Potter County Fishing Report, 19 April: Proof of Concept

 With Monday highs forecast to rise into the 60s under partly cloudy skies, and with colder weather in the forecast for Wednesday, it seemed a good opportunity to hit Fishing "Crik" for a few hours.  I also wanted to try out using a tippet ring to connect additional tippet to my leader.

Nothing special about tippet rings; they've been around for awhile.  Essentially nothing more than a tiny steel washers, they're used to extend the life of your leader.  Normally, after a few fly changes you whittle down the leader's tippet section, which starts out at around the last 18 inches of the leader.  That requires adding a section of tippet (or changing the leader, which gets kind of expensive), which whittles down even more leader from the tag ends of the surgeon's knot.

A lot of context to say that adding a small (1mm) steel washer to a new leader does away with all of the above.  You're simply adding tippet to the washer, so theoretically you could use the same leader all season long.

So I purchased some tippet rings, and decided to give them a try.  

Pro guide tip:  When attaching the tippet ring to your leader, be sure to thread the ring over a surface that enables you to find the ring when you invariably drop it.  

After about three attempts, I was able to tie the the 4X leader onto the ring, tied another section of 4X tippet onto the ring, and we were in business.

So off to the stream I went.  I decided to hit some spots on Fishing Creek that I had not visited in awhile.  Angler traffic had dropped significantly since opening day.  Water levels were a bit low, but I found enough decent spots that should have held fish.  Casting had to be tight to avoid the brush and trees, but I managed to net three 12-inch Rainbows over the course of an hour or so, drifting black Wooly Buggers into undercut banks, and under the sunken log below, which resulted in my first trout of the day.

The tippet ring held, even in the process of losing two Wooly Buggers entangles in overhanging trees.

I headed back to the WBT to finish up on home waters.  Tried the Pavilion Hole with no luck.  Went down to the lower hole (still need a name for it ... lower hole just doesn't cut it), and had 5 hookups on the Wooly Bugger.  Only landed one; I was fishing from the bank, and didn't have the rod tip high enough to keep the fish hooked.  No matter.  I gave the hole a rest and sat on the bench thinking about what to do next.  By 2:00 or so the fish gods answered.  A "hatchapalooza" broke out; caddis's, small gray mayflies (BWOs), and even what looked like March Browns.  And fish were rising.  Since the majority of bugs were caddis's, I tied on the closest imitation I had.  Nada.  So on to plan b; a dry/ dropper rig.  A Humpy to maybe get some interest, and a size 16 bead head Pheasant Tail about 18 inches underneath.  The Humpy got not love, but three fish ate the nymph.

Six fish from Fishing Creek; had to work for them but not a bad tally.  And I'm a convert on the tippet ring.

Oh ... and conditions today:

Tight Lines,

Mikey D Fishing

Potter County Fishing Report: Wormin'

 66 degrees, sunny skies.  Simple works....

 

Tight Lines,

Mikey D Fishing

Opening Day Fishing Report, 03 April: Nature Wins

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission stocked about 750 trout in various sections of Fishing Creek.  The Roulette Rod and Gun Club stocked another 2,800, and limited placement to the west branch and main stem of the stream.  With a trout/mile count matching some wester rivers, you'd assume that a great opening day for trout season would be a forgone conclusion.  That is until Nature stepped in.

It certainly looked like Saturday was going to another great day of catching.  Only seven days earlier we enjoyed temps in the upper 50s and low 60s, but even better virtually non-stop trout catching during the Mentored Youth Fishing Day.  But then the spring weather went south and Old Man Winter reappeared, dropping temps into the 20s and 30s, and covering the landscape with snow.

While the snow was not forecast to last to the weekend, the cold temps certainly were.  Capt. DiPaola arrived Friday morning to sunny skies and temps in the upper 20s.  Far from ideal for trout fishing.  But you can't change the weather, so we headed to Mosch's Tavern for a quick bite, then on to the DHALO section of the upper Allegheny to knock the rust off before Saturday.

The special regs section allows for fishing year round, and requires C&R until June 15 when the river warms to the point that trout have a hard time surviving and anglers can take 3 fish/day.  The state recently stocked the section, so I knew the trout were there.  It was just a matter of finding them.  We got on the water about 12:30 or so.  The skies were sunny, but temps had only climbed to the mid-30s, and would stay that way for the rest of the day.  The ice constantly building up in the guides of our fly rods was ample evidence that it was going to be a tough afternoon.  But tough it out we did.  It took awhile, and we threw a lot of junk flies, but we managed to find fish, and each brought a couple of Rainbows to the net.

For some reason, Pennsylvania decided to open trout season about two weeks earlier than normal.  The early opening certainly didn't help the fishing conditions.  Although we enjoyed sunny skies, we did not enjoy the 20-degree temperature that greeted us as we got to the Pavilion Hole around 7:30 .  A couple of Perdomos at least took our minds off of the wait.  But then it was finally 8:00 AM, the official beginning of the season, and our lines went in the water.

I'd like to say that this opening day was one for the books.  Instead, it turned into a lot of fishing, and very little catching.  I picked up the Rainbow that the Trout Whisperer had caught the week before in the lower stretch, while Joe picked up a nice Rainbow in a beaver-dammed section downstream. That was it!  A week prior we couldn't stop catching fish.  Seven days later not only did we not catch fish, we didn't even see many fish.  Reports from the handful of anglers we saw on the property were the same.  And I didn't see one carrying a stringer.

The only reason I can come to is that Nature stepped in to demonstrate that, what man provideth, She can take away.  While water conditions were excellent, the stream was a bit low.  The recent melt and some rain should have kept water levels up.  Perhaps the trees had awakened and started sucking ground water that would have otherwise been trickling into the stream.  But then where were the fish?  Maybe the extremely cold temps had them hunkered down on the bottom and not eating.  But if so, with the water as low and clear as it was, we should have seen them.  The only answer I can come up with is that the fish had either moved, or been removed.  I suspect the latter.  The previous Saturday we watched as a mink roamed around the bank opposite the Pavilion Hole.  A little research and it turns out the varmints are "water wolves," and prodigious eaters of trout.  They take advantage of early season extreme cold water to enjoy an all-you-can eat buffet on the slow-moving fish, which given the low water offered few avenues of escape.  Trapping would keep the rodents in check.  But then the sport has virtually disappeared from the area, a consequence of both poor markets for fur, and I guess dwindling enthusiasm amongst local youth.  (To add insult, beavers came through the property a couple of weeks ago and chewed through dozens of saplings on the property)

I went out briefly Sunday morning to give it another shot.  Nothing.  Nada.  Not even a bump.  Didn't see the mink either.  My conclusion is that she/he and the fish are officially gone.  And I saw only one other angler on the stretch behind the WBT; when the fish go so do the anglers.  Doesn't mean that fishing is over.  Other sections of Fishing creek are more than likely holding trout.  Many of the other stocked streams in the county are close by.  The wild trout streams should fish well for the next month or so.  And, as temps increase in the Allegheny, trout will find their way up to the cooler waters of Fishing Creek.  Until then, however, you're going to have to "work" for your trout on Fishing Crick.

Tight Lines,

Mikey D Fishing