Kettle Creek Trout

Kettle Creek Trout

5/14/25

  While nymphers were nymphing I was catching trout on dry flies!

  So far this year I have caught trout in Clarion, Jefferson, Venango, Elk, Forest, Warren, Lawrence and Center Counties. Heck, I even caught trout in North Carolina this April when I was visiting my sons. So, I venture up to Kettle Creek, in Potter County Pennsylvania, every May to dry fly fish. Yes, I could dry fly fish back home in counties that surround where I live but there’s always somewhere in Potter County, Clinton County or Tioga County, in May, that there’s caddis or mayflies I can find to dry fly fish a lot more often! Sometimes there are many hatches going on at the same time.  

 Wednesday I was out early. Being that it had rain the past few days I figured I’d head down creek in Clinton County to fish Kettle Creek. If it continues to rain, as they are calling for, it might get too deep to wade out very far so I will just fish the upper part of Kettle. I ate a good breakfast in my camper and got my waders on before leaving. It wasn’t like I was going to stop anywhere that I needed to be dressed up. I suppose it was around 8:30am when I had my gear on and rod ready to step into the waters of Kettle Creek.

 It was an overcast gloomy looking morning. Heavy gray clouds covered the sky with no sun in sight. If it wasn’t for the bright greenery it would be a dull and dreary day. 

 It was around the upper 50’s but was supposed to get to 60 some time around noon. I didn’t dress too heavy but once I stepped into the cold waters and fished for an hour or so I was getting chilled. I went back to the truck to put warmer clothes on. It didn’t look like, or feel like, it was going to get any warmer. It did sprinkle a bit but I was already prepared for that with the rain gear and hat I wore.

 The morning I started Woolly Bugger fishing. I had my first rainbow netted by 9:00. I had missed a couple of soft strikes and lost 2 bringing them in before I was able to net one.  

I netted two more on a Bugger before I had went to the truck to put warmer clothes on.  

 There was only one other guy fishing by this time. He caught his limit, I suppose, down creek by the bridge before he carried his fish to the bank and left. Other than that I was left alone for some time. After I got warmer clothes on I was back out on the creek by a quarter after 10. Vehicles would drive down the narrowe road slowly, like they were rubbernecking an accident, but always kept on driving. I hadn’t had a strike for awhile and was actually getting bored casting the Woolly Bugger. I was contemplating to nymph fish when I saw my first rise down creek a bit. I wasn’t quite sure what it came up for but I saw the splash. It looked like he came up for an emerger but I wasn’t quite sure. There wasn’t anything I could see flying around. Anyhow, for the heck of it, I decided to dry fly fish. 

 Maybe these trout were waiting for a hatch of some kind and didn’t want the usual, everyday, nymph fishermen’s nymphs and what not? I looked at my wool patch and there was an elk hair caddis with an olive body. It was an oversized #14. (I tie my caddis on 1x long hooks,) If it had eyes and could talk I swear it would have said “pick me”. It stood out on my fly patch among the buggers, Triple Threats, smaller dark caddis, nymphs and smaller Mayflies attached to the patch. I knew it was kind of big to throw out there but it would be easy to see for me and the trout on the wavy current. If the trout are hungry by now and don’t see any hatch going on in the vicinity just maybe they’ll take notice and…..

 I knotted on the big Elk hair caddis and started to toss it out towards the riser. The first cast that way the trout came up and snapped at it. I wasn’t ready, is my only excuse. I didn’t expect a quick strike on my first cast with the dry. In fact I wasn’t expecting many strikes on such a big caddis when nothing else was flying around. 

 In the mean time a truck pulled up and parked. A couple of guys were getting their stuff on while I was trying to get another rise. As they entered the water upstream from me I started to see a couple more rising trout. Most were a good distance out away from me but I knew I could cast that far if I needed to. There was no wind to speak of so I was pretty sure I could get a dry to drift in their feeding zone without drag.

 Every fish I saw rise I turned my attention to. More than not they would come up and snap at my caddis and more than not I was able to get a hook in them. Some came unhooked quickly but some gave me a good battle in the strong undercurrent getting them to the net. 

 I was having dry fly fun. While the other two guys were nymph fishing I was catching trout on top. They asked and I told them I was catching them on top but I never noticed them tying a dry fly on. In fact the guy nearer to me saw me catch trout on the dry but said he was nymph fishing. Hey, I don’t know? I even talked to fly fishermen that say they don’t dry fly fish. What?, if it wasn’t for dry fly fishing I probably wouldn’t use the fly rod as often. In fact, that’s the main reason I started fly fishing. There is no better feeling than to trick a trout to rising for a dry fly I tied myself, period. 

 There was this one fish that was rising sporadically. He was way out there so it took long casts to get to him. I wasn’t sure what he was feeding on but he didn’t want my caddis imitation. I thought maybe he would go for a sulfur dry? I clipped off the caddis and tied on a sulfur dry with a split tail. I made a couple short casts to get line out and then made a long looping overhead cast. The fly line unfolded in the air in an open loop sending my dry fly towards my target area. Just before it landed I backed up the rod tip which dropped the dry on the surface with a short “S” bend slack so the dry would drift without drag. He didn’t take it the first time. 

 Sometimes I think a fish aren’t ready to grab something different like a kid seeing spinach for the first time. Something about green vegetables seem to be a turn off for most children. My guess is the trout may have eaten sulfurs this year and maybe since they aren’t plentiful around he isn’t too sure about taking it. On the other hand, if he’s hungry enough, he’ll at least try it.

 My second cast it appeared he wasn’t hesitant. He came up and snapped at it like a crow pecking cherries off a limb. I reared back the long length of line and it tightened with an angry trout. He leaped in the air trying to shake loose. I’m not sure if he had been bitten before but he didn’t like it. We tussled back and forth but I netted him safely. 

 I stuck with the sulfur pattern and hooked up a couple of times and missed a couple.  

  After my dry fly got too soaked I went back to the caddis. One unsuspecting trout gulped my offering on my first drift down creek. It evidently didn’t notice the uncharacteristic swimming of the other trout I had caught. He fought hard and I was waiting for the hook to come out anytime on the way in. When I netted him he had engulfed the dry and it was hooked into its tongue. I tried to quickly remove it but it was in there pretty tight. I ended up cutting the line and let the fish swim free. 

 I always wondered in such case what ever happens to the stuck hook? I suppose it’s kind of annoying trying to to eat with metal stuck in your mouth. I never had braces but I’m sure it’s pretty annoying at times especially when eating.  

 I saw some splashes upstream from the last guy. I waded to the bank and waded behind the nymphers and up into the shallow stony creek bed where I was able to wade half the creeks width. I missed one rise but I was sure he was a little one. I waded out a little more than half the width. All the times I’ve fished this area I really don’t remember anyone fishing the far bank where it looked only a little more than shin deep. There were a couple rises. I tossed out a small caddis and hooked one. He tore the small #18 caddis badly. I let him go and clipped off the caddis. 

 I was deciding what to try next. There were sulfurs coming off though I couldn’t tell if any trout were grabbing them before they flew off the surface. While I was standing contemplating I heard a big splash and looked. A big looking rainbow plopped in the water within casting range. In a distance but no problem. Then all of a sudden another, or maybe the same trout, rose out of the water about a few feet from the first one but closer to me. It was almost like a trout that had just broke someone’s line and a Rooster Tail spinner still hooked in its jaw, rising trying to unhook the hardware. Unless it was coincidental that two trout rose to emergers a few seconds apart? 

 I figured they were hungry so I decided to toss them something worth coming up for. I knotted on one of my oversized #14 Elk hair caddis with a dark body. If they were hungry and aren’t getting filled up with little caddis or small emergers maybe they’ll take a big caddis?

 I’ve been told that at times I create my own hatch. I’ll throw a dry fly out quite a few times in the same spot. Maybe the trout will see the first drift by without much of a look. When the second comes by they might take a better look. I’ll toss somewhere else and then toss back to the same spot. If there’s a curious trout he might think that there are many of these flies starting to drift down creek and rise and grab it. I swear this works. At least I’m convinced it works.

 I tossed the big caddis in front of the closest riser and let it drift into the zone if he was still there. My second cast and drift was pretty near the same area. My next cast was kind of in between the two risers. I watched as the caddis drifted with the line and leader behind. All of a sudden the trout rose and engulfed the big caddis like Hulk Hogan swiftly grabbing the last biscuit before Andre the Giant! I pulled and set the hook. He splashed down like a cannon ball that missed its target ship. The rod bent and I felt his fierce head shaking and body twisting within my tight grip around the cork handle. I had to let him take line as I tensioned it sliding through my fingers. Down creek a bit it was if he stopped his momentum just to shake, rattle and roll trying to shake the hook loose. After he was done with this quick spurt I started to try bringing him towards me bringing in line. It was a tugging struggle between him and I. The current was helping him but my 9’ fast action Icon rod was helping me drain some of his energy. He swam towards the far bank with head shakes and I didn’t try to stop him but I didn’t give him much line. He turned down creek again. Every time he turned or after an energetic fit I’d bring line in. Once down from me I had the rod just about level with the surface trying to force him up creek without him breaking the surface. 

 A trout naturally faces into the current so your not going to tire him out much forcing him upstream into the current. To tire a fish out I try to keep a tight line from his side. This way he is using more of his energy trying to fight against the side pressure. Once I feel the trout is tiring I can force him to swim upstream without much fight because it’s natural for him into the current.

 Pinching the line against the grip I lead him pass me moving the rod upstream as I took my net out. I moved the rod back downstream and raised it as I dipped the net into the water. The trout turned and he splashed on the surface keeping his distance as I tried to get him closer. At times I moved the rod towards the surface letting him swim below the surface but didn’t give him any more line and letting him use more energy against the bending fly rod. Lifting the rod again he was close enough I was able to net him. He didn’t like the feel of the net or just being captured but he took awhile to settle enough for a quick picture before I released him. I noticed he had a big gash near his upper jaw. He evidently was hooked before and either got away or released. It definitely didn’t look like a small fly hook that made such a bad looking gash. He was probably my biggest rainbow yet in the Kettle.  

 I couldn’t get the other trout to strike the big caddis but maybe there weren’t another. I had to knot on another dry being he tore that one like a small shredded cat toy afterwards. I found a #14 elk hair caddis but with over length hairs that extended beyond the hook bend. I blind casted in no particular spot letting it drift down creek on the small wavy surface. I hooked two more trout but was only able to net one of them before calling it quits for the day. 

 One thing I always said it was easy camping in a campground with electric than boondocking as I usually do. I had venison stew cooking in the crock pot since the morning. Nothing beats coming back to camp after a day of fishing in chilly weather and not having to cook anything. I just scoop myself a hot crock pot cooked meal!

~doubletaper