Floating Pine Creek

[ksherbine]

I'm floating the canyon from Ansonia to Blackwell this weekend with our youth group. Going to do more paddling than fishing, but will get to do some fishing. We're camping one night at Tiadaghton and one at Hoffman's.

I haven't fished that section for years. How's the fishing there? I would assume pressure is a lot less than some of the more accessible stretches.

What flies will be best for then?

Thanks!
Kirk

 

[Swattie87]

Yeah, there will be little pressure from other anglers the further you get from Ansonia or Blackwell on either end. There's the occasional ambitious bike riding angler, but not much. There's a steep dirt road in at Tiadaghton, so you may see more people there, but still, not much. Plenty of room to spread out if you do run into someone.

I was up that way this past weekend. Fished Pine Saturday afternoon right as the cold front was coming through. There was a decent quill hatch of some kind when I got there, but it shut off quickly when the temps started to drop and wind started to blow. No rising fish, so I didn’t try to fish a dry or bother to catch one to specifically identify it. I nymphed my way to a skunk for about 2 hours before calling it quits and heading to Wellsboro for a pizza. There were three spin guys that came in to the riffle with me (first one below the big pool at Darling Run), and they didn't catch anything either.

The rising temps this week should have things looking better for next weekend. My guess is Red Quills/Hendricksons will be the most prevalent Mayfly. Maybe some Quill Gordons still. Probably some Grannoms still around, and I'd have some tan caddis in various sizes.

 

[Fly-Swatter]

sandfly on this site (Big Meadows Fly Shop) is the guy with his finger on the pulse of upper Pine & the canyon.

https://www.facebook.com/BigMeadowsFlyShop

I suggest you stop in to see him. You will be a minute from him when you put in at Ansonia.

 

[ksherbine]

Cool, thanks!

We're deciding between taking a canoe, or I have a Dave Scadden raft that's basically like a shredder with 2 pontoons in front with raft in back. Think the water will be too low for that? It's supposed to be around 2.2 this weekend.

I guess we're floating from Ansonia to Black Walnut Bottom over 2 days. The rest of our group will have canoes. While the raft is way better for fishing, I don't want to hold up the group if we're getting stuck on every rock!

 

[sandfly]

Water is fine for raft. Hendrickson's, blue quill, 2caddis species, quill Gordon, brown stonefly.