Hendricksons and blue quills on the SBR

[Rusty Spinner]

Not too many fish looking up just yet, but we've had decent hatches the past two days on the SBR. I guided in the Gorge on Friday (just a tad bit crowded, lol) and saw some Quill Gordons mixed in. Fish were actively taking PTs and loopwing Hendrickson emergers, but not rising to the little sailboats headed downstream.

Today we had the Shannon's Fly Fishing School and saw a decent hatch of mainly Hendricksons mixed throughout the day with caddis. I finally saw a few heads sticking out, but most chasing emergers and not sipping duns. I put the one student on a nice, wild brown that she hooked and broke off a few seconds later. Taking your hand off the reel when the fish runs is not something that comes easily to spin anglers when they first learn, but she was shaking with excitement every time the fish rose before she finally got it to eat, so I know we've hooked another one

Here was a beautiful wild brown caught by one of our students today:



And here was a slob I managed after class was over and the guides took to the water. Mine on an elk hair caddis. Holdover, but multi-year holdover brownie.

 

[sunsignarcher]

WOW! Nice fish.

 

[Rusty Spinner]

WOW! Nice fish.

My apologies for the trout related post :crap:

I've been reading some of the meat sites and they want to lynch the Division chiefs and are demanding back their trout stamp funds. Just wanted folks to know that there are still a few fish left in the rivers :fart:

 

[FIN-ITE 34]

I say lynch them anyway, just for shits and giggles.:judge:

Hey Rusty, can I freely fish the location that you caught that brown?

 

[Rusty Spinner]

I say lynch them anyway, just for shits and giggles.:judge:

Hey Rusty, can I freely fish the location that you caught that brown?

Sure, if you hire me as your guide

 

[flymantis73]

. Just wanted folks to know that there are still a few fish left in the rivers :fart:

those are nice browns!
last weekend when i was on the musky i got the most strikes ever, between my fly rod and the ultralight, yesterday in the gorge i got skunked, but saw two get landed, definitely fish in the rivers!
the new wright and mcgill 4wt i got performed great yesterday, casts nice, picked out a reddington rise from shannon's... good set up.

 

[FIN-ITE 34]

Sure, if you hire me as your guide

That's what I thought, a pay and fish.

 

[Rusty Spinner]

That's what I thought, a pay and fish.

Kind of. As in we didn't stock it, but it sure likes our private water and not getting put on a creel. Hence it wound up in our water (we stock bows, not browns) at some point in its life and grew to monster proportions because nobody killed it. We can have fish like this in lots of NJ water if we just practiced C&R instead of allowing 6 trout/day for months and then 4/day the rest of the year. I know a lot of people assume that all those huge club fish were stocked in those sizes, but that's not true of many clubs. Instead, because they are caught and released 100%, they can grow very large over a few years. That said, a few clubs do stock jumbo trout. When it comes to stocking private waters, you're better off putting in fish in the 12" - 16" range and letting them grow to over 20" because they fight a lot better after a year or two of eating mostly natural bugs and small fish/crayfish.

Don't get me wrong, I greatly prefer wild trout over stocked, even giant holdovers. But this one was just massive and put up a great fight on a 4 weight and 5X tippet. Plus it ate my dry fly, and that has to count for something

 

[LostnLovinIt]

Today we had the Shannon's Fly Fishing School and saw a decent hatch of mainly Hendricksons mixed throughout the day with caddis. I finally saw a few heads sticking out, but most chasing emergers and not sipping duns. I put the one student on a nice, wild brown that she hooked and broke off a few seconds later. Taking your hand off the reel when the fish runs is not something that comes easily to spin anglers when they first learn, but she was shaking with excitement every time the fish rose before she finally got it to eat, so I know we've hooked another one

Word has it she was pretty hot!!

 

[thrashers.wheat]

This was one of the few mayflies I saw this past weekend while in the Pocono Mountains. Did not fish any mayfly dries this past weekend




Prolific stonefly hatch in the afternoon on this Pocono Mtns stream. Some were big like this fella while others were much smaller in comparison. The fish seemed to be interested in rising to these stoneflies




The majority of this stream is contained within State Forest boundaries. It takes me 45 minutes to hike in to this spot. We found this spot about 20 years ago and is often the focus point of some of our camping trips. Pictures of bridges was the topic of a post on this forum not too long ago, so here is one to add to that list.



If anybody can name the creek, feel free to PM me



Native Brook Trout



Did not see any Hendricksons this past weekend in the Poconos. Did see a few during this past week on a NJ stream. Great day of fishing a larger soft-hackle...some of the wild browns from that day:





Another wild brown from NJ:

 

[tomfly]

Got out to the KLG today, I had a good day. Tons of Hendricksons and caddis were coming off all day. Not a fish was taking them on surface or the in film. All the fish I caught were on nymphs and pupas. I fished a dropper with the nymph on the tailing end with one small shot up about 8” The pupa 20” up from the nymph. Both were very effective. Caught some nice bows and browns, It was a bad day to forget my net. Had a lot of trouble landing the fish. I don’t like to fight the fish as long as I had too.












Notice the 2 flies in this fish’s mouth. This one had snapped off my tippet off 2 hours on the nymph that I was using earlier. Got my fly back. The second time he took the pupa.

 

[Rusty Spinner]

Tom Fly - just got that same report from a buddy of mine that walked from the top down to Trestle and back without wetting a line. He said the Gorge was wall-to-wall with anglers and nary a fish rising. He went a short distance above the Gorge and caught 20 on dries

Get away from the heavily pounded water and the fish will be more relaxed. And they will rise all day long. But it sounds like you had fun sub-surface and aren't the dry fly snob I am.

The Musky had a blanket hatch of grannom caddis and they were laying eggs and bouncing up and down on the water the entire time I was there this evening. But only a few trout were rising in that still high water. I only made it out after 4:30pm, so don't know what it was like earlier or if Hendricksons were coming off or not. The good news was that Agust and I stuck every head that popped up. It was easy fishing except for one particular fish that kept flipping me the middle fin. Fed him twice but couldn't come tight either time and I left laughing at being outsmarted by a trout (sure wasn't the first time ). I'm sure Agust slipped back in there and took that fish on top after I headed home for dinner.

 

[emoussa]

Tomfly,

Same deal for me on the Flatbrook on yesterday. Lots of caddis and hendricksons in the air but nothing rising and lots of anglers.

 

[flymantis73]

Tom Fly - just got that same report from a buddy of mine that walked from the top down to Trestle and back without wetting a line. He said the Gorge was wall-to-wall with anglers and nary a fish rising. He went a short distance above the Gorge and caught 20 on dries

Get away from the heavily pounded water and the fish will be more relaxed. And they will rise all day long. But it sounds like you had fun sub-surface and aren't the dry fly snob I am.

The Musky had a blanket hatch of grannom caddis and they were laying eggs and bouncing up and down on the water the entire time I was there this evening. But only a few trout were rising in that still high water. I only made it out after 4:30pm, so don't know what it was like earlier or if Hendricksons were coming off or not. The good news was that Agust and I stuck every head that popped up. It was easy fishing except for one particular fish that kept flipping me the middle fin. Fed him twice but couldn't come tight either time and I left laughing at being outsmarted by a trout (sure wasn't the first time ). I'm sure Agust slipped back in there and took that fish on top after I headed home for dinner.

"Only an extraordinary person would purposely risk being outsmarted by a creature often less than twelve inches long, over and over again."
~ Janna Bialek
they're tricky little buggers....
hope the musky lowers a bit, i never seem to do well when it's fast and high.

 

[tomfly]

Tom Fly - just got that same report from a buddy of mine that walked from the top down to Trestle and back without wetting a line. He said the Gorge was wall-to-wall with anglers and nary a fish rising. He went a short distance above the Gorge and caught 20 on dries

Get away from the heavily pounded water and the fish will be more relaxed. And they will rise all day long. But it sounds like you had fun sub-surface and aren't the dry fly snob I am.

The Musky had a blanket hatch of grannom caddis and they were laying eggs and bouncing up and down on the water the entire time I was there this evening. But only a few trout were rising in that still high water. I only made it out after 4:30pm, so don't know what it was like earlier or if Hendricksons were coming off or not. The good news was that Agust and I stuck every head that popped up. It was easy fishing except for one particular fish that kept flipping me the middle fin. Fed him twice but couldn't come tight either time and I left laughing at being outsmarted by a trout (sure wasn't the first time ). I'm sure Agust slipped back in there and took that fish on top after I headed home for dinner.

I do not believe that the pressure has anything to do with why the fish are not taking flies off the surface. I think if that was the case the fish would be put down and not take any flies at all. GB and I had a conversation with The Bug Guy during the Fly tying show in November. One thing that he stated; was that NJ has one of the most diverse insect populations that he has seen. He said that the diversity was much better then the rivers out west. (GB can confirm that statement) I was surprised at that and it stuck with me. Taking that into account, one thing that a fly fisherman must master to be proficient at their craft is situational awareness. I always attempt to fish from the trout’s perspective. You are in their world. If you do not fish that way. You will do a lot of head scratching. The last 2 weeks in April and the first 2 weeks in May is the best for insect activity in NJ. I believe the conditions at that time are prime for certain species insects to molt at the same time. The water is still very cool. The water conditions are spring high. The way you would want it all year. Knowing that; why would a fish take dries when it can sit in his feeding lane and sip nymphs and emerges all day while expending little energy in the process?

 

[Rusty Spinner]

I do not believe that the pressure has anything to do with why the fish are not taking flies off the surface. I think if that was the case the fish would be put down and not take any flies at all. GB and I had a conversation with The Bug Guy during the Fly tying show in November. One thing that he stated; was that NJ has one of the most diverse insect populations that he has seen. He said that the diversity was much better then the rivers out west. (GB can confirm that statement) I was surprised at that and it stuck with me. Taking that into account, one thing that a fly fisherman must master to be proficient at their craft is situational awareness. I always attempt to fish from the trout’s perspective. You are in their world. If you do not fish that way. You will do a lot of head scratching. The last 2 weeks in April and the first 2 weeks in May is the best for insect activity in NJ. I believe the conditions at that time are prime for certain species insects to molt at the same time. The water is still very cool. The water conditions are spring high. The way you would want it all year. Knowing that; why would a fish take dries when it can sit in his feeding lane and sip nymphs and emerges all day while expending little energy in the process?

You'd change your mind if you fished the upper D enough. Robert Younghanz, aka - The Bug Guy, did that benthic macro invertebrate study at two spots on the Musky with me last November a day before the show. Yes, our Eastern rivers have wide diversity in insect life, but most here in NJ do not see near the numbers per river foot as do less impacted streams/rivers that don't suffer from massive development within their watersheds.

That aside, how can you explain why heavily pressured fish seldom rise and lightly pressured (or un-pressured) fish a quarter mile away rise for the same insect hatches? I've seen it enough over my 42 years fly fishing to think it's just a coincidence. Fish feel less pressure the deeper and the faster the water is where they are feeding. Hence why they seldom rise in places like the KLG when it is being pounded all day long. Yet yesterday, nobody fished above Hoffmans Bridge and the fish were happy, happy, happy

 

[Matt Grobert]

No one really knows why trout rise, and I'm not convinced it is directly related to pressure. It may be at times, but IMO there are other unknown factors that compel trout to feed on top. We have all seen times when there are few anglers on the water and lots of bugs, yet no fish are rising. We have also seen times when a pool is full of anglers and fish are rising like crazy, even behind the anglers and very close to them. Add to this the times when nothing is rising where you are fishing, yet your buddy a few hundred yards up or down river has plenty of fish rising. There are all kinds of theories from pressure, to weather, to water temps, to barometric pressure, etc..........they are all theories and/or opinions based on an individual's experiences.

I hope we never know what factors determine why trout rise or not; the mysteries of the river are one of the things that makes fly fishing so enjoyable.

 

[mob201]

I hope we never know what factors determine why trout rise or not; the mysteries of the river are one of the things that makes fly fishing so enjoyable.

We try to be as scientific as possible, matching hatches, analyzing rise forms and reading water, but ultimately, the best thing about the sport is the fact that we still fail on a regular basis.

 

[lightenup]

No one really knows why trout rise, and I'm not convinced it is directly related to pressure. It may be at times, but IMO there are other unknown factors that compel trout to feed on top. We have all seen times when there are few anglers on the water and lots of bugs, yet no fish are rising. We have also seen times when a pool is full of anglers and fish are rising like crazy, even behind the anglers and very close to them. Add to this the times when nothing is rising where you are fishing, yet your buddy a few hundred yards up or down river has plenty of fish rising. There are all kinds of theories from pressure, to weather, to water temps, to barometric pressure, etc..........they are all theories and/or opinions based on an individual's experiences.

I hope we never know what factors determine why trout rise or not; the mysteries of the river are one of the things that makes fly fishing so enjoyable.

Trout rise, because when they shoot those little pellets out of the truck, they float for a little while, and if you, as a trout, aren't quick enough to grab a few on top you will starve in the raceway....no?

 

[tomfly]

You'd change your mind if you fished the upper D enough. Robert Younghanz, aka - The Bug Guy, did that benthic macro invertebrate study at two spots on the Musky with me last November a day before the show. Yes, our Eastern rivers have wide diversity in insect life, but most here in NJ do not see near the numbers per river foot as do less impacted streams/rivers that don't suffer from massive development within their watersheds.

That aside, how can you explain why heavily pressured fish seldom rise and lightly pressured (or un-pressured) fish a quarter mile away rise for the same insect hatches? I've seen it enough over my 42 years fly fishing to think it's just a coincidence. Fish feel less pressure the deeper and the faster the water is where they are feeding. Hence why they seldom rise in places like the KLG when it is being pounded all day long. Yet yesterday, nobody fished above Hoffmans Bridge and the fish were happy, happy, happy

I have been fishing for more then a few decades myself. Like I stated previously situational awareness. If they are not feeding on the surface, I am Nymphing. I prefer dries. A lot of guys do not like to nymph I am one of the ones that does. I think I have become proficient at it. It took me a long time to get to the point I am now in my Nymphing skills. With no disrespect Rusty; I enjoy fishing on pressured fish. There is no better way to hone your skills. I get a kick out of catching fish with nymphs on a section of a stream that a guy just walked out of.

Matt hit the nail right on the head. I try to the best of my ability to think like a fish. But the best that I can do is an educated guess on why they are behaving in the manner that they are.

What rattles my brain; is when the fish are surface feeding. I have observed this more then a few times. They are surface sipping, a splash rise and jumping completely out of the water all in the same section of the stream. I look and watch and I see nothing that they are taking. I carry a small insect sane that fits in my net. I sane the surface, the column, the bottom and there is nothing in the sane that I can see that would make them behave like that. It is always in the late spring or early summer. Are they doing it to mess with you? I tried emerges, pupas, dries, midges. I have even tried terrestrials to no avail. I have not tried M80s yet. So far I am not at the point. Some day before I part this earth, I hope I figure that one out.

 

[Rusty Spinner]

I enjoy the debate. I even enjoy disagreeing with guys like Matt who have forgotten more about fly fishing than most will ever know. I think we know a lot about what makes fish rise and what does not. It's not purely a mystery although sometimes it seems to be. Certainly being a cold-blooded animal, only significant insect activity will spur them to rise lest they waste more energy than a rise can produce from a calorie perspective. Hence why they rise far more often when water temps reach 50 degrees than you'll ever see in winter months on midges or BWOs. That said, I firmly believe trout that are pressured rise less frequently when that pressure is on them.

We've all seen highly pressured trout stop rising at our simply slipping into the river, even at 90 feet or more away. They typically settle back down quickly and begin to rise again, but the obvious answer there is the pressure they feel from an angler stepping into the river. I've never seen that on lightly pressured rivers or streams, but fully expect it on heavily pressured streams and rivers. You won't find anyone that agrees more with your statement about loving to fish highly pressured streams and rivers. I find that if you can routinely catch trout on heavily pressured waters, other waters seem easy by comparison. It's why the WBD is my favorite wild trout river anywhere in the world that I've fished so far. And when I get to travel to my other favorite rivers that don't see that level of great anglers, the fishing seems easy by comparison.

I stand by my one point which is that the Gorge when pounded sees much fewer rising fish. Hit that water near dusk as the other anglers are walking out and you'll see plenty of rising fish. If you want to fish dries and the Gorge is shoulder to shoulder, walk upstream instead. Especially this year when most are not on that water due to the lack of state stocking.

 

[gregschmegg]

I fished KLG on saturday and easter sunday morning. The only crowds i saw on saturday were near the parking lot below the trestle bridge, easter sunday morning i counted 3 guys fishing... myself and 2 friends. Plenty of fish hooked on Hot Spot Midges, Hares Ears, Jersey Joes, Soft Hackles. I didn't see 1 fish rise both days but IMO that is because the Gorge lacks the direct morning sunlight the upper regions of SBR get in the spring, and thus takes longer to warm up each day. All fish we hooked both days in the Gorge were lethargic and on the bottom.

Saturday Night 5-8pm we fished point mountain and the grannom egg layers were hatching in drones. Clouds of Caddis, couldnt keep them off the hook. Iris Caddis and other emerger patterns were deadly. Again we had the place to ourselves and didn't see a single fish rise.

Today (tuesday) i got my little brother on the water from 9am-2pm again at point mountain. The place was pretty full for a Tuesday morning, the grannoms were still steady coming off though nothing like saturday night, with a small handful Hendricksons thrown in and midges. It was warm today temps. reached 70 deg. The fish today were aggressively taking caddis on the surface all morning and well into the afternoon.

Both Sunday and Monday were cloudless days and water temps held up through last night on the Musky, hence the surface action today. So I think the reason why the gorge hasn't seen the surface action other sections of the SBR and the Musky have is because it lacks direct morning sun in the spring, and also cools faster in the summer evenings. But ill take Rusty's advice next time and head upstream just to fish the hell out of it.

I also want to add i have not seen 1 Heron this year in the gorge (maybe i havent been looking hard enough?). Someone jokingly told me a few weeks ago the birds follow the stock truck and i'm beginning to believe them.

 

[Matt Grobert]

All I know is that I fished three PA rivers today, saw very few insects hatching, and even fewer rises, yet when I started I set up my 2WT deciding to fish dries no matter what all day. I caught plenty of fish on all three rivers, all on the same fly, a #16 caribou caddis. I fished the fly in likely fish holding water and runs, and the trout cooperated, taking the fly consistently all day.

Why?

 

[lightenup]

All I know is that I fished three PA rivers today, saw very few insects hatching, and even fewer rises, yet when I started I set up my 2WT deciding to fish dries no matter what all day. I caught plenty of fish on all three rivers, all on the same fly a #16 caribou caddis. I fished the fly in likely fish holding water and runs, and the trout cooperated, taking the fly consistently all day.

Why?

I already told you...It's the damn pellets!!!!

 

[Matt Grobert]

My battery was running out on my laptop, so I didn't finish........the point being that I don't think there is anyone that can say they know why the fish were taking dries despite the lack of insect activity. Two of the rivers would be considered above average with respect to pressure, the fish didn't care - a good drift often got a response. BTW - I fished dries simply because I was tired of fishing nymphs the last three months.........

Truthfully, I fished dries because I knew the wild fish in the rivers I fished were used to feeding on pellets that floated.......

 

[LostnLovinIt]

Fished Pohat Creek just after it opened at 5 yesterday. Three bows landed, all on softhackle and in the middle of the water column. One was a nice hold over. Ton of egg carrying bugs in the air still nothing on the surface.

 

[thrashers.wheat]

This fish was taken on a dry fly

This Native, along with one other, were eager to rise. The bigger one (the fish pictured) rolled to inspect the fly my first drift through an undercut bank. My second cast produced the smaller fish. This was taken on the third cast.

This fish also took a dry fly on my first cast in a separate run

Photos don't do justice as this wild fish was somewhere around 18". Some fly I tied up using thread, a hook, elk hair, cree grizz hackle, & black dubbing.

This wild fish took a soft-hackle nymph or wet fly as you can see, I love the sparse spots on some browns


This one decided to violently strike a streamer (if you look close enough, you can see the streamer)


I guess my point with this post is that I varied my presentation (surface, sub-surface (insect), and streamer). All three methods produced. These fish were all within 150 yards of one another. I was actually checking out a new stretch of water.

 

[GARYB]

I think the fish are starting to take dries is because the streams are coming down and slowly warming up.

 

[Rusty Spinner]

Saw the first spinner fall on the middle SBR this evening. Fish were finicky which I found odd given how early in the season it still is, but I managed a few including a solid brookie.




This bow would only eat an egg-laying rusty spinner after multiple drifts over him with a normal rusty spinner. Go figure.

 

[flyI4]

that brookie has great colors. Almost looks wild- but looks too big for me to believe it.