S7, Ep 30: From Hatches to Classes: Your Spring Fishing Guide with George Costa

Marvin Cash00:00:03

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 Costa00:00:14

I'm amazing as always, Marvin. Amazing as always.

Marvin Cash00:00:17

That's incredibly chipper of you given the rain in your forecast.

George Costa00:00:21

Well, we kind of need it, so it's not too bad. It's not too bad. Yeah.

Marvin Cash00:00:26

And you've got, you know, your spring.I know you kind of technically don't have a closed season, but everyone's probably getting super excited about an opener that probably either just happened or is going to happen here pretty soon, right?

George Costa00:00:36

Indeed. Yep. We got the opener this Saturday the 5th, so in two days time from today. But yeah, spring is definitely springing.We are just starting to get a little bit of green on all the plants and bushes and everything around here. And this weekend coming up, we do have a good amount of water coming in.With some rain, it shouldn't be too bad, but everything's probably going to be a little high and a little off color. Hatches are definitely getting in full swing. We've had really good olives the past few weeks.Modification been on them on the nymphs, some of them on the dries. Granum cattus are just getting ready to start coming off now. We've seen a handful on lower spring.Haven't really seen any on the J yet, but it could be any day could be happening right now while I sit here in the fly shop. There could be a very good granum hatch, but spring hatches are definitely underway and you know, just a little push of water.I think next week's really going to open up and, and probably start getting really good.

Marvin Cash00:01:36

Well, there you go. And got a kind of a related listener question for you.Our old friend Brenner wanted to get your thoughts on your preferred colors for spring dry flies.

George Costa00:01:46

Well, that's. It really depends on what's happening.I mean, preferred colors and preferred sizes are really going to be hatch dependent here in Central pa but you know, you're going to have anything From a size 20 BWO in the spring to, you know, if we're talking spring, we're talking, you know, a size 8 green Drake. So there isn't a preferred color. You really got to just pay attention to where you're going, when you're going and what the hatch is going to be.You know, typical attractor dries like an atoms will work good to cover multiple hatches like, you know, a Hendrickson or a Lighter one might cover a sulfur, but there isn't a preferred color. It's really dependent on where you are and when you are. You know, yellows are going to work well for your sulfurs.You know, you might want a pink or a paler color for Hendrickson in the next week or two, but you're not going to have one panacea for all of them. It's good to carry a good variety of sizes.Typically, my mayflies are going to range anywhere from, you know, a size 12, 10 for a March brown up to a 24 bluing olive.And then, you know, if you had to pick three colors, I would go with like, you know, something in the brownish, you know, dark olive and like a yellow. That's going to cover most of your bases. But you might need to get more specific depending on the where and the when.

Marvin Cash00:03:00

Yeah, and I mean, in some of that, I mean, obviously matching the hatch is matching the hatch, but some of that is a function of the fact, right. That you've got, you know, more technical fisheries than some places in the country. So, you know.

George Costa00:03:10

Absolutely.

Marvin Cash00:03:11

Yeah. So if people are chasing pellet heads, it's a little bit different calculus, right?

George Costa00:03:16

Absolutely. Here. You know, our wild fish are way more selective.So just having the, you know, a color that might look good to you might not look good to them at the time.You know, I've seen it when a fish on the left side of the river is eating a size 14 sulfur, the fish on the right side of the river is eating a size 18 olive. So it's really condition dependent.And there is, you know, a good variety of sizes and colors is really going to make you way more successful on the water.

Marvin Cash00:03:39

Well, there you go. 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 George, before I let you go, I suspect you've got some cool events kind of coming up in the shop in the spring, right?

George Costa00:03:58

Yeah, for sure. I mean, we're pretty much done with most of our tying classes, but we just did schedule a good class with old Blaine Chocolate.It's coming up on middle of May. I believe it is May 17th, Saturday, the 17th of May, we're going to have a class here with Blaine.It's going to be that Saturday afternoon and he's going to be tying up his CICADA he's going to be tying up some crawl changers and a couple of other patterns. So that opportunity to sign up for that class should be live on the site pretty soon.He's doing one here on Saturday and one in Boiling Springs on Sunday, the 18th. So keep your eyes peeled for that.All our beginners classes are getting filled up, so anybody out there listening that wants to get into fly fishing thinks they need to brush up a little bit. Sign up for some of our beginners classes at any of our shops or some of our other specialty classes as well.

Marvin Cash00:04:48

Very, very cool. Yeah. And I know you guys are a chocolate factory dealer and you probably have in stock all those new body parts he's been making.The wings, you know, for cicadas and dragonflies and the helgramite parts and the, you know, the crawdad claws and all that kind of good stuff.

George Costa00:05:03

Yeah, that's that stuff starting to trickle into the shops here. We hopefully will be expanding a little bit more of what we carry from that. But there's some pretty cool stuff out there. Yeah.

Marvin Cash00:05:11

Well, there you go. Well, you know, I can't let you go if you don't let folks know where you are and when you' open.

George Costa00:05:16

That's right. We're here. 23rd East College Avenue in State College. We're here Monday through Saturday, 9 to 6, Sundays, 9 to 3.All of our other four stores have similar hours, so check us out on the website, TCO fly fishing dot com.

Marvin Cash00:05:29

Oh, well, there you go. And as I always say, folks, you owe it to yourself to get out there and catch a few. Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines.

George Costa00:05:36

George, take it easy.