Are the Grannoms here yet?

A few weeks into my time here the talk has been all about when the Grannoms will finally arrive.  Being a fly fishing club, there is one notorious story around here.  A few years back, a very nice woman who handles finances kept being asked when the Grannoms would arrive.  She would answer both guides and other members that they have not been seen around yet.  She did this for some time until she finally questioned “who are these Grannoms who everyone is asking about and why are they so important?”  Little did she know that the Grannoms are only a type of caddis fly (known as the Mother’s Day Caddis back in Colorado) that this region is well known for.  This made me laugh a bit but I, too, have been anxiously waiting for their arrival. 

I thought I blew it this past weekend when I left for Connecticut for a wedding just as the rain seemed to be subsiding and leaves beginning to bud.  Grannoms were indeed spotted the day after I left and I was very bummed I was set to miss the biggest hatch event that would take place during my time here in PA.  Thankfully just as soon as Mother Nature decided to bless us with the first couple days of sun, she turned that switch right off again and opened the skies for more rain.  When I arrived back on the rivers yesterday, some caddis were fluttering on the surface but the trout seemed to be uninterested still, as not one rise was spotted.  Having an excellent flow, I coaxed another Colorado guide out onto the raft with me yesterday afternoon in hopes we could pick up a few munching on the surface.  This did not happen but we remembered just how fun and exciting it can be when the water is high, visibility is a little off, and the fish are hungry.  A big streamer cast tight up on the bank can surely wake them up.  After the brief four mile float and about 8 fish in the net, countless others lost to missed hook sets and what had to be the fishes lack of aim for my streamers, we were back and content about the outing. 

I sit here today under the shelter of the barn, repairing a raft and listening to the deafening paddle of the rain coming down thinking that the Grannoms will have to wait for a few more days before they arrive.  Streamer fishing it is until the epic Pennsylvanian Grannom hatch can find a few nice days. 

***If you find yourself itching for some exciting fishing and the water is blowing past you, tie on a stout leader and a streamer or two.  Below you can see my favorite setup.  I tie on a straight six foot section of 0X tippet to a big streamer.  If the water is really off color, try a bright yellow or orange one and think big, like size 2 or 4 hook.  From the bend of that hook, tie on another section of leader around 12-20’ behind it.  I tie on slightly lighter leader for when I cast right into a tree.  I use about 2X so I hopefully only lose one fly instead of both when I have to break it off.   On this end I tie on a black or olive cone head bugger about size 6-8.  Something about having a small streamer chasing the larger one really gets the fish intrigued.  

If you are floating, cast right up on the bank and strip it back out about 5-10 feet.  Recast and continue until you have caught too many fish or your arm falls off due to the heavy casting.  Expect explosive takes right when the streamers hit the water or soon after.  Also remember to “slip-set” your hooks rather than lifting your rod tip up.  This will ensure a nice hookup. 

Road Trip to PA - Learning new tricks of the trade

After a roughly 29 hour drive east, I am now here in Central Pennsylvania in the town of Spruce Creek where I will be for April and the beginning of May.  I am guiding here on many of our company's sections of rivers (or 'Cricks') including Spruce, Penns, Fishing, Yellow and the Little Juniata.  I am excited to be here and hoping this weather will change for the better so more people are ready to go fishing.  All of the water I have seen so far here is amazing and very different than what I have grown accustomed to fishing.  While in CO, I rarely fish private stretches of water, outside of guiding, while here it seems public access points are much more scarce.  I now know I have taken the abundance of river access for granted in CO where one can easily find great public fishing water nearby. 

Here the water laws are a bit of a hybrid from what I have found in Colorado and in Montana.  In MT, you can drop into ANY river or stream at a public crossing, usually a bridge, and fish as far as your feet can carry you, so long as you stay below the high water mark.  In CO, landowners actually own the riverbed, so as long as you can float through the property and stay off rocks, debris, etc, you are using a public resource.  Here in PA, the river must have been deemed commercially navigable in a court ruling for it to become a public river.  This is achieved usually by proving it was once used to transport logs or other goods for sale at one point in history.  Once it is designated public, the same rules as in Montana apply, stay below the high water mark.  I am learning which rivers are private, public, or mixed as I get settled here.   

With the myriad of new rules to absorb, I am also spending much time at the vise tying up patterns to get me through the spring and summer.  I am ready for the cold, rainy-snow to pass and turn on the epic hatches of Grannoms (the great caddis flies here in PA), Olive and Black Caddis as well as some  black stone flies. 

Here are a few pictures of some of my first fish while here in PA:

The first PA brown I fooled on the Little Juniata - BWO Emerger nymph

Some of the 'residents' of Yellow Creek

 Crazy Colors!

Good looking brown

Report - 3/23/11

Description - Great day on the fork with Joe Croteau and Diane
River - Lower Roaring Fork
Flow - ~575cfs
Weather - Mid 40's - 50's, some sun and clouds
Big fish - 20" Bow
Techniques - Running nymphs deep was still the plan.  We had some Blue Winged olives coming off and a few risers, but the consistency was in the nymph rig. 
Effective Flies - Small BWO wet flies and emergers.  We still picked some up on different color copper johns and Pat's Rubber legs.
Fish story - After the majority of the float, we pulled over to wade for a bit.  We noticed a few good size fish sipping the trapped bwo's in the foam in a recirculating pool.  We had one rig with two dries, a medium sized stimmulator (as the indicator) and a small #22 bwo.  The second cast into the foam, I noticed the stimmy move just slightly so I barely lifted when I knew it was a fish.  I set and was able to land this nice bow.  He was the only one that we got on the dry, but we still managed to pull a few out of the same hole with the wet flies.