5:00 Somewhere

                                                                5:00 Somewhere 

6/04/25 

 I was fishing somewhere on Tionesta Creek I never fished before. It was near 8:30 in the morning and I was casting a Woolly Bugger in rough wavy water. It didn’t look any deeper than waist high but it looked to be deeper just beyond the waves, where it turned into slower wavy surface current. The hot sun was behind me heating things up like the inside a food truck preparing hot food. It felt like I had a heating pad on my back. I hadn’t caught anything but continued to slowly wade downstream until I was able to let my bugger drift into the tail out. You would of thought I opened up the food truck window. The special was lime flavored buggers and tan elk hair caddis with a body flavor of ginger. 

 Trout after trout were grabbing the bugger as if they each were in line for the next order. When I saw one rise for something I offered them a dry Elk Hair special. I had hooked three on the ginger body caddis. One threw the hook but hey that happens. He must have not liked the ginger flavor. I had some trout spit the bugger also before they landed in the basket.   

 

 When I had no more takers I waded out to the far side and went up creek where there was a wide section of water. Riffling water emptied into a long stretch of wide calmer water leading to where I was fishing. 

 I started casting Woolly Buggers as far as I could cast from the waist high water I was wading through. I’d catch a trout now and then but there were long pauses in between.  

 There where  few rises as I waded but only 2 were within my casting distance. I knotted on and casted a small variety of flavored caddis but couldn’t get a buyer. I went back to the bugger, lit a cigar and continued on. I caught another trout on the bugger before I got to where I started.  

 When I got to where I started there were trout rising sporadically. I saw one sulfur come off the water and March Browns that would appear on the water fluttering their wings before taking off. There were also small caddis and some mayfly I couldn’t identify in the #16 or even #18 range. Well, I knotted on a variety of sulfurs, March Browns and caddis. You would of thought I opened the food truck again and the special was March Browns. Their choices were Catskills Style or para-post style. The caddis were chocolate or ginger. I was having fun hooking up with the rainbows on my dry flies. I missed quite a few and some were so picky they didn’t like my offering at all.  

  There was this one trout right out from me across creek no more than 20 yards away. I missed him twice on a March Brown. Both times I saw him rise and turn on my offering and I missed the hook up. I’m not sure if I lifted the MB off the water before he actually grabbed it being I saw him rise for it and didn’t wait for him. Anyhow, when the March Browns practically died off and trout weren’t rising much I figured they had sore lips or upset stomachs from this morning meal or just recently. There were still a couple risers now and then. I caught one unsuspecting trout near the far bank down creek with a long cast. He was pretty upset. He gave me a good struggle all the way to the basket. 

 I decided to concentrate on the trout in front of me I missed a couple of times earlier. I hadn’t casted to him for a while. Being that the MB hatch died off and I couldn’t see anything else happening on the surface I decided to knot on an oversized elk hair ginger caddis. I just figured if there are trout out there that didn’t get their bellies filled, and seeing no choice food around, they might want a hearty snack. It took 3 casts to finally get that trout in front of me to rise. I saw him rise and slap at the caddis a little upstream than where I thought he would be. I hurriedly lifted the rod up and downstream over my left shoulder. I felt the rod sections bow with a tight line and a heavy weight on the other end. I hooked’em! 

 I don’t know how fast a ‘bat out of hell’ flies away but you would of thought the trout bit into a habanero pepper and was hurrying to find cold water and try and spit it out. He raced across stream and turned down creek quickly pulling line. Sometime down creek he leaped out of the water trying to shake off that habanero caddis off his lips. He plunged into the water and rose again just breaking the surface shaking his head. The caddis didn’t come loose so I knew I had a good hold on him. He fought not knowing what was on the other end of the line he was attached to. I wasn’t sure if he ever been caught before but he was pretty upset about it. I got him swimming upstream and within netting distance. I lowered the rod and he turned to swim down creek but it was too late. I scooped him up like scooping french fries in the wire basket out of the fryer!

 

 After that I didn’t see anymore risers. The sun was hot and I was sweating. I called it a day and headed to the truck.

 Back at camp I enjoyed a frozen Margarita before supper. It was still early but I knew it had to be 5:00 somewhere! 

 That evening I made a campfire and enjoyed a cigar that a neighbor camper gave me up in Ole’ Bull campground. Before dark, while enjoying my cigar, I watched trout rising out on the water while I sat by the campfire.   

~doubletaper