Shakespeare and I Gone Fish'n

 

Shakespeare and I Gone Fish’n

3/22/2021

Bait the hook well, the fish will bite

-Much Ado About Nothing

  Shakespeare and I went into the Allegheny National Forest in search of trout. It took some time but we came across buckets of trout holding steady in a deeper stretch of water. They were all looking upstream as if they were ready to run a marathon waiting for the sound of the starting pistol. It was like finding pots of gold at the end of a rainbow. Only thing was we can play with them as long as we wanted but couldn’t take any home and had to release them. (No Leprechauns were to be found.)

  It wasn’t as quick and easy catching them as one would expect. It wasn’t like fishing with a magnet in a kids carnival fish pond. Let’s face it gold isn’t attracted to a magnet and if the fish aren’t hungry they just won’t bite. It is in years of fishing for rainbows and experimenting that I found fresh rainbows like the color red. My first choice than was to tease them with a San Juan Worm. It took a little more coaxing getting flexible Shakespeare to hook the fooled fish but with quickness and a little more effort we were doing well with the San Juan.

 

  There was another fellow who had found the buckets of fish also and was catching a few across crick from me. When he left I waded over to where he stood. I had much more room and definitely a better drift. Also there were trout up ahead of me that I couldn’t reach on the side of the crick I first started on. Once the fish no longer wanted the San Juan I switched over to a Black stonefly and Picket Pin. Besides catching rainbows I started to catch brown trout also.

 

 I stayed in the same spot and caught trout after trout. It was if I was a food cart vendor in the middle of the town square feeding hungry tourist. Some might think how much of a challenge or fun could it be catching these stocked trout? My thought was why search down stream to catch the same stocked trout when they were right in front of me? Let’s face it, I still had to present a buggy looking treat with a good presentation to get one to sample.

  After they decided to quit accepting my offering I decided to just switch over to a common tied Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear for the last half hour. Well, there were still some trout left, without sore lips, that wanted to sample my latest offering.

 

  The time spent had to end sometime and we had plenty of fun for a few hours smoking cigars, catching fish and enjoyed being out on this beautiful Monday. 

 

  Back at the truck I changed out of my fishing clothes and picked a fatty cigar out of my traveling humidor. I lit the stogie with my Romeo y Julieta lighter and enjoyed my drive home.

 It was another good day in the ANF this time with my friend Shakespeare.

 

While others fish with craft for great opinion,

                                             I, with great truth, catch meer simplicity.

~Troilus and Cressida

~doubletaper

 

Fly Fish'n With Steel

 

Fly Fish’n With Steel 

3/20/2021

 Vintage; According to most of the experts in the trade, the term “vintage” refers to an item that is at least 50-year-old, but less than 100.

  Back when I fished with me grandfather he always used an old fly rod. I never saw him use any kind of flies though. While I was using the old Zebco push button and graduated to the open face spinning reel grandpa continued to dunk worms, home made Velveeta cheese balls or salmon eggs from his True Temper fly rod. It wasn’t till I was in my early twenties that I actually got a better look at it. Mostly because a thread wrap on one of the double foot guides had unwound. We wrapped it with duct tape and grandpa used it like that. 

It was when grandpa passed away and I inherited the old rod that I realized it was made of steel and a magnet stuck to it. It is quite heavy as you can imagine. Being in the condition it is in I never dared to take it out fishing. A few years ago I came across a True Temper fly rod very similar to my grandfathers rod at a yard sale. I don’t remember what I paid for it but of course I bought it. Besides the thread wrap color the only thing different in the reel seat is the reel locking ring. They are both 8’ 5”. I’ve been wanting to take the newer vintage True Temper rod out for trout and finally took the opportunity to do so.

Grandpa’s old rod

 

The newer one I bought

 

  It was a beautiful late morning when I arrived. By then it had gotten above 40 degrees. The sky was blue with promise of a warm sunny spring day.

  I took out the True Temper rod and fitted it with my Martin Classic mc78 reel spooled with Cortand 5wt Sylk Line. With the weight of the rod I was wondering how long I’d be able to fish with it before my arm tires.

 The water level was higher than I expected but still manageable to wade in. The clarity was like looking through a dirty window for about a foot or so along the bank. The wavy current was a lot hardy to see beneath.

  I knotted on a Woolly Bugger and found it wasn’t going to be easy to roll cast the bugger with the steel wimpy rod. With brush and small trees behind me overhand casting wasn’t to my favor. I decided to nymph fish and knotted on a pair of nymphs under an indicator. It took time for me to learn how to cast this rod. It was as whippy as a buggy whip. Roll casting wasn’t easy nor could I roll cast in the usual manner bringing the rod up in front of me and rolling it out. When I tried this the rod tip actually hit the water and the line, leader and tippet went limp creating all kind of tippet tangles. Instead I had to roll cast it from my opposite side at an angle, with my index finger parallel on the cork handle, and forcing the heavy rod outward. Once I got the hang of it it wasn’t too awful. It didn’t come naturally though as I always had to pay attention on each cast.

  When the indicator went under I pulled up and back on the rod. The top half of the rod arced downward and my first hooked trout on the rod tightened the line. I got it in safely. Not a big one but It was the first trout on the steel rod.

 Well of course this called for a celebration. I reached into my vest pocket and took out a sun grown stogie, lit it up, and enjoyed my outing so far.

  

 While I enjoyed my stogie it took some time for my next catch. After the hook up bringing the trout in was interesting to say the least. With the wimpy rod it was hard to keep a good tight line especially when the fish swam towards me or passed right in front of me. I tried reeling them in quickly to keep a tight line but with the small spool I couldn’t reel the trout in fast enough. Trying to line them in was difficult to keep the line tight also. Pulling fly line down through the eyes the rod tip would flex so much that by the time I grabbed more line the tight line became flimsy enough I wasn’t sure the trout was still hooked. 

 

  There was no doubt the rod was interesting to use. I caught enough trout to keep me entertained throughout this adventure. I wonder what the other fishermen thought when they saw me roll casting the rod in an unorthodox manner let alone trying to keep a tight line on the hooked trout with the flexing rod tip and with leader dangling like a loose wire on a telephone pool in a swirling wind at times.

 

 Back at the truck I changed into driving cloth for the way home. I put the Martin reel away and put the 2 piece steel rod back in the tube. It was an enjoyable outing being I caught fish on the Vintage Steel rod.

 

 When I got home I looked up the True Temper fly rod construction and year they were made.

They were produced in the 50’s and constructed of seamless tube steel. Not sure how these guys fished with these rods all day time after time. I only fished for about 5 hours, with breaks in between, and by the end of the day I felt the fatigue in my casting arm.

 ~doubletaper

 

 

June Bug Tute

 

June Bug

Probably one of the clumsiest bugs that fly around.

Hook; #12 2x or #14 2x long dry

Thread; Brown 6/0

Underbody; Golden Deer Hair

Legs; Furnace saddle hackle palmered

Body; Brown thread over underbody

Overbody; Golden Deer Hair pulled over body

 Head; Clipped Deer Hair

 

 

1. Thread base hook shank and bring thread to middle of hook shank

 

2. Clip off a good clump of Deer Hair and even up tips in a hair stacker.

 Position hair butts just behind eye and thread wrap soft loops towards the butts while holding the deer hair on top of the hook. Once you get to the ends of the butts tightly wind thread back over deer hair to the bend of the hook.

 

3. Tie in furnace hackle at hook bend.

 

4. Wind thread covering deer hair and hackle and bring to just before eye of hook.

 

5. Palmer hackle over body. I trim the top of the hackle.

6. Fold deer hair towards front of hook. Make three soft loops, over deer hair, and pull thread down tightly while holding deer hair tips.

 

7. Make a few more tight wraps around deer hair. Pull tips back and whip finish in front of deer hair behind eye.

8. Trim deer hair tips making head.

 

A bunch of June Bugs on the window seal.

 

Golden deer hair

 

 ~doubletaper

 

 

 

St. Patty's Day Trout'n

 

St. Patty’s Day Trout’n

3/17/2021

 

 I was heading to Central PA. in hopes of hooking into wild rising trout. The weather for the afternoon was suppose to be near 60 degrees and I was hoping of a hatch of some kind that would get some trout to rise.

  It was a foggy drive East on I80 when I left home early Wednesday. When I drove out of the fog the sky was a grayish blue with no distinct cloud outlines. The sky was just like a plane sheet of grayish blue art paper. It was a lot brighter of course out of the fog. My truck thermometer read 35 degrees which was colder then I expected. When I pulled into the parking area, next to the stream, there was only one other car in the lot. It was about 9:30 am and my truck thermometer read 36 degrees. Though it was a bit of a chilly morning I expected at least a couple more vehicles would be parked being that the temps were suppose to rise.

  I took my time getting my gear together and dressing in hopes the temps would rise quickly, at least to 40 degrees. I assembled my Icon rod, put a few cigars in my vest pocket and headed along the riverbank upstream. I saw one other fisherman up a ways so I stepped off the bank and started my St. Patrick’s Day fish’n in a flow of wavy current.

  The cold water was apparent immediately like a first sip of Jameson on the rocks. The water was as clear as a glass of Gunpowder Irish Gin. There was no doubt that if there was a hatch the trout would see any bugs on the surface. The overcast sky didn’t look, or feel, too promising as of yet but maybe with a little Irish day luck the sun might come out.

  I knotted on a little black stonefly and dropped a San Juan below. I like to fish a San Juan especially in fast moving water. I think it grabs the trout attention for a look see. Even if they refuse it there’s a better chance my tag-a-long nymph will be located and maybe grabbed. It didn’t take too long before my drifting combination to be taken in the fast wavy current. The line tightened and a fish pulled away with jarring tugs. It headed up into the strong current and tugged angrily at the nymph flexing the top section of the fly rod. In the current it’s hard to predict how big a hooked wild trout is. It seams they all fight pretty ferociously. He turned down creek, still tugging at the line, and the pressure of the arcing rod began to slow him down. We had quite a tugging match before he finally let up some and I had him coming towards me. Once he got close enough though you would of thought we were as if like poles of two magnets. He repelled when I pulled the rod back, rose some from the depth and skirted away just below the surface. I could see he was a wild brown. I dropped the rod some to ease the tension on the 5x tippet and not wanting the stronger current beyond to have an ill effect on my hook set. He tussled a little more before I got him closer to net. Even so he flopped and flipped around trying to escape my waiting net. He had a light butter stomach and the red freckles, black splotches encircled by silverish halos was a typical colors of a wild brown.  

 If you never experienced battling with a wild trout before you’ll want to fish them more often.

  

 After I released him back into the drink it was time for my first cigar. I pulled out a H. Upmann Nicaraguan, cupped my hand from the slight breeze, and lit it up. The easy draw and smooth tobacco flavor was sure to please my taste buds for awhile. 

 

 I fished as I waded slowly along the banks fishing the mid section of the stream. I came to a section with a slower moving flow behind a short lived riffle. The slower current was between wavy current on each side. After my cast I would high stick over the wavy water before me trying to keep my imitations in the soft spot. My indicator angled upstream and when it dipped I yanked the rod upward to set the hook either in a trouts mouth or a bottom snag. After the line straightened it cut through the surface quickly like an experienced chef, with a sharp blade, slicing celery sticks. The fish took off away towards the far bank and then wildly swam down stream with the current forcefully. It didn’t tug as constant as the previous wild brown but when it did tug it was meaningful. He kept his distance downstream with short bursts of head shakes and pulling away at time. When I angled the rod towards the bank he followed the tight line below me towards the bank also. Near the bank he swiftly swam up along the bank till he got close enough to see me I presumed. I was bringing in line until he saw me but within vision he turn and skirted in a round about arc downstream again like a Frisbee caught in a cross wind. I had to let tensioned line slip through my fingers. He stopped in the oncoming current. I arced the rod upstream and he slowly proceeded to follow. I backed up towards the bank just enough to get away from the faster current before me. With that I raised the rod and had him coming up this side of the seam. He swam past me and I took out my net. Raising the rod he backed up and I was able to scoop him up. He had taken the San Juan Worm. I continued to use the same combination down creek and caught another rainbow on the San Juan.

 

 The sun finally broke through the dull painted sky and I was starting to feel the heat beneath my layers of clothing. I left the stream and went to the truck to discard a layer or two. I was again surprised that my truck was the only vehicle in the lot.

  On my returned I fished down creek from the lot but didn’t have a single hit. It was if my Olive Woolly Bugger wasn’t green enough, so I ventured back upstream. Up creek I went beyond where I caught the rainbows and brown trout and figured I would work my way down creek.

  It took sometime to catch my next trout. Black stoneflies started to appear under the warming sun. Not many but enough that I was hoping more would show up and fish would rise. I switched over to a Picket Pin and a Black Stonefly combination. One drift through the wavy current, almost at the end of the drift, I felt a sudden jerk on the line. I quickly lifted the rod for a hook set and another trout fought viciously in the current. The hook set stayed true and another rainbow laid quietly in the bottom of my net. He had taken to Picket Pin. 

  

 It wasn’t long after that stoneflies were fluttering on the water more often. When I saw my first rise I didn’t hesitate to knot on a dry stonefly. There were three rises within a close distance of each other within my casting range downstream. It could have been the same trout looking up picking off anything within vision or maybe a few trout feeding. I wasn’t sure but I tried for the rise in a slower more open flow of water. With a backhand cast, over my left shoulder, I let the line straighten downstream and quickly stopped my forward motion. This backed up my tippet and the dry fly fell upon the water with plenty of slack to drift drag free. I watched as my small caddis style tied stonefly floated on the surface water towards the feeding zone. The trout quickly rose as if he was afraid my fly would soon free itself from the surface film and take flight. I instinctively lifted the rod up and back and the hook set was true. The smaller brown shook the line and rod tip all the way to the net. My first March dry fly hooked trout was in my net. Not a big brown but one with beautiful wild brown colors. The stonefly hooked squarely in the corner of its mouth. I was as joyful as a Hurling player scoring a three point goal.

 

  While I was tying another stonefly dry on I had a visitor land on my sleeve. I was surprised a bit by the size as I thought they were a bit smaller in length. Even so I knotted on another dry stone like the last.

  Still tempting any trout downstream I continued time after time to get another to rise. It took a bit but another rose up to take my imitation. I was O'Jerry on the spot and hooked another on the dry.

 

 Well I fished for another half hour or so but couldn’t get any trout to rise. The stoneflies had just about petered out anyhow and a breeze picked up in the meantime. The sun was still shining brightly but with the breeze the air was beginning to chill. I fished downstream towards the truck without another strike.

  At the truck I put away my gear and got changed.

 I’m not Irish by any means nor do I celebrate St. Patrick’s Day like the Irish do. I do in fact respect the holiday and wore some green. I had even bought a green wrapped cigar and saved it for this occasion.

  I ate a quick sandwich before leaving the stream. In the truck I lit up the green wrapped 'Swamp Thang', as it is called, and enjoyed the stogie all the way home on the road.

It was a good St. Patty's Day!! 

 ~doubletaper