The Gray Fox
5/20/25
From around 10:00am till around 3:00 I missed more trout on dry flies than I could remember. The one’s I did catch should have been embarrassed!
Even though it was that sulfurs or caddis weren’t coming off till around 10:00 I couldn’t just sit in the camper twiddling my thumbs waiting to leave till then. Besides, the guys in the next site were suited up and leaving to go fish. There were other vehicles passing my camper also on their way to fish. It was only around 8:00 in the morning. The sky was bright and it looked like we were finally going to have a nice day. I couldn’t resist any longer. I got my waders on, packed the truck and left the campground headed down creek to the wider section of Kettle Creek to dry fly fish.
Where I started I casting out Woolly Buggers figuring I’d pass the time until a hatch started. The water was wavy fast and the trout weren’t biting. Being that no one was around where I was, I decided to just fish my way down creek till I catch a trout or see a rise. Down further I saw my first rise but it was way too far to cast to. The water was too deep to wade out any further. I knotted on a sulfur dry anyhow and continued to wade down creek casting the dry fly.
I finally saw a rise within distance. I waded out as far as I could, in waist high water, and stood on a flat rock which got me thigh high in the water. I started casting to the one rise I saw. In the next couple of hours more fish rose. Sulfurs, caddis and every once in a while a March Brown would appear and flutter it’s wings to dry them off before taking flight. The trout weren’t rising in a feeding frenzy but only occasionally and rarely at that. I casted out sulfurs, caddis and even a March Brown. I never knew when one would rise to my offering. When they did rise to my dry I missed them. From about 10:00 till about 3:00 I missed so many trout on my dry flies that the ones I did catch should have been embarrassed!
I was missing risers whether I drifted my dry down creek, across creek or upstream. It didn’t matter, I just couldn’t hook any. I’d watch the trout turn on my offering and go to grab it, nothing. I watched the trout rise to slurp it in, nothing. I wasn’t sure if I was pulling back too soon. Whatever I was doing wrong I just couldn’t figure it out. I finally got upset around 3 and waded out disappointed and upset.
Driving up creek every place I thought about fishing there was a vehicle or 2 parked. Even in the Delayed Harvest area vehicles were parked and fly guys were out in the water. I got to the campground and found only 1 SUV parked in the parking space next to the creek. They were getting ready to fish with their conventional rods laying on the roof. I got out and assembled my Powell 4 weight fly rod and headed down the path.
I stepped down off the bank and into the water. Looking downstream there were already big sulfurs flying around and fish were rising. I got out of the water and up on the bank. I walked a little further down the path and easily stepped into the water nearer where the fish and sulfurs were rising.
The water was clear with rolling surface water. Sunlight filtered through the canopy of trees casting shadows upon the surface.
Sulfurs were coming off pretty regularly fluttering like butterflies looking for a place to rest. Trout were rising sporadically all the way down to the shallows downstream. I waded out just ankle deep trying not to stir up the creek bed. I knotted on a #14 Sulfur and picked the closest riser near me. My cast was upstream from the riser and I watched it drift into its feeding zone. He rose and sucked it in. I’m sure he saw me standing just about 14 feet from where he took my fly. It was too late for him to spit it out as I yanked the rod up and set the hook. He dove down and rattled the tight line flexing the fly rod tip. He darted out away towards the far bank but didn’t get very far for I held the line, tensioned, between my fingers. He gave a couple head shakes like a halfback maybe trying to fake me out as to what his next direction was and loosen my tight grip on the line. It didn’t work. He felt like he was a good size trout so I didn’t force him in but let him use up energy scurrying around like a kid at the playground. A nice size brown trout laid in my net with the sulfur stuck to his upper lip.
While I was having fun, hooking up, a couple of fly guys entered the water up creek. They were dry fly fishing also. I was paying more attention to my own casts and dry flies so I really couldn’t say whether they caught anything but I was sure they saw my tight line now and then.
Some fish were rising between me and the other fishermen so I slowly waded upstream casting to the risers. The fellow closest to me let me know he was going to wade behind me heading down creek. I let him know there were still fish rising down there. The other guy kept trying to catch a trout on his dry flies but wasn’t very successful. He let me know he was going to go downstream also. He said there was a trout rising just out from a tree branch across the creek. He told me to get it!
The area we were fishing was narrower than the wide sections way down creek. The problem with reaching the far side of the creek was that there wasn’t much room for a back cast to get momentum for a longer forward cast. Sometimes it was easier to just roll cast a dry fly towards the far side if you could keep the dry fly afloat. The rise under the tree was in slower water than the faster current in front of me. I knew that once my dry landed the trout only had a few seconds to grab it before the faster current drags my line and dry fly down creek. I made a side arm casts leaving a slacken line behind my dry letting the drifting fly drag free. The trout rose and I quickly pulled the rod and line back and set the hook. I kind of laughed and called out to the other guys, “Got’m!”
~doubletaper
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