S6, Ep 72: Cooler Temps and Steady Bites: A Central PA Fishing Report with George Costa
Join host Marvin Cash on The Articulate Fly for another engaging Central PA Fishing Report with George Costa of TCO Fly Shop in State College. In this episode, George shares the latest updates on fishing conditions in Central Pennsylvania, highlighting the recent cool down and rain that have positively impacted the local streams. He discusses the current state of the big four streams—Spring Creek, Penns Creek Fishing Creek, and the Little Juniata—and provides valuable insights on the best times and techniques for successful fishing.
George emphasizes the importance of monitoring water temperatures and offers tips on early morning and late evening fishing. He also delves into the effective patterns for nymphing and the growing terrestrial game, recommending ants and beetles for steady action. Additionally, George addresses a listener's question about the effectiveness of hoppers in Central PA, explaining the best times and locations to use them.
Whether you're a seasoned angler or just getting started, this episode is packed with practical advice and strategies to enhance your fishing experience. Tight lines!
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Marvin: Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Fly,
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Marvin: and we're back with another Central PA Fishing Report with my main man,
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Marvin: George Costa of TCO Fly Shop and State College. George, how are you?
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George: I am amazing as always, Marvin. How are you?
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Marvin: I'm just trying to stay out of trouble, and I'm so happy that you're adequately
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Marvin: caffeinated this morning.
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George: I certainly am. I certainly am.
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Marvin: Any sort of like kind of hippie, organic, you know, bean combo you want to share with our listeners?
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George: Nope, nope, nope. Just too much of it. Just too much coffee today.
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George: I might need more. I'm starting to come down off my high.
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Marvin: Yeah. You know, it's funny, you know, we're roasting down here in the southeast.
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Marvin: I think it was almost 100 degrees down here yesterday. I look at your weather
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Marvin: and you're like, damn, you're in the 70s and you got rain.
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George: I know. We finally got a little cool off this week, which was nice.
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George: We got some overnight showers, some thunderstorms up north from us.
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George: Got a bit more rain than we did down here.
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George: But we got a nice little splash of rain, which bumped the levels up a bit,
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George: added a little bit of color.
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George: But everything here in central PA or Big Four streams, spring,
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George: Penns, Jay, and Fishing Creek Hole are still in great fishable shape.
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George: So the cooler temperatures are nice and welcome this week. Last week we were
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George: roasting and fishing was kind of slow.
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George: Cooler temps this week will help to keep those water temps down.
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George: We're definitely still temping midday.
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George: The Jay and Penns are really still on the lower side, especially the Jay.
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George: So still take those temps midday over 68 degrees or refrain from fishing.
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George: And the fishing has been pretty solid early morning. We're starting,
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George: we just got a lot of little summer quills.
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George: Olives are spinning in the early morning. I'd say, you know,
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George: 9 to 11 has been best on most of the streams around here.
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George: There's tank hatties around. Cahills are still coming here and there.
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George: There's a good deal of stoneflies flying around you
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George: know fish early morning and late in the evening for them so
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George: we've got some nice golden stones buzzing around which makes
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George: for dry dropper techniques to work really well and the terrestrial game is really
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George: picking up search for those ants search for those beetles and uh fishing has
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George: been steady all week so nymphing same you know usual suspects you know your
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George: smaller mayfly patterns scuds sow bugs sunken ants things like that are
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George: working great and the streamer game has definitely shifted to the low light conditions.
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George: If you want to fish streamers right now, you know, early morning,
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George: late evening into the dark has really been, uh, where you want to be.
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Marvin: Got it. And got a question for you from Ryan. He wanted to know if hoppers are
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Marvin: effective in central PA.
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George: Um, they can be, but it's definitely more of a late summer and fall game.
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George: It's still a little early for them. And we don't see a lot of hoppers out here.
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George: We're much more riparian as opposed to like a meadow environment that you find on Western water.
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George: So we don't have anywhere near the numbers of hoppers that they would have out on Western waters.
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George: Um, but in late summer, early fall, you know, August through let's say early
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George: October hoppers can definitely be viable, but you're really going to want to
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George: focus on fishing them in more meadowy sections of stream.
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George: Hoppers don't tend to like the woods and most of the tree-lined streams that
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George: we have here, but there's definitely certain sections on rivers around here
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George: that are going to see more grassy, meadowy thing.
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George: A lot of smaller roadside streams, you'll always have hoppers along the roadsides, I found.
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George: So really, you've got to kind of look for those grassy patches,
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George: And that's where you can expect to see hoppers and fish them effectively,
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George: definitely more towards late summer.
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George: If you want to fish like a cricket, a beetle, or an ant, those are going to
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George: be way more of what we see here in our streams.
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Marvin: Yeah, what's your favorite cricket pattern?
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George: I'm doing a little black cricket is fine. You know, nothing fancy.
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George: I think like Dave Hopper cricket, something like that. I don't fish a ton of them.
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George: But, you know, I do like some of the Greelos Hamburglar for beetles.
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George: You know, an old-fashioned crow beetle works great around here.
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George: And anything like that works really good. And something not too big either.
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George: I like most of the beetles and stuff like that are going to be,
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George: you know, a size 10 through 14.
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Marvin: Got it. And, you know, folks, we love questions on the Articulate Fly.
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Marvin: You can email them to us or DM us on social media.
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Marvin: You can also record your question if you go to the ArticulateFly.com website
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Marvin: and go to the podcast page. And, you know, we might actually,
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Marvin: you might actually hear your question read to George.
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Marvin: That's something we just rolled out relatively recently. And yeah, kind of cool, right?
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Marvin: It might induce all kinds of chicanery.
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Marvin: So, you know, and if we use your question, I will send you some articulate fly swag.
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Marvin: And we are drawing for some cool stuff from the shop at the end of the summer.
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Marvin: And I know you're kind of out of the thick of your kind of spring fishing season,
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Marvin: George. But I imagine you might have something going on around the shop,
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Marvin: maybe a sale, maybe some class spot, something like that.
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George: We sure do. We got a couple of really good brew and bugs events coming up here in Fay College.
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George: I'm focusing on some smallmouth pattern that will be tying. We definitely,
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George: a lot of guys here are shifting towards smallmouth for the summer.
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George: So check out our website. Those dates will be posted soon on TCO's website,
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George: tcoflyfishing.com. and keep an eye posted on our education tab as well.
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George: We're going to have our fall classes, winter classes, probably up within the
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George: next few weeks for, you know, our steelhead classes that we do every year,
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George: summer smallmouth and fall streamer trout things.
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George: You know, it's right around, you know, it's creeping up the class season.
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George: So check out the website.
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Marvin: Yeah, and I'll pretend to be George and you guys are open. I can't remember
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Marvin: your address exactly, but I do know you're open Monday through Saturday 9 to 6 and Sunday 9 to 3.
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Marvin: Similar hour you're hired dude so hired similar hours at other locations indeed,
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Marvin: well folks as i always say you owe it to yourself to get out there and catch
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Marvin: a few tight lines everybody tight lines george take it easy.
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