Dries and Wets
6/02/26
The rainbows were pissed when I hooked them on a wet fly. It’s not that the brown trout weren’t upset when I fooled them on a dry fly but the rainbows fought wildly! It was as if they felt safe from fishermen while feeding on emerging mayflies and drowned bugs drifting with the current without being suspicious. When I hooked them they shook the line hard, tugged, pulled and were still squirming in the net. It was if they were like a professional burglar that never got caught a second time. When they did get caught red handed they tried to get away from the tight handcuffs of the police tugging and trying to pull away.
The weather recently has been warm and no rain. That sounds like terrific conditions but the wind has been relentless. With a fly rod it wasn’t pleasant. Tuesday the weather conditions were showing no wind burst and only a slight breeze throughout the day. I assembled my Scott G2 9 foot fly rod and was hoping to hook some trout on dry flies. I took the 1/2 hour drive or so and knew right where I felt I could raise some trout in Tionesta Creek.
The morning was slow going casting Woolly Buggers. A couple of risers I did come across wouldn’t take my caddis. I had a looker at my foam beetle but turned away. I started wading down creek slowly casting a Woolly Bugger. I was actually thinking of going somewhere else on the Tionesta but slowly kept wading and casting the bugger. Around 10:00 the water came alive with mayflies and trout started to rise. There were a few March Browns, at first, and a few small sulfurs. Also there were a few big brown looking drakes and decent size yellowish mayflies fluttering off the water. The sun was shining down with only the far bank shaded in areas where leafy branched tree limbs over hung. The water was flowing calm. Occasional a breeze would blow across the surface and ripple the water. The big Mayflies busted out of the surface water as if they were free from a sheltered life. Only occasionally would I see a swirl on the water surface but no audio splashes that the trout may have been picking off the Mayflies just below the surface before they rose to freedom.
First I tried a caddis but the trout showed no interest. I switched to one of my brown and slate drake patterns about the size I saw of the natural Mayflies. I was making long casts and though the water was clear as glass I couldn’t tell if any trout were checking my imitation in the distance. Anyhow, I didn’t have any convincing takers. As I saw more March Browns emerging and on the surface water, I knotted on one of my trusty March Brown Para-dun patterns. If I saw a rise I was after it like a mushroom hunter seeing Morels in the forest before another hunter spotted them. More times than not I got a hook set as soon as they took it under.
I’d blind cast when I didn’t see a rise within distance but I still had trout rising out of nowhere. They all fought like heavy weights in a wrestling match. With the sun above I would of thought they would be hugging the far bank where there was some shade but no. They were rising from the far bank to mid-creek. It was either they were out in the creek where they knew the hatches were happening or they were out sunbathing taking in the warmness of the sun in the cold creek water. Whichever, some of the water they seem to be holding in wasn’t anymore than knee deep.
What became funny is when the trout seemed to not rise to my dry. Maybe they saw something not looking right or they were line shy of my 4x tippet. When a breeze blew and riffled the water like a narrow washboard the trout would rise to my dry. Maybe they couldn’t see my tippet or it was the extra motion of my dry fly bobbing on the riffling surface made my dry look more natural as if flapping its wings?
I would say after 1:30 I couldn’t get any rises to my dry flies. There was still risers on occasion but they didn’t look as if they were slurping the surface. There wasn’t any Mayflies or caddis of any amount that I was able to see. I nipped off the dry fly and knotted on a March Brown emerger dropping a soft hackle wet fly below. My first cast out a trout grabbed it like one would grab my bugger sweeping in faster water. I reared back, felt the bite, the line tightened briefly and went limp. I think when I hook a trout with a wet fly I don’t pull the line back hard enough to set the hook in its mouth. They hit the wet fly usually hard enough I figure they set the hook themself but I need to remember to yank back to make sure it penetrates.
I continued to cast the wet fly combination near and far. The trout, that didn’t get hooked on the surface with my March Brown dry, were hungry enough to take my combo. Sometimes they took, one or the other, with a convincing tug. Other times I had to watch my floating fly line to detect a take. The slightest pull on my line outward I knew something grabbed my offerings.
The rainbows were excessively aggressive as if they never got caught before or were extremely upset that they were hooked by something they never thought was attached to a line. The browns fought tough enough below but the rainbows were furious. After the hook up some would sky rocket out of the water shaking their head trying to dislodge the hook. Some of the rainbows tugged and pulled so hard I swear if I didn’t keep a tight enough grip on the cork handle they would of pulled the rod right out of my hand. Near me, some would circle around me like a revolving tether ball on a pole. They tried everything in their power to get free but I would say 95% of them ended up in my net. I was having a grand field day catching trout before I called it quits.
The sun was getting hotter and the feeding just about stopped like everyone went back to work after lunch time. I saw a few risers pretty far down creek a ways but wasn’t willing to chase after them. I was well satisfied with my field trip and headed back up to my truck.
I caught so many trout, sometimes I felt like I was cheating as if I soaked my wet flies in some kind of liquid trout scent that they couldn’t resist. But no, it was that I just picked the right Mayfly imitation and convincing looking wet flies that were buggy enough that the trout thought were edible and not attached to anything!!
~doubletaper
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