Pattern Help? Donegal

C

chanlon

New member
Joined
Mar 16, 2013
Messages
12
Hello everyone and an early thanks! Now that the kids are a bit older I can see myself back on the water this Spring after about ten years. I was excited to tie today, but then remembered "holy crap, not only am I not really from PA (my home river is the Smith in Virginia), I have no clue what to tie for my local stream." So, I am hoping you folks might be able to help me with patterns and sizes for winter through late Spring on the Donegal and Tully (I work in Reading). I really appreciate it a great deal. Thanks!!
 
Chanlon - never fished the Donegal. Like you I work in Reading and have some experience on the Tully. For winter fishing I would tie various small, simple midges like a zebra midge. Also small pheasant tail variations. Tully has a lot of caddis so anything that imitates them should do especially as spring comes on. Once spring really gets here caddis emergers and some sulphur patterns. Never hurts to have a supply of woolly buggers. Also for winter maybe some small eggs.

I fished the Tully a week ago. Water was low! Fishing was slow. Might improve later this week with the next warming trend.
 
Any trout fly should do. Don't get hung up on stream specific patterns.

I do know some guys in here will tell very specific patterns, but the reality is that their boxes are probably full of pheasant tails and hairs ears.
 
MKern wrote:
Any trout fly should do. Don't get hung up on stream specific patterns.

I do know some guys in here will tell very specific patterns, but the reality is that their boxes are probably full of pheasant tails and hairs ears.
Click to expand...


^ lol....PT's & HE's will get the job done....just add a wooly bugger when the water is up a bit and you're all set....
 
Not sure if this is a joke or not - yikes ... Sort of hope so ...
 
what about searching for hatch charts, fly shops, fishing reports for the area you want to fish
 
Guy comes on a message board and asks about some specific flies for two specific streams and gets everything from "check a hatch chart" to the usual "pheasant tails and hares ears". I'm sure he'll be back after that "help."
 
That's kind to say mcsneak, but that is ok -- no problem -- I should have been more clear that catching fish is only a small part of the sport for me -- I honestly don't much care for the catch unless I am fairly sure that I am doing everything right - I will just spend a few weeks learning the water myself -- no big deal ...
 
White. Wooly. Bugger.

That is all! :-D

In all seriousness, the Donegal supports a variety of aquatic lifeforms that the trout key in on. Sculpins, baitfish, scuds, SJW's, and generic nymph patterns (HE, PT, PN, etc.) all work well on the Donegal.

I have to be honest and state that I usually attack the stream with an olive or white wooly bugger in the size range 6-10. Fishing streamers is a preference thing for me and I enjoy the more engaging style of fishing that streamers offer.

This guy seemed to take a particular liking to the #6 olive bugger I tempted him with...

Donegal%20wild%20brown%206_zpse91kmlju.jpg


 
Asking a Fly Fisher what flies to tie is like asking a bunch of carpenters how to attack a certain problem. Ask 6 guys and get six different answers, and probably none of them wrong.
I always remember this quote;
"I look into my fly box and think about all of the elements I should consider when choosing the perfect fly: water temperature, what stage of development the bugs are in, what the fish are eating right now. Then I remember what a guide told me: '90 percent of what a trout eats is brown and fuzzy and about 5/8 of an inch long'"

Start with the basics, pheasant tails and Hares ears or any thing with Peacock herl, until you learn the stream. For me, that is one of the best parts of this sport is learning a stream. Not all questions have a specific answer, Have Fun !
 
For Donegal a pheasant tail tandemed with a blood worm will take a good amount of fish. I'm with geo though, white woolly always seems to work there
 
Don't forget to take some BWO's in size 18 too
 
The only way to get stream specific imitations is to tie them yourself.

In reality, all the basics will catch fish consistently.

Technique and reading the water correctly are by far more important than fly selection.

I use one of four patterns (pt, caddis pupa, foam ant, and a shulphur parachute) 99% of the time and catch fish consistently.

I do tie specific patterns for flies but rarely find a need to use them.

I never get the question about specific flies/streams, but I guarantee that a vast majority of people on here purchase their flies or tie standard patterns anyway.
 
No specific patterns really but some general ones that work----First off the Donegal has next to no fish. The wild fish apparently are not doing well. Not sure what happened there. Caught wild fish there for a few yrs and up until early summer. Now they are pretty much gone from what I can tell with my unsophisticated fly rod surveys. They will be going back stocking it again from what I've heard. I have had great success there with Adams and sulfur dries. Also Caddis and ants. Also had great luck on green weenie and wet ants combo in summer. Tulpehocken is easy. Use anything caddis...Deer hair caddis and caddis emergers. Occasional risers there are taking BWOs and midges. Just use a small Griffiths Gnat for the ones eating tiny stuff. Tricos in summer. When all else fails try a wooly bugger. For winter a big dark sculpin will catch fish everywhere. This was not a great year on the Tulpehocken either. Hint---There are better places to fish close to you than either of these streams!
 
Hi all and thanks. I have to say that the responses here have been mostly very surprising. It is my opinion that our hobby is large enough for everyone, including those like me who tie specific streams, patterns, and sizes. In over fourty years of fly fishing, these posts are, literally, the first time I have ever heard anyone say that flies don't matter, streams don't matter, and "specific patterns" don't really matter. I literally have never, ever heard anyone say that. When I say "wow" to this it is a gross understatement of enormous proportions. I am not even sure why anyone would mange the time, expense, and commitment of this hobby if there really is no distinction made between sinking corn and fly tying and fishing. I do want to say thanks to those who tried to help a new person in a new part of the country.
 
Chanlon,

I'm going to do a 180 now and defend some of the "generic" responses to your OP by saying neither stream has a very diverse forage base. Speaking from experience on the Tully insects are caddis, sulphurs, tricos and midges for the most part. There are some different size sulphurs and maybe what some call a cahill (that particular one never seems to interest the fish). The lack of diversity I think lends itself to most folks sticking to standard patterns in different sizes for most of their fishing. If you have a chance sometime stop at TCO in West Lawn and they'll show you some more specific patterns for the Tully. When the caddis are hatching and the fish are eating them I fish a simple tan or apple green cdc caddis on top or in the film. usually a #16, sometimes a #18. That pattern accounts for a lot of fish. I was first shown it by someone at TCO years ago.

I'm sure the Donegal has even less biodiversity than the Tully. There's just not much to specifically imitate.
 
chanlon-I know what you are getting at. I met a guy one time on The Tulpehocken who was doing pretty well. It was the summertime and Tricos were present. He showed me his box and his flies were all tiny-size 26-28 dry midge patterns. He said they were eating these and not the Tricos and I believe he was right. The fly that he gave me was probably a 28 with a mahogany body very thin and a reddish brown very sparse hackle. It caught fish that day for me. At certain times and places on that creek there are fish eating on top and they are very difficult. I can never really see what they are taking and mean to carry a seine sometime. I usually manage a few and figure a Griffiths Gnat will do the job but matching exactly what they are eating would probably be the ticket....along with 8x and a perfect drift of course.
I was fishing the Donegal one day and saw a fish rising regularly. I could see something fairly big on the water. Threw my caddis over him and no takes. Finally saw what he was eating. House flies. Put on a black caddis and caught him immediately and several more.
 
Most PA streams are freestone streams with a limited forage base and often don't see the prolific hatches that draw hordes of anglers each year to Penns creek, Spring creek, or even the Little J.

For this reason I'm not surprised at all by the responses. Most anglers do have a high level of success with generic patterns because the trout in freestone streams are opportunistic. This doesn't always translate into success when fly fishing because presentation goes a long way.

Spring creeks are a different story. These are nutrient rich streams with an abundant forage base. Trout will usually key in on specific hatches and fly choice may be much more important. There are a lot of charts out there to guide you so that you can better match the hatch. I know there is at least a stream specific chart floating around on here for yellow breeches and the Tully.

If I were you I would skip the Donegal (It's been pretty crappy as of late) and head 45 minutes west and fish the Cumberland valley spring creeks. You can usually catch a hatch on any given day and the fishing can be quite challenging but rewarding. Another option would be to head south to York County and fish for wild browns in the muddy creek basin.

To answer your original question.....

If you must fish Donegal, In the winter I would recommend a white wooly bugger. You can cover a lot of ground quickly which is what you will need to do if you have any hope of finding trout on this stream. In the Summer I would fish dries BWO's and Griffiths gnat should cover most situations. I have also witnessed white flies in late summer. Ant's are also pretty good as well and would cover the situation that Foxtrapper was talking about with the house flies.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Harman's North Fork Cottages


Real Time Data From
the USGS Site

Share this page

Back
Top