Poopdeck 0 Report post Posted August 11, 2020 Your right, if they can be found in a fly shop nobody is going to buy them because of their simplicity. The lack of availability of flies is one of the reasons I started to tie. What better gift to a beginner than a "custom" fish catcher he has never seen, heard of or read about. I know I never heard of them until somebody showed me one at a group tying night. I was reluctant to try one because of the constant match the hatch banter but my initial reaction was, wow that's simple. Not saying hatch charts are not a great tool but quick simple flies that work keeps my gear paired down to a few boxes. To be fair, I only trout fish a few times in the spring so my flies are not as varied as most. I do not fish for trout only under any and all conditions throughout the year. As with all my fishing, targeted species is geared towards the greatest probability of success for the time of year which no doubt adds to the confidence I have in a handful of flies. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JSzymczyk 0 Report post Posted August 17, 2020 On 8/6/2020 at 11:18 PM, Poopdeck said: State college is the center of PA's trout fishing and there are lots of famous streams very close to each other. There are no shortages of fantastic trout fishing creeks in the area with impressive bug activity. Spring creek may be the most fabled creek in the state. Caddiflies, sulphers, scuds, sow bugs, midges, stoneflies are a safe bet. If you want to really hook him up get him a copy of "keystone fly fishing" by Mike Heck, Gary Kell, Len Lichvar, Jay, Nichols, Henry Ramsay, Dave Rotheock, Brian Shumaker, Ben Turpin and Karl Weixmann. I know it's a mouthful but the book is a collaborative work involving noted experts from various parts of the state. The book has the general hatch charts for the state and very nice write ups on a lot of the best creeks to include parking, access and preferred flies and notable hatches. I'm not a big trout fisherman but it's my bible when I do go trout fishing. My old standbys for general PA trout fishing are a hares ear, a bead head hares ear and a simple Stewart's spider which somebody relatively recently let me in on the secret. It's the secret weapon in the state college area. At the fly shop the trout aficionados all talk about the various hatches in their Latin tongue but when they are on the creek all by themselves they all fish the Stewart's spider, or at least the successful ones do. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uV7k3epJfJY Everybody KNOWS that Pennsylvania trouts are way too smart to take a fly tied with only thread and one feather! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikechell 0 Report post Posted August 17, 2020 😄 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites