Tionesta Caddis

 

Tionesta Caddis

4/30/22

 After a morning of turkey hunting I fished an area trout were rising the day before. The water had come down a bit overnight and was clear as moonshine. The sun was bright and it got warm in the afternoon while I was fishing. I expected to see trout rising to the black stoneflies but didn’t see any rising while I was fishing. I knew the area they had been rising, so I decided to cast a dry out there and see if I could make them rise. It took sometime to convince a few but I ended up making a few rise to my stonefly dry pattern.

  About 2:00pm I decided to head back to camp. On the way I stopped and fished a couple of spots along the Tionesta but quickly left without a catch. By the time I got to camp, around 4:00pm, I was pretty worn out and ready to rest. I still had my waders on and my fly rod was still in the back of the truck. After parking I went down to the crick just to see if anything was happening. That’s when the fun started!

  Recently I haven’t been fishing around camp because I wasn’t catching many trout for the time I spent on the water. They didn’t seem to want streamers and I only caught a couple on stonefly nymphs. It also gets fished often by bait fishermen so maybe the trout were just wary of biting. Anyhow…

  Looking over the water I saw 1 then 2 trout rising across creek. My heart started to pump a little faster and when they talk about someone getting a second wind, well those rises just put some excitement in this tired body.

  I got my fly rod out the back of the truck, put on my vest and grabbed a few cigars. I wasn’t sure what the trout were rising to but as I walked upstream along the bank, to get a better angle, I brushed against a tree branch. In doing so a bunch of small caddis flew from the branches. They looked to be around a size #18 or even a #20. I figured they were the little olive body caddis that loiter around this time of spring. I had a small box of imitations in my vest the same size. Though I had 5x tippet already knotted on the leader I figured I’d stay with that set up. If the trout won’t hit then I’d knot on 6x which I usually do for clear water conditions and such small dry flies.

  As I waded out I noticed these little caddis fluttering around the surface like a colony of bees around a flower garden. It was hard to see any of these tiny caddis on the surface, due to the glare, but the trout evidently found one now and then. I noticed a flat rock below the surface about a quarter of the way across the crick. It was a little deeper getting to it but once on it I was only thigh high deep. I knotted on one of my #18 olive caddis and pulled line out through the rod eyes. I had plenty of room for my backcast so my concentration was on any risers that so happened. It didn’t take long for a trout to rise to show me where he was at.

  The first rise was upstream to my left a good distance but manageable. I took out line with each false cast until I figured the distance. Forward I watched the line tight loop forward and then slap and splash water when the line hit the surface. This is when I realized that I was using weight forward line. Compared to doubletaper line the weight forward makes more of a splash then any double taper line I’ve used for dry fly fishing. (I would argue this point with anyone.)

  In this respect I have to change my forward casting stroke. Across crick with the current is no problem but upstream or downstream I’ll use a different approach. Normally with DT line I’ll back up my forward cast just before it hits the water so I get small S’ turn slack as the fly line lays upon the surface. In this way the dry fly will have more time and distance to drift drag free to the feeding trout. Sure I’ll have to be ready and quicker on the hook set but I’ve been doing this long enough I know how to control my line. With weight forward line I have a different approach. Though I’ll still want some slack for a drag free drift my technique is a little different.

  On my cast forward I want to make sure my fly is extended as far as possible from my fly line. This isn’t too hard casting forward just making sure the splash of the fly line isn’t over the trout’s head. Doing this I want to make sure the dry hits the surface first before the fly line. To do this I definitely make an overhead cast keeping the rod high on the forward cast, stopping short of full draw, and then slightly wristing the rod tip higher. This brings the fly line upward letting the dry hit the water first. I always figure if a trout is feeding it looks at the first thing that hits the water and if the fly line causes a commotion first the trout may never look further at my offering.

  It took a couple of casts but the trout wasn’t interested or wary cause of my first cast. No problem, there were others to catch. The other trout I saw rise earlier was downstream and to my right well within my casting range. Downstream casting is not much of a problem with weight forward line as long as you get the dry way ahead of the feeding zone before the fly line hits the water. On my second cast I was pretty sure it was drifting near the feeding zone. The trout rose and took it unaware it was attached to tippet, leader, fly line, reel and me!! I reared back and the line tightened. He scurried about tugging and jerking the line like trying to bring a rusted bucket up through a well banging against the side walls. #1 was in the net safely.

 

 A trout rose not that far in front of me as I was letting the trout go. I made a short cast just upstream from his last rise. He took my dry caddis like a cat lapping up spilled milk. I wristed a hook set and #2 was in the net.

  

 Every time I saw a rise I concentrated on the feeding zone and just about caught every trout that rose. I lost a couple before netting them but I was just as happy fooling these trout.

  I made a blind cast across and down from where I stood. Most of the trout was near the far bank where colder water flowed from the run off from the steep hillside. I watched as my drag free dry continued with the current toward another trouts feeding zone. Unexpectedly a trout purposed, at a 90° angle, at my dry that swam out from the far bank. I had plenty of slack in the line but my instincts took over and pulling line in with my rod free hand while quickly raising the rod with my other, made the hook set on time. This trout felt a little heavier as he fought aggressively to the net.

  Without seeing any more risers within casting distance I waded out towards the bank and moved upstream for the others I saw rising. The water was a little shallower upstream so I was able to still get out near the middle of the crick without getting waist deep. I tried for the trout that eluded me earlier upstream from where I stood but he was still being stubborn or still wary of my presence.

  I picked off a couple more trout casting nearer to the far bank with long casts. After releasing a trout I looked down crick and was going to attempt to try for the stubborn trout again when I noticed a small swirl on the surface before my intended target. If I wasn’t looking that way at the time I would never of known he was there. Occasionally a riffled swirl would appear on the surface from the undercurrent deflecting from its course around a larger rock on the crick bed but still well below the surface thus causing a disturbance to the surface water. What I saw was definitely a sipping trout rise. He was trying to be as casually inconspicuous as if he knew I was here but was hungry enough to take a bit of food off the surface like a grown man in a crowded room finger picking a bite of cheese on a charcuterie board. I grinned before I even casted to him.

  I let a nice easy cast drop my caddis way ahead of his feeding zone pretty much in the same direction he rose in. I watched my imitation drift like a caddis resting on the surface before taking off. I watched the unsuspecting trout sip it up off the surface. I reared back on the rod and the line tightened once again. He put up a good fight like it’s been some time ago that he was caught. I grinned the whole time I brought him to the net.

 The evening was turning cooler and I only discovered one more trout rising. For the heck of it I knotted on a #16 caddis and lighter wing color to make it easier to see cause of the water glare and just to see if that last trout would be fooled. The first cast out towards him revealed my suspicion. He took it with a healthy slap that caused a surface splash then just a conspicuous swirl. I reared back on the long length of line and another trout fought in the current towards me.

 

 As I stood thigh high deep in the middle of the crick watching for another rise a swarm of caddis started to fly upstream like a murmuration of starlings. Trying to swat one in my hat wasn’t easy as they avoided all but one attempt. When I did get one in my cap I carefully opened it up to find an egg laying grannom. I looked upon the surface water and never saw a trout rise again. It didn’t look like any of these grannoms were stopping for a drink of water as they were flying fast upstream as if they didn’t want to be late for a big celebration. I wished I knew where the celebration was!

With that I waded out and called it a day.

 ~doubletaper