Rainbows on the 3 weight

 Rainbows on the 3 Weight

4/05/25

‘I didn’t camp along a trout stream to look out the window at the rain and cold while tying flies all day. I came to fish!’ 

 Wednesday, when I set up my camper, Tionesta Creek was pretty low and clear. From Wednesday through Friday, despite the occasional showers, the creek rose some with still good visibility. The sun shined most of the time and the air stayed moderate.  Saturday was another story.

 

 Friday night it poured down into early Saturday morning. By 8:00 the creek rose a lot and visibility was getting worse. I got out by 8:30 into the rainy morning. I was hoping to get into some trout before the creek turned too muddy and high. I assembled my 9’ Icon fly rod and headed to the creek. Out in open water my third cast landed my Woolly Bugger 2/3rd across creek. On the swing I felt a hard strike and set the hook. While I was playing the trout towards me is when I realized I may only have 6x tippet on the end of my tapered leader being I was fishing dry flies the week before. Near me, in the fast undercurrent, I took out the net and was ready to net what looked to be a 15” brown trout. The brown trout took off and the tippet snapped leaving me with a straightened 9’ rod and limp line. There was no use standing in the cold water and rain trying to tie new 4x tippet on. I waded out to the camper and proceeded to correct my mishap. By the time I got back in the water the creek rose some more and the cloudy conditions got worse. I fished for another few hours anyhow. There were a few other fishermen that tried their luck. I didn’t have anymore strikes and never saw anyone catch anything! 

 Later on I drove and checked out other smaller creeks and found they where high, muddy and running fast. I went back to camp disappointed but figured Sunday, if it doesn’t rain any more, the smaller streams should be well enough to fish.

 

Sunday 4/06

 I was up early and after a hot oatmeal breakfast I dressed warm and headed to the smaller creek. I already had my hip waders on and wading boots. I checked the thermometer before I left and it read 41 degrees. It was a misty sprinkling rain but I was going fish’n. 

 At the narrow creek I fitted the 3 weight 7’ Hardy rod sections together and attached a Woolly Bugger. I put my Ausie rain hat on and grabbed a few cigars. I walked right to the creek from the truck and stepped into the water, it was cold. Bare limbed trees over hung the narrow stream like a row of soldiers reaching out their sword towards each other, high above them, in the presence of the queen walking through. The creek had come down considerably overnight, not flowing so fast and with good visibility yet cloudy enough trout shouldn’t be too wary of an intruder. Though this was the second day of the opening season I doubt many fish were caught the day before because of miserable conditions, so they should have been unmolested. It turned out I was right. 

 On my third cast out I watched my fly line arc on the surface water as my Woolly Bugger swung down creek. At the end of the swing a trout struck the bugger so hard it nearly took the rod out my soft grip. I grasped the cork tighter and yanked back quickly and my first trout was on the line. It wiggled, fought and battled into the current all the way to the net. By 7:30 I had my first rainbow. 

 Each rainbow after that came in wildly like hyper kids at a birthday party, in a Bouncy House, after eating cake and ice cream. The trout rose to the surface splashing and kicking up water. I was catching one after another like it was the first day and the trout had no idea what a fisherman or fake bait was. In the next half hour or so I gave a lot of the local trout sore lips before another truck parked along side of mine.  

 I looked down creek and began my way to a section of water I knew was deep and usually held a good amount of trout. 

 I gradually fished my way down creek casting Woolly Buggers and streamers in deeper runs. I only caught one rainbow before I got to the section I was wanting to take time fishing.

 It didn’t take too long before I was hooking up very frequently with buggers and Triple Threats. The rainbows were just as wild jumping and carrying on like neighborhood kids taking turns jumping on an outdoor trampoline. They tossed and turned every which way trying to free themselves. Even in the net they squirmed around! 

 It was if they had no idea the mess they got themselves into getting hooked and fighting furiously against their will. I was picking off rainbow after rainbow with the streamers until the bite slowed down.  

 

 Being that all the trout I caught were rainbows I knew that rainbows liked red. I figured I’d fish beneath under an indicator with one of my bi-color San Juan worms. I had a bead head pink sucker spawn on my fly patch so I figured the UV yarn would get the fishes attention in the stained water and give the trout two choices of a meal. It was if I yelled out the door, to the neighborhood kids, it was snack time. The rainbows grabbed the combination without fear. My indicator would be pulled below and I’d yank the 7’er  up and set the hook followed by a tugging wild fight. I figured that lasted another hour or so before I lost the pair in a branch hanging from a log across the creek just up stream.  

 I dug another San Juan from my box of tricks. I didn’t have anymore bead-head sucker spawn but had a six pack of glo bugs I use for steelhead. I picked a pretty pink one out and tied it to my tapered leader. I knotted an a strip of 5x tippet and knotted on the San Juan. I lit another stogie and dipped my boots back into the creek.

 Casting up creek and letting the combination drift it was Deja vu all over again. Maybe not as quick and often but the rainbows liked the pink glo bug enough that after a while it looked like a glob of pink lint from a dryer filter. 

 It took another hour or so before I couldn’t get another strike. I knotted on a Woolly Bugger and caught a couple more hungry trout before heading back upstream. I caught one more trout in a semi-deep run before I got to my truck. Just for the heck of it I decided to try the pink glo bug right where I started from in the morning. I knew a couple of fishermen had fished the same spot while I headed down creek earlier but maybe they didn’t hook them all or didn’t have the right bait. I knotted on a pink egg pattern and crimped lead about a foot up from the egg to get it down quickly. I attached an indicator so I could adjust the length of line to the egg pattern as needed. The current was unsteady but with the indicator I was more sure the drift would go with the flow than without. Being that the current was fast and wavy I didn’t want my egg pattern to actually drag bottom as it might without the indicator plus there looked to be a rocky bottom. The indicator would keep my pattern above the rocks and looking like it just got swept under the current and heading down creek naturally. 

 ( Most of the time I try to figure things out according to conditions. It’s not that I might be right but it gives me confidence when I think things out. I believe confidence and patience catches more fish the dumb luck! )

 Well my thought process worked. Rainbows were taking the pink egg pattern like kids sharing pink cotton candy off a stick. One after another took the egg pattern. All I had to see was the indicator go under and I yanked the rod up. The indicator would follow with a tight line controlled by a mighty fighting rainbow.  

 

 By 3:00 I called it quits. I had fun for the day and it started to get chillier out. I undid my waders, wiped off and packed the Hardy Demon back in its case. I was ready for a hot bowl of chili back at the camper. 

~doubletaper