North Central PA tips please...

S

Salvi1

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Nov 11, 2006
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All,

I am doing a 2 night backpack trip on the old loggers path in lycoming county coming up real soon planning on taking my fly rod to pass the time at the stream sites we are staying at...question What are the best flys to use on these little picturesque streams in that area ? any tips for north central october action would be most appreciated...

Sal
 
im assuming you are fishing for brookies in these little streams. i would take a bunch of attractor dry flies ( royal coachmans, wulffs, and adams to name a few) and mix in a few crickett patterns. add droppers / nymphs such asgreen weenies and pheasant tails and you should have a great time.

oh i would also add a couple of wooly buggers in case you find a deep hole or two. you might get a large brown trout or two.
 
small streamers #12, elk hair caddis #14, Ausable wulff 14,blue quill 14, small beadhead nymphs 14 & 16, along with all those others....give me a call before you leave for up to date reports...
 
I agree with all the recommendations so far. No dout you'll get a bunch more too. But my feeling about fishing small headwater streams (and bear in mind that I am no expert) is that you should be able to fish them with a selection of flies that should fit in a box no bigger than a cigarette pack. So don't let all the suggestions make your head spin.

I've always felt that it's more important to stalk the trout and present the fly well, rather than to chose a pattern well. There's so little food in those headwaters that they don't let much float by.
 
I like to fish a size 12 or 14 Yellow Sallie for Brookies because I can see it easily and it floats like a cork. Native Brook trout are not picky, they will take what they can get.

As Pad said, stalking the fish and presenting the fly without disturbing them is the real key to this game.
 
albatross wrote:
I like to fish a size 12 or 14 Yellow Sallie for Brookies because I can see it easily and it floats like a cork.
Click to expand...

I think that is the best qualifications for small stream flies. Pick ones you can see well because losing sight of them for a second can be deadly. The strikes can come so fast you want to keep your eyes LOCKED on the fly.

I like lime trudes for the same reason. And actually, I do better with them than imitations of yellow sallies during that hatch. But it could be a confidence thing. And that's the other qualification for small stream flies! Pick something you believe in... what ever it is.

I started doing a lot better on small streams after talking to an expert about them. I realized he did a lot of hiking along the stream, skipping the really tight sections and getting to the parts of the stream that are more fishable. So don't be shy about walking, you may be amazed to find some pretty big holes on tiny streams.
 
Stimulators in case the flow is high. Terrestrials in case the flow is low. Parachute Adams are great all around dry. Green inchworms in case nothing else works. Streamers for when the flow is high and/or cold.

The upper part of Pleasant Stream is pretty nice and fishes well if you have some decent flow. The lower end is wrecked, don't bother.
 
Thanks alot ...everyone. i plan on getting to camp and then heading out to try to refine my fly skills somewhat I am not very expirienced but have done alright with white shenks minnows , prince nymphs mostly underwater flys have had some luck with small black crickets i am making a list of flys to buy from your responses again thanks...

s,
 
Yes, cover as much ground as you like; slowing down before pools and glides...Traditional Blue Quills #16; they look so nice when lodged in a brookie's mouth...
 
Small flies = small fish, large flies = large fish. I like to use large streamers this time of the year when conditions call for them. In part because bait in the streams are larger, the other erason is that trout will chase a big meal when it is available. Otherwise make sure you have # 18 tan deer hair caddis, # 14 Isonychia, # 12 cinnamon Caddis, # 18 BWO's and some royal wulffs in # 14 and # 12. # 10 stimulators in various colors, just in case nothing else works. Trout ill be spooky unless we get rain. so a low approach is necessary. Wear neutral colors or camo.
 
Chaz wrote:
Small flies = small fish, large flies = large fish.
Click to expand...

NOT!...while I HATE fishing midges, I have a a few (and only a few) occasions broken down and used them. The largest rainbow I have ever caught..25 inches...was on a size 24 gray midge tied with my vice clamped to the steering wheel at Silver Creek in Idaho...I have also been annoyed by chubs smacking my size 6 bugger in Kettle creek. What a ridiculous statement.
 
NOT...NOT...I've caught many large fish while feeding on midges. Out west the San Juan River, the Big Horn, the Missouri River and in too many PA streams to name. This time of year and later big trout feed on midges when the hatch is heavy and nothing else is hatching. I've also seen big fish hang near the surface and sip midges when other things are hatching. A trico is a small fly size #22-26 and many bigger fish gorge on them. If the fish are rising to midges, I would give them a try. Smaller flies can catch big fish.
 
I will probably realize how much my casting needs work but will be hiding behind rocks and such trying to get the best presentation I possibly can...plan on trying some crickets(small),hoppers, green weenies, little bead head nymphs I cant wait...will give a report when back to civilization...

S,
 
Not Not Not!
This time of the year your much more likely to catch big fish using big flies for 2 reasons, trout are fattening up for winter and spqning, and the baitfish are much bigger this time of the year. Yes midges catch big trout, but all the big trout I catch no matter what time of the year are caught on big flies both dry and wet. Why just last week on a trib to Kist Creek we were fishing over browns taking something small, since I didn;t want to change flies, I left on the # 12 stimulator I was using earlier in the day and hooked and landed the first fish I cast to, an 18 inch brown.
 
I think everybody has a piece of the truth on this big/small thingie.

More often than not, at least in my experience, midging fish (and often pretty good ones at that..) do not require we fish a midge just because that is what they happen to be eating at the time. They'll come to a big ant or a beetle.

And particularly in the Autumn, the sort of thing Chaz describes is pretty common.

In any event, when I run into midging fish, I generally try them pretty thoroughly with whatever I already have on before I go through all the PITA motions of rigging up to fish a midge. I make them prove to me it is necessary rather than assume it is or will be.

And like I say, for me at least, more often than not the change isn't necessary. That's been my experience anyway...
 
no midges here just this guy..thats a size 12 wet...October caddis..
 
Good luck and have fun.
I will say this, whenever I fish any of the streams that follow the old logger's path, i never see many fish. I have found that streams that see a lot of hikers (not fishers) have low fish populations, and the streams along the path are the worst I have ever fished. The last time I fished a trib. to Pleasant stream I caught 1 in about .75 mile, and the fish was poorly colored.
 
If you are talking about Long Run, I agree that it is very poor. I'm not sure that hikers and their frying pans is the whole problem, though. The habitat is very poor, the stream is severely scoured, with little in the way of pools and cover. Plus it looks like a very infertile geology so it probably has been hit by acid rain. Not very good fishing, that's for sure.
 
OK loyalsock creek runs right through worlds end cant wait any tips please....thanks
 
yea come up here we have a little more water and the campground is free here.. or pray for fish to be there... :-D
 
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