PA Grand Slam

 

PA Grand Slam on the Tionesta

4/08/2021

 It was a chilly morning, maybe in the upper 40’s. The sun was out avoiding the cloud cover most of the time. I already been out in the Tionesta Creek for the past ½ hour like the other 3 or 4 guys. While they were fishing the deeper section of water and downstream riffles, I was fishing the shallower water catching trout on nymphs and Woolly Buggers.

  

 There was a guy across crick from me fishing a deep pool area and slowly wading down crick to where the other bait fishermen were fishing. He was actually wading through water I had caught trout the past 2 days. I kind of followed, fishing behind him, only from my side of the crick. I started to toss buggers and letting them swing in the current. Now and then I’d get a bump and now and then I was able to hook a rainbow or brook trout.

 

  The guy would turn around and see the trout I caught splashing surface water. The cross crick guy finally took a stand on a flat rock and was fishing the tail out of the deeper hole just before the riffles. There was a guy downstream from me fishing the same hole from my side of the crick. Both were throwing bait of some sort.

  So, I’m tossing the bugger cross crick to where the guy just waded through 5 minutes ago and letting it swing into the deeper water downstream from me. The glare on the water surface was pretty intense with the sun shining down on us. I made a long cast with the fast action fly rod across and downstream and let a little more line out so the bugger would drift further down crick. I figured the drift should swing just shy of the cross creek fellow and close to the beginning of the deep hole. From out of nowhere I saw a long fat gold oblong shaped fish chasing my swinging bugger. At least I assumed that. He darted towards where I figured my offering was swinging but held back from hitting it but still followed it. His second attempt he hit the moving bugger like a hawk grabbing a running field mouse. When I felt the bump I pulled line in while jerking the rod high upstream for the hook set. The line tightened instantly as the 9’ 5weight rod arced into the mid section. I watched the golden dart underneath the surface glare to my left downstream taking line. I held the grip tight trying to lock my wrist trying to keep an arc in the rod. The golden trout was heavy and used its weight and the current trying to break loose. After a few more seconds, with the force he was putting on the arcing rod, I had a feeling he was hooked pretty good.

  The guy, just down stream from me, called out “he caught a Palomino.” Just then the Golden came out from under the glare and started causing a big commotion on the surface. The sun shown down on the battling trout like a spotlight on the main attraction of a stage play in a fit of rage. The golden appeared to glow upon the surface as it struggled before returning below. I felt the vibration of the flexing rod with every tug, head shake and body twist. With a little more of his energy exerted I felt I could start coaxing him towards me. As I was bringing in line, slowly, he swam from side to side into the oncoming current and was slowly coming my way. At time it was like trying to get a stubborn mule, tied to a long rope, tugging to follow me. When I finally got him closer, and saw the size of him up close, I wasn’t sure I would be able to keep him in the net. I lifted the rod and he drew closer from downstream. I assumed that when he saw the net he didn’t want anything of the sort and swam across from me. I felt the rod arcing more and more so I relieved the pressure by dropping the rod some. I let him swim upstream a little and got ready to try and net him again. My intention was to get his head in the net first. I lifted the rod high and he backed up towards me. With one quick swoop, from beneath him, I swung the net up and his thick body entered my tear drop net. I angled the net quickly so his head dropped into the deepest part of the net bag while his tail was flapping frantically like windsock tails in a stiff breeze. His solid reddish maroon lateral line was so pronounced it looked like someone took an artists paint brush and made one swipe across his glowing side.

  I unhooked the bugger from his jaw and admired my catch with a quick picture. I laid the net close to the water and when I held him I could feel his firm strong body within my grip. I slid my hand to the neck of his tail and when he gave me a good hard get away tail swat I released him from my hand. He swam away looking as if he was in good shape.

  Well, I continued to fish into the evening. Around 11 a few trout were rising to what I believe were stoneflies. I knotted on one of my stonefly dry patterns and casted to the risers. One snapped it up and broke water rising like a plastic ball being held under the water and then letting it go. I set the hook on the rise and got a good hold on him. He fought like a small dog trying to pull his favorite rope toy from its owners hand. When I got him netted I saw he was a brown trout. I couldn’t get another to rise to my dry fly so I knotted on a nymph with a Picket Pin. On one drift a felt a hard strike like a trout grabbing a swinging streamer. I hooked it and when I got it in it was a frisky rainbow. Since I didn’t take any photos of the other rainbows I caught earlier I figured I’d take a pic of this one to authenticate my story. That completed the PA Grand Slam. At least one brook trout, one rainbow, one golden trout and one brown trout. In all my years of trout fishing I’m not sure if I ever did that before.

 

 It was another exceptional good day trout fishing.

 

~doubletaper