Variety Show

Variety Show

5/17/26 

 Sunday I had a variety of offerings I took to the show. I assembled my Hardy fly rod with my Hardy featherweight reel and doubletaper line. I headed down Kettle Creek from the campground and was going to present my offerings to the trout. My first trout took a Woolly Bugger but when I saw caddis flying around and saw one rise I switched over to a deer hair caddis and tossed it out. He took it like the first shopper at my caddis offering. He wasn’t a big trout but the brown fought well in the oncoming current. 

 I lit up a cigar and I had a feeling my offerings were going to be wanted. 

 I casted out to get another taker and I sold 3 more to consumers. It wasn’t one after the other but if they saw the caddis within my showing they took it. When I couldn’t sell anymore I tried to sell them something else. I presented them with a bead head Hare’s ear and below that, I knotted on an old green rock worm that I tied years ago. You never know when someone sees an old piece they may want it. Well, I had a buyer for the old green rock worm. Not a big spender but I had to get a picture. 

 A trout rose not too far from me out in the middle of the creek. I switched to the caddis and tossed it to it. It took a couple of showings to persuade him to get him interested. I’m not sure he was expecting anything out of the ordinary but when he rose I surprised him. He turned deep and took off like thief. The reel clicked as fast as heated popcorn kernels exploding. Line shot through the eyes, of the arcing 8’8” rod, and line cut the surface water like a Ginsu knife through a tomato. I put a little more tension on the line and he turned down creek. I held the rod high enough to keep as much line out of the water as possible. He tussled with me, kicking and stammering like an ornery mule, wanting me to let the rope go. I kept the pressure on as he swam up creek still out a distance. I turned the rod putting side pressure on him. He turned towards me and started to swim down creek again. I let him have some line before I tightened my fingers on the fly line. He swam closer to my side of the creek and started really tugging and pulling. I moved the rod upstream and he followed reluctantly with head-shaking. We tussled a little more and he was losing the battle. I got him within net range and when he flattened his body on the surface water I nabbed him in the net red handed with the caddis still attached. What a nice catch! 

 I caught one more on a caddis before it seemed like the top water show was over. 

  After that I didn’t see any risers so I knotted the Hare’s ear and green rock worm again. I fished them under an indicator being the current was flowing away from me. This way the indicator flowed with the direction of the current then without one. I sold two more Hare’s ears to anxious  pickers.  

 Later on I nabbed one, I think a rainbow, on a wet fly. I nearly had him in the net before he shook the hook out. 

 It was getting hot as the weathermen were calling for 80+ degrees. I believe it had to be at least above 80 by now. The trout no longer were interested in any of my stuff. I waded out and headed up the path to my truck.

 It was another good day in ‘God’s Country’. Good thing I brought along a variety and showed them off instead of being stubborn and only showing a couple offerings.

~doubletaper

Better’n Yesterday

Better’n Yesterday

5/14/26 

 On Wednesday, the guy the next campsite over, who doesn’t fish, asked me how I did fishing?  I told him about the conditions were kind of tough. On Thursday He asked me how I did? I told him better’n yesterday. 

 I’ve been going up to Potter County, to trout fish, for about the past 30 years. I go up to dry fly fish Kettle Creek in mid May when most of the mayfly hatches appear. If I just wanted to catch trout I’d stay at home. Mid May there are usually many mayfly hatches that I keep well entertained with dry fly fishing. This year so far it wasn’t to be so, yet! 

 Tuesday I set up my camper at Ole’ Bull campground. Wednesday I went to Kettle Creek to fish. The water was high, but wadeable, but the current was fast. Once I got thigh high deep it was kind of scary so I stayed knee deep. It was a chilly overcast day so there wasn’t any hatch to speak of or any fish rising. I did catch a few on Woolly Buggers and a Pink Sucker Spawn but for the 5-6 hours I spent fishing wasn’t an impressive day to tell a story about.    

 Wednesday evening it stormed and even hailed. I knew Kettle wasn’t going to be any better off then the day before so my plan was to fish a smaller mountain creek instead. One thing about mountain streams is they seldom get too muddy to fish. They may rise but they really don’t get muddy.

 I put my 7’6” 4 weight Powel fly rod together and snapped on a Woolly Bugger at my campsite and headed south to the mountain stream. After I parked along the roadside, I got my gear on and headed to my first stop on the creek.

 The air was much cooler along the mountain water. Green forest trees and grass lined the banks as far as the eye could see. Birds chirped in the background to the main resonance of the riffling water downstream. It was a picture worth mounting!

 Upstream, I was wading slow and easy as the water was flowing mirror clear. Reflection from the rising sun, when the clouds gave way, was throwing bank-side shadows on the surface water. I was making cross creek casts from a distance and trying to keep my silhouette not to be detected. I didn’t wade down creek very far when I stopped along the bank in ankle deep water. The creek was wide, within casting distance, and looked deep enough for trout to hold anywhere. The riffles and waves distorted my vision seeing through the water and I would imagine the trout had a hard time determining anything standing motionless. I’m sure they would capture movement and be wary so I stayed pretty much stationary and made slow movements. 

 I made a cast across creek and let the bugger swing down creek towards the deeper water just before the current flowed over rocks and boulders causing shallow wavier water. Almost at the end of the swing I felt a bump but it wasn’t very hard. I let the bugger dangle a bit, when it got to the end of the swing, but nothing grabbed it. I made another cast in the same manner at the same distance. This time, at the end of the swing, I felt a nudge and my fly line stopped arcing. It wasn’t like a hard hit but as if the trout saw the bugger coming and opened its mouth to let it in. I reared back the rod and the rod bowed but I didn’t think it was anything uncommon being the under current might have been strong enough to make it feel like a heavy fish. Bringing the trout towards me wasn’t easy but he didn’t put up a major battle. At the beginning it was if he had just awoken from a dream and wasn’t in full awareness of what was happening after his first breakfast meal. He had strength enough to keep his distance but wasn’t the head-shaking, rough and tumble fight I would have expected. Once across from me I could see he was a colorful rainbow and a nice size trout for this small mountain creek. He took off towards the far side as my 4 weight arced with the swimming trout. I didn’t force him but let him use up his energy fighting the current and my arcing rod. I got him near me and scooped him up. What a nice rainbow. 

Well, that was definitely worth a cigar. 

 I checked the bugger for any defects and didn’t see anything wrong with it. I made another cast across creek and near the end of the swing, wham, another strike. This nudge was a little harder than the last. I was bringing the fish towards me but he was putting up a pretty good fight, like the piercing of the hook hit a nerve. The battle was short lived though. When I got him closer I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was another nice size colorful rainbow. When I got him in the net I shook my head and thought “this couldn’t be the same trout I just caught?” No, this one looked a little chubbier. I mean, what’s the odds of the same trout striking a second time after he got caught and netted in a matter of 10 minutes? 

 That was the big excitement for the day. I fished a couple of different areas along the catch and release section and caught mostly rainbow trout on buggers. Some of the rainbows were nice size and all the trout gave good lasting battles against the 4 weight.

 

I tried a couple of dry caddis but that wasn’t on the trouts menu. It got a little warmer and started to drizzle. After that I called it a day and headed back up to the campground along the dirt road and then to the main highway.

~doubletaper

Bows and Browns and a Crock

                                                               Bows and Browns and a Crock

5/16/26 

 I go up to Potter County to fish Kettle creek and surrounding water to mostly dry fly fish. 

 

 I set up my camper in Ole Bull Tuesday evening. Wednesday was an overcast day and the lower part of Kettle was flowing on the high side and the current was fast. When I tried to wade out thigh high deep the current was pushing my body hard as if my companions were nudging me, in this predicament, “you go first!” I was uncomfortable so I stayed in the water around knee deep. I caught trout on Wooly Buggers but really wanted to dry fly fish but the conditions were harsh.   

 The water was cold, the current was fast and the cloud cover over took the sky like a faded blanket. There wasn’t anything rising and the only activity above water was a few small caddis. To even try to drift a dry the trout would have to be Superman quick to snatch the dry before it passed by. I didn’t waste much time and packed up and drove up creek where the water was narrower and not so fast in the project area. 

 

 The water was still higher than normal but still kind of fast. Not seeing any surface activity, under the gray sky, I casted Wooly Buggers for a spell and smoked another cigar. 

 

 Wednesday evening and night it stormed and poured down rain. I knew the Kettle was going to be high and currently fast. So, Thursday morning I packed my gear and went to Young Womans Creek to fish.

 Friday I fished Kettle not so far down creek. I caught some trout under the surface but I was still itching to dry fly fish. With no rain the past couple of days, Saturday looked like my best choice. The sun was suppose to shine and after noon the temps were supposed to to reach in the 80’s. 

 I woke up early, had breakfast and drove down creek to my destination. I was first parked aside the dirt road. It was if I was there for the early bird special waiting for the breakfast bar to open. I took my time getting my gear together. I assembled my G2 Scott Fly rod with weight forward fly line. There was supposed to be little wind and this medium action rod is the best for presenting dry flies with easy smooth casts. I made sure I had plenty of caddis flies, March Browns and Sulfurs beside my usual stash. I grabbed a few cigars and looked up to the sky. There wasn’t any sign of rain and any clouds above were just streaks that moved below the blue sky like the spent fuel that trail behind a jetliner. The sun was already rising behind me. I felt like I had a front row seat wherever I decided to choose to stay for the morning session.

 As I waded out I was casting Woolly Buggers watching for any rises. I spent, maybe a half hour, before another fisherman showed up. He fished down creek from me. I wanted to get into the middle of the creek to fish the far bank. I caught a few rainbows on a bugger before I got to within casting distance of the far bank.   

 I saw a few risers but the only thing I saw flying around was small caddis.I knotted on a deer hair caddis and was casting to the risers and about. I’d catch a trout now and then but it wasn’t till near noon when the bigger trout were hungry. 

 There was a rise across creek within my range. I made a cast that dropped the caddis up from the rise and watched it drift into the zone. He didn’t seem to care. Maybe I had the wrong color? I tried another caddis shade but couldn’t get a strike anywhere. I saw a small sulfur and then a March Brown come off the water. Trout started to dot the surface but not big surface splashes. I decided to knot on a March Brown parachute. It was on a #10 2x long hook. That may sound odd but I’ve done well with trout rising to it on wavy surface current. “Give them something they can see” is my theory.

 My first cast to the riser cross creek came up and grabbed it with a hardy rise. I reared back the long length of line and had him tight lined. He put up a good battling fight all the way to the net. He was a nice size brown trout. 

 I continued to cast out a March Brown #10 para. and the trout accepted it like a birthday gift. I missed a few, especially casting up creek, but I was hooking up more than I missed. The ones I was hooking up to were nice size browns and rainbows. They all put up good fighting battles. Some made it to the net while others came loose nearer me.  

 I surprised one across and down from me in the faster wavy current. He was feeding pretty regularly. I couldn’t get a good drift to him so I waded a bit downstream but keeping my distance. I made a cast and watched my March Brown drift within his eye sight. The March Brown drifted on the rolls of the waves and dips. The size of my MB he couldn’t miss as it drifted near. He rose with a big surface splash as if a coconut fell from the tree above. I reared back the line and the fly rod bowed towards the splash. I could feel the power in the taker as line peeled off the spool. I held on tight when all of a sudden he broke the water surface with a powerful leap in the air. His full body was exposed as if he was wanting to see who was on the other end. He came down with a splash and I could still feel him on the line. Within seconds he surfaced and rose again. This time twisting his body and shaking his head. The line went limp as he splashed down. He spit the hook the second time up like it was his first bite into a lima bean! I’m sure he’s not going to bite into another similar looking March Brown.

 I continued casting MB’s and caddis and hooking up but there were long dry spells in between.

 

  The temperature was rising and when the sun cleared the spotty cloud cover it shown down its hot rays like an over heating sauna room. Nothing was rising anyway and I wasn’t getting any responses from any trout that hadn’t been hooked.  

 I waded out and headed to Cross Fork for lunch. After lunch I went back to the camper for a short nap.

 It was around 4:00 when I arose from my nap. The temperature cooled down some so for the heck of it I decided to fish down creek from the campground. The spot I wanted was taken by a nymph fisherman. I moved down from him getting his OK that I was out of his range. He was doing well catching trout, underneath and an indicator, on whatever he was using. I on the other hand, having good noon time hook ups with dry flies, decided to stick with it. 

 I knotted on a Deer Hair caddis and made cross creek casts to the slower current on the far side of the main wavy current. The trout only had a few seconds to take my dry before the current would sweep it down creek. They must have been pretty hungry cause it didn’t take too many seconds to tick by before they grabbed my Caddis.    

 

 When I got back to the truck it was 7:00. I was hungry and played out. The nap might of gotten me a second wind but the last hour and a half took the wind out of me. I was tired, sore, and I was hungry. 

 I had heated venison stew in the crockpot in the morning and had a half bottle of white wine to finish off! 

~doubletaper

 

Dry Flying

                                                                             Dry Flying

5/05/26 

  Tuesday I decided to go bottomless. I kept my bugger box and sucker spawn box in my fly vest and carried my caddis boxes ready at all times. I drove up creek where I had caught many a trout in recent years on caddis dries. I parked, assembled my Scott Session 4 weight fly rod and lengthened the 4x tapered leader with 5x tippet the full length being about 8’6” the same length of the rod. I put my vest on and of course grabbed a few cigars.

 It was a cloudy overcast morning with a slight breeze and an occasional gust of wind. The sun was rising over the hillside that reflected its rays off the clouds above and down upon the forest and water. The weather people were calling for occasional showers with temps reaching into the 70’s. For now it was in the 60’s but I was hoping, once the sun was up above, bringing warmth, that a caddis hatch would appear. 

 The first section I fished I couldn’t get a take on my caddis dries. I was almost going to throw a bugger but promised myself to dry fly only. I waded out of the water and walked through the forest to the section of water I wanted to spend time dry fly fishing. When I got there, there was an older gentleman, with a fly rod, fishing from the opposite side of the creek. There was plenty of room between us to fish the wide section of water. My dedicated dry fly fishing went like this;

 There wasn’t anything happening on top of the water for awhile. I was casting a big #12 deer hair caddis in the faster wavy current and would cast a #14 caddis in the slower current. I figured that the bigger caddis, for the trout, would be easier to see on the wavy current. In time there was a few rises as small caddis were coming to the surface and fluttering off the water. Unless I saw a rise I was blind casting in different areas and making trout rise. 

 Most of the trout I caught on the dry were brown trout with a few rainbows mixed in. The brown trout were extra aggressive after being hooked. I caught some nice size brown trout that tore the caddis dry up pretty much unusable. 

  I was tying fresh caddis dries often replacing the beat up or drenched caddis from floating. Each new caddis I knotted on I would dap the body with dry fly gel before casting it out. When I caught a trout or the caddis wasn’t floating, my process is to dry off the caddis with my cotton handkerchief and then shake it in the bottle of silicone powder. Before casting it back out I would bend the deer hair or elk hair wing straight up for a better profile. When a trout rose to it I usually caught it though I did miss a few.  

 The fly guy across stream was fishing beneath the surface but I never saw him catch a trout. He wasn’t an amateur as he roll casted well and held the fly rod like he knew what he was doing he just wasn’t catching any trout beneath the surface. At times he’d sit on a rock and watch me casting my dry flies out and hooking up to rising trout.    

 When he sat on the rock and watched, most times, I would make long casts to his side of the creek. I asked him if he minded and he nodded his head no. I caught a couple on his side of the creek. 

I was biding my afternoon smoking cigars and casting dry flies under the occasional sunshine. 

 

 I was making easy casts when the wind died down and forced a cast across the gust of wind when I had to. (On windy days I use a fast action rod that cuts the wind a lot better than a medium to slow action fly rod.) My overhand arm motion was as uniform and consistent like the second hand on a grandfathers clock and as smooth as a well oiled grocery conveyer belt. When no wind was involved I had open loops leaving the caddis on the water with enough slack for a drag free drift being upstream, across creek, or downstream. When a cross-wind was involved I made quick and justifiable sharp closed loop casts to my target area. 

 I’m sure the other guy noticed I was dry fly fishing. He did mention that there wasn’t a hatch or nothing on the surface he could see for the fish to rise to. I told him “I make’m rise.” My theory is the reason trout aren’t rising is because there isn’t anything for them to rise to. On a day where caddis or mayflies aren’t about I still give the trout something to rise to. Sometimes all I have to do is see one riser which tells me the trout are looking up, as some would say. Fly fishermen won’t cast a dry because there isn’t a hatch going on or they don’t see any trout rising. Time and again I’ve watched guys walk down to the bank of a creek or river and look it over as if looking for rising trout or a hatch. If they don’t see any surface activity they walk away. No problem as far as I’m concerned. As my dad always commented “that’s more for me!”

 Near the far side of the creek, near the older gent sitting on the rock watching me, I saw a splash to the surface near the tail out of the faster wavy run. I made a sharp cast upstream from the splash, with my caddis, and watched for a rise. First and second cast didn’t happen. I waded upstream, along the bank, to get a better angle to get my caddis to reach the zone, dry fly first before the tippet. I made a looping cast and the dry caddis fell to the water upstream from my target zone. The bullet-head deer hair caddis wing was standing up like I wanted. As my offering drifted and bobbed on the riffling water a trout splashed to the surface. I quickly yanked the rod back and the line tightened and I swear 7 plus feet of the rod bowed towards the take. I called out “gotcha.” I could tell I had a heavy trout as we battled for supremacy. The whole time I hooked and battled with the trout the older gent watched me play him to the net. The rainbow was the biggest of the day. After releasing the hook from the side of its mouth I raised the rainbow for the guy across the creek to see. He nodded his head in approval. Being I fish mostly alone it’s nice to get an approval from an unknown fellow angler.  

 It wasn’t very long after that the older gent got up and walked up to his truck. I waded out and up the bank to dry land. I carefully walked through the forest upstream to where my truck was parked. I did make a few casts with the dry caddis where I started without a rise. No matter, I was happy with the results for the day.

 

~doubletaper