dry under water. I was fishing a dry and dropper rig with a Elk Hair Caddis on top and a Bead Head off of the bend. The first two fish I landed took the Caddis as it swung down stream and the drag on the line and leader submerged the dry. I clipped the dropper off, put a micro shot in front of the dry and fished it on the swing like a soft hackle. Remember, go to school on the first few fish you get and let them tell you what they want.
The west branch of the Octoraro continues to produce. Again, Caddis seem to dominate the hatch and a dry and dropper rig would be deadly on that water right now. Be sure your Caddis box is well stocked for the next two or three weeks as this should be the predominate hatch until we get to the best time of year for the Trout fisherman in our area, Sulphur time.
We are getting half a dozen calls a day asking about the Shad and if it is time yet. Through our own scouting trips, reports from the "rat squad" and our good customers are as follows; Deer Creek was barren at the end of last week into this week. We had several reports from people who had fished the river, many reports from different times of the day. All of the reports were the same. The guys at the mouth of Deer Creek and out in the river were getting some Hickories in fair numbers, but no fish had moved up into Deer Creek yet. About mid week things seemed to change a bit. Some Herring and male Hickories were moving up and had been spotted up at the pumping station. The female Shad that had been caught were still full and not spawned yet. The weather for this weekend looks promising. I just might ride down Sunday evening and check things out for myself.
These reports are changing daily. Please feel free to call the shop and get an instant, real time report. See you on the water.
Tight lines...
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