Joining me this opening day was long time friend John Hupp. John arrived Thursday evening in time for bourbon and cigars on the deck. While a bit frosty, the patio heater provided exterior warmth to complement the Jefferson's warming the insides.
Since the stocked trout waters in the county were not open to fishing until Saturday, on Friday morning after breakfast we headed out to fish the delayed harvest section of the Allegheny River, just above Coudersport. Air temps were in the 40s, but throughout the day warmed into the upper 60s. The upper Allegheny looks like a normal small freestone PA stream. We started the day fishing nymphs to no avail. I then tied on a wooly bugger and fished a narrow section of the stream. As the trees prevented casting, I instead let the current take the bugger downstream, then paused and twitch-stripped it back. On nearly every cast a trout would take a swipe at the bugger, many times I could see the fish coming up for the take. A very profitable 30-40 minutes brought 7 Rainbows to the hand, all in the 10-12 inch range.
By the early afternoon we noticed caddis and mayflies coming off the water, and it wasn't too long before trout started rising to the flies. John had his dry fly game on, landing three on a 16 Parachute Adams, while I manged another Rainbow and a Brownie on the same.
Having had a solid day, we headed back to "the lodge" via Mosch's Tavern and enjoyed some wings and beer to celebrate our victory over the trout before dinner another round or two of JEffersons, and a great Penguins' victory over the Blue Jackets.
Saturday morning marked the trout opener for Potter County. For most anglers the day is more like a social event. And if you fish the bigger waters, you're going to enjoy the company of anglers standing elbow to elbow. We decided instead to spend a couple of hours on the west branch of Fishing Creek, a section of which runs along the back of the property. We started at a neighbor's house upstream a few hundred yards, and fished our way down to the property. Air temps again reached into the upper 60s, yet the water remained cold, probably in the upper 40s. That and the sunny skies probably kept the trout down, as we managed only a couple of fish. On the up side, we only saw three other anglers on the stretch, and engaged in the normal fishing repartee with them.
John having departed late Saturday morning, I waited until the early evening to hit the stretch behind the house. Fellow fly angler Bob Volkmar showed up with his Black Lab "Blue" and we fished a couple of holes before retiring to the deck for a couple of Rte 4 IPAs before dinner.
Mary had arrived Saturday morning, so the game plan on Sunday was to check out "Knaub Creek," or rather the Genessee Forks that runs through his property. Unfortunately, chores and weather conspired to keep us off the water. No matter, the trout will still be there when we get back to the cabin next week.
We could have spent more time on the water, I guess, but then we caught a decent number of trout for the time we were on the water. The season is young, though, with many miles of stream to explore, and many trout yet to bring to the net.
Tight Lines,
Mikey D Fishing
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