Lititz Run 5/19/2013

On Sunday morning a friend and I decided to hit the little stream of Lititz Run to celebrate the day our kids were born :).  We decided to meet at 5am.  I was going to fish until 7:00.  This would give me enough time to get back to the house to feed horses and be ready for church.  The way the sun has been lighting up the morning, it would be a nice start to the morning.  Well, this day was different. 

 

When I got to the stream at 5, it was still pitch dark.  There was a lot of cloud cover and small showers that moved in and made it impossible to see your indicator at this time.  So we talked a little before we hit the stream.  I decided to work this stream using the Chain Gang Caddis as my point fly and putting a new design, scud missile, as a dropper off of this.  It turned out to be a winning combination for today for me. 

 

 

I was super happy with how the fish liked the scud missile!! 

 

 

 

 I also picked a couple up on the  Chain Gang Caddis. 

 

 

Today was not a day for large fish, but I had my best numbers day ever.  It was a fishing time filled with fiesty fighters though.  Most of the fish were rainbows but I also picked up a couple nice looking brookies. 

This is a stream that has had a lot of work done on it.  It is a spring creek that is one of the local success stories of what can happen to a creek when you put work and effort into it.  There was several occasions that killed all the bugs that could have lived in this water.  Now, there are several bugs returning to this stream.  While we were there, I was observing what looked like a pale morning dun hatch.  There were not any fish rising to these mayflies but it was absolutely thrilling to watch this hatch as it progressed.  It wasn't prolific but it was a thrill to see.

These last couple photos show some of the rainbows we were catching.  Oh wait, only one photo shows.  The other photo shows how fiesty they were as just before the pic was taken it figured a way to be released out of my hands before proof could be had of being caught.  :)  Well, I was having such a great morning that I lost track of time.  I didn't leave the stream until 7:30 and almost was late getting my chores done.  But it was an exceptional morning as I was enjoying God's creation and also got home to celebrate my son's 12th birthday.

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.