Against the Current

Against the Current

4/20/2020

 The sky was blue and the opaque white clouds slowly moved across the sky like cottonwood seeds in a gentle breeze. It was just above 30 degrees when I arrived at Tionsta Creek. I’ve always wondered how a waterway is defined as a creek or a river. In North Carolina I’ve fished rivers that were if Simon Said “take 3 giant steps” you’d be across the river. In Pennsylvania I’ve fished creeks that were 3 semi’s long in width. Anyhow the Tionesta Creek is wide and was flowing high and cold.

I took my time assembling all my gear and decided to wear my neoprene chest waders. They’ll keep me a little warmer longer than the general light waders. Once the chill of the water surrounds the waders long enough the coldness will be just about the same. Once my feet get cold, than just about numb, they’ll feel like lead weights and there’s really not much pain.

  I assembled my 9’ 5 weight Icon Allen rod and fit it with a WF5F line on a large arbor reel. I look over the water and the rising sun sparkles the rolling waves like the facets of cut diamonds under show room lighting. I don my polarized glasses to cut down the glare and walk to the creek bank.

  I drop off the bank into the chilling April water. I feel the current pushing against my shins and the chill of the water surrounding my waders. I cast the Woolly Bugger out across the knee deep shallows and let it swing down creek. I’ve fished this section before many times. The wide shallow water flow about 50 yards or so before deepening. I usually catch one or two trout in the shallow riffling water before getting near and fishing the deeper water. There are already 2 fellows, about 10 yards or so from the bank, casting their spinning rod offerings two thirds the way across the deeper section.

  I slowly wade and swing the bugger and move downstream towards the middle of the creek. I take careful steps as I feel for solid ground beneath the stony bottom as the current pushes against my legs. On one swing the arc of the fly line pulls away and I feel the pull between my left finger and thumb gripping the fly line. I jerk back on the rod and my first trout fights in the fast current. I keep the rod near the surface not wanting him to skim the surface. He turned downstream with the current. The rod bends with the running trout. I keep a lot of tension between my fingers and gripping the cork with my right hand. I carefully bring the trout near me and once near enough I slip my net out. I lift the rod high and see the brown trout come to the surface. Before I can reach out to net him he shakes his head against the surface current and sets himself free. Oh well, the current is pretty strong and I expect a few trout to escape free from being netted.

  I settle myself about midstream. I add another split shot to the leader and cast out across the current. I let slack drop onto the surface so the weighted bugger drops deeper before the slack line arcs and pulls the bugger with the current. I feel a sharp tug and pull back on the fly rod and fly line. The arc straightens tight lining towards a fighting trout. It swiftly swims with the current downstream as I keep enough tension between my finger and thumb not putting too much strain on the 4x tippet. I swing the rod to my left and the rod bends into the mid section pointing towards the fighting fish. I play him towards me and near enough I take out my net. Keeping the fly line pinned against the cork with my right fingers and with a tight hold on the grip I swing the arced rod upstream. The trout follows and as I lift the rod higher the trout moves towards me and I net him safely. A nice rainbow shines under the sunlight as it settles in the net. I let him swim free from the net back into the cold water.

Now, I’m not bragging but trout came to the net pretty often with a few coming undone against the strong current. I slowly took a step or two when the bite slowed down. I made long casts across creek and as it swung into deeper water is when I got the most strikes. Nice size rainbows fought viciously and some showed their acrobatic skills exploding out of the surface water. Their silvery sides reflected the sun rays like aluminum plates blowing in the wind dangling from a garden post. Their red to pink lateral stripe added color to their dark spotted body. Some trout appeared to somersault before free falling splashing into the water surface. One trout was extra exuberant and showed us 4 air born leaps and flips before settling down beneath and coming to my net.

 

 

 

 I cast the Woolly Bugger half the distance that I had been. I let a lot more slack in the line as if dead drifting the bugger wanting it to sink deeper before bringing the rod level with the surface. The line caught up with the drifting bugger and arced pulling the bugger into the swing. Just before the line straightened the fly line dipped quickly with a noticeable tug. I yanked back on the rod and I felt the rod arc into the mid section. The wet line sprung up in a straightened tight line pointing right to the underwater taker. The trout swiftly took off like a bandit after a stagecoach robbery with the Cavalry hot on his trail. It stayed deep and swam in a big arc upstream further away from me. I held the cork tight as my fingers controlled the line tension. When the trout got about straight across from me it dove deeper and turned downstream. I let tension line slip through my fingers trying to slow him down a bit. After it finally succumbed to the back pressure it settled down stream, facing the current, with head shakes and whatever trout do when struggling to get free beyond my vision. I carefully started to reel him in towards me against the current not wanting him to rise to the surface just yet. I let him tire some a time or two not wanting to horse him in too quickly. With about 3 inches or so of fly line out from the tip top I took out my net and raised the rod higher. The big trouts tail fluctuated in the current as it faced upstream. I swung the rod up creek and the trout followed the tight line like a sled being pulled by kid up hill. With the net in the water I lowered the arced rod and the trout backed up towards me. It tried to swim away from the net but I kept the rod steady and got him close enough to close the deal. It’s red lateral stripe was well pronounced and appeared to glow against its spotted silvery body from its gill plate right down to its tail in the sunlight. Its pectoral, pelvic and anal fins were a translucent crimson color. It wasn’t lengthy but its girth was much more wider and thicker than the others I caught. I dipped the net into the water and the fat stunted trout turned and swam out. I watched and once it got its composure it turned downstream and swam away.

 

 I caught trout for the next half hour or so before wading back towards the creek bank.

Walking towards the truck on dry land my legs, below my kneecaps, felt as stiff as a surveyors spike with no muscle feeling. My feet felt like anchor blocks. I took a break at the truck and let my body recover from the coldness. Out from the water I could feel the warmth of the sun much more. Once I warmed up a bit I grabbed the fly rod and headed back to the creek.

By now it was about 1:30. the 2 fellows with the spinning gear and an older gent waded their way about half way across the creek where I was standing earlier. They were lined up, keeping their social distance, casting far out across creek with bait and bobbers. I waded upstream from them keeping my distance and not interfering with their fishing.

  I switched from Woolly Buggers to Triple Threats often. I continued to catch trout casting towards the shallows of the far bank and letting my streamers swing into the deeper section. Most of the time the trout would take the streamer on the swing. Other times I would let the streamers hang in the current after the swing and eventually a trout would attack. Sometimes a hooked trout would explode out of the water showing off its stunning acrobatic skills before splashing down like a small child jumping in a puddle. 

 

“ He caught another one” the older gent would call out to the two other guys.

 

 Another hour or two went by before the 3 guys decided to wade out. I fished for another half hour or so before I too called it a day and headed to shore. Stiff legged I headed to the truck and slowly I started to feel more feeling in my limbs.

  I warmed up the truck and drank a beer while putting my gear away. Evidently there is a leak of some portion in my neoprene's. In the cold water and weather it’s hard to tell if you’re wet underneath your waders or just the coldness of the water that filtered through. Anyhow, I changed into dry clothes and lit up a H. Upmann Vintage Cameroon before taking off. 

 

 It was a great day. The weather was to be nasty the next day for my birthday including strong winds and possibly snow. The big rainbow may have been my birthday trout of 2020 this year coming a day early.

~doubletaper

P.S. As it was, birthday morning I woke up to colder temperatures and snow.