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