Believe It or Not
Believe It or Not
9/19/13
My back was aching, from work or something I did at home, and my right biceps
and shoulder was hurting, from a softball game 4 weeks ago, so I called off
work. I took two Aleve in the morning and by 11:00am I was bored out of my mind.
I decided to take a drive up north to a trout stream, sit and relax while
smoking a cigar in the peace and quietness of the Allegheny National Forest.
As I’m sitting along Tionesta Creek, with my feet up on a log, smoking
a Connecticut Yankee stogie I noticed a rise up creek from a shading maple tree
across creek. I see nothing flying around and, because of an occasional breeze,
only leaves and petals drifted on the slow water surface current.
This is September mind you, the creeks are low and clear this time of year. The trout
that are around are usually in deeper holes or in the shade escaping from the
sun and the warmer temps. Because of the cool nights and overcast days lately
the water temps had stayed cooler than normal. I didn’t except to see many, if
any, fish rising except for maybe a terrestrial.
When I seen another rise, down creek out from the boulder strewn far bank, I couldn’t take it any more. The Aleve had relaxed my arm and shoulder and the ache in my lower back was
almost gone. I just happen to bring my fly rod and gear. I snatched it up and
slowly waded out to give it a try.
The water was calm and the warmth of the sun felt good. I stripped
off a piece of 6x tippet from the tippet spool and knotted it on. A brisk
breeze, now and then, blew foliage upon the water so I thought maybe a
grasshopper or beetle pattern might get a fish to rise. Casting out the hopper
pattern didn’t work but when I cast out the beetle pattern towards the rise, up
from the overhanging tree, I caught my first trout.
I sent the beetle in the general direction of the down creek riser
but he didn’t take notice. I happen to see one tan caddis come off the water and
decided to try one of my # 16 tan caddis patterns. The rise came in the form of
a quick slurp and I set the hook immediately with my wrist. My second trout came
to hand and I was all smiles.
I would stand and wait till I seen another rise and than go for
it. More often than not it didn’t take but a few casts to hook up with another
lazy sipper. I forgot all about my aches and pains for awhile. I even caught a
couple of smallmouth on the small caddis.
One strike was so ferocious, at the caddis, that it reminded me of the bass I caught on poppers a couple of weeks ago. It was one of those big inhaling takes that erupted the water surface. When I yanked back the rod I didn’t even feel a touch of its mouth on the end of my line. I didn’t switch to a bigger fly or bugger yet but kept him in mind.
My finest catch was when I seen a rise within inches of one of the boulders along the bank. I made a nice smooth loop that rolled outward and dropped my fly within a couple of feet of the boulders. I thought for sure he’d rise to it but the imitation caddis just drifted by. My next cast put the caddis within a foot and the drift was near enough but still nothing. I ended up dropping the caddis right up to the boulders. The current slowly drifted my dry along the reaches and sure enough he took it with a swirl. The long hook set was perfect and he scuffled about as I brought him to the net.
When everything calmed down for sometime and no trout rose I decided to cast out
a #10 Humpy. I worked it near the far bank and where I had missed the big
gulper. When nothing came up for it I switched to a woolly bugger in hopes of
catching the gulper. I ended up catching a rainbow that got off near while I was
trying to net it and one smallie. By then it was around 4:00 and I decided to
hit the trail.
Now I got to thinking as I drove through Marienville. Just maybe there might be
a few trout sipping something off the water down on the Clarion River. I wasn’t
in any hurry to get home and my aches weren’t too aggravating. I turned down
route 899 and headed to the river.
I was just trying to relax sitting upon the stony bank-side looking out over the calm water flowing towards the riffles to my right. I have caught many of trout in this section so I already
had a small Adams knotted on a long leader with 6X tippet. A few tiny midges
were flying about and now and again a dragonfly or two would buzz over the
water. It was maybe a good half hour while smoking a Punch Churchill that I
noticed the first sipper. With the moving current, on the glaring surface, if I
wasn’t looking in the general direction I would have missed it. It was almost
like a small baitfish sipping tiny midges but it made a swirl upon the flat
water to prove something bigger beneath. I rose slowly and calmly waded into the
water down stream, at an angle, from the sipper. After a couple of false casts,
to get more line out, I let go a long line and my parachute Adams fell upstream
and just this side of the sipper. I watched as the dry drifted nearer and soon I
saw the trout appear just below the surface and snatch it up. With a twitch of
the rod backward, set the hook, and soon the trout was scurrying about as I was
bringing him in.
The next rise I seen was within minutes of my first catch. He was
sipping sporadically out in front of me quite a ways. I waded out midstream and
started my false casts. I laid a soft line upon the surface which put the dry a
bit upstream of the sipper. After a couple of passes he too sipped and got
hooked.
I was pestered by two more sippers for some time that wouldn’t take my fly. I
refused to tie on another pattern, and maybe I should have, but the evening was
dimming and the sun was now behind the tree tops. I found one more sipper that
took my dry before calling it quits. He gave me a good tussle on the 4 weight
before I got him to the net. His golden belly told me he’s been around
awhile.
On the way home I started to feel my lower back aching much more and my arm and shoulder was reminding me that this fly fishing exercise wasn’t all that great of an idea to heal those muscles.Oh well, a couple Aleve before bedtime may make the pain go away.
~doubletaper
