S7, Ep 13: Winter Waters: Nymphing Strategies and Fishing Insights from Central PA with George Costa
In this episode of The Articulate Fly, host Marvin Cash is joined by George Costa from TCO Fly Shop in State College for an insightful Central PA Fishing Report. As winter continues to make its presence felt, George shares the current fishing conditions, noting the recent mix of rain, sleet and snow. He discusses how the precipitation is beneficial for stream levels, which have been low, and highlights the brief warm spells that have led to productive fishing days.
Listeners will gain valuable insights into nymphing techniques that have been successful recently, as George breaks down the best nymphs for winter and early spring fishing. He emphasizes the effectiveness of larger stone fly patterns during colder months and suggests smaller mayfly and midge patterns as the weather warms. The conversation also covers the importance of using quality hooks to improve hookup ratios and ensure a successful day on the water.
As the episode wraps up, George shares details about upcoming classes and events at TCO Fly Shop, including tying classes for the highly anticipated periodic cicada hatch expected this year. Whether you're a seasoned angler or just starting out, this episode is packed with practical advice and timely information to help you make the most of your fishing adventures in Central PA.
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Marvin Cash
Hey, folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Fly. We're back with another Central PA Fishing report with George Costa of TCO Fly Shop in State College. George, how are you?
George Costa
I'm amazing as always. Marvin, how are you?
Marvin Cash
And as always, I'm just trying to stay out of trouble. And you know, old man Winner's got his grip on Central pa, doesn't he?
George Costa
Yeah, a little bit. It's a little bit of a sloppy mess out there today. We've got rain and sleet and snow. Everything's kind of changing the rain now.
So kind of a messy morning, but should clear up pretty fast. You know, a little precipitation is kind of needed. All the streams have been on the low side.
We got a little bit of precipitation the other day, bumped everything up, added some good color, a little bit of warm weather over the weekend. The fishing was pretty good in the bite windows. Sunday and Monday we had some 40, 50 degree days.
But now we're getting kind of chilly again and we'll take a little bit of this rain to bump the levels up a bit on the fishing front.
There was a couple of olives around and some midges around last week when it got a little warmer, but cold weather is probably going to shut them down a little bit. But nymphing has been really good. All the usual suspects on the nymphs have been working well.
Streamer bite has been kind of hit or miss with the lower clear water. If we had a little more float, a little more color, it'd probably be a lot better.
But you can still pick up a fish on a streamer if you, you know, put your time in. But nymphing's definitely been the name of the game out here lately.
Marvin Cash
Yeah. To follow up on that, got a question from our faithful listener.
Brenner wanted to get your thoughts on sizes of nymphs for kind of winter and spring fishing. And maybe, you know, if there's any kind of. Because I know that stuff's probably going to be small.
You know, any kind of preferred, you know, hook types that you like to get, get a better hookup ratio.
George Costa
As far as the hook sizes go. I mean, it really depends on what pattern you use. And I love fishing a big stone fly out here in the winter.
You know, eights, tens, some bigger golden stones work really well.
They're definitely going to get some fish to move and look at them, you know, especially when they're kind of cold and lethargic that a big stone fly will definitely get their attention and they'll you know, this is definitely the time of year I like fishing it, especially if the water comes up in this good flow. As far as other nymph sizes, you know, smaller mayfly patterns have been working really well.
Darker colors and, you know, generally the winter, it really depends on what species of bug you're looking for. So olives are going to be smaller, you know, small, dark, you know, 16, 18s and 20s. And the midges are good.
And your mayfly patterns really start liking to use them more towards the middle of May when you get some of those big sulfur nymphs that are a little bigger, they'll, they'll move some fish. So you can really vary your nymph size a lot. Just try to imitate, you know, what's going to be naturally in the water.
So if you're imitating a mayfly pattern, late winter, early spring, you know, 14s and 16s are a good bet. Stone flies. You want to get a little bigger for sure. Sixes, eights, tens on some of the big olden stones.
And if you're going to try to imitate those betas, olive or midges, you know, then you're going to be down in your 18, 20, 22 range. Yeah.
Marvin Cash
And on that small stuff, do you like to try to get like wide gap hooks or, you know, bend the, bend the barb out to the side a little bit? I know some people do that to get a better hookup.
George Costa
I don't like bending a hook. I think that that's just kind of you, you're, you're going to mess with the integrity of it. I prefer a wide gap hook.
I use a lot of jig hooks with a wider gap to begin with. But you know, something that's gonna effectively catch the fish and effectively imitate your pattern.
You know, I think more important than a wide gap is a good quality hook, something that's going to hold its point.
You know, using cheap hooks, you get caught on a sticky, get caught on a rock, then they're going to bend out and you're going to really bounce and lose a lot of fish by using a cheaper hook that bends out the way you don't want it to.
Marvin Cash
Got it. And you know, folks, we love questions on the articulate fly. You can email me or DM me on social media, whatever is easiest for you.
And if we use your question, I will send you some articulate fly swag. We are drawing for something cool from the shop at the end of the season. And you know, George, before I let you go I know you guys were in Edison.
I suspect you're going to be in Lancaster. But you want to kind of let folks know, you know where you guys are going to be on the show road.
I imagine you probably got a bunch of classes and things going on in the shop. Probably, maybe even. Do you have any Valentine's Day sales? You never know. But you let folks know.
George Costa
Every day is Valentine's Day. Every day is Valentine's Day. I love everyone, I think.
Marvin Cash
All right, you want to embellish on that a little bit?
George Costa
Sure. I mean, we definitely have a lot of winter classes right now in all of our shops. Our website's up to date, so check those out.
A bunch of good tying classes, some clinics mixed in there. We definitely have March 30th. We have a really good tying class with one of our tires here in State College.
Our periodic cicadas, which we're going to see in Central PA this year. So mark your calendars for sometime in June. We're definitely going to be a crazy year with them. So start tying those big foam patterns for that.
But as far as the show goes, we will be down in Lancaster in about a month. We just finished up the Edison show, so come see us down there in Lancaster, where it's the beginning of March, I believe is when that show is.
Check out our website for all the classes and everything, and we'll. We'll see you soon.
Marvin Cash
Well, there you go. Well, you know, folks, as I say, if it's warm enough where you are, you should get out and fish.
But if you can't do that, sit down at the vice, tie a few flies. Or if you've got a fly fishing show near you, check it out. Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines. George, take it easy.
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