Penns Creek Angler

Bruce Fisher

Article Feb 2008

It always amazes me how much I can learn by studying the water. Most of our precious time is spent in the water fishing and we don’t take notice what is floating down the creek just under our noses. Over the past few years I have slowed down and started to observe just what flies are resting near streamside vegetation, what flies are in the trees and what flies are floating on the water are either alive or dead.

Most of the flies we see in the streamside foliage are caddis. They are congregating to select a mate and assure the survival of their species, this is usually a morning affair. After mating and incubating her eggs some females crawl back into the creek from the shoreline and she pastes her eggs directly on the creek bottom. The males will simply die on dry land because they have no reason to venture over the water after mating is complete. Other caddis distribute their eggs by fluttering over the creek and make repeated attempts to dislodge their egg sack by crashing into the waters surface. On a caddis the egg sack is located at the back of her abdomen. Once the eggs are deposited in the water she becomes exhausted and drops to the water where she gets stuck.

The flies in the trees are molting or shedding the current outer skin kind of like cicadas. This is the process that transforms the dun into a sexually mature adult. After a given time the males and females will gather above the stream to mate in huge swarms. Some of the males will die just after mating. This event is called a spinner fall and the males will usually die over the water but sometimes they make it back to land and are of no value to fish. This situation has caused many an angler to wonder why no spinners fell to the water and the fish didn’t feed. The females in most cases after mating in the swarm will return to the trees and incubate the eggs for a period of time. It all depends on the species, air temperature and weather conditions if they return to the stream that day to lay their eggs. In some cases the females can hold off several days before they lay their eggs and fall to the water spent. This is why so many nights the Ginger Quill females never fall on the same night as the males and fishermen wonder what happened.

There are many other forms of mayflies on the water all at the same time. There could be what fishermen call crippled flies, these are flies that could not hatch out of their nymph shuck and complete the metamorphosis to a dun. These flies float helplessly down the creek struggling to get out of their nymph case. They will die in the process and sink to the bottom where they are taken by trout. This is one of the reasons why wet flies work so well.

If you are fishing below a heavy riffle many duns simply get sucked under the water and are trapped, these flies are referred to as drowned duns. Once sucked under the water they will never make it back to the surface.

While you are fishing turn your back to the sun and lower yourself to the water and you will see many different things floating in all depths of the water. You will see the nymph shucks floating down the creek, these are flies that made it to the surface and transformed to a dun. You can tell a shuck easily by a white blotch at the head of the case where the fly crawled out, the fish know this too and they are of no value to the fish.

When you see spinners on the water they will have glass clear wings in most cases and lay flush on the surface of the water. These flies are very hard to see unless you are really looking for them. The trout will sip these spinners with no hurry and will rise repeatedly in the same location. The fish know the spinners are trapped and it’s an easy meal with little effort expended while feeding.

If you see rapid dimple rises you may be seeing a trout sipping duns as they float down the trout’s feeding lane.

If the rises are splashy and the fish is moving around in a particular area they may be taking egg laying caddis or mayflies. The fish know they only have a brief chance of getting these flies because they move so fast from one spot to another laying eggs. These are very important flies; they contain the most food value because of the eggs they carry.

These are just a few of the things you will see if you study the water.

“Catch you Later”

Bruce Fisher

© 2008