Loyalsock Creek!

[maxima12]

Top 8 in country back in 60's by Field and Stream and Outdoor Life! Poor practice, man made error, lust and greed! Now not even mentioned!

Sock, Bergman had a sock fly, called the Loyalsock! Yellow body as I remember. Wish he was around today to see the treachery Big , Bad and Bold was sold for Little less and None!

I think a little black deer hair was on this one! Guru, Nfrechet has this one, no doubt. You know you guys go around buying Junk flies at 2.50 a piece. Why not talk to guru and get the flies you would mount on your wall. I am talking about nfrechet all the time! You do not seem to care. Too bad. You struck out!

Maxima12

 

[troutbert]

maxima12 wrote:
Top 8 in country back in 60's by Field and Stream and Outdoor Life! Poor practice, man made error, lust and greed! Now not even mentioned!

Maxima12

What problems damaged the Loyalsock since the 1960s? Could you fill us in on some of the history?

I think I first fished the Sock in 1971.

 

[JeffP]

Charles Lose book Vanishing Trout is some great history on the "Sock."

 

[larkmark]

A big beautiful looking creek with some very deep places. I never really understood why it never fished well (for me). Assume it has very few wild fish. Have seen some hatches but never many risers.

 

[shakey]

the loyalsock, where trout spit out your fly and laugh at you.

 

[troutbert]

JeffP wrote:
Charles Lose book Vanishing Trout is some great history on the "Sock."

It is a great book, and has a lot of history of the Sock from about the late 1800s through 1930.

But Maxi's post suggests that it was a great stream in the 1960s, but has been damaged since then.

And I'm curious to know what changes have occurred to the Sock in that time period.

 

[bigjohn58]

I fished the Sock a lot this year...it was very good to me! Lots of people now though that its kind of annoying here in north central PA at the moment.

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear Troutbert,

Starting with Agnes in 1972 it has seen far too many catastrophic floods. They seemed to have alternated with severe droughts too.

Nothing man-made has caused these problems, but they haven't been beneficial to the stream.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

Harrisburg, PA

 

[fritz]

I used to fish that steam quite a bit. Was not a problem to catch trout on top with the parade of hatches I found beginning with March Browns. More than one person told me there were good Hendrickson hatches but I never got lucky finding that one.

 

[BradFromPotter]

maxima12 wrote:


Sock, Bergman had a sock fly, called the Loyalsock! Yellow body as I remember. Wish he was around today to see the treachery Big , Bad and Bold was sold for Little less and None!


Maxima12

I've been searching for more info about this fly for years. Would like to know more about it. Was it tied for the little yellow stonefly?


What are the hatches like today on the Sock? It's where I first experienced fish rising to a hatch back around 1970.

 

[lycoflyfisher]

I would think the main issues with the watershed are directly related to the large floods we have had starting in 72 and increasing in frequency since. 2011, 2016 and 2018 portions of this watershed saw incredible cloudbursts. in 2016 a localized area starting near Ralston and coming over the mountain to Hillsgrove received as much as 10 in of rain in less than 12 hours. Throw in undersized culverts, massive slope failures, roads in the floodplain etc. it has been a tough go. Surprisingly the fish find a way to persevere. Lots of wild fish are still present in tributaries where passage is not impacted and many can be found to move in and out of the sock. Many of the deep pools have spring seeps that keep trout happy throughout the year, catching the big ones is much more difficult than seeing them!

 

[salmonoid]

BradFromPotter wrote:

maxima12 wrote:


Sock, Bergman had a sock fly, called the Loyalsock! Yellow body as I remember. Wish he was around today to see the treachery Big , Bad and Bold was sold for Little less and None!


Maxima12

I've been searching for more info about this fly for years. Would like to know more about it. Was it tied for the little yellow stonefly?


What are the hatches like today on the Sock? It's where I first experienced fish rising to a hatch back around 1970.

https://hatchesmagazine.com/blogs/Hatches/2012/07/12/ray-bergman-collection-219loyalsock/

https://www.johnkreft.com/the-loyal-sock/

 

[troutbert]

BradFromPotter wrote:

maxima12 wrote:


Sock, Bergman had a sock fly, called the Loyalsock! Yellow body as I remember. Wish he was around today to see the treachery Big , Bad and Bold was sold for Little less and None!


Maxima12

I've been searching for more info about this fly for years. Would like to know more about it. Was it tied for the little yellow stonefly?

Don Bastian tied the Loyalsock fly along with all the other flies in Bergman's book "Trout."

He had them framed just as they appeared in the color plates in the book.

I noticed the Loyalsock pattern and thought that was interesting.

I'm pretty sure Don is still tying commercially. He could probably fix you up with a Loyalsock wet fly.

 

[Mike]

The Loyalsock is infertile, gets warm in the summer, supports very few wild trout, has stormwater runoff problems that greatly disturb the rocky habitat, at least from Worlds End upstream, and at least in the past (1979) supported only very low densities of aquatic macroinvertebrates. It’s a nice looking stream in a very nice setting, but for wild trout fish the tribs. to it and the Ltl Loyalsock. I don’t know the present status, but the Loyalsock used to also have some mine related problems in the headwaters.

 

[maxima12]

Always can count on Mike. I second that, but still have good catches from the Sock. Been fishing it over 50 years. 2 to 3 times a year. Good for big rock bass on minnows. I like a good mess of rock bass for dinner, once in a while. Lots of big crawdads too. Once a while, boiled crawdads with drawn butter for the tails.

If you have the spirit of adventure, a floating bow hunt, means a tag filled! Just an idea for you adventure seekers.

Bastian seems to tie less flys now. He is a drummer in a band and has had health problems. Nice person, Don Bastian. He is a fantastic nymph fisherman. And I mean good!

Maxima12

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Once again, a person on this board once said, "If you dont like fishing The Big Pine then you dont get what fly fishing is about."

Loyalsock is a very beautiful stream. Ya it has its issues but man what an adventure. Personally, with all of its issues, its a perfect candidate for the Keystone Select. Limited reproduction but very deep pools. I recommend fishing it in fall foilage, the state park is just breathtaking.

I'm with Maxima. Sometimes its not about what should be there, its what could be and it's just around that next bend.

Maybe the next one....

 

[larkmark]

I once floated it in a small raft in the late 1970s . I put on swimming goggles and looked down into very deep pools. I remember seeing some big fish. Also recall finding rising fish and some looked decent sized but when I tried to wade within reach it was too deep. Caught Smallmouth and Rock Bass but not too big or in any number. Mike has it right I think. I don't understand why a valley stream like that would be infertile but it certainly has that look about it when you get up close especially those upper sections.

 

[BradFromPotter]

In it's lower reaches there was a bar called "The Last Chance Saloon". The pool behind the bar from what I was told held some very nice walleye. Downstream from there at the bridge in Loyalsockville I was sitting on the bank when several divers came up from the pool to my surprise. They saw that I had a rod & told me they saw several "huge" brown trout.

 

[TimMurphy]

larkmark wrote:
I once floated it in a small raft in the late 1970s . I put on swimming goggles and looked down into very deep pools. I remember seeing some big fish. Also recall finding rising fish and some looked decent sized but when I tried to wade within reach it was too deep. Caught Smallmouth and Rock Bass but not too big or in any number. Mike has it right I think. I don't understand why a valley stream like that would be infertile but it certainly has that look about it when you get up close especially those upper sections.

Dear larkmark,

The upper reaches of the Sock begin near the "twin cities" of Mildred and Lopez in Sullivan County. They are two little coal patch towns on the way from Dushore to Lake Jean. It is an area that was heavily strip mined, and only reclaimed in the late 1980's/early 1990's. The creek was basically stone cold dead down to Rte 220.

Whether that still impacts the creek I do not know? I imagine it does, and never even bothered with the Sock until it neared World's End. I've caught the creek when hatches were coming off and felt like the preacher in "Caddyshack" golfing during the thunderstorm. I could literally do no wrong!

I haven't been back since the last couple of "Great Floods" except to drive along and survey the damage and reminisce. I need to go back.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[maxima12]

Over the years several fly fisherman asked me to make them, Wet fly leaders with two droppers to fish 3 flies. They were Loyalsock fishermen. Seems like no big deal. Oh, really? 2 wanted droppers 12 lb. test and 2 wanted droppers 15 lb. test.

I was curious, What flies you using? They showed me! Huge wet flies. Some were tied on saltwater hooks. Big stuff!

These fellows were well established fly fishermen. A whole lot of fishing years between them. More than a lifetime!

They know and knew something that they kept secret. When I asked, " how big" one said, "how long is your arm". One said, better bring a rope.

One thing they all shared in common. Night time. Quit when sun comes up. I asked where can fish like this be caught. They told the holes.

Did I do it. No! Why? Till this day, I do not know! I am at that age now, stumbling around the stream at midnight might be hazardous to my health. Finding someone to fish with at midnight. Impossible. There was a time however, my best catches were when you could not see anything. I will give testimony, the fish do not spit the fly out quickly. Seems they hold on and are not shy about it!

Maxima12