Penns Creek question / ideas

[Jandrew]

This past Saturday, late in the afternoon, I fished Penns Creek around Ingleby. Weather was cold with wind gusts. No evidence of any bugs in the air. Startied nymphing with no luck. In the still water above the riffles fish started jumping, very aggressively taking their whole bodies out of the water. I have no idea what the fish were after. Has anyone else experienced this? Any suggestions on what the fish were after?

 

[streamerguy]

Sounds like they're chasing emergers to me....

 

[LeTortAngler2]

Yep, probably caddis.

 

[pcray1231]

bingo

 

[CLSports]

I've seen them do that there many times. Try a soft hackle wet fly and swing it through.

 

[pete41]

try dapping-

 

[Aducker]

I fished there a few weeks ago and had luck with a wet fly dropper off of a caddis dry. The fish I caught took the wet fly. They would only bump the caddis.
The fish were rising all over the place around me. It was between 2pm and 5 pm.
The wet fly was a partidge and peacock.

 

[McSneek]

pete41 wrote:
try dapping-

yeah, that technique should work well on one of those long slow pools on Penns. lol.

Saw this same behavior on Penns a month ago. What was hard to tell was what kind of emergers they were eating. There were some decent size caddis in the air but still not sure that's what they were taking. I managed one out of a pool like you're describing when I pulled my cdc caddis under the surface near where the fish had last come up. Hammered it when I started to strip it back.

 

[geebee]

McSneek wrote:

pete41 wrote:
try dapping-

yeah, that technique should work well on one of those long slow pools on Penns. lol.

he said it was windy, so that would work - its how they do it on lochs in Scotland & Ireland which is where it was invented.

 

[Jandrew]

So will emergers work to the surface but not "hatch"? There were no bugs hatches to be seen. This is what had me confused.

 

[Oregon_Owl]

Could have been black caddis. They are often found in slow or slack water, bouncing anywhere from two to 12 inches above the surface. I've seen tantalized brownies jump completely out of the water trying to snatch them, Dapping sounds like the technique. A black or slate colored fly might be best.

I could see a wet of same size and color as a possibility.

 

[Jandrew]

Thanks everyone!!