Deer Creek Resin

I have just recently been accepted as part of the Deer Creek Resin pro staff. So I thought I'd post some photos of the most recent flies I tied using this great, non-tacky resin!  Go get ya some!

Tulpehocken - 4/17/2013

 

 

I planned a morning of fishing with Bill M., a good friend of mine.  We met in Ephrata and traveled together to the Tulpehocken to fish the special regs area of this stream.  We got there a little after daylight and got suited up.  It was a couple weeks since I last hit the water and I was really looking forward to it.  The water level was just perfect.  We knew there were fish in the water because when we got there the Blue Herons were trying to take claim to certain spots along the water. 

 

The water temps were perfect at about 51 degrees.  The water flows were about 140 cfs which turned out to be an awesome level.  As soon as we were on the water, it didn't take long till I had my first fish of the day.  It was a nice rainbow that took a pink and white Y2K egg.  I have to admit, I am not the best fisherman around.  I am a better tier than I am a fisherman.  I would have had double the numbers brought to hand if I would have done better at giving good hook sets.  There were several flies that brought fish to hand for me today.  Anything from the Y2K (yellow/orange and pink/white), Chain Gang Pheasant Tail, Chain Gang Hares Ear, Double Duty, and even a #24 stripper midge.  The two that did the best were the stripper midge and the Y2K, and actually the stripper midge brought the biggest fish of the day for me. 

There were spent midges on the water everywhere.  And actually the fish were rising to them all over the place.  Although, I couldn't break off my rust and connect with any of the rises.  I did a great job of missing every rise that came to my small BWO Foam Biot Emerger, which happened to be the smallest dry fly I had with me.  I wasn't expecting any surface action today.  I used my ice magic and managed some short hookups but nothing to hand.  Like I had said earlier, there are some things I need to work on so that I can have more fish come to hand. 

Well, I hope everyone gets the chance to be out on the water soon.  It was a great morning for being outside and especially to be out fishing.

 

 

 

CRO Flies

When I was at the "Tie One On" event a couple weeks ago, I received an invite from the guys at CRO Flies to go fishing on the Tulpehocken. This is a stream I have fished somewhat but at limited locations and for short amounts of time. There is a section of this stream that is a couple miles long that is designated by the state of PA to be delayed harvest. This means that for most of the year it is a catch and release stream only. And for the month of March till the opening day of trout, special regulation streams are the only streams you are allowed to fish on for trout.

I was looking at my schedule and wanted to take my son out to test out his new waders. Well, I notified these guys that I was going to get on the water for the first time this year. They worked it out for their schedule to meet me on the water Sunday. Unfortunately for my son, he got a cold and had to miss out on this opportunity.

I found out from Luke where to meet along the stream. Even though he forgot what his brother drives, I was able to get to the correct parking lot and met these guys along the stream. They were at this one spot that was to be good. There wasn't too much action there so we hopped on over to another location.

At this next location there were a few other fishermen that had the same idea as us. But there was plenty of room for us all. These guys know this stream like the back of their hand. They might even have each rock and each hole named. They put me in a great spot but I have to say I am probably a better tier than I am a fisherman. These guys though, knew where to put their fly and get great drifts. I was excited to see both of them connecting with fish on both sides of me. I did pick up my first fish of the year out of this spot. I was using the Double Duty in brown with copper bead and copper ribbing. Josh got the big fish award for the day, when he picked up a real thick shouldered 17" or so, holdover rainbow.

We finished the rest of the evening out at one more great little spot. I rolled a couple fish and got into a good fighting sucker. All in all, it was a great day of fishing and a great time with some new friends. Thanks CRO Flies.

If you ever need a day on the water and want some cool dudes to guide you, I highly recommend you schedule a trip with the guys at CRO Flies. They know how to put you on fish. But you need to be able to set the hook and keep them on your line if you want to put them in your net. And maybe if you fish with them you will use a new pattern that I put them onto, even if Josh gets a good laugh at this crazy simple pattern!