Getting the Edge

 

Getting the Edge

6/20/23

  Having worn out my custom 4wt 9’ fast action fly rod I was in need of another. It evidently isn’t a common weight for the length. I like a fast action 4 weight to help cut the wind when dry fly fishing and at 9’ can help with nymph fishing over riffling cross current waters. In my search I found two rods within my budget. Actually this one was less money than I expected and being it is a Gary Loomis American made, I was up for trying it out.

  I’m not all concerned with fancy, sparkling rod blanks and this comes with an un-sanded matte finish blank. The blue thread wraps accent the rod nicely. The fanciest part of the rod is the rod seat. The Flor Grade, Western Style, Portugal cork grip fits nicely in my palm.

 

  I took it out briefly on the first trip casting nymphs and light weighted Woolly Buggers but only caught 2 trout. The most important reason buying this rod was for dry fly fishing.

  The second outing I was fishing the upper West Branch of the Susquehanna River known for wild brown trout in a special regulation trout fishery. I started fishing the slightly stained chalky water with nymphs but that soon changed when I saw the first rise of a fish. I knotted on a small caddis and was going to test the rod dry fly fishing. There was a slight breeze with gusts now and then. The stream was narrow and low at the time but with the stained water I had the edge with the trout not able to notice me. I was casting easily upstream and also across stream and the rod had no problem getting my dry where I wanted. Not used to the quick response of wild trout it took me three misses before I was able to hook set my first trout on a dry fly with this rod.

 

 I was upset that I forgot my net so I did handle the trout with care.

  Overall I had a good day for a few hours catching wild trout on the dry. They came up quick taking the caddis on the moving surface water. 

 

 I was amazed how many trout I got active in the small stream making them rise when there was barely anything on the water. They were hungry no doubt and, which I have done many times before, made them rise!!!

 

  The lightness of the rod in hand and fast action was what I was looking for! It handled the 6x tippet and small caddis dries I was using and had no problem playing the wild trout.

 

~doubletaper

 

 

Sickly on the River

 

Sickly on the River

6/09/23

  Snot was running down upon my mustache like excessive Elmer’s glue on a kids art project. I could hardly taste the stogie I was puffing on. I wasn’t feeling well and hacking and coughing now and then. The sun finally rose above the tree line and fish started to rise everywhere!!

 

  For the past week or so I developed a congested hacking cough, sore throat, and went threw 5 boxes of Kleenex and a ½ roll of ultra soft toilet paper when I ran out of tissues. I went to the Urgent Care center after 5 days and was diagnosed with Bronchitis. I was prescribed Prednisone, 2 tablets for the next 5 days and an inhaler. I got tired of sitting home feeling sorry for myself and decided to get out and get some fresh air camping in the ANF.

 I used up a lot of energy setting up camp near the Clarion River and after doing variety puzzles and what not resting I got up enough energy to go fishing the river two days later. I didn’t know how long I’d last but I was going to give it a try.

  I was set to fish for smallmouth bass with my 6 weight fly rod. I had my vest full of poppers and streamers standing up to my waist in river water. My brain was still a little hazy from being sick but I was casting out a Woolly Bugger under the morning sunshine trying to enjoy a cigar with a scratchy throat. All of a sudden Sulfurs, March Browns and other yellow Mayflies were popping up out of the water and fish were rising everywhere. I looked in my only dry fly box I had on me and found a #12 Yellow Wulff pattern. I added some 4x tippet to my tapered leader and waited for the next rise within distance. A fish rose and I concentrated on the location. My Wulff pattern fell within 15” of the rise and I watched it drift inching its way in the zone. A fish rose and in an audible gulp sucked it in. I yielded back the rod and my first fish was heavy and fighting a taught line. I got it near me and saw it was a nice size brown trout. I hadn’t a net, being I didn’t expect to catch trout, and the brown finally got unhooked before I could get a hold of it. I laid my fly rod on a flattened boulder, waded out of the river and walked up to my truck in excitement!

  I looked through my fly boxes quickly and took out any yellow dry fly pattern I could quickly find. I put them in a fly box and went back to the river. I dried off the Wulff Pattern and tossed it out to the rising trout. I caught a couple of smaller trout before another nice brown trout took a 1x long Sulfur pattern. He put up a good fighting battle in the undercurrent with head shakes and body power that I had to give him line at times. This time I had a net to capture the nice healthy looking brown trout.

 

  I was changing patterns often when I couldn’t get a fish to rise to my offering. Aside from offering them a March Brown on occasion I stuck with anything yellow from a sulfur, yellow Wulff, even a Yellow Sally at times. I caught a few rainbows in the mix of smaller browns and a few smallmouth also.

 

  There were yellow Mayflies that looked as big as Yellow Drakes that fell upon the water and fluttered on the surface before taking flight again. They were easy to see and the fish gulped them up if they got within the fishes sight. I knotted on a 2x long Yellow Drake and tossed it out under the warm sunshine. I had lots of slack line out and let it drift, drag free, down river for quite a ways. A fish rose in a whirlpool splash and I yielded back the rod and took in any remaining slack line left on the surface. The line tightened and I had a fish battling beneath with body strong power. It kept it’s distance as it circled the river, out in front of me, like a mad bull in a bullring. I kept a tight grip on the half well and my forearm muscles were as tight as guy wires. I had him close a couple times that I could see it wasn’t a trout as it turned it’s body across the current pulling tension line against the reel drag. Tired enough I finally got him close enough to net. This big ole boy didn’t mind snacking on mayflies while they were available.

 

  Around 1:30 very few fish were rising but I didn’t see anything they might have been rising to. They were small subtle rises at that. I was feeling less energetic and was coughing more often. My body felt weak so I called it a day, waded out and headed back to camp tired and spent.

  That evening I looked through my fly boxes and gathered up anything in shades of yellow along with a few March Browns for tomorrows exercise.

~doubletaper

 

 

 

Hot on the Kettle

 

Hot on the Kettle

5/16/23 

 

  The weekend was over and I wanted to get down to the creek where I’ve always done well dry fly fishing so I got up early and had a good breakfast. I figured the crowd of fishermen would be gone and, maybe a day of rest for the fish, Tuesday would be a good day to challenge the trout again. There weren’t many fishermen along the road side and when I got down to the bridge there were only a couple guys fishing. Up the dirt road I found a spot to park and assembled my Icon rod for the time being. As I was stringing it up, behind my truck, a guy and his son must have had golden trout fever. I’m not sure how long they’ve been there but there was a golden trout between them and I watched as they threw everything at the trout. They threw live bait under bobbers, spinners and who knows what else but the trout wasn’t moving a muscle towards anything they offered. It was a wonder they didn’t accidentally snag the fish but they were being good sportsmen. I dipped into and waded about shin deep to give me some back casting room up creek from them. I snapped on a Woolly Bugger and tossed it out there. I caught a couple on the bugger before I switched to a March Brown. It was just after 10:00 and that’s usually when the March Browns start to hatch and come off the water. I hadn’t noticed any surface activity, except for a few small trout taking small caddis, but I was willing to take the time to get the trout to rise.

  Tossing the March Brown out there I let it drift on the wavy surface. I missed the first taker that surprised me but I was ready the next time. With a whooping noisy surface take a trout grabbed it and took off on the piercing. She battled beneath with good runs until her last splashes were in my net. The March Brown was secure in the side of her lip.

 “1 down” I thought.

 

  I continued to cast the March brown out into the faster wavier current and let it drift downstream in the slower waves. Occasionally I would get one to rise and take it before a bigger wave drowned it. They were quick frisky takes in the faster current so there was no time to be looking else where. The suspenseful part was when the dry drifted in the slower current. Times when I would see a fish rise to it and back swim as if inspecting it under a microscope. Sometimes I think they would actually nudge it to see if it was real and would take flight but not take it. They’d refuse it all together and never come up again after the first viewing. Just nerve racking. But every once in a while I’ll get one that is curious enough to sip it in off the surface. 

 

  For quite a while I couldn’t get anything fishy to rise. I decided to toss out a MB nymph and an MB emerger. I was just tossing the tandem flies out there like I was tossing two pennies in a wishing well park fountain. A trout grabbed it as hard as if it was a passing Woolly Bugger at the end of the drift. Well, this could get interesting.

 

  I reached in my pocket and pulled out a stogie to bide the time. I wasn’t sure how active the trout would be under the hot sun but I figured I’d work underneath trying to coax any takers. 

 

  After the spin fishermen left I had the section to myself for a while. I fished my way downstream and knotted on a Woolly Bugger. Bait fishermen always did well in the deeper slow water the wavy current flowed into. Though the water was deeper I knew I couldn’t weight the bugger too heavy and have to keep it moving because there just wasn’t much undercurrent to move the bugger. The water was clear but I couldn’t see far enough into the water beyond to notice any hazards. For the next hour or so I did pull out a few trout that weren’t too lazy to just let my bugger swim by without snacking on it.

 

  The overhead sun was beating down its warmth. Looking upstream I could almost see visions of heat waves hovering over the water surface. I was pretty hot in my chest waders and was ready to cool off. Besides it was as if it was half time and the players went back to the dressing rooms to get out of the heat.

  I sat in the truck with the A/C on munching of a granola bar and refreshing water. It was around 2:00 and I was debating what to do. I could go back to camp for an early dinner and back out for the evening. It was at least a boring 35 minute drive to where I was right then and I really wanted to fish a late hatch, if possible, where I am. On my drive downstream there wasn’t a vehicle in sight anywhere around the bridge. It was hard for me to pass this chance to fish the area by myself. With the open water and hardly any wind I reached and assembled my Scott G2 9’ 5 weight fly rod. The medium action was a relaxing light weight casting rod. My favorite dry fly rod in no wind situations.

  Out in the water I made smooth casts casting out dry caddis and dries trying to pinpoint my casts at surface flowing objects. It was good to practice accuracy as I was preparing for an evening hatch. Another fly fishermen showed up and waded into the water upstream a ways. It kind of gave me a break from talking to myself!

  I knotted on a Woolly Bugger for the time being to pass the time waiting for surface action. I caught a few more trout.

 

  As evening approached I looked up again and saw some big Drakes, I figured they were, hovering above. There weren’t many by any means but enough to get me a little excited. They were dark bodied, from what I could see, with two extra long splayed tails. None got close enough that I could see any color and as I searched on the surface I couldn’t see and spinners floating. The fish apparently couldn’t find any surface activity either. Just yet!

  I looked into my fly box and could only find one big, extended body, parachute dry fly that could resemble a Green Drake or possibly a spinner. It was getting dark and I knew I only had one chance to tie my last fly on. While I was tying it on I heard fish starting to rise. Anticipation mounted!

  As I looked out into the open water there were swirls here and there with an occasional slurp. I started casting out upstream from the swirls letting my dry drift into a feeding zone. It was aggravating as if my offering wasn’t good enough. Time and again I would toss it out and thought, “they can’t be that picky?”

  Well, enough was enough. It was getting pretty darker and there was no moon to speak of. Just enough light on the surface for a slight glare of moonlight. I saw another rise and tossed my drake pattern right on the spot he came up. A fish grabbed it just as it plunked on the water. I was quick with the hook set and finally caught one on top.

 

  After releasing the trout I thought that may be the trick on a moonless night. Cast the dry right on their face and not try to drift it into the strike zone. As soon as the dry hits the water the slight surface commotion brings attention and they can spot the fly on the surface.

 Wham, another trout grabbed my drake as soon as it hit the water. After releasing this one my parachute dry wasn’t very dry. Fish slime pretty much soaked in. I tried to powder it dry but was no use. It was too dark to tie anything on and I wasn’t much of a fan of night fishing anyhow. I caught a couple night feeders and that was good enough for me.

 

~doubletaper