Dry fly tips for Spring Creek PA

[geebee]

Hi Guys,

I'm headed up Friday and am hoping to mostly fish dry flies, I've figured out that small olive - 18/20 and tan caddis - 16 seem to be on the menu right now but I was wondering what length leaders you guys use and what tippet for the olives 6x ?

Also, if there's not much rising, do you cast upstream, when prospecting or downstream, and do you step and cast through the pool ?

if you get no joy after a fish through, do you move on to another run or pool, or just keep at it , nymph etc until the fish 'turn on' ?

most of the hatching will be early afternoon and evening right ?


any help, is most appreciated,

cheers

Mark.

 

[franklin]

geebee wrote:
Hi Guys,

I'm headed up Friday and am hoping to mostly fish dry flies, I've figured out that small olive - 18/20 and tan caddis - 16 seem to be on the menu right now but I was wondering what length leaders you guys use and what tippet for the olives 6x ?

Also, if there's not much rising, do you cast upstream, when prospecting or downstream, and do you step and cast through the pool ?

if you get no joy after a fish through, do you move on to another run or pool, or just keep at it , nymph etc until the fish 'turn on' ?

most of the hatching will be early afternoon and evening right ?


any help, is most appreciated,

cheers

Mark.

I always prefer to work upstream. I will swing wets or streamers downstream. Sometimes the situation demands a certain approach due to a number of factors. Primarily access to the stream.

If I'm at a pool I may try an attractor or searching pattern (small caddis pattern works) at the tails of the pool first. Then move up and also the head of the pool. If I'm starting at a run I will likely start nymphing.

 

[ROVERT]

Maybe I've just been lucky but I've never seen the fish in Spring not on the feed. They might not be rising but nymphing has always been successful. I would have sulphurs in my box in both dries and emergers. It seems early but they are definitely on Penns already. Last year I fished Spring around the 15th and there were plenty of sulphurs. Things seem to be ahead this year so I would definitely look out for them. Other than that and the flies you mentioned, the standard nymphs should do.

I find up and across to work best on Spring.

 

[pcray1231]

Ok, just FYI. Olives winding down fast. Sulphers coming on fast. I'd expect the latter to be the main show by the weekend. Maybe March Browns added to the mix if you go down below Bellefonte, but there's not a strong population of them farther upstream.

Olives are typically a late morning to early afternoon hatch. No fishable spinner fall to speak of.

Sulphers will be an evening hatch. Depending on weather, it could start as early as 4 or 5 p.m., but most of the time things get going more like 7 p.m., starting slowly and gradually ramping up to a crescendo at dusk, followed shortly by the spinners hitting and all heck breaking loose till it gets too dark to see. Be ready for duns or floating nymphs/emergers. If you're throwin duns at rising fish and they ain't taking, it may be because they're focused on stuff just below the surface rather than on top of it. For the spinner fall, use spinners...

If there's absolutely nothing showing on top, I nymph, which if I hit the stream at dinnertime is usually how things start off. That said, even sporadic rising activity will typically have me switch over to dries. I'll prospect likely looking spots, then when you see a rise, you go headhunting. If I see a fish rise on Spring Creek like that, and am able to determine exactly what current seam he's working, 9 times out of 10 I'll get him to hit. I might catch him, miss him, or whatever, but I'll get him to hit. Usually the first few casts I'll dead drift over him. If that doesn't work I'll cast above and beyond him and skate it back into his lane.

Then come evening with the spinners things go nuts. From a % basis, I'm much less successful in getting every fish to hit. But there's a lot more fish showing!

After working an area, whether you keep moving or not depends entirely on other guys. I always like to move. But if the stream is crowded, and you're on a nice stretch that you'd like to have for the spinner fall later, figure out what distance you think you can hold. Start at the bottom, work up through, then turn around, go back to the bottom, and do it again. Do your best to stick to the edges and not spook it to bad. Gives each fish a short rest between your returns. And moving out of that stretch would just put you on fish that someone else just got done molesting anyway. There really are no "fresh" fish.

But if there aren't many guys out it's always better to cover more water and hit fresh unmolested fish. Especially when things get hot and heavy in the evening. A few casts, and if nothing, move on, there are plenty of rising fish not far away and they may be easier to catch.

 

[pcray1231]

Oh, leaders.

For sulphers, typically 9 ft, 5x.

Olives, at size 18, I've done 5x or 6x. But honestly I think you should be thinking sulphers more than olives.

 

[geebee]

thanks for the advice there PC.

how big are the sulphurs in mm ? - I did see that the flyfishers paradise website mentioned them this morning, but I am confused to how big they are - are the duns and spinners tied on 2x long hooks ?

I have a bunch of sulphur flies from my trip to the Delaware in #14,16, 18 which went unused as they seemed tiny compared to the 15mm ish yellow mayflies on the water (it was late May), was I seeing sulphurs there or maybe cahill's ?


thanks again

 

[pcray1231]

As far as size, sulphers come in 2 main varieties.

Invaria - typically larger, size 16ish on Spring Creek, though 14's aren't uncommon on other waters. They come FIRST and have a little more orange in their coloration. I'd expect you'll see more of these.

http://www.troutnut.com/hatch/11/Mayfly-Ephemerella-invaria-Sulphur-Dun

Dorothea - typically smaller, size 18ish on Spring Creek. They come second, and are more yellow, almost white colored as duns.

http://www.troutnut.com/hatch/458/Mayfly-Ephemerella-dorothea-dorothea-Pale-Evening-Dun

No, neither is typically tied on 2XL hooks.

Cahills are generally the same size as invaria. Different family of mayflies, so VERY different characteristics as far as how they hatch and from which parts of the stream. But the duns look pretty similar, really. Cahills typically ramp up as the sulphers wind down at the end of May and into June. Here's the genus page. Note that March Browns are closely related and on this page. The rest of the varieties are collectively referred to as Cahills.

http://www.troutnut.com/hatch/513/Mayfly-Maccaffertium-March-Browns-and-Cahills

But on the D in late May, the largest mayflies would be drakes of some variety. It's got Green, Yellow, Brown, and Golden drakes (color of duns isn't really all that different, really). And yeah, they're big, ranging from size 6 to 10 or so, and often tied on 2XL hooks.

Here's the green drake. Dun body color is yellow-ish. Spinners are white.

http://www.troutnut.com/hatch/494/Mayfly-Ephemera-guttulata-Green-Drake

 

[geebee]

brilliant information thanks - so i'll take the comparaduns and spinners I already have up there then.

It definitely didn't have a mottled wing. I've been googling and perhaps there were yellow or golden drakes, as I said they were about 15mm and entirely yellow - no red eyes...

they were all around our cabin and quite a few on stream too.

many thanks

Mark.

 

[PocketWater]

Different water, but not far away....I was at the Little Juniata this Saturday (4/30) and the sulphurs were coming off well there.

 

[moon1284]

I really only fish SC in the winter and I typically catch at least one fish a trip on dries (I usually fish dry dropper in the winter). This time of year you should have no trouble getting them on top. I'd bet a comparadun between the size of 14-18 would catch fish, regardless of the color of the fly.

Your DE River sulphurs will work fine. I catch a lot of fish each year on a size 18 sulphur that I tie for the DE river, year round and probably more than any other fly. I caught a trout this weekend on the EB using one. I also caught a brown on spring creek with one this past February.

 

[geebee]

Thanks moon and others - I will report back on how I do.

 

[LetortAngler]

The trout on Spring love hugging the bank, if your there before the hatch, don't forget to target these areas.

 

[dryflyguy]

Sulphers hatched pretty good on spring creek throughout the day when I was there on monday.
A #14 matched the naturals pretty well

 

[Fuller24]

Agreed on the sulphers, also took fish on a #14 March Brown, good dry fly action in the afternoon.