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PA Undercurrent Outfitters serves up this sweet fly fishing footage of early season baetis hatches on some of my favorite waters in Central Pennsylvania including the Little Juniata River.
Baetis, Blue-Winged Olives or just BWO?
As the film producers note, “whatever you call them, its more than likely they’re the first mayfly to hatch in your area. Less colorful and much smaller than the mayflies that come to the party later in the season, they still provide outstanding dry-fly opportunities to fish that haven’t been pressured for months on end.”
What’s Up with the Trains and Good Trout Streams?
If you’ve ever fished the waters of central Pennsylvania featured in this video you’ll understand the train references. Several of these famed waters run along-side train tracks that still see plenty of use.
This is due, in part, to the local geology.The long, narrow, and steep sided ridges with narrow valleys that characterize parts of central PA necessitated that railroads follow the topography of the valleys (rather than cut across ridges), i.e. they were built along paths of least resistance.
Rivers follow the same path, hence they are located along side each other. Or could it be something else as the boys from PA Undercurrent Outfitters theorize, “while fishing these Olives all over central Pennsylvania, we couldn’t help but notice the rails-to-stream side correlation. It seemed everywhere there were good Baetis hatches, there was the presence of trains as well. Could it be that the men who laid the plans to these tracks just wanted to gain quick, and easy access, to the best early-season dry fly fishing?”
I wonder…
