We arrived at the Allenberry Resort section of the Yellow Breeches around 10:30am on a very warm Friday morning. There were already six anglers on the water but most of them seemed to be in a searching pattern, trying a few casts here and there then moving on up or down stream. Water temperature was 70 degrees.
There were no insects coming off...too late in the day for that. I started nymphing with a size 18 beadhead emerger while Jin tied on a size 16 X-caddis and we both began working a small riffle just below the Allenberry dam.
Jin drew first blood with a nice stocked brown. He said the fish were rising so I switched to an ant and fished that for awhile. Jin landed another fish and missed several more. I had tried other patterns but when Jin gave me a size 16 and 18 X-caddis, my luck changed.
On the second cast I hooked and landed a stocked brown. Moving down stream a bit I managed to raise several fish that came up for a close look but did not take the fly. But at least they looked, unlike the other flies I tried which got nothing. Fishing settled into a pattern--the fish either looked at the fly and refused to take or you got a hit on the first drift. And if you missed, forget about getting another shot. Maybe tying on another pattern would work but I tried several and only this X-caddis seemed to bring the fish up off the bottom.
Tom joined us for lunch at Anile's Ristorante and Pizzeria (6 Front Street, Boiling Springs) then we continued on to fish the Breeches at various locations. Some of the water was pretty tight, with trees close in on both sides. The water temperature continued to hover in the 70 degree range and Tom said this really turned off the bite. The best bet for fishing in conditions like this is early in the morning or late in the evening. But we were here so we made the best of it.
Jin and Tom continued to pick off fish here and there using ants and caddis. During the late afternoon I conducted an unscientific experiment--I would pass several different flies through a riffle to see what the reaction would be, which was usually nothing. But when I tied on the X-caddis and repeated the drift I'd get a look or a bite. It was a very effective fly and I caught all of my fish on that pattern.
EQUIPMENT: We used 3 and 4 weight rods with weight-forward lines. Leaders were anywhere between 9 to 10 feet depending on stream conditions tapering to 5x or 6x. There are some sections of the Breeches where nymphing is the better technique but generally it's a dry fly stream.
DIRECTIONS: Head up US 15 into Pennsylvania, past Gettysburg and other tourist areas and take a left turn on US 74 outside of Harrisburg (it's in a small town with a Getty gas station at the intersection and a Wendy's on the left). Follow 74 until you come to US 174, an intersection with a local graveyard on your left. Turn left here and follow Boiling Springs Road one mile to Allenberry Resort and Inn and the Yellow Breeches. If you need equipment or flies the Yellow Breeches Outfitters is up the road in the town of Boiling Springs.
