Hooking Up on Pine Creek

 

Hooking Up on Pine Creek

5/18/23

  At 34° I wasn’t that anxious to get out and start fishing the big waters. It wasn’t like I’d be steelhead fishing!

  I hadn’t fished Pine Creek in Tioga County for many moons. When I was there the water was high and it was very windy. I couldn’t wade in very far because of the fast undercurrent. I think I caught only one small rainbow and didn’t stick around very long because of conditions. This morning the creek looks in great shape and the weather is suppose to be warm and calm also. A couple guys at the campground said they were there a few days ago and caught trout on BWO and other small dry flies. I was anxious to get out there but not at 34°.

  I sat in the warm truck for a bit but my patients ran out at 38 °. I got out and started to put my gear together and my waders on. I put together my Icon 5 weight 9’ fast action rod and grabbed a few cigars. By this time the sun had started to appear above the hillside tree line and started to warm things up a bit. I wasn’t sure where to start so I strolled up the dirt road and looked over the water as I walked. It kind of all looked the same. I waded into the cool water about knee high and looked around. There was only one other person I saw upstream stripping a streamer in the faster riffling current about 50 yards or so. I started casting a Woolly Bugger in the open water. Each cast was a little further than the last. About my 5^th cast I got a hard strike that almost took the rod right out of my hands. I know fast undercurrent can play tricks of how big a trout can be but I was sure I had a heavy weight. He had the 9 footer bowed good and put up a good battle with head shakes and weighty runs. I got him close enough and netted a fine lengthy husky brown trout!

 

I heard there were some big trout in these waters and I was thankful for this one.

“What did you catch him on?” the guy upstream yelled down like a coach yelling at a player on the practice field.

 “Woolly Bugger” I yelled back.

“I never fished these waters before” I called back, “What’s good to use?”

“Streamers in the morning” he replied.

‘I guess I’m on the right track’ I thought to myself.

After I caught a couple more smaller trout on the bugger fish started to rise to something small. They looked like caddis so I knotted one on and lit up a fat stogie to enjoy the rest of the day. 

 

  The littler trout were eager to grab the caddis if I got it in their feeding zone. I missed a few but I figured they were small also because of the small splashes they made at my caddis dries. Tired of playing with these smaller ones I knotted on a March Brown. While doing so I heard a louder splash out a ways and looked up and saw a widening swirl moving with the current. I finished my knot and took out line to reach the vicinity of where I thought was the feeder. He didn’t rise again until he saw my March Brown drifting by!! He grabbed it in a quick splashing manner like a hurrying hungry guy at the second pickup window.

 

  He put up a heck of a fight in the swift current turning every which way trying to get undone. I was surprised when I netted him. He had a big round open wound on his side like he got burnt being too close to a camp fire. I was actually able to see his rib bones through what was left of his flesh. Whatever caused it I wasn’t sure but he was healthy no matter.

 

 I continued casting dry flies of sorts but it took a while before I got a few to take.

 

  Just after noon there was a null in the surface action. The sun was shining bright in the sky above and there wasn’t any Mayfly or caddis activity going on on the surface. The guys up and across creek were having some luck, as they called it, with nymph fishing. I knotted on the standard nymph patterns like BH Hares Ear, March Brown nymphs and emergers, PT’s and such but it didn’t evoke any curious trout. About 2:30 I decided to call it quits and decided to Bugger my way down creek toward my truck. I knotted on my bread-and-butter go to Woolly Bugger that always seems to fool fish and slowly waded down creek in thigh high water. Evidently the bigger trout were more interested in meat than snacking on small nymphs. As I went I hooked up occasionally with good battling rainbows.

 

  As I waded I looked into the water around me and very often found trout just hanging around here and there like city park goers resting from a long exercising walk. There were two occasions that if the two rainbows were blind I may have walked on them. They knew I was coming towards them slowly and just wavered in front of me, a rods length at times, as if expecting me to move out of their way. I came to the conclusion there were trout everywhere but they just weren’t hungry or easily fooled. Well, not all of them! Another grabbed my bugger and off he went like a kid at summer camp grabbing a free lunch bag and running off to join his friends. Only catch was there was a string attached to my rod and reel!!

 

  Truthfully, if camp wasn’t so far away I may have stuck around longer. There was so much creek to explore and the trout put up good lasting battles in the big water current.

  I was getting near where I wanted to exit. There’s always that thought before wading out to just hook up one last time. I cast out towards the middle of the creek and let my bugger swing down creek. After it swung down creek from me I started to strip it in slowly. A fish grabbed it and I set the hook. It felt kind of on the light side and didn’t fight with the enthusiasm as the others. I was surprise when I landed it, it was a chubby fall fish. I guess they are entitled to grab whatever food comes their way!

 

Well, at least I didn’t end the day with a sucker!!!

~doubletaper