Winter's Come And Gone...
Brush Valley - March, 2007Oh little bluebird
Pearly feathered breast
Five cold nickels all I got left
Oh little bluebird
What am I gonna do
Five cold nickels
Ain't gonna see me through
So long now I've been out
In the rain and snow
But winter's come and gone
A little bird told me so
-Gillian Welch, Winters Come and Gone
As far as Pennsylvania fly fisherman are concerned, March can be the cruelest month. One day it's 70 degrees & sunny outside and the next it can be 27 degrees with wind driven snow and sleet stinging your face. So far this season, Old Man Winter has refused to release his icy grip on much of central Pennsylvania. Baetis tricaudatus mayflies that typically provide fishable hatches on our limestone waters as early as late February did not really get the fish cranking this year until the second week of March. For the astute observer though, the signs that spring is just around the corner are unmistakable; days are slowly getting longer, the winter constellation of Orion now sits a little lower in the late winter sky, the buds on the willow trees are swelling, bluebirds, robins, red winged blackbirds, juncos & finches are once again migrating back to Lower Georges Valley and tulips were spotted in bloom earlier this week before the big ice & snow storm.
In the rain and snow
But winter's come and gone
A little bird told me so
-Gillian Welch, Winters Come and Gone
As far as Pennsylvania fly fisherman are concerned, March can be the cruelest month. One day it's 70 degrees & sunny outside and the next it can be 27 degrees with wind driven snow and sleet stinging your face. So far this season, Old Man Winter has refused to release his icy grip on much of central Pennsylvania. Baetis tricaudatus mayflies that typically provide fishable hatches on our limestone waters as early as late February did not really get the fish cranking this year until the second week of March. For the astute observer though, the signs that spring is just around the corner are unmistakable; days are slowly getting longer, the winter constellation of Orion now sits a little lower in the late winter sky, the buds on the willow trees are swelling, bluebirds, robins, red winged blackbirds, juncos & finches are once again migrating back to Lower Georges Valley and tulips were spotted in bloom earlier this week before the big ice & snow storm.
Elk Creek, Centre CountyElk Creek in the Millheim Narrows, when not under the burden of melting snow, has been producing some nice brown trout on small nymphs. Relatively warm afternoons will trigger a hatch of baetis mayflies and the trout usually respond well to them in the slower water sections of the stream provided the water levels aren't too high.
Elk Creek, Millheim NarrowsA productive day of fishing both, nymphs and dry flies, in early March. Less than 12 hours after the above photo was taken, a warm overnight rain, combined with snowmelt runoff, raised the water level and colored up the creek to the point of being unfishable. Fishable water for the following day would have to be found somewhere else...
Tea Creek, Reedsville, Pa.Like lovely little Tea Creek over in Mifflin County. Tea Creek is a small Class A wild brown trout fishery that only flows for a couple of miles from it's source to it's confluence with Kishacoquillas Creek in Reedsville. Only the lower mile of water on this limestone spring creek is fishable. Above Route 322 it becomes to small to bother with. Today found the creek in excellent shape and a few wild browns decided that my #16 olive scud pattern looked good enough to eat. Suprisingly, I did not see any baetis mayflies, either on the water or in the air, during my time on the creek.
Tea Creek - March, 2007On August 5, 1997 the entire biomass of Tea Creek, upstream of the millpond in Reedsville, was nearly wiped out by a highway construction gaffe. While working on a new stretch of Rt. 322 PennDot attempted to fill a sinkhole by pouring tons and tons of concrete down it's mouth. Well, that sinkhole gobbled down that concrete in much the same way that I wolf down pizza on a Friday night. The resultant PH spike in the creek devasted the wild brown trout fishery and it's supporting biomass all the way down to the mill pond. The PFBC decided to let the few remaining brown trout repopulate the stream on their own. Aquatic insects would repatriate themselves in the upper reaches from surviving populations below the mill dam. By the end of 1998 the stream was already showing signs of recovery.
Tea Creek - Upstream of the Old DuckpondIn 2004 the old mill dam was removed by the PFBC in concert with American Rivers thereby restoring access to the excellent spawning grounds in the upper reaches of the creek. Stream inprovement devices were put into place, native trees & shrubs planted and the stream is now seeking it's own course through the former mill pond. Today the Penn's Creek chapter of Trout Unlimited, along with the Mifflin County Conservation District and the PFBC keep a close eye on the health of this little limestone gem.
Wild Tea Creek Brown Trout - March, 2007This beautiful brown trout from the upper reaches of Tea Creek could not say no to a #16 olive scud imitation.
Bowhunter Mike on Spring CreekMike stoically prepares to do battle with high murky water, streamers and recalcitrant brown trout. His attire is perfect for late winter fishing on the Pee-Aye limestoners. Note the fingerless rag wool gloves, warm hat (if your feet are cold put on a hat), Richardson's chest box, chest waders, overloaded vest and sunglasses.
Midger - The Sage of Spring CreekPerfect conditions for fishing streamers to big boys, right? We thought so too. And it was to some extent. Heavy rain the previous day along with snow melt had raised the water and turned it murky. What you can't see is the resultant 40F water temps from the snowmelt. This kept the metabolism of the larger fish at too low of an ebb for chasing streamers. I don't think we caught a fish over a foot long all day. Another water temperature lesson reinforced.
Good eats! - Millhiem, Pa.Another sure sign that spring is right around the corner.
What, no Hasenpfeffer or Shoo-Fly pie?
