Expert Advice

                                                                     Expert Advice

5/30/25

  Of course I talk to myself. Sometimes I need expert advice 

 I set up camp on Thursday in the rain in the ANF along Tionesta Creek. The creek water, when I set up, was moderately low and clear. The heavy rain lasted about an hour or so and muddied the creek up and rose. Overnight it may have sprinkled some.

Friday it was a foggy morning when I walked out of the camper to check on the creek condition. The water receded a lot and cleared up to a light brown. 

   After breakfast I suited up. By then the morning sun was beginning to rise above the cliff side trees. Though it was a chilly morning it looked like it was going to be a half decent day.

 I drove down creek to a section I was hoping to catch some trout. When I got to the creek I found it was muddier than back at camp. After a few casts I advised myself to head back to the camper and fish where it’s not as cloudy. That turned out to be good advice.

 After parking at the camper I walked up the road to where I wanted to start fishing. The water had cleared up nicely. Not gin clear but clear enough the trout should see my offerings from a distance. The water was still higher than what I would of liked but I’d deal with it. 

 I waded out to thigh high depth to make room for clear backcasting from the many green leafed tree limbs along shore. The creek was still half shaded but I was hoping the sunlight would cover the water quickly and possibly for some Mayfly or caddis activity. I started casting a Woolly Bugger as I slowly waded step by step down creek. I’d cast as far as possible towards the far side. I was in no way near the opposite bank like I would of liked for it was too deep to wade to the center of the creek. I caught a trout just before the sun overtook the water. 

 The calm current reflected the sunlight and sparkled like silver pinwheel lawn ornaments twirling in the wind. I was able to see faint signs of boulders beneath the surface as I casted. The leaves on the trees that lined the banks were still wet from the overnight sprinkles. Under the reflection of the sun the wet leaves flickered and blinked like Christmas tree lights as a breeze swept by. The far side cliff dripped water off its rocky ledges. In some places the water fell off the ledges like narrow waterfalls that eventually entered the main creek through man made pipes spread out along the far bank. It wasn’t long before I was able to feel the cold water upon my thighs as it flowed with the swirling currents. I lit a cigar after my second catch and proceeded on.

  As the sun rose higher, and shown down upon me, its warmth took the chill away. Decent size sulfurs started to appear but not in great numbers. Caddis, as usual, fluttered about with some dropping and dapping the water surface and then quickly rise and disappear. As I casted the Woolly Bugger I watched every caddis, sulfur or what ever mayfly that drifted upon the surface or emerged out of the water. I kept telling myself that sooner or later a trout is going to rise to one or the other.

 On a backcast my bugger caught a tree limb behind me as I started to cast forward. The tippet snapped leaving my bugger somewhere up in the branches. I waded to the trees and searched for the bugger or my tippet hanging from a limb but it wasn’t to be so. I knotted on more tippet and as I was picking another Woolly Bugger out of my fly box I happen to look up just in time to see a trout rise. I grinned to myself! I put the bugger on my fly patch and put my fly box back into my vest pocket. There was no hurry knotting on a dry fly, he wasn’t going anywhere and there wasn’t much in the way of a hatch going on that he’d get his belly full.

 I selected a #14 para-dun yellowish body sulfur, that was 1x long, and knotted it to my tippet. I thought that would be easier to see on the stained surface. I doped the body with dry fly gel and waded out within distance of the riser. As I was wading out another, or maybe the same trout, rose again a few feet from where I saw the first rise. I made a false cast or two to get line out and tossed towards the direction of the rise. I watched my dry drift into its zone but he didn’t come up for it. There wasn’t much activity on the water so I doubted he was going to be picky. My second cast was drifting and he came up sooner than when I expected but I was ready at all times. I quickly yanked the rod tip up over my right shoulder and the line tightened with a splash on the other end. “Gotcha!” 

 He swam erratically in the current down and across. I let tension line slip through my fingers getting a feel for how big he may be. He didn’t feel all that heavy but fought well in the oncoming current. I got him nearer to me and lifted him into my net. He squirmed around as if looking for a way out. He finally settled down enough for me to get the hook out and a quick picture. By the looks he’s been in the creek for a while and wasn’t this year’s stockie.

 I casted the sulfur out to try and get the second riser to rise but it wasn’t so. I figured it was the same trout anyway. Not seeing any trout rising I went back to the woolly bugger momentarily. When I saw another rise. I knotted on an Elk hair caddis. A breeze caught my caddis in mid air and my dry landed just about where the rise was and not upstream where I wanted it to go. The trout grabbed my dry just about as soon as it hit the water. I reared back the rod and pulled the slack out of the line as quick as I could. The line tightened and another unsuspecting trout was on the other end fighting for dear life. 

 I waded and fished my way towards camp. I switched to the bugger or a dry fly on my way. I caught a couple more trout and missed one.  

  By the time I got in front of the camper it was nearing noon. The sun was high above shining down like a big spot light. I waded out and went up to the camper for a drink before heading back. Butterflies were gathered outside the camper on the dirt ground. They looked like they were having some kind of a meeting.

 After relaxing a bit I waded back into the creek. I lit a cigar and looked down creek.

  There were a couple of rises I saw pretty far down. I figured I’d fish the bugger until I got near the risers. I hooked into a couple of smaller trout on the bugger before I got near a riser. I caught one nice brown trout on the bugger before I got within range of the riser. He too looked like he set up a home in the creek a couple of years back. 

  I knotted on a #14 Elk hair caddis. A trout was well within casting distance. On my first drift near his feeding zone he sucked up the caddis like it was hand fed to him. He evidently had no idea I was around. After the hook up he sprung up out of the water twisting and turning trying to shake the hook. He plopped back into the water with a splash and sped off. He didn’t get very far as I pinched the line. The rod section arced a little more. The 5 weight 9’ Icon rod was too much to handle for the trout and I was able to bring him in without too much trouble. 

 Well I continued down creek casting the elk hair caddis. I caught sight of a dimple and a swirl on the surface down creek from me. It was pretty near me so I didn’t want to move scaring the trout. I’m not all that confident in hooking a trout fishing upstream but I’ll give it a try if necessary. I advised myself it was necessary this time. 

 I made a sidearm cast upstream looping the fly line so it didn’t fall over the trouts head or making a splash near him. Stopping the rod tip short, my caddis swung in the air and landed on the surface up creek pretty much where I wanted it. The drift should put the caddis this side of the trout and not right over its head. As I took in line, as the water was flowing towards me, I was ready for a rise at my caddis. The moment it happened, to the unexpecting trout, I lifted the rod up and back and pinched the line tight. I felt the rod bow and line tightened at an angle of the take. The trout surfaced briefly, splashing on the surface like a young toddler in a bathtub. He took off deeper and I let him take some line while tensioning the fly line between my fingers. He felt like a wild one with quick turns and tugs. After a bit of his antics, down creek, I took control by swinging the rod up creek and pinching the line tight. He tried to pull the line out of my pinched fingers but I didn’t give in. The 5 weight rod may of bowed a little more but I knew the resistance would be greater than his strength by now. He tried to pull back, but with the rod resistance he came closer to me down creek. Keeping the pressure on he began to swim up creek to meet me. Once near me he didn’t have much fight left and I was able to net him. He was a nice size rainbow with my caddis stuck in his upper lip.  

 Down creek I came to the shallower riffling water. I knotted on the Woolly Bugger and casted it out towards the far bank where it looked deeper. I let it swing into deeper calmer water. Little by little I let more line out on each cast and swing. I finally got a bite and set the hook. Trying to get him up through the fast wavy current wasn’t easy and I lost him. I caught another on the bugger but this time I was able to get him close enough to net. 

 After hooking another and losing him also I called it quits. The fast choppy current flowed for quite a distance. I convinced myself not to fight the current wading through it or following it to the tail out. 

I think that was sound advice. I waded out and headed back to the camper.

  

 ~doubletaper