Penns Creek Angler
Article June 2009
Green Drakes
By the time you read this article the Green Drake will be in full swing and there will be a lot of happy people. This spring has been one of the most complicated and frustrating times I’ve fished the creek with dry flies. One night you could have a great hatch and spinner fall in one area and a few hundred yards upstream guys would have nothing to show for their efforts. It seemed like every pool and riffle had something different hatching or spinning and anglers really had to look at the water to find what the trout were feeding on to catch trout on a consistent basis. On the other hand this was one of the best springs to fish nymphs and emergers. My golden stonefly and green drake nymph’s really produced a lot of fish for many anglers this spring. I think the colder weather at night really messed around with the hatching of most of the hatches in late April and all of May. Be that as it may the Drake is on and fisherman from all over the world come to Penn’s Creek to test their skills on the educated fish located in the Catch and Release area. My trick is to get to the creek about 8pm and find an out of the way spot and study the water. I’ll be looking for big fish and planning my casting position and looking for snags that big fish love hide in. About 9:30pm I’ll start fishing, it will be dark and all I will hear is the fish gulping duns that sometimes hatch until 1am. I keep my leader and tippet very short around 5ft at the most. You have to sneak up on the fish and get within casting range then I just keep casting to that spot until I hear that slurp near my fly. I don’t just set the hook right away I’ll lift up the rod tip and if I feel pressure I’ll set the hook hard. Night fishing can be so exciting with all your senses heightened because of your loss of sight. This is also the time when the biggest trout come out to feed and an angler can luck into a 5 lb fish if they work hard, study the water and do some home work. I would not recommend night fishing for a new angler unless they have a partner that is seasoned veteran. In addition any angler old or new to the sport should check out the pool in the day light hours and get to know the area like the back of their hand. Then you will be prepared for the snags and places where deep water is located. After dark is a great time to fish! Keep in mind if the water remains high we will have great fishing until some point in July. We still have the Cahill’s, Golden Drakes, Slate Drakes and Blue Winged Olives after the passing of the Green Drake.
“Catch you Later”
Bruce Fisher
©
2008