Fly Tying
Blue Liner Flows Review | USGS Stream Gauges
All water level data originates from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Surface-Water Data, which monitors over 13,000 stream gauges across the U.S. and more than 350 in Pennsylvania. The USGS has been transitioning to a new online interface over the past five-plus years. The updated look and feel have left some old features behind while adding new ones. I hate it.
So, I’ve been on the hunt for a desktop and mobile app that delivers USGS backend data through a clean, easy-to-use interface. Blue Liner Flows offers a solid solution for iPhone, iPad and Mac users, with apps built for both platforms. Most importantly, favorites and preferences sync across devices. There’s a free version, but I’ll be reviewing the $6.99 annual paid version.
Key features include: favorites, state selection, map view, latest data overview, discharge in CFS, discharge in feet, average annual discharge, various time views, weather forecasts, alerts, temperatures (station-dependent), turbidity (station-dependent), and other data specific to each gauge.
I found the app very easy to set up on my Mac. Once configured, all my favorites and alerts synced automatically to my iPhone. You don’t need both devices—an iPhone alone works just fine. I especially liked navigating between the state, favorites, and map views. It’s fast and intuitive. Most views display the key information I’m looking for, including directional arrows indicating whether water levels are rising or falling.
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Fall Fishing: The WhoGARA Stonefly
By Maurice
The Fall season marks the return of shorter days, cooler nights and lower stream temperatures on our more marginal waters around the Commonwealth. Many trout waters ride the razors edge on harboring wild trout. We see lots of ATW's with wild trout during the cooler months of spring and winter. Usually these waters are rather large, their watersheds are made of many wild trout tributaries. Often the main stem which warms in Summer are believed to be transitional wild trout waters. Ones that have their wild trout leave the warmer stream during the heat of summer only to have them return in the fall to the larger water with better habitat and cover as well as forage. Or they hunker down, find thermal refuge through springs seeps, tributary mouths or deeper water. It is the fall season when I like to sample the bigger waters to see if I can scare up some of these Wild Brown Trout.The ones that made it through the tough months, the survivors.
It is this type of fishing that I enjoy the most. Often no one else is fishing, the air is crisp, the water cool and clear and solitude abounds. But lets face it, the business at hand is to touch a few survivors. So I like to use a fly I know will get them to take a look and grab it. Now not just any goto fly. No, not a Green Weenie, Goodness NO! They are for old men and children! Although I have been known to use them I would prefer to fish "off the junk". My good friend and fellow board member Fritz often texts me pics at work during the week of him tearing up the York County waters with the Weenie, I kid him but it works. I am just too stubborn to use it. Its pretty clear that the success of the Weenie is largely due to the color, Chartreuse.
One of my favorite goto Fall flies on Muddy is a Yellow Stonefly nymph. So I am thinking...maybe I will...
One of my favorite goto Fall flies on Muddy is a Yellow Stonefly nymph. So I am thinking...maybe I will...
Fly of the Month: Quill Gordon Crippled Real Wing
Quill Gordon Crippled Real Wing
by Sandfly
Back in the late 60’s and early 70’s while fishing in the Pocono’s I fished the early season hatches there every year. The first big hatch was the Quill Gordon hatch. While the wet fly and nymph were productive the dry fly was not so productive for me. Even though I used the standard pattern I could not get consistent takes.
For years this went on and I became frustrated with the hatch. After moving to Ansonia in 2006 I found there is a heavy hatch of Quill Gordon's here at times on Pine Creek.
Again I was frustrated by the lack of surface takes on my flies I used. I experimented with different dries for the Quill Gordon with the same results. I think it was because the flies pop so fast the trout didn’t want them so much.
While sitting on the bank one day watching the hatch I saw a brown feeding on the surface. As I watched I noticed he was taking flies that were not riding high but the ones riding low in the surface. I went home and tied a few down wing flies and went back the next day.
They worked I started getting more fish on the down wing. I thought I could come up with a better fly yet and sat down and tied the Quill Gordon Crippled using raffia for the wing instead of the old standby of wood duck. Along with this I changed the body from a quill body to a dubbed dirty olive/yellow dubbing with a peacock quill rib. This did it and my catch rates went up.
Now when the Quill Gordon’s are hatching I make sure I have these in my box along with the old patterns too.
by Sandfly
For years this went on and I became frustrated with the hatch. After moving to Ansonia in 2006 I found there is a heavy hatch of Quill Gordon's here at times on Pine Creek.
Again I was frustrated by the lack of surface takes on my flies I used. I experimented with different dries for the Quill Gordon with the same results. I think it was because the flies pop so fast the trout didn’t want them so much.
While sitting on the bank one day watching the hatch I saw a brown feeding on the surface. As I watched I noticed he was taking flies that were not riding high but the ones riding low in the surface. I went home and tied a few down wing flies and went back the next day.
They worked I started getting more fish on the down wing. I thought I could come up with a better fly yet and sat down and tied the Quill Gordon Crippled using raffia for the wing instead of the old standby of wood duck. Along with this I changed the body from a quill body to a dubbed dirty olive/yellow dubbing with a peacock quill rib. This did it and my catch rates went up.
Now when the Quill Gordon’s are hatching I make sure I have these in my box along with the old patterns too.
Fly of the Month: Ryguyfi’s Cotton Candy Egg Fly
Steelhead fishing is an addiction. It keeps you up at night. It causes you to daydream at work. It is something that you can’t explain; you have to experience it. We in Pennsylvania have a world class fisherie in the great lakes system and some of us have never relished in it’s beauty. It becons me every fall, through the winter and into the spring. It calls my name, and I answer it as often as possible. The thrill of an 8lb fish, that feels like a freight train on the end of your line, in often freezing cold conditions, is truly amazing.
I write to you today as an addict, and as I quote flipnfly, “one who doesn’t want an intervention”. Here below is my recipe for a simple single yarn egg pattern. When the steelhead are in full spawn, it is hard for them to turn down a good looking egg. Yet in my experience I have added a few steps to make this fly more durable. During a good steelhead run, the thrill is also landing one fish quickly so you can get onto the next. It can be non-stop action, so having to tie on another fly because yours has been destroyed, or torn off the hook may cost you your next fish. I hope that my experience and slight changes may bring you more fish to hand.
More after the break
More after the break