Sock it to 'em.

Lately, things have been been a bit askew a far as planning trips & getting some footage in on the streams.  April's theme was certainly the rain which put a damper.....no kidding on the "damp" part of it.....on things.  Even the Loyalsock Trout Jam was a wash. 

Tim Geist , Steve Fogel, Erik Schroeder, & Kyle Majikas were on hand for the weekend.  It had rained a bunch a day or two before we arrived, but we decided to take a chance and see if by Saturday (April 30th) it would calm down enough to see some action.  Most of the time beforehand was spent on the smaller tribs of the Loyalsock, such as the Hoagland Branch.  A normally more calmer stream was also ripping along pretty well. 

Photo: Tim Geist

Things did look promising on the tribs on Saturday afternoon after a morning spent cruising the state roads in the Loyalsock State Forest trying to get to another trib called Rock Run.  We never made it there because the road had washed away, so we doubled back to try the Hoagland Branch, yet again.  The warm springtime air above the stream was alive with small caddis, midges, olives, & the 1st signs of Hendricksons.  It brightened the day as well as giving us some hopes of seeing some fish look up as documented by Tim's photos.

Photos: Tim Geist

As the evening approached, we headed out to our home pool and the Hendricksons were out en masse.  The flow of the Loyalsock from Wednesday evening till the hatch had dropped from 6ft down to just below 4ft.  As we watched the hatch roll down the "Sock", it seems that we were the only ones watching it on the stream.  Not one trout was looking up.  No boils. No sips. Not a stir anywhere.  As the last of the hatch rose from the stream, we all looked at each other and I proclaimed that what we just saw was "Fly Fishing Blue Balls".  A beautiful thick hatch, great temps, clearing water, and one big fat Нет / Nyet like they would say in Russia. 



Photo: Tim Geist



With that observation we headed back to camp and proceeded to catch an epic barley pop hatch.



Cheers.