Monday Before the Heat Wave

                                                                Monday Before the Heat Wave

5/18/26 

 I knew, Sunday, right where I wanted to fish Monday. The weather was to get into the 90’s so I knew I’d have to get to the section of Kettle Creek before it got too hot. I ate a good breakfast, Monday morning, got my waders on at the campsite and made sure my vest was filled with what I felt was needed for the days adventure.

 I was the first to park along the dirt road in the morning. The sky was ocean blue without a cloud in the sky. It forewarned me that when the sun came overhead it was going to be hot. I was counting on a mayfly hatch of some kind to fish over. I wasn’t going to waste much time swinging Woolly Buggers and I was hoping for risers or I was going to make’m rise. Without any wind advisory I assembled my Scott G2 9 footer fly rod for some dry fly casting.

 The sun was coming up behind me and it was already warm enough to just wear my Columbia fishing shirt. I knotted on a Woolly Bugger to my fresh 7’ 6” 4x tapered leader and stepped into the clear cool water of Kettle Creek. I might have casted out twice before I saw my first rise out in front of me. I nipped off the bugger and knotted on a section of 5x tippet. To that I knotted on a #14 caddis. I casted out to the one riser a few times but he didn’t seem interested. No matter, I continued to wade across creek so I could cast to the far side of the wide section of creek, 

 I casted out the caddis to the few trout that were rising sporadically. I caught one but after that not any were much interested. There were a few other risers but didn’t want my caddis I had chosen so I switched colors, still nothing. A little later on I saw a March Brown pop up and fly away. I knotted on a #12 March Brown but couldn’t get a strike. I switched to a #10 March Brown para chute and casted out to no where in particular. A trout finally rose to it and I was Jerry on the spot and nailed him. He fought like the dickens, twisting and turning, tugging and head shaking trying to release the hook but couldn’t. I played him well and my first trout of the day made it to the net safely.  

 After that I couldn’t get a strike for some time. I knew I had to be patient and not give up and go elsewhere on the creek. About an hour before noon March Browns were coming off the water pretty regularly. Trout were breaking the surface as if grabbing an emerger before it got to the surface. I figured they were taking emergers but I convinced myself I could catch one on a dry March Brown. I casted out to the many risers but many weren’t interested in my dry fly at first. I did catch a couple on my MB dry offering but the majority of the trout ignored mine and they continued to pop out of the surface after an emerger.  

 I took out a cigar and decided my next challenge. 

 Not getting any more to rise to my dry I knotted on a March Brown emerger. I tie them similar to those sold at the Kettle Creek Fly Shop. In no time at all I caught 2 nice hearty brown trout on the emerger. They both fought as if they made up their minds they weren’t going to be netted. Wrong!  

 After those 2 the hatch all of a sudden stopped! The wavy water flowed without interruption as if there were no trout in the area. None were rising and no March Brown naturals were seen.

 I would say the hatch only lasted about a half hour. Maybe I was stubborn and could have caught more trout on the emerger if I would of knotted one on earlier?

 When I couldn’t catch any more on an emerger I knotted a March Brown nymph under the emerger. I caught 3 sticks, the last one broke off my MB nymph, so I quit nymph fishing!! By now the sun was up above throwing down the heat like an infrared light source. I know my body temperature was heating up so I decided to call it quits. I had a ways to go to wade to the bank so I decided to knot on a small hackle wet fly and cast it out as I stop and go towards the bank. I caught one trout pretty quick. 

 Continuing towards the bank I stopped for a moment and made a long cast across creek. I lifted the rod, like I was nymph fishing and slowly lowered it as the wet fly continued its path down creek. Wham! A trout grabbed the wet fly as hard as if it was one of my swinging Woolly Buggers! I jerked the rod back to make sure the point penetrated. The trout shook back and wasn’t very pleased but she was stuck with me for awhile. 

 She fought to and fro like we were square dancing. She’d swing to her left and do a Do-si-do. I extended the rod to the left trying to bring her up creek but she had lots of energy and resisted. She swam to my right, down creek keeping her distance, and I swung the rod to my right and she did a couple more Do-si-do’s. She finally seem to tire some and I had her coming up creek to my right. She passed by me in a hurry as I held the rod tip high, bringing in line and keeping the line taunt. She then decided to swing around me as if we were now partners. I followed her lead, with my rod and turned with her, as I swung my partner round and round! She still appeared to have lots of energy but I was kind of tired of square dancing with her. I put a little more tension on the line and let the rod arc more following her go around. That must of tired her out some and she wasn’t so playful. I got her a little closer and she decided to Promenade with me as we spun around once more. As close as she was now I was ready to scoop her up in my net. I lifted the rod high and she rose in front of me and I swooped her up. The dance was over. I got a picture of my lady and let her go so she could change partners the next time she wanted to square dance. 

 When I got to my truck, and started it, the temperature gauge read 99 degrees. It felt steamingly hot and I wasn’t willing to play anymore in the heat.

~doubletaper

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 featherlight 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