Big bountiful blue skies definitely lift the spirit.

Until Blam! &^%$! Do I still remember how to change a tire?

15 Minutes and a Doughnut later and were back on the road!

The stream looks pretty. Fishing downriver definitely has an advantage when there’s this much overhanging brush.

There’s a nice brown working Cahill emergers just off the flank of a log. Quick little mend and he’s on. Nothing like wild spring fed trout.

Another guy working the surface. Switch to some unweighted patterns and skitter across. This guys refusals are violent!

No standard swing will take this little fellow. But he finally succumbs to a short 8inch dead drifts. Everyone returns for another day.

Some of these guys are spooky with the sun at my back. Gotta stay low and “flick those fleas”!

Something big is working a shady overhanging bank. This is going to be tricky!

12 fly changes, 2 lost rigs, and a half an hour later. He’s worth every penny.

Stop to watch caddis dancing on the way out.

Who said this isn’t Big Sky country?

In an attempt to further tweak some skill sets I’ve resolved to spend the whole summer on one of Western New York’s shining jewels: Wiscoy Creek. Now mind you, usually I don’t like to name any streams, but I’ll make an exception here as I doubt even 1 out of 10 readers would want to go bang their head on this incredibly difficult wild trout stream. The fishing is just down right hard. It’s the kind of place you have to crawl on hands and knees otherwise you’ll put the fish down. And when you put one section down it doesn’t end there… like a tidal wave you can see fish spooking all the way up the river. You have to watch your shadows. You have to whisper. Don’t breath too heavy. Don’t even blink. Then plan that first cast with precision because you’ll only get one. But, when you do “figure it out” and catch a few fish you can rest assured you’re holding something of pure gold: a completely stream risen wild trout!

I’ve had more than a few losing battles with this creek. But recently I went back to basics and re-learned something I seemingly have to revisit year after year: really spooky, tough, skinny, wild trout streams call for a single dry on a long leader. Sometimes it’s hard to get away from all those new fangled, yet effective techniques being popularized by competitive fishing like: European Nymphing, Czech Nymphing, Polish Nymphing, French Nymphing, Spanish Nymphing, North Pole Nymphing, good god the list never ends! It’s enough to drive even the most detail oriented angler crazy. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that each stream has a very unique characteristic and to that end a very unique technique to unlock her mysteries. Maybe because it’s such that I spent the first decade of my fly fishing life purely casting a single dry fly that I equate it with something amateur and unworthy of dedicated use. The fact is a single dry fly on a long stealthy leader is a deadly approach for just this type of river.

Oh yeah! And if you were ever wondering if little spectacle wearing wild trout love big flies… dam right they do! Of course, every fly has it’s place. The one you see in this Wild Wiscoy Brown’s mouth is built for broken water where size is more important than color, and wouldn’t be very appropriate for slow stretches, but that’s pretty easy stuff. Match the correct technique to the correct situation and sometimes we find success.

1st stop was the TCO Fly shop, and after shooting the breeze with George Daniels for a few discussing effective Sulphur Emerger patterns we were off to Spring Creek. Action was hot right off the bat… that is however until we moved to fish the section below the hatchery.

With about 30 cars in the parking lot we didn’t expect it to be easy, but frustrating is the nicest expletive I can muster up right now. Fish rising everywhere! And I mean E.V.E.R.Y.W.H.E.R.E! Up and down the river confidant risers never stopped – there were 9 risers inbetween Todd and I. A riser under your boot. A riser behind your back. 2 under the tree. 4 under your rod top. And still no takes. None. Deliciously selective and a great kick-in-the-arse to fine tune my dry/emerger game.

Sometimes, no scratch that… ALL the times not catching fish usually teaches you more than catching fish and I felt that was the case this time around. Especially when it comes to very active feeders. So, phase #1 of recon mission #1 was a success… albeit not very much fun:) I must mention though that Todd caught 2 swinging a size 20 midge which was a huge accomplishment in my book. It wasn’t like we were left out on a limb though… no one was catching fish.

So, we high tailed it out of there a bit early before dark to setup camp. Drooling over the huge bows and browns sipping away in “hatchery lane” on the way out. If all this cheesy talk of “recon” missions is making you scratch your head the impetus for these excursions is preparing for the 2009 Nationals for Fly Fishing Team USA which are based in State College. So, my attack plan is to quickly sample 1 stream per day on each of the first 3 excursions. Spring Creek was a delicious appetizer of which I must revisit, but now that course has passed and we began to set our scopes on a little Spanish lass: The Little Juniata.

Camping near Belfont with roaring fire and a star speckled night really capped off a great first day. And despite the lingering odor of a dead deer in the nearby woods the skillet of chicken curry coupled well with a few ice cold PBRs.

The next morning we broke camp found winding route 45 south and headed for the “J”. Some rivers are love and first sight and Juniata caught my eye right off the bat as we rounded the intersection of Spruce Creek. With overhanging trees, stone train trestles, covered wooden bridges, and long grassy slopes peppered with little white churches the surrounding scenery is breathtaking. But the real delight comes when you step into the river.

The little “J” meanders it’s way from cold spring upwellings splintering off into tasty little island side shoots, then collecting in oxygenated riffles to hit long midge laden glides, and then starts it all over again every 500 feet. My favorite spots were… well I can’t give too much away now can I? Some co-competitors might be lurking here:)

I’ve heard someone describe this river as “fun” and I agree – it’s just plain fun. We started pounding healthy wild looking fish after making a few gear refinements and never looked back. Once we found the correct water to target and the right pattern to deliver it was game,set,match. And the bugs never stopped popping! Sulphurs were coming off the entire time – the density would change from slow pop corn pops to full on popping, but never stopped. But the Sulphur hatch happened to be the smokescreen – it was less visible black caddis hatch that the trout were confidently targeting. We fished our butts off and ended the day catching 2 rising browns on TCO Sulphur Dries while sitting on a log having a smoke.

So, State College Recon Mission #1 was a HUGE success. Recon Mission #2 starts before day break this Saturday. On the schedule Penns and Big Fishing Creek… stay tuned!