Mothers Day Caddis Outing on the Casselman River
April 24, 2021
Participates: Joe Taylor, Ken Bowyer, Rodger Johnson, Bob O’Donnell, Randy Dwyer, Brian Pierson, Alex Neckles, Withers Davis, Ron Briggs.
(Sorry if I misspelled any names or missed a participate)
Overall it was a great outing with lots of insect activity and I think most members caught some trout.
The day started cool but sunny skies with few clouds. We met at the Casselman Bridge at around 9 am and there was insect activity already on the parking lot of grannon caddis and midges. The Casselman River flow was just about right to maybe a little low.
I was delighted to see PPTU members allowing other members to cycle into a hole where there was fish activity. Thanks Joe, Randy and Bob.
We did have some new members there. I hope you all did well. Sorry that I was unable to talk to you later in the day. All I can suggest is to keep showing up on the outings and listen to all the others tell their fish stories and what they did.
I started at the Casselman Bridge were Bob O had already caught 4 rainbows on his Don Juan Worm which he keeps secret. There was caddis activity but few risers. Bob told Ron to take his spot and Ron caught and missed a few trout.
Moving downstream, one local guy already fishing there of course said we should have been there yesterday for a 30 fish day. I did not see any “Posted” signs along the edge of trees and stream as I saw in past. I did see some trout rising just before the deep pool behind Penn Alps. I switched to a dry spent caddis I recently tied. They came up and looked at it but quickly moved away. Joe T moved in front, second cast of a dark soft hackle and he caught my rainbow. Randy showed up, after a few casts of a green bodied caddis and he got my second rainbow. I caught nothing there.
By 1:00 we had lunch of hot dogs and baked beans at the Casselman Bridge parking lot. As I was walking over the stone Casselman Bridge I saw Ron still down there fighting a trout that he just caught. Ken and Rodger started all the way downstream at the Farmers Lane with sorrowful tales of no, or was it one trout. Reported there were spin fishermen at the Farmers Bridge catching all the trout. Bob said he was just at the I-63 overpass and caught another 20 fish that were rising.
After lunch some moved up to the I-63 overpass and I and others moved to the Farmers Lane. Ken and Rodger went to I-63 overpass and caught lots of rising trout. I went downstream to Farmers Lane and noticed only a few fishing persons parked along the river. The river was not crowded as I’ve seen before. I was gonna stop at the pull off that has an old wooden bench, but someone was there so I went to the Farmers lane. I also wanted to stop on the river where there is a foot bridge from where I’ve heard good stories, but there was no parking and a sign saying No Parking. So I kept going.
At the Farmers Lane, the farmer put up wire around his field so it was difficult to walk up to the sites near the PA line. We met someone from the MDTU group who was leaving. We discussed cicadas and he may join us for the cicada outing and at the Monroe Pavilion. There were two spin casting guys at the bridge catching a lot of rainbows. I moved just upstream near some riffles, there was still caddis activity but no risers, and managed to catch some large rainbows on dry caddis and sparkle caddis pupa. Clouds starting to move in around 2-3 pm with few sprinkles. I moved downstream to meet Joe, Randy and Bob. Bob was moving back to bridge and start leaving for home. In few minutes Bob called and said the spin fishermen have left and he caught 4 trout already. So we all went to bridge. In a small section, 4x3 ft pool, we must have caught at least a total of 30-40 fish. It didn’t matter what fly we used. Joe mentioned it was like fishing in a barrel.
I wanted to stay late and fish the caddis returning to the stream to lay their eggs (would they be called spinners like the mayflies?) as I have been told. Went to the I-63 overpass around 6 pm. Saw few caddis flies, but didn’t look like they were returning to the water. Most likely need to wait until dark. I did manage to catch at least 10 trout on my newly tied spent caddis and a nice dark dry caddis that Joe gave me. It started to rain around 6:30 pm and I quite. I, Joe and Randy ate dinner at the Casselman Inn and went home. A very nice vacation.
I hope all had a good time. I had a great time.
Next outing is the PPTU One-Fly Contest in May on the Gunpowder.
Outings Coordinator
Lou Reichel
