S7, Ep 62: Summer Stream Strategies: Central PA Fishing Insights with George Costa

In this Central Pennsylvania Fishing Report from The Articulate Fly fishing podcast, Marvin Cash connects with George Costa from TCO Fly Shop in State College for essential summer fishing intelligence.

With water levels slightly above seasonal norms and afternoon temperatures pushing into the high 60s, Costa emphasizes the critical importance of temperature monitoring and strategic timing. While the cicada emergence is wrapping up, trout continue attacking cicada patterns as they chase the last available protein, and anglers should expect tricos to begin hatching any day for prime early morning dry fly opportunities. Costa reveals that terrestrial patterns including beetles, ants and green weenies are producing consistent results, while streamer fishing shows promise during low-light periods with the slightly off-color water from recent storms.

The discussion provides actionable guidance for Central Pennsylvania anglers navigating the transition into peak summer conditions, emphasizing early morning and late evening sessions while avoiding the dangerous afternoon temperature spikes that stress trout populations.

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S7, Ep 36: Central PA Fishing Report with George Costa of TCO Fly Shop

S6, Ep 129: TCO Fly Shop's George Costa Discusses Prime Fall Fishing Conditions

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash,the host of the Articulate Fly. We're
back with another Central PAFishing report with George Costa,
TCO Fly shop in State College.George, how are you?
I'm amazing as always. Marvin,how are you?
And as always, I'm just tryingto stay out of trouble. And looks
like you cooled off since thelast time we spoke, but you've had

(00:20):
some rain. How are your levelsand how's the fishing?
Levels have been steady. We'reapproaching our seasonal. Most of
the streams are just a littleabove our seasonal levels. We've
had those storms come through.So the water will bump up and it'll
bump down pretty quick. Adds alittle color, adds a little flow.
So temps have kind of leveledoff a little bit the past week, which
is nice. We're still seeingsome warmer temps as we get into

(00:42):
the afternoon, so definitelythat time of year to start temping
the water, you know, early tomid afternoon. Some of the streams,
like pens in the J havedefinitely begin up into the high
60s, so check the temps ifyou're out there on the water. And
as far as the fishing goes,our cicadas are pretty much all gone.
Haven't really seen any in thepast couple days where fish are still
eating to patterns and theyprobably will continue to do so for

(01:02):
the next week or so. So stillfish those cicada patterns. Plenty
of fish are going to come upand still grab them. They're so used
to eating them for the pastmonth that they want to get all the
last morsels they can get. Dryfly action. Outside of that, there's
been some K hills around trosare getting pretty close to starting.
Haven't really had any goodreports of them starting yet, but
I expect that to be prettymuch any day. So that'll add some

(01:24):
nice summertime early morningfishing in. And terrestrials are
definitely working really wellright now. Beetles, ants, things
like that. Craz greenyweenies. Of course, all our summertime
staples here in Central PAhave been working best. Morning bite
has definitely been best andin the evenings we're seeing a couple
of small caddis around. So thefishing is, you know, typical central
Pennsylvania summertimefishing. We're, you know, in that

(01:46):
mode of just, you know, fishearly, fish late, get out when you
can and go catch a couple.
Yeah. And so with yourslightly elevated water, is that
making the, the streamer bitekind of a good thing for low light
situations?
Yeah, early and late aredefinitely going to be best for the
streamer bite. Right. Earlymorning Late night. That's going

(02:07):
to be when you're really goingto get the fish to, you know, react
more to it. Off color water,bright sunny summer dams sit bright
sunny summer days. Definitelynot the best time to throw a streamer.
But give it a shot. If you getsome fish chasing, you know it's
going to be good. If you'rethrowing a streamer for 20, 30 minutes
and you're not getting anyfeedback, probably time to put on
a couple, couple of nymphs.

(02:27):
Yeah, there you go. And wedidn't get a question this time,
which makes George sad. Sofolks, send us your questions because
you can't get swag and youcan't win the drawing. Right?
Right on.
Yeah. And we've got to keepyou caffeinated, right? So we gotta
keep you happy.
That's true, it's true.
So anything interesting goingon in terms of classes, guided trip
opportunities, destinationtravel, summer sales, anything cool

(02:50):
like that you wanna share with folks?
Yeah, for sure. We got acouple of really good summer classes
coming up. Caleb is gonna bedoing a smallmouth bass class here.
He's an outstanding tire thatis slated for next weekend. So if
anybody's in town and wants tolearn how to tie some really good
summertime smallmouthpatterns, be a great opportunity
to come in and learn from afantastic tire we have here in Central
pa. Other stores are doingsome really cool classes. So check

(03:12):
out the website for what we'vegot going on. All our full classes
will probably be up and postedwithin the next few weeks. For full
classes and travel if anybodywants to go to the Bahamas. I got
two spots left for my Bahamastrip to Andros next year. So give
me a shout here at the shopand we can give you the details on
that. Outside of that, justthe usual stuff. All our sales stuff's

(03:32):
on our website. Check out ourwebsite tco fly fishing.com and we'll
see you here at the shop.
Well, there you go. And sowhere are you gonna guys gonna stay
when you go fish?
Andros, South Andros Lodge.
Very, very cool. And yeah,before I let you hop, you want to
let folks know location, shophours and all that cool stuff?
Absolutely. We're here at 2030East College Avenue and State College.

(03:53):
Our shop hours here are 9 toSaturday, 9 to 3 on Sunday and all
of our other stores havesimilar hours. So check us out online@tcofly
fishing.com and we'll see you soon.
Yeah. Well there you go. Wellfolks, as I always say, this time
of year, first of all, staycool. But get out there and catch
a few tight lines, everybody.Tight lines, George.
Take it easy, Marvin.