Throughout the Day

 Throughout the Day

4/26/22 

 You ever have one of those days fly fishing that from the first thing you do just starts an aggravating outing? Like your better half waking up on the wrong side of the bed and aggravates you throughout the day. You don’t quit on her or leave cause you love her and just hope things get better as the day wears on kind of like trout fishing.

 You visit the creek you want to fish on a chilly drizzling morning. You dress warm and after walking through the forest you find the mountain stream high and stained. It’s waist high wade-able, so you have to be careful, and you know it’s the coldest creek in the North Western ANF in PA! After a couple of casts you feel the rod isn’t casting right. You find you missed an eye when threading the rod. You wade out of the cold water and make it right.

  You wade back in and within 3 backcasts you catch a thin twig branched off a 2” limb. You try your best to pull it out, scaring every living thing in the tree, but the leader just seems to wrap itself more around the bare twigs. You wade over and pull down the branch and untangle the mess. Once it gets free you notice a knotted ball of tippet and leader around the double uni-knot you use to connect the tippet to leader. While standing in the water you retie on and glad you’re the only one on the creek. You almost feel as if you never fly fished before though you’ve been fly fishing for more than 30 some years!

  After 15 minutes or so you start wading downstream casting streamers across and letting them swing trying to entice a bite. There looks to be a deep cut under an overhanging branch against the far bank. You set yourself up casting the streamer upstream from the branches and let it swing underneath into the deeper cut. A trout takes the offering as it clears the overhang. The trout fights angrily with forceful jolts as you play him closer. You’re just about to net him on the surface and the hook lets loose. The bowed rod reflexes and slingshots your streamer upward sending it to an overhanging limb to high to recover it from. You wade out and retie leader and tippet. 

 Downstream you finally clear the bank side brush and set yourself in the middle of the creek, crotch deep, able to cast to either side without back-casting interruption. You enjoy a medium body cigar as you hook and net hungry brown trout. Not too big but you’re catching trout and hope the aggravation and unexpected problems are all upstream and behind you.

 

  As you’re swinging the streamers you let out more line knowing the water downstream is pretty near waste deep though it’s too stained to tell. You don’t want to take chances wading down any further without seeing the creek bed. You add a little more weight before your next cast to get the streamer down deeper. Your third swing through the bump you feel and set the hook appears to be an unseen deep branch of some kind and it’s not letting go. You wade out and retie after the tippet breaks.

  You figure you’ll try nymph fishing. Maybe a San Juan worm, for attraction, and a stonefly dropper. You roll cast upstream and watch the fly line to detect a strike. You come to a long branched hemlock with a bough slightly breaking the surface water. You roll cast just beyond the bough and wham a fish grabs your offering. You reel him in and net the little fellow. You next roll cast in the same general area. A slight wind blows up creek the same time your tandem offerings on 6x tippet, is in the air. You see your offerings catch the breeze and is directed into the hanging hemlock bough. You wade out and retie.

 You end the morning in a noon day chill. Your insides are as chilled as an ice filled cooler. You can’t wait to get warm. You caught trout and, though all the hazards, wear a smile on your face. You didn’t break your rod and didn’t lose any gear except for the few feather and fur ornaments you left adorning the stream side limbs.

 You strip off your waders and try to ignore the cold wetness on your fleece pant leg and wet sock below your right kneecap. You put your gear away and sit in the warming truck till you feel the warmth on your lower limbs before heading back to camp.

 After dinner and washing dishes I make a glowing warm campfire. I enjoy the peace and quiet with no aggravation or problems. I relax with a RP broadleaf stogie and a Sweet Water BC Lager for the evening listening to the creek flow and birds chirping near by.

All is good!!

~doubletaper