Penns Creek Angler
Bruce Fisher
Article June 2007
Hello again, May is over and the hatches were great, just as they always seem to be during this magic month. The Redbud flowered just as the March Brown started to emerge. I noticed the Cherry trees budded at the same time and the Dogwoods flowered a week later. I’ll be on the look out for the Purple Trillium because it flowers when the Sulphurs start to hatch around May 20th. On May 17th I saw the first Columbine flowers along the creek as well as Blue Bells when the Sulphurs started to hatch. For many anglers the Sulphur is the height of the fishing season and they prefer to fish this hatch instead of the Green Drake.
As for myself I’m waiting for the Drake to hatch so I can start my night fishing. Hopefully the Drake “Shadfly” will arrive around Memorial Day when most people can take advantage of this fantastic event. Even if you’re not a fly-fisher you should come to the creek around dusk to see the most spectacular event that fly-fishing holds. Thousands and thousands of flies will swarm above the water and complete their life cycle by mating, laying their eggs and then falling spent to the water. It’s a wonderful time to walk along the waters edge. The Pink Lady’s Slipper is a plant that sprouts and should be about 6 inches high when the Green Drake makes its annual appearance.
The next large fly to hatch is the Slate Drake, it coincides with the Mountain Laurel flowering around June 1st. Chicory is a plant with sky blue dandelion-type flowers and blooms when the Blue Winged Olive starts to hatch around June 15th. Last but not least, Goat’s Beard with its cream or greenish white flowers signals the arrival of the Yellow Drake at the end of June. So that wraps up June as far as flowers and flies. We will cover more in next months article.
So far the water level has been perfect, just the way I like to see it. I only hope we get more water so the fishing season will extend past July 4th weekend. So far it looks like we are off to a good start.
Over the past few months I’ve met some fantastic people and they have shared their knowledge of Penns Creek, Entomology and Geology. I’ve come to know many good friends and one even taught me how to remember a White Pine. He showed me that a White Pine has five needles in a cluster and the word white has 5 letters thus five needles equal the amount of needles that a White pine has. I’ll share some other things with you next month including the many spinning wheel holes along Penns Creek. I hope everyone has a great fishing season
“Catch you later”
Bruce Fisher
© 2008