Last Tussle on Kettle Creek

The Last Tussle on Kettle Creek

5/23/2021

  

 Jeff and I had a pretty good week on Kettle Creek from when he arrived on Tuesday the 18^th till when we left on Sunday. I caught most of my trout on dry flies while Jeff caught most of his underneath. He caught the biggest one on Friday. Not that we compete against each other but he did land the biggest.

  

 Yes, I had two big ones on and lost both before the net. One spit a Woolly Bugger out and the other let go of an emerger if I remember right.

Sunday we woke up early and had breakfast and coffee. I wasn’t really excited about going out the morning and was planning on just starting to clean up camp first and then go out around noon if I felt like it. Jeff said he was going out in the morning and will be back around noon to help out. I changed my mind and went along with him.

  We stopped in the Kettle Creek project area. There was one other truck there when we parked. The sun was still rising behind the tree tops and it was already getting warm out. Jeff fished not to far downstream while I ventured down creek tossing Woolly Buggers for something to do. I was headed for a bend far down crick I have caught trout before. When I got to the first bend it was still partly shaded. March Browns were flying everywhere like lightening bugs lost in a dark forest. I watched for any risers and was surprised I didn’t see any trout rise. I switched over to a March Brown dry pattern and continued on down crick. 

 The whole way downstream I casted out the March Brown hoping to raise a trout. There were some improvement breaks along the banks that were put there by a club. I got good perfect casts along the breaks and was sure at least one trout would rise but no trout was evidently hungry enough.

 When I finally got to the bend there was a guy on the bank knotting something on. It was obvious he was going to fish the riffling water before it entered into a large slower pool of water. I went around him and took the time to look around for any risers before casting out. The water was clear but the pool was deep enough I couldn’t make out the bottom. The deepest part had a greenish blue tint to it. I have caught a few trout at the end of the pool before it shallows out and enters a narrower, rougher water that ran along the far bank. I started my first few casts in the tail out without a rise. I continued to cast out the dry March Brown trying to cover different spots hoping to get a trout to at least take a look at the thing. I made a couple of casts onto the riffling water entering the big pool and watched the dry roll with the subtle waves down into the pool. After one cast I glanced down into the tail out and then turned my head to see where my dry fly was. There was a splash on the water midstream out in front of me and I wristed the rod up a bit hoping the splash was an indication that something took my dry. Well, the rod curved in a semicircle and in turn the line tightened. The initial pull on the other end caught me by surprise and being I didn’t have a good wrist hold, straightened the rod almost level with the water. I immediately locked my wrist with the rod raised while the trout took line out of the reel like a runaway kite taking line from an unattended ball of string. It couldn’t get very far across creek but when it did get near the bank it turned towards the tail out some and took deeper. I had time to tighten the reel drag knob a couple of clips to keep some tension on the line when I needed to hold the grip with both hands. He tussled and pushed his weight around in the deepest part of the pool. I then noticed that laying on the bottom of the pool was at least one lengthy limb with a couple of short offshoot branches attached. I know these were trouble. As he fought and tugged on the line from below I was concerned about the hazardous limb I could barely make out. I didn’t know its length but I knew it could be trouble if the trout got into it. I kept the rod raised trying to get the trout up higher in the water column away from the limb. I could feel the downward force, within my tight grip, of the arcing front portion of the 9’ rod the trout was putting on it. When he swam out further I wasn’t too worried but when I felt him getting closer to the limb had me worried.

  I was on the bank and I knew I needed to get into the water to net him. There was a bunch of washed up sticks and branches laying along the bank in front of me. While holding onto the rod with one hand, while my other was feeling the stress the trout was putting on the line, I walked downstream on the bank and waded in just above my shins. I actually didn’t try to wade any further out as the water depth dropped off quickly.

  The line was angled out towards the far bank and up near the incoming waves. I needed to get him to the back of the pool where I was near. The problem was he would have to pass by the limbs at the bottom. I couldn’t see how far up they reached from the bottom but I knew I had to have him avoid it at all costs. I put a little more pressure, by backing the rod towards the tail out, on him to get him to turn downstream. He gave a forward head shake and turned and swam quickly into the deepest part of the pool somewhere, I figured, near the limb. I raised the rod up as high as I could trying to keep him away from the limb and continued to move the rod towards the tail out. It felt like he cautiously started to swim towards the arcing rod pressure but was tugging trying to get deeper. The rod bounced a couple of times with his actions but I didn’t let line out to let him get deeper. When I saw the trout clear the submerged limb I was more relieved. I brought in line as he swam into the back of the pool in about 12” to 18” of water. From there I cautiously brought in line making him swim towards me. Once he was close enough to net he turned downstream to try and get away. The force of the rod bending held him back from going too far but he sure was putting a lot of pressure on my locked wrist trying to hold the rod high. He kind of swam in circles splashing the surface before I got him in the net. I took a deep sigh of relief as I turned and took him towards the bank. My big March Brown dry was secured tightly in the side of his jaw. 

  

 After lighting up a rewarding stogie I looked at my watch and it was about 8:40am. Jeff wanted to leave the stream by quarter after nine to get back to the campsite and help me pack up the camper. He was planning on leaving near 10:00.

  I took a few more casts in the big pool then slowly worked my way upstream towards where he was fishing. When I got to the bend, where I saw all the March Browns earlier, they had disappeared. I continued to fish my way up to Jeff. He said he had caught 3 on dry fly patterns and one beneath if I’m remembering correctly. He did say he missed a couple strikes.

  I only had one take my offering that whole morning. The last day of being on Kettle Creek. A morning I wasn’t really planning on fishing. It happen to be the biggest trout I had netted all week. I just happen to be in the right place at the right time with the right offering. I’ve said before I’m one that does not believe in luck but…….

~doubletaper