With all of the Pennsylvania streams low and clear and the Catt. at 300+- CFS the choice is yours. With the next couple of days rain/snow we will have to see what happens to the creeks. It may be too light to help out the PA tribs, if that is the case the Catt. will be perfect for next week. Get your spey rods ready!!! See you in the Gorge.

Damon

The steelhead are in! It's time to break out the long rods, 12lb. tippet and bright flies. With the steady rains fresh fish have been entering the creeks all through Pennsylvania and New York. I've been guiding guests as well as fishing on my own. Most of the Pennsylvania Tributaries have few to no fish making it very far up the creeks yet. The report on Elk is very few fish up to Follies. I will be on the Catt. pending on rain tonight to fish the Gowanda area. There have been fish on the Reservation since Mid September. I'll keep you posted as the fish make migrations into the upper creeks and Catt. updates. Check back frequently for your fall trout fishing tips too. As the caddis are blanketing the Allegheny in the evening.

Best Fishes,

Damon

The streams were calling yesterday late afternoon/evening. With the high blown out conditions on Tuesday we knew there had to be some early fish that came in with all of the high water. Our hunch was right! We didn't see or catch the explosive numbers like late October and November it was still nice to land some fresh steelhead in late September though.
There are plenty of fish in and as we continue to get rain they will continue to run and fill the streams. We caught several in a matter of a couple of hours last night and the next mission will be to start exploring the upper reaches and continue to fish the big water in New York once it has dropped out. I look forward to seeing everyone on the water this fall and winter.

Best Fishes,

Damon

My good friend Steve (Lake Erie Ultimate Angler Owner) said it best last week at the Orvis dealer meeting, "we need a hurricane rain", well Steve not only did we get the rain we got the wind too!

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and a little today we've been seeing good, steady, rain from lake Erie well inland. The tribs were blown out yesterday and very difficult to fish with months of debris being cleaned out. For anyone worried about the mouths I have some before and after pictures below. Once the water clears the steelhead season is on! We'll be reporting more steelhead conditions as water levels change and as fish make there way further and further upstream.

If you don't steelhead fish and would like to learn how or just tune up on your skills: Lake Erie Ultimate angler is having a steelhead school October 24th. Click the link to the right and sign up!

You will learn techniques to improve and catch more fish!!!!!!

Best Fishes,

Damon Newpher

Doug Bear from Orvis hosted a great event at Ridgway Pennsylvania this past week for Orvis Dealers from all over Pennsylvania. Doug covered great new products that Orvis will be introducing this fall and the early part of 2010 including the Hydros Rod. You will see Christine in one of the pictures above with a GREAT Clarion River Brown that Guide Brian Minich put her on while we floated six of the dealers this past Tuesday. Pictured above is Orvis Endorsed Guide Ben Turpin holding a nice brown and Shane Appleby, two handed rod guru, with a Clarion River Rainbow. The fishing Tuesday was hit and miss we still managed to boat some very nice fish and the Dealers got to experience the float on the Clarion. It's always nice to be with great people in our wonderful industry.

With rain in the forecast for this weekend I'll be checking the Steelhead waters on Tuesday. Check back next week for your steelhead report.

Best Fishes,

Damon Newpher

Casting into the Lake Erie near the mouth of 20 mile creek.

Dead, Wild, Steelhead Smolt found in a puddle near the mouth of 20 mile creek.

Casting on Cattaraugus Creek near the mouth Tuesday morning was fun practice for the upcoming steelhead season. It's still a little early even for a large Erie Tributary like the Catt. The fish are still far and few between. We'll check the Catt. later next week, after the rains on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to see if they spark any fresh stocks to come in.

John G. with a Beautiful Clarion River Brown. With the draining of the East Branch Reservoir for winter pool (341 CFS) the Clarion has been at a perfect flow for drifting and wading. We've had great days on Streamers and Nymphs over the past week. There has been some surface action on Caddis and Tiny BWO'S though all big fish have been taken on streamers and nymphs. The forecast is for the water to keep coming the fishing forecast remains good.

Heading up to the Catt. this morning to do some steelheading with my good friend Steve B. (owner of Lake Erie Ultimate Angler) I'll post my report soon for the steelies.

See you on the water.

With the steady rains over the past few weeks making the Allegheny River high and difficult to fish, the Clarion River has been at ideal levels for streamer fishing. Below are a couple of pictures of nice browns we caught last week. The great news is we landed several each day in the 22-26 inch class, with sunny day fishing being best between the hours of 5a.m. until the sun hits the water. More rain in the forecast and plenty of water on the river equals tons of fun and more weeks of great fishing. See you on the water.

Best Fishes............

Clarion River Brookie

Typically the Clarion River is tough to float this time of year in the regular Clacka Boat. With last weeks steady rains it made the river very fishable and at a really nice level for floating. The Allegheny is back up to just under 3300 CFS with the Clarion just over 5ft. Great fishing is in the forcast for Clarion River Anglers for this week. Streamers during high water periods and nymphs 4ft. and under.

This is one of many fish caught over the past few days. What a great bonus, a large Brook Trout! The Clarion is known for large Browns, add large Brookies to that list too anlong with the occasional Tiger Trout.

See You On the River!!!!!!!!!

Steve Wascher: Bass Bug Spinning Guru, Chautauqua Lake Guide, Musky on the Fly Expert, spent the evening floating the Allegheny Last Night with his son and we managed a few Smallmouth on our way down the river.

Fly Fishing Presque Isle with Steve Brugger, Lake Erie Ultimate
Angler............................ Damon Newpher www.pa-flyfishing.com

Ultimat Angler Bass

Lake Erie Ultimate Angler Owner

Steve Brugger with and Ultimate

Smallmouth Caught Last Week

on Lake Erie.

Tricos are Coming

With nice weather in North Western PA the Allegheny Tailwater has been flowing at a very Fly Fishable level around 1200 CFS. 1200 makes it easy to wade and read the water allowing anglers enjoyable access to most of the river. Starting Monday of this week we saw the first signs of a significant Trico Hatch and Spinner fall starting to take place with a few fish already starting to turn their attentions to the surface for them. Nymphing and Streamer fishing still is the proven method for catching fish on the river consistently. The smallmouth bass fishing is beginning to get good from mid-day through the middle to later parts of the afternoon in the runs below the rifles into the upper sections of the pools using various streamer patterns. Poppers are not yet producing many smallies on the surface, with warmer temperatures we should start getting some popper action. Hoppers and other terrestrials have produced a few trout on bright sunny, hot, low water days. Keep your attention towards the tricos as the action from early morning to mid day will be at its best as the spinners begin to fall. Standard Trico Spinners along with a variety of smaller black parachute patterns are the typical producers for this hatch. Good Luck out there and say hi when you see us on the water.

Best Fishes,

Damon

Shane Does it again with the two handed rod. When fishing the big water like the Allegheny Tailwater longer rods classified in the Spey and Switch series have their advantages. When caught in the hatch situation with the two handed rod the lines tend to not present dry flies as nice as standard WF lines. Using the long rods for trout it would be best to carry an extra spool with a floating steelhead taper line, matched to the rod, and a 12ft leader to fish the magic hour. Besides dry fly fishing I can't imagine fishing the big water with a 9 ft. rod again. To learn more about switch and spey fishing for trout on the Allegheny or Steelhead on the tributaries of Lake Erie email me at newpherd@gmail.com I look forward to meeting you on the water. Nice fish Shane!!!!!

Now that the release on the Allegheny River has been cut back the fishing has vastly improved. With a week of high water it made for difficult fly fishing even with the drift boat. The evening hatches have returned with the low water conditions. The fish have turned on to the Blizzard of caddis flies. Various pupae and adult patterns have been working in different colors and sizes. The above fish were caught using a pupae that I tie especially for the Allegheny with a black tungsten bead.

This years stocking of fingerling's is starting to show some results just like the "class of 07" fish these fingerling's are making themselves at home in the river. The ones that aren't settling into the trout areas are getting blitzed by pike, musky and bass. They are about 6-8 inches now and like all fish in the Allegheny as thick as they are long.

Good luck and I'll see you on the water.

The above pictures are some nice Allegheny River fish that Shane landed while using his two handed spey rod. Shane has been prowling the Allegheny Tailwater using his two handed rod and experimenting with various lines in different release levels. All of these fish were landed at different levels throughout this spring. Shane has been keeping detailed records of what has been working best with each level.

If you would like to learn more about two handed rod, spey fishing, and using switch rods on big water email me at newpherd@gmail.com

Thank you for visiting NW PA Blog and I look forward to meeting you on the water.

Damon

High Muddy Water 8ft.!!!

Many days have passed since my last post to the blog. The conditions for weeks remained unchanged. Bright sunny days, low clear water, sulphurs remained the main hatch and the fishing was excellent some days challenging most, due to the water and the sun.
Last week we had a huge change, the two inches of rain we were lacking for the month of May finally came in one night bringing high muddy water on the Clarion and made the Allegheny not very fly fishing friendly, due to the release from the dam.
Most of my guests fishing with me on the boat don't have the option of driving up and fishing the peak days on the water so we head out and fish what the river gave to us. After many years of doing this the days when most fly fishers would never even think of tying on a fly we've challenged the fish and the river and have succeeded with great success.
The pictures above are of guests that fished with me last week during the low and high water, clear and muddy, and variable conditions that we faced each day.
I will be posting soon about the conditions on the Allegheny River. The forecast is for lower water and once it become a more fly fishing friendly river we'll be hitting the evening hatches and catching some of the big browns that lurk in its deep rifles.

Hope to see you on the water. It's hard to believe fall steelhead season is only 3 months away. Time to start tying steelhead flys.

Sulphurs, March Browns and Hopeful Drakes

Over the past week the Sulphur Hatch has been building with great dry fly opportunities in the evenings.
With different varieties of insects hatching and various sizes of each I recommend having varying sizes in your box. I tie Sulphurs in three sizes 12's for the early part of the hatch, 14's for the middle and 16's towards the end. The three varieties of Sulphurs start with the larger ones hatching first as the hatch progresses the smaller insects begin their emergence.
Though the large fish have been eating the Sulphurs some of the medium and smaller fish have been keying in on the large March Browns. These too have been a couple of different sizes, so you should have 10's and 12's tied for your boxes.
The Green Drakes are still struggling and should be happening soon. Though the Sulphurs and March Browns are about two weeks early for the Clarion River the Drakes typically hatch at Dark during the first week of June. We are still waiting to see more.
With all of these insects mentioned I prefer and seems as though the fish prefer lower riding patterns such as Compara Duns tied with either Deer for a higher riding fly or CDC for a Surface film fly, Parachute Patterns and for your drakes extended bodies tied parachute style.

See You on the River.

Spinners and Duns

With the Hendrickson Hatch taking place the Dun fishing in the afternoons has been fair. With unseasonably warm, bright sunny days in North Western Pennsylvania the big browns on the Clarion River have been hugging the bottom. During the high sun periods we've been catching some very nice fish nymphing the typical trout areas.

As the afternoon Sun begins to dip the hills cast their shadows on the water allowing more comfort to the fish we are in search for. During these low light periods into dark is when we've been finding dry fly fishing the best.

I've been using parachute patterns that I've been spinning together at the vise to imitate the Duns, Spinners and Red Quills. Lately I've been spending more time working on Sulphur patterns to match the Sulphur hatch starting in late May.

Soon I will be adding a fly tying page to post these patterns with tying instructions and illustrations. Check back frequently for more river updates, including the Allegheny Tailwater, and fly patterns

Thank You For Visiting.