The Letort
Fly Fishing
Guiding and Instruction
Fly Fishing the Letort or Letort Spring Run as
it is often called is probably one of the most difficult
streams to fish in America. As an aquatic scientist I've have
done more research on the stream and the spring creeks in
Pennsylvania than anyone. I will not hype the stream or
lie about how it
fishes to get you to hire
me as an instructor or guide. What is going on right now on the
Internet and even in some magazines is a disgrace. The truth of
the matter is that most so called "expert" fly anglers will
have a tough time on this stream. If anyone tells you
about the great big trout rising on the stream just
laugh. There haven't been big trout rising on the stream
in years. Oh, you'll get an occasional big fish
to come up but it's not like it used to be.
That should be your first clue that your getting "hyped" by the
website or guide.
The reason the fish don't rise like they used
to is because there has  been a massive decline in the number of aquatic
insects on the stream (this is happening everywhere
including the Chalk Streams of England). What most
people don't realize is that the legendary Charlie Fox
actually didn't fish the Letort hardly at all his last
number of years fishing because the fish didn't rise
enough. Instead he spent his time chasing bass and
muskie on top water plugs because he loved to catch fish
on top. Charlie told me many times, "Gene you have
to use the methods of Eddie to get these big fish
now." Charlie was referring to Ed Shenk the Sage of
the Letort as he sometimes called. Ed uses Sculpins
and other underwater flies at specific times to catch the
biggest fish on the Letort (The photo
above shows the late Vince Marinaro "marrying the waters"
of an English Chalkstream with those of the
Letort).
 Now that we've gotten that out of the way let's
talk about the Letort. The stream still furnishes
excellent fly fishing but this stream is not for
amateurs. Some days you can get lucky but for the
most part these fish will eat your lunch. The stream does
not have the population of fish it once did and also the
size of the big fish has declined. You can see the
PFBC data and my analysis of the data in the Aquatic
Analysis section of this website (the
photo above shows the Sulfur Mayfly Ephemerella
invaria formerly known as Ephemerella
rotunda; there are still Sulfurs in the Letort but
they do not emerge in the masses they once
did).
What you need on the Letort is an
INSTRUCTOR NOT A GUIDE.
You need to learn the methods, approaches and techniques
to fish this stream. I never promise that you'll
catch fish or even see fish on this stream however if you
want to learn to fish this stream I will do my best to
show you what I know and what I have learned over the
last 35 years on this stream or other spring creeks.
Many guides will not teach you how to fish
because they want you to come back to them over and over
again. I have had numerous fly anglers tell me that over
the last few years. There are good times and bad times to
fish these streams even for the best of fly anglers.
Remember I'm the guy who did the research on these streams so I
really know what condition they are in! I welcome your
inquiries on guiding or instruction and you can be assured that
I will give you an honest appraisal of what you'll need to be
successful on these streams. As I said I will instruct
you. The choice is yours do you want to fish with those
who know little about these waters or someone who fished them
and researched them for the last 35 years! So if you need
instruction or guiding or just need some info (which is free)
just hit me with the form below:
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