December 2003 Reports

Reports Archive

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Over the holidays one half of Fly Fish PA was out in western PA hanging with the relatives. But, even amongst all the festivities, there was time to get out and hit the local steelie water. All in all it was an impressive day. Water conditions were prefect, a little off-color (greenish, not murky) and running hard. The sun was shining and the wind was negligible. Even the crowds of early-season were not to be found. Water temp was 36 and it was not until the sun really began to heat up the air temps did the fishing bust open. All said and done about 14 steelies were hooked, and 4 were landed. Of those 14 only a couple were foul hooked and the remainder eagerly ate a variation of a Hare's Ear, size 10-12 (see below) that was tied off a small Glo-Ball. Just enough split-shot was added so the fly ticked the bottom.

Keys to the Day: Maintaining a tight line and drag free drift (by means of hi-sticking) as well as focusing on the pockets, seams, runs and current edges. I wish I lived closer….what an awesome way to spend the day after Christmas.

 

 

The Hot Fly!

Happy New Year to All!!

This could very well be the last report of '03. And if you have not checked out our package deals for next year, please take a look.
Best fishes for next year!!


A nicely colored steelie.


Down and dirty.


A Big fat hen! This one went about 27".

December 13, 2003 - UPDATE

Not much at all happening on the salt front. It seems that the bass and bait moved on from the north jersey beaches with that snowstorm we had last weekend. And I also think that means our season has officially come to an end. Having said that comes the expectorations of what next season will bring. Certainly the trout that inhabit our Pennsylvania cold-water streams came through this year about as well as possible and did not have much in the way of angling pressure. With this set-up we have high hopes. More later….


storm debris

get me out of here!

December 3, 2003 - UPDATE

December is here and snow is in the forecast...this week could be the last hoo-rah for the salt - especially for the shore-bound fly-rodder. However, for the boaters there will still be some time left as the fish can usually be found off the beach in deeper water. Word is we are gonna get a pretty big storm outta this one coming this weekend, with some pretty severe beach erosion from the tight pressure gradient that is going to set up. Of course we can bank on more water for our river systems - be it from snowmelt or rainfall.

At this time we would like to advise our readers to keep checking the site through the winter months for regular updates, as we have lots of cool stuff on the horizon, even if we do not have fishing reports or conditions to post.

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Gift certificates for FFPA guided trips are an exciting way to warm up the holiday season and get you through the winter as we all wait for those first few little black stones of the season to pepper the water. Send us an email if you have any questions.

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Triple Rig
Pictured below is a pretty cool shot of a technique we deploy quite a bit in our freshwater efforts - either by utilizing a tandem rig, dry and a dropper or even a large bugger with a smaller nymph trailer. We find it works quite well for the salt, especially when bait is scarce, water clarity is limited or you have no idea what baitfish is present. One of our good friends is quite a fan of this technique and is the one who turned us on to this technique. Go crazy; mix it up and give it a try next time you are on the water. There are no rules when it comes to fly fishing the salt.


The arrows point to each fly - as you can see this bass took the last fly on the rig...I guess it looked to good to pass up.