Penns Creek Angler
Bruce Fisher
Article Nov 2007
This month I learned that the Black Gum and Sugar Maples are the first trees to change color in the fall. It was wonderful to see the trees finally start to turn color. Everyone I’ve talked to said we are about 2 weeks behind schedule. I’m so fortunate to be surround by people that are educators. The greatest education can be found at the feet of an older person.
Fishing Diary 6/3/2004.
I walked down to the secret hole and while crossing the creek I wondered if the monster was still on the far bank. I hooked him twice over the past 4 weeks but didn’t land him. He has this huge mouth that doesn’t close all the way and the fly always slips through the gap in his jaws or only catches an edge. Crawling to my usual casting position I made a few careful casts but I had the feeling the fish had moved to find cooler water near a spring or to the oxygenated fast water of the riffles above. After covering the area completely I poked my head over the grass and looked in his hiding spot and found he was gone. I felt an almost emptiness because I’d been working so hard to catch this fish. I had the feeling it would be another year before I saw him again.
I learned of this spot about 3 years prior during the Green Drake hatch. That year the creek was extremely high and chocolate in color but I knew the big drakes would bring fish to the surface. As I walked the footpath next to the edge of the creek I noticed a rise that was so close to the path and so close to me that all I had to do was stop unhook my fly and drop it in front of the fish. I thought surely it would be a puny little trout that would become food for an Osprey. But I dropped the fly in front of the fish and it immediately rose and sucked the fly right down. That fish turned out to be the first honest 5lb brown trout I caught from Penn’s Creek.
During that day of high water fishing almost every fish I caught was a bank feeder and most were larger than average fish. That day forever changed the way I approach trout streams. Now I take my time and watch the bank for feeders and patiently observe what is happening around me. I take the time to sit and study what flies are floating down the creek before I ever attach a fly to my tippet. I can’t imagine what would have happened if I didn’t notice that big fish feeding so close to the bank. I certainly never would have thought that big fish feed in such shallow water. This feeding slot is only about 6–10 inches deep and most people walk right over this fish to cast to midstream.
So this brings us to June 3rd and the fish is gone. I can’t even buy a bite in the big hole so I move up stream to the faster water but there are no takers. I’m casting and wondering why the fish are not feeding because I know they are there. It’s a humbling feeling to know there’s fish right in front of you but you can’t catch them. I fished the next 300 yards with out so much as a follower and now I am at the head of the riffle and I ‘m ready to move to a different section of the creek. I decide a few more casts are needed to really cover the area well so I walked to the very top of the fast water and start casting. I saw the big fish roll on the streamer as soon as it floated over him. I was casting upstream and letting the fly drift down and stripping at the same time.
What I actually saw was a huge flash of silver and then the commotion caused by him shaking body and head. At first he didn’t move he just shook and dug his head into the rocks. So I put some pressure on him and he started moving up stream at slow and deliberate pace. I could see him in the shallow water and I knew this was the fish from the pool below. I prayed that I would be able to land him and take a few pictures. I didn’t want to let him swim around at will but I only had a 3x tippet and could only put so much pressure on him. I got him close to the bank a few times but he was a powerful fish that still had his strength and he moved off easily.
After some more give and take I finally slipped the net under him. It was the best feeling that after a month of angling to finally get my prize. I was shaking but quickly worked to get he fly out of his mouth. He lay there in the net with the sun shinning on him until I put him back in the water. I held him faced into the current for a good 3 minutes. He just stayed right in my hand and pumped his gills. When he was ready he slipped from my hand and moved about 3 feet and stopped. I sat on the bank for 10 minutes looking at him fining in the current then he just swam off. God I love fishing….
“Catch you later”
Bruce Fisher
© 2008