Tomorrow! Anticipation!

This says it all…

Oh… and this too!

Fuck the weather.  I’m rollin’ at 7am.  Report will follow.

DonnyBeav Gets Into The Flytying Market…

You might not believe your eyes, but they aren’t fooling you. You’re really looking at a purple squirrel discovered near Lycoming County. 

The odd creature was discovered by Percy and Connie Emert in Jeresey Shore, PA on Sunday.

“We have bird feeders out in our yard, and the squirrels are constantly into them,” Connie told Accuweather.com. “My husband traps them and then sets them free elsewhere so they don’t get into your bird feeders.”

She said she had seen the little creature on the property before, but no one would believe her.

“I kept telling my husband I saw a purple one out in the yard. ‘Oh sure you did’ he kept telling me,” she added. “Well, he checked the trap around noon on Sunday and sure enough, there it was.”

The Emerts’ plan to release the squirrel back into the wild in the next few days. As for why he is purple, they don’t know. But they swear they had nothing to do with it. The Accuweather team has some theories, though, ranging from him getting into paint to even falling into a port-a-potty.

The crack pot investigators of the Dirtbag Flyfishing Posse have been on the case of this squirrel.  We have uncovered the following proof theories:

1. DonnyBeav is trying to corner the flytying market by breeding genetically enhanced animals for the colored fur.  And a by-product would be clown-colored game meat. 
2. He would use this colored game meat, quite possibly at a children’s themed restaurant such as  Chuck-E-Cheese for the new DonnyBeav Brand Hot-N’-Spicy Squirrel Wraps with minty-pickle sour sauce.  Sounds yummy….  pick up some for your kids today!
3. Or he is trying to form a resurgence of once popular “Barney and Friends” children’s TV show by having a more Pee-Aye friendly animal host that kids could identify with?  Purple Punxsutawney Phil was already locked up in a existing media contract with the PA Lottery.
4. Also the crack pot team of investigative reporters have found that DonnyBeav wishes to have colored game to corner the market on colorblind hunters that wish to have a “canned hunt” on some hunting preserve.  Simply put, this squirrel escaped from the Beav’s hunting fields.  Be on the lookout for fluorescent pink deer and sunflower yellow pheasants.

While we did try to confirm these theories with the Spring Ridge Club, they were not in the mood to take our questions.  We think theory #1 is the most solid – as seen at Charlie Cravens’ flyshop

 

Wherein We Discuss a Fly Anglers Malady

Lyme Disease is a real threat to those who go fishing, unlike the recent hysteria over the rarely transmitted dog tapeworm larva (Echinococcus granulosus) to humans. In 2011 there were over 30,000 reported cases in the U.S. of  often debilitating Lyme disease. It is usually transmitted by the small, hard-to-see deer tick, which has as its primary host white-tailed deer.  Density of deer and density of ticks is closely related.  A new map has just been produced showing the actual density of deer ticks. Here in the Northern Tier of PA and Southern Tier of NY we have some real hot spots.  The infected area is spreading.  It also doesn’t help that we are having a mild winter.  This means the cold weather (or lack of) is NOT killing enough of the ticks.  Last year was a bad year for ticks…  unfortunately, I’m thinking this year will be even worse.

As you can see in my circle. Bradford/Sullivan Counties are considered a hotspot! As well as all of PA from Wayne County to Chester County.

Areas in the United States where people have the highest risk of contracting Lyme disease are pinpointed in a new map created by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Lyme disease is one of the most rapidly emerging infectious diseases in North America. It’s transferred by ticks and symptoms range from headaches, fever and a rash to arthritis and Bell’s palsy, or damage to a facial nerve that can lead to temporary paralysis of the muscles on one side of the face.

At least three closely related bacteria cause the disease. It is transmitted by the bite of deer tick and is usually easy to treat with antibiotics if discovered early, but as time goes by treatment gets harder as the organism settles in and begins to damage various organs.   Even us DFP’ers get ticks.  I had one embed itself in my arm while fishing on the Oswayo Creek near Shinglehouse, PA.  I was sitting on a nice manicured lawn along the creek when I got the tick.  It wasn’t in a classic tall grassy area.  So be on the lookout!

Damn ticks!!

The incidence of the disease is reduced by careful examination of clothing and skin after (and while) outdoors, knowledge of the first symptoms, and reduction in deer ticks.  Outdoor activities such as flyfishing, hiking and of course, hunting will put more folks into areas that could lead to a tick bite.  The best way to combat getting a tick bite to to wear waders or long pants and to wear shirts with long sleeves.  Staying out of tall grassy areas with exposed skin helps.  But what’s a dirtbagger to do when we are fishing along weedy growth areas?  Wear some “bug juice” that has Permethrin in it. 

Permethrin forms a bond with fabric and will last through several to many laundry cycles. It is a toxin but in this case it is bound to the fabric, and therefore cannot harm you. This is what all of our Armed Forces use on their uniforms. The warnings should not be dismissed but are there mainly to avoid lawsuits, e.g., kind of like warning labels on hammers.

Bottom Line: The best way to go is permethrin, DEET, and if possible blouse your trousers around the top of your boot.   After fishing…  check yourself.  Unless your Anokpeas… then check yourself for leeches!

Stay outta “Sewer Creek” Jonah!!!

 

 

Winter Pools

With cold weather once again rearing it’s ugly head up here in the howling Endless Mountains hinterlands, what’s a fly guy to do?  Tie flies?  Well, sure…   but there are only so many #12 Adams’ one can tie before going stark raving mad.  Read?  Sadly, my stack of ‘zines and novels are seriously depleted.  Heck.  I can go fishing!  RIGHT!  But where?   Do tactics differ in the cold?

Unequivically, YES.  This means that you have to adjust your tactics a bit to accommodate slow, sluggish trout.  Nymphs and other wet flies are usually the best bet during the winter months. Fly fishing during the winter tends be more challenging, because of the fact that there aren’t as many insects around.  Thus bringeth thine Powerbait??

Just kidding, just kidding…

Lighter leaders can also help during the winter months … especially if you’re fishing in clear water.  Trout will often taste-test your offering before eating it (which is why some strikes tend to be subtle).  This is especially true in the winter months.  Using a lighter leader and tippet can help disguise the fact that your feather and fur lined hook is a trap (so to speak).

Another thing to adjust is the time of day you go fishing.  During the summer months, we are conditioned to fish in the early morning hours and at dusk.  The afternoon hours (between 10 am and 2 pm) are generally the worst hours to fish during the summer months.  However, during the winter months, fishing between 10 am and 2 pm tend to produce better results.  This is because the water warms up a bit during these hours and warmer water means less sluggish trout.  But the one thing most anglers forget is:  One must first find the suitable habitat in which our lovely troots migrate to in the colder weather. 

This hole on the north end of Alparon Park is one of the best deep wintering trout holes on the North Branch of Sugar Creek.

The best waters are spring creeks, and tailwaters. The water temperatures in these areas generally stay comfortable even in the coldest weather, and you will catch more fish.  However, up here in the hinterlands we are pretty much stuck with fishing freestoners.

And with that, we should discuss the likely food found on winter freestoner. You will get some dry fly fishing even on freestone streams if you are on the water at the right time and fish in the right place. About 30% of the time you will get Blue Winged Olives (Baetis) in the winter. When the water temperature hits the mid-40’s Blue Wings are usually coming off somewhere on most trout streams in the winter. Unlike in the rest of the year where these flies usually come off in lousy weather, at this time of the year they usually come off during the warmest part of the day. But the nymphs are usually found in pockets along the sides of the stream and bank. So observe carefully. Also, you will get midge hatches all winter long especially on warmer days that get into the upper 30’s and low 40’s. Trout will feed against the bank sipping these flies and most anglers never see them.

See those rocks at 11 and 1 o’clock?  I can almost guarantee a trout will be lying in between them.  I’ve caught one there every winter for the last 3 years.   Last year, I caught the trout on a #20 black midge!

Fish generally vacate fast moving riffles and runs, and spend their days in deep, slow pools. This allows the fish to hold their positions without using too much energy. For this reason, you should focus on slow water, and move past water that has a high gradient. Also, winter fishing tends to be best on rivers and streams where water temperatures are relatively stable.

Locate a good spot where the fish will should be. For example, a deep pool at the tail of riffle where food will be brought to the trout and they can maintain some cover. If there is any debris (log pile, leafy stack) still in the stream: fish near it. The debris piles  probably has clingy invertebrates on or near it!

 

 This hole is usually good for at least one brookie when it’s cold out. You have to fish it painfully slow and dredging the bottom with a nymph.

This is my basic box for Winter Fly Fishing in Freestone streams. You could probably carry all of these in one fly box. These patterns are good just about anywhere in the country for winter fly fishing:

• Nymphs/Wet: size #8-14 Hare’s Ear; size #6-12  Black Stonefly; size #14-20 Godfather Emerger; size #8-16 Red Midge Worm; size #6-12 San Juan Worm in brown or pink; Midge larvae and pupae size #16-24, Ray Charles in size #12-16. Black, Olive, or Brown Wooly Bugger in size #8-12. (Usually with a hot spot of orange or purple at the head).
• Dry Flies: Blue Winged Olives size: #18-22; Midges: size: #18-24 in Black, Cream, Pale Yellow, and White.

Although winter is not one of the most popular times to fish for trout, it may be one of the best.   Usually, you’re the only one on the stream!  Just keep a few of these tips in mind, and you will should be able to catch fish even in the toughest shitty conditions. So do not put away your rod this winter.  We dirtbaggers always tend to fish (Knights of the Blue Noses) when its cold out… mostly because it gives us an extra excuse to consume some bourbon anti-freeze from our flasks.

Your doing it wrong….

Pandering to a certain group of folks perhaps?

(You still ain’t getting my vote even if you start carrying a flask full of the Prophet and huckin’ streamers to smallmouth on the Suskie, Barack.)

I didn’t know the tweeders liked Obama?  I’ve never seen him wear tweed.  Then again we don’t know what he wears in the Oval Office when Michelle picks out his clothes.

Regardless…  Hey Commander-In-Chief, your doing it wrong.  It’s NOT a Ghey Spey Rod.  Something tells me you WILL find this shit in an WhOrvi$ catalog soon…  

Wherein we discuss the weather…

’cause we ain’t been fishing in 20F degree weather…  Time to stock up Dirtbags.  Bourbon makes good anti-freeze!

Muncy Creek

I took a nice ride and checked out the Muncy Creek Delayed Harvest – Artificial Lure Only Area.  There is major flood damage all around this area, debris, giant piles of rock moved all over the adjacent fields.  However, the small 1 mile-DH-ALO from this bridge to the Tivoli, PA area looks to be about the same as it always does.  The flow is still normal, no logjams of debris, no creek channel changes.  This was nice to see.  Most other creeks in the area have changed to a point where you have to go prospect your “old holes” because nothing is the same since the flood.  It’s nice to see a bit of normalcy on the Muncy.

Spring Creek, 1/7/12

We left the bunker at 0-dark-thirty and dodged deer and frack-truck traffic until we hit Jersey Shore.  Then a welcomed break at the official DFP store of choice…   Mmmmm… Sheetz!

                                                                                                      Yep, it was fritter & coffee time!

We hit Spring at the Handicap Access area.  We were the first car to pull-in to the parking area!  Yes!!!  We had the 1/4 mile stretch of creek all to ourselves! 

Please welcome Josh “Juice” Morgan to the DFP as a “Jr. Member”.

Outside temps’ hit 55F degrees.. with a lot of bug activity.  However, all of our fishing was subsurface with Walt’s Worms, Godfather Emergers, and Josh tried the “Huckin’ Streamers” in one deep frothy run.

He’s got the mouth of a DFP’er, especially when he hangs up his flies in the brush behind him….. but can’t nip at the bourbon… yet!  I told him that Mountain Dew is the “Junior Member” drink of choice.  And he could drink it in a flask, if need be.

 We caught 3 browns each, all about 7 to 9 inches on #16 Godfather Emerger Flies.  However, at one 6 foot deep hole I suggested that Josh should try a big streamer in this hole.  It worked!!  Josh’s biggest of the day, 14″ Rainbow on an Black Emerson Hough Bucktail.

Then we took a walk along the “Guilded Mile” a 1 mile stretch of FFO C&R of Spring Creek that flows on the H.R. Stackhouse School grounds, where they train every PFBC WCO/DWCO.  Josh expressed an interest in that particular field of work.  It makes me proud to think he may consider being a “fish cop”.  We took note that every single parking spot at the Stackhouse parking lot was FULL.  Every car, truck, and mini-van had flyfishing stickers on it.  I told Josh that here at “Cop Central” these cars would be safe.  But advertising on the back windows with expensive Scott, Hardy, Redington, and St. Croix stickers is just asking “tweekers” to break into the cars when they are parked in “God’s Country”.

Then we proceeded to walk through the Spring Creek Hatchery.  12/14 raceways held brookies with the last two holding browns.  No rainbows in the raceways at the moment.  One of the raceways had HUGE brookies in it – up to 20 inches.  It must have been the brood stock tank.   We both enjoyed ourselves and we cannot wait to do it again.  Next time, We are hoping others from the DFP will join us.

Lazy-Assed YouTube Saturday.

I’m posting this a bit early since tomorrow I’m off to Spring Creek… at 0-dark-thirty – Eldest Minion in tow.

I wanted to leave you a little class.

Whut?  Class? 

Yes.  I give you DirtbaggeousMaximus  DFP Latin for “lil’ bit o’ class”

You probably do not know we Dirtbaggers take pride in our way of life. But sometimes we like to seem like we’re classy.  Like reading rich materials like Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, Catcher In the Rye by J. D. Salinger, or my favorite; The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe.  Brought to you via DirtbaggeousMaximus by The Simpsons (cuz that’s as classy as I get.) It starts at 4:00 minutes into the video.   Enjoy, bitches.  I’ll post up later ’bout how we did on Spring Creek.

Forum MIA?

Gentleman,  it seems the DFP Member Forum link will not work.  Computer nerds unite.  Can someone who has infinite powers of the nerd-kind please look into this?

For the time being…  consider this an open thread to comment, converse, blah, blah, blah….