The Morning After

 

The Morning After

5/26/2021

  The guys in the campsite next to me were fixing breakfast as I was sorting out my vest. While they were eating breakfast I was catching trout.

 After dropping my camper off in Milroy, on Tuesday, for repairs it gave me a good excuse to fish Penns Creek only about 40 minutes away. By the time I got camp set up it was about 1:30. I called it a practice run being I never fished this section of water before. I did pick off a few trout on dries and spent most of the afternoon getting familiar with the place and hatches.

 

 

I did catch one nice bigger brown on a dry fly pattern.

 In the evening Drakes, March Browns and other Mayflies filled the air. I wasn’t sure what they were taking on the surface but it wasn’t what I had to offer.

Wednesday morning I woke up at my usual time about 5:30am. I ate breakfast, reorganized my vest and made sure I had a few stogies while the guys next site over were making breakfast. There was a good hatch of March Brown spinners the night before. Thrown in were some small Sulphurs, big Green Drakes and who knows what else? I had watched the big drakes flutter while drifting downstream time and again last evening but not a trout rose to them. I figured, last evening, trout may have been taking spinners or emergers. I decided to add some of these patterns to my collection this morning.

When I got to the crick I wasn’t sure what to expect but there wasn’t a human being in sight as far as my eyes could see. Maybe the fishermen and women were eating breakfast like the guys next site over?

There were March Browns coming off the water and a few small Sulphurs. There were these two blackbirds fussing in the trees across the crick. Every time they shook a branch hard enough a bunch of drakes and March Browns filled the air like a bunch of Maple tree whirligigs on a windy day. Some would touch the water and flutter downstream. None I seen were eaten by trout.

I started off with a brown spinner without any takers in the slower water. I switched to a poly wing emerger and got the same results. I resorted to my beat up March Brown parachutes that I had left over from Kettle Creek the week before. They looked pretty shabby.

I paid attention to a few risers while I knotted on the March Brown. Evidently the trout didn’t mind the shabby looking dries. I nabbed four trout right off within 30 minutes of where I had seen them rising. 

 

 I looked at my watch and it was only 8:30am and I already put four in the net. I don’t usually smoke a cigar this early but waking up so early and catching trout already I was ready for a reward. I took out a short robusto and lit it up.

 

 Across crick there was a small wavy run just out from the stony shallows. It looked deep so I gave it a try. It took a few casts but one cast put my dry just shy of the submerged rocks that caused the waves. I watched my dry roll with the waves heading downstream ahead of the tippet and tapered leader. A trout rose and sucked it in. I yanked the long length of line up and back and the line tightened causing the top rod section to bow in a good arc. In the distance I saw a lengthy brown trout come up just below the surface before it took my line downstream into faster current. I purposely made a quick wrist set to make sure I had a good tight hold on him. He didn’t come loose so I didn’t hurry him in. He fought in the current and I let him play himself out exhausting some of his energy before I took more control. I moved the rod at an angle upstream and he slowly followed with a few head shakes. Once upstream from me, with the rod raised high, he backed up towards the net splashing water in all directions. It took a couple of tries but I did net him cleanly. A nice lengthy butter belly brown.

 

  After that release I dried off the excess water from my March Brown with my handkerchief. Then, like always, I put it in the Top Ride bottle and shook it dry even further.

  I concentrated on risers when I saw one or just casted out blindly trying to make one rise. I saw a couple of dimples across crick in the stony shallows beyond where I caught the lengthy brown. I figured it to be a smaller trout feeding on some small bugs. It wasn’t going to be easy getting to him though. Heck I had to give it a try. I had to sidearm cast to get it under an overhanging leafy branch. There was plenty of room beneath it but sometimes the line, especially with a dry fly, doesn’t always make it under safely. The other thing was that I wanted to get my dry as close to the beginning of the riffling water and not right on its head. I made a decent cast and watched the white calf tail parachute post bounce upon the riffles. I saw a quick flash towards it and in an instant my March Brown disappeared. In that instant I reared back the long length of line. I knew I had him hooked but what I didn’t expect was the weight I felt in my grip around the cork handle as the rod bent towards the far bank. I was able to see the dark brown trout turn downstream, followed by a wake, out of the shallows. He took tensioned line through my fingers and spun line off the spinning spool like thread through a sewing machine needle making a straight hem. I held the rod up trying to keep the fly line from dragging in the water. He fought downstream in quick to and fro motions. I held on tight and let him have line when he forced it and took in line when he gave me a chance to. So far this morning I got every trout I hooked to the net and I didn’t want this one to be the exception.

  We had a good tug of war going on. I wasn’t giving up, so either the line was going to break or he was eventually going to get into my net. I was using 4x tippet and it’s been holding up fine so I had good thoughts it wasn’t going to snap. If my knots were poor they should of come loose by now. I stood in knee deep water with the rod bowed in a big arc pointing downstream to the hooked brown. Every time he gave a head jolt the bowing rod would flex and rebound back into the forgiving arc. For a while neither of us looked to gain an edge.

  I had him coming upstream across from me and coming closer. I had the net out and I was raising the rod up ever so gently as he tugged. When he got closer he took off like a beagle after a flushed rabbit. The line flung out from between my finger and the cork grip. The rod arced and tensioned line peeled off the spool some. He didn’t get very far with the rod bent in a good bend. I’m sure that put a lot of force on him exhausting more of his energy. The second time I got him close enough to the net he made it a little easier. Another nice wild butter belly brown trout sparkled in my net. His red spots sparkled like small rubies on a decorative sash. My second of the morning.

 

  That one was like putting whip cream on my blueberry pie! (I’m not a big cake and icing eater.) Even if I didn’t catch another trout I was going home a winner.

  I did catch a few more trout on my dry flies before calling it quits before noon. 

  

 The sun was out brightly and it was getting hotter. I wanted to call the shop to see if they had a chance to look at my camper and I wasn’t sure how far I would have to drive to get phone service.

So, that evening it rained and thunder stormed before darkness. As I sat under a shelter writing this story a few mayflies teased me.

 

 Thursday morning I was up bright and early. I decided to wonder upstream to new waters. The sun was out but not quite over the mountainous tree line. Upstream Green Drakes filled the air like a swarm of butterflies. They were fluttering above the water in all directions as if they weren’t sure where they wanted to go in the first place once they took off. I looked beneath the stream side trees and found Coffin Flies laying in wait.

 

For an hour or so I showed them just about every Green Drake dun, spinner and coffin fly I was carrying and only got one to rise which I missed. On the way back downstream one guy, out in the middle of the crick, told me he’s been catching them on emergers and only caught one on the dun.

  I went back to the faster current where I caught the trout the day before. There was one trout that would rise on occasion in or near a wavy run out in the middle. I showed him quite a few offerings like a salesman showing a women bathroom tile in different sizes and shades. I missed him once but didn’t feel him actually take my offering. It took some time and I was about to call it a day and pack up. I gave my beat up March Brown a couple more casts and finally hooked him. I wasn’t expecting how big he was but we had a good hard battle and I got him netted.

I couldn’t wait to get my camper back. This tenting stuff is for the younger people! lol!

~doubletaper