Like the dark hair caddis...definitly bring Hendrickson's too. They've been on for 2 WEEKS around certain areas in PA. They may be done in another week. Everything is 3 weeks early or so.
GM, If I'm not mistaken, Potter has the most (or nearly so) class A streams in PA. Do you really want to be in the special reg or ATWs?
Because of my ever changing schedule, I spend lots of time fishing by myself. It's nice to get out with a bunch of buddies and fish. Otherwise, I'd prefer the quieter streams.
The trip was a big win for the fly guys. We had 17 guys in camp and only 2 fly rods. Myself and a young guy trying the fly for the first time. Of course, we didn't keep everything we caught, but we out fished the rest of the camp 3-1. The low clear conditions were not perfect for us, but really tough for the bait chuckers.
On Friday, the new guy and I went scouting and found a few spots with fish. Toward dusk there were several rises. They looked to be hitting caddis. We picked our spot and headed back at 7:30 to secure our place. There was nothing rising, so we tied on nymphs and waited. When the season opened, we began short lining through the run. In short order, I had my 5 rainbows. My companion did well too, but with lots of other fishermen around, the spot got crowded and he didn't quite finish his limit. One guy in particular was carrying a fly rod, but fishing a heavy split shot and a crawler. He'd cast in the riffle above us, let it tumble down the run in front of us and into the hole. He caught a few too, and wasn't too obnoxious, but it was less than ideal.
Most of the rest of the day we skipped around a mile stretch of creek. I picked up several more fish. In the late afternoon, enough of the guys had left and we spotted a few rises. The elk hair caddis got hits for both of us, but out of 5 takes, we only landed one. My understudy (poor kid), ended just shy of his limit. Had he been able to convert on the dry he'd have got it done.
This morning I got up early and tried streamers. The white wooly connected on the only brown of the trip. That fish completed the "grand slam". I'd caught fish on a streamer, indicator nymphing, bottom bouncing and on a dry. Stockers or not they were lots of fun.
Despite our success, the conditions were tough. Everyone I spoke with said it was the lowest opening day water level they could ever remember. It was my first opening day, but I was told that the crowds were worse than usual. The low water compounded it by concentrating the fishermen (mostly spin) in the remaining holes.
