A Dry Peaceful Evening

 

A  Dry Peaceful Evening

4/23/202

Size didn’t matter as long as I was catching trout on a dry fly!

 On the past Tuesday evening trout were rising to Hendricksons, Caddis and stoneflies which ever they preferred. My Hendricksons were in the truck so I figured to fool them with the stonefly dries I had with me. The trout were rising everywhere. It was fast and furious. After I caught a trout I couldn’t dry it or replace it fast enough to get it back out there to the feeding trout. I wasn’t sure how long the hatch would last but I was determined to catch as many as I could. In about 30 minutes it was over. The wind increased into a gale. It was hard to cast and the trout quit rising anyhow. It was fast and furious while it lasted.

 Wednesday I woke up to 30* weather and snow. Thursday I woke up to snow and 30* weather also. Thursday evening I went to the Pen’s hockey game with my son, grandson and cousin. Friday I gathered up supplies from home and headed back to camp. As soon as I got everything back in order I headed out to the same section of Tionesta Creek. I was on the water by 2:00.

  It was bright and warm when I arrived. The sun was up in the blue sky and the clouds were practically nil. The thin clouds that did streak the sky were so thin the sun easily penetrated them keeping it bright. The water was gin clear and the riffles sparkled under the sun like beach glass on a sandy beach. I figured no one fished the past 2 days because of the weather. Even if someone fished this morning I was hoping the trout would still rise to a hatch this evening. I was alone and if the trout were going to rise I had the whole place to myself. Even if there wasn’t a hatch I felt I could make them rise!!!

  It was near 2:30 when small caddis started to appear and 2 step on the water. They were tapping the surface as if teasing the trout to try and catch them. A few stoneflies were also fluttering across the surface now and then appearing to dry their wings before full flight. There was a slight breeze that would blow the stoneflies off course but nothing too strong to hamper my casting.

  I started casting stonefly dries even though only a couple of trout rose periodically. Nothing wanted my stonefly so I switched to a Hendrickson dry. The trout took Hendricksons two days ago so why wouldn’t they take them now?

 I have asked myself “do trout actually know when a hatch completely ends?” I’ve answered my own question many a times. Days after people think the hatch is over and trout won’t rise, well they will, trust me. I proved it to myself and others!

  Well, it didn’t take too many casts to get a trout to take my Hendrickson imitation. He slurped it up quickly like a goalie scooping up a sliding puck towards the net. I yanked back the line slack and the line tightened. I saw the trouts side shimmer from the sun rays just below the surface before he took deep. He tugged as he swam beneath trying to get loose. Without warning he rose out of the water and displayed its physical ability in mid air of acrobatic flexibility. He reentered the water with a splash, swam a piece and again exited the water in similar fashion.

  

 I made trout rise to my Hendrickson pattern even though not a live Hendrickson was seen. 

 

 When the trout quit attacking my Hendrickson I knotted on one of my dry stonefly patterns.

 That worked for sometime. I rarely moved from the position I was standing. I was making short to long casts downstream, upstream and across. It wasn’t like Tuesday, fast and furious, but if I saw a trout rise on occasion I was targeting my cast like a hockey player in a shoot out looking for an open 5 hole. 

 

 

 For 2 ½ hours, from 2:30 till 5, I was catching trout like Fleury catching slap shots from the blue line without any obstructions.

 The hooked trout looked graceful with their out-of-water experience of air born technique as they tried to dislodge the hook. Beneath the water they fought in erratic fashion like a poor sighted vole in a hen house being pecked by the chickens searching for a way out. Of course I didn’t score every time, not all shots on goal make it inside the net, but I was having fun trying to get a second and third chance at times. Even the stogie I was smoking seemed to smoke a little finer like nachos and beer taste better in the arena when your team is up by 4 goals! 

 It was a peaceful easy feeling without a soul around. When the gusts of wind picked up trying to cast wasn’t feasible or fun anymore. Besides that no trout were rising and no bugs filled the air. With the wind brought a cold chill that, at times, I wasn’t dressed for. I could have stayed and nymph fished but why ruin a perfect peaceful evening, with no stress, catching trout on the dry?

 

Make’m rise,

~doubletaper