Transcript: Central PA Fishing Report with TCO Fly Shop State College
Transcript
Marvin:
[0:04] Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Fly, and we're back with another Central PA Fishing Report with George Costa of TCO Fly Shop in State College. How you doing, George?
George:
[0:14] I'm amazing as always, Marv. How are you?
Marvin:
[0:15] And as always, I'm just trying to stay out of trouble. It's a little cool in your neck of the woods, but that's not going to hang around very long, right?
George:
[0:23] No, not too much. We got a little cool weather coming this weekend, the early part of next, but then it's supposed to heat up a bit.
Some more thunderstorms I think for the next day or two maybe out there so we might get a little another little splash of rain but we'll take what we can get whenever we can get it.
So yeah, temperatures have been pretty stable. Temperatures are not too bad on the creeks but definitely carry that thermometer this time of year and check those temps midday no matter where you're fishing.
And the levels have been pretty steady, you know, up and down with the rainstorms.
Outside of that, fishing has been, you know, summertime steady.
So early mornings, we're still seeing some good trichos on most of the local streams here.
That's an early morning game. Get out there, fish seven to 11 noon at the latest.
They're pretty much done for the day.
Dryfly activity in the evenings, been a handful of caddish here and there.
There's some isos here and there. There's some cahills here and there, but most of the dryfly activities coming on terrestrials this time of year.
So searching with beetles and ants, things like that here in Pennsylvania are super, super productive.
Can search all day with them and like a little dry dropper with like a bigger beetle and like a small wet ant or greenie weenie off the back can definitely pick you up fish throughout the day.
Marvin:
[1:34] Got it and to just kind of help folks remember I know that TU charts been rolling around on social media but you know what's the temperature to basically go drink a beer?
George:
[1:44] Start thinking about what you're gonna order at around 67 degrees 66 degrees and definitely get the bar by 68 degrees.
So 68 and above is pretty much, you know, stop doing what you're doing, you know, as it starts creeping up into that 66-67 ranges when you want to think about, you know, what your next move is going to be.
Marvin:
[2:04] Got it. And I got a question for you from Brenner, and he wanted to get your thoughts on, you know, how many nymphs you can efficiently fish in a nymph rig, and any Any thoughts on kind of where to place the bugs on the rig?
George:
[2:16] No, okay. So effectively really depends on what kind of water you're fishing.
If you're fishing, personally, if I'm fishing really fast pocket water, I'll often just use a single nymph just because you're going to get a better drift.
Lower water, you might be able to, you know, I often fish two nymphs and I generally place them, you know, maybe.
12 to 18 inches apart. If the water's really deep, I might have them 20 inches apart, but somewhere around that foot and a half mark, I think is good for how far apart they should be.
I never fish more than two nymphs.
It just turns into a tangled nightmare and your first cast, you're going to get stuck in a tree or on a rock.
So I think two is about where I maxed out.
I've been known to, in rare occasions, I have put three on, but I I kind of, I'm off that boat because it's just, it's just a tangled mess.
And it just becomes a hassle, especially if you catch a smaller fish, they just start flopping around. So I would never fish more than two.
Um, but often I'd say 50% of the time I'm just fishing a single nymph.
If you know, you want to really target small pockets, you get, you get a much better drift.
Marvin:
[3:25] Yeah. And I guess the only thing I would add is you ought to check your rags.
Cause you know, some places you can fish three and some places they'll send you to.
George:
[3:32] That is actually a fact as well. So definitely check the regs and see how many hooks you're allowed.
Pennsylvania, most of the time, two is, I think, the max you can do.
But, I'm sorry, you can do any more than two is fine, but you definitely need to check your regs on your local streams. Yeah.
Marvin:
[3:48] And in terms of, you know, what you like to fish on your point fly and all that kind of good stuff, any thoughts for Brenner?
George:
[3:55] I usually like a heavier one on the bottom of my, my point that's just going to drop down a little more, but I mean, that really There's no rules or anything you should definitely follow with that because variables are going to change, conditions are going to change, where you're fishing is going to change.
Sometimes it's more efficient to fish that heavier fly up front, and sometimes you just want to kind of drag them back.
So there's a million different variables and not one of them is ever going to be the 100% right way to do it. You just got to change up and find what works for you, where you're fishing and when you're fishing.
Marvin:
[4:29] Of you.
George:
[4:31] Thank you.
Marvin:
[4:33] Well, you know, folks, we love questions at the Articulate Fly. You can email them to us.
You can DM us on social media, whatever is easiest for you. And if we use your question, I will send you some Articulate Fly swag when you're drawing for something cool from the shop at the end of the season. And George, before I let you go, you want to let them know shop hours, location, any cool special things you got going on?
George:
[4:51] For sure. We do have some good sales coming up. It's getting towards the end of summer now, so we're going to probably start rolling out some good sales, so check our website for that.
We've got a handful of some weeders on sale. I know we're starting to get a handful of some Orvis reels and a couple of the Howler Brothers items going on sale, so some good stuff coming up on our sale page on the website.
Shop hours, we're here Monday through Saturday 9 to 6, Sunday 9 to 3, pretty much 362 days out of the year in State College. The rest of our shops are open about the same hours, so check us out on the web at tcoflyfishing.com.
Marvin:
[5:26] Is there anything better, George, than heating the call at a discount?
George:
[5:31] I enjoy heating the call very, very much. I encourage others to eat it as well.
Marvin:
[5:36] There you go. Well, listen, folks, show it to yourself to get out there and catch a few. Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines, George.
George:
[5:42] Take it easy, Mark.