From: 07/01/2017
To: 07/01/2017
Type of Water: Freshwater
Species: Rainbow trout, Brown trout
I've been so fortunate in my guiding career to have super awesome human beings to guide. That was especially true with John and Rob who I guided for Wild Trout on Spring Creek near Milesburg, Pa. They were such a treat to spend the day with and I now consider them both friends.
John and Rob were both new to the sport of fly fishing but both men were accomplished Bass fishermen and very eager to learn the ins and outs of the sport. So after showing them some of the basics we got to work trying to find some feeding Trout.
I rigged both men up with tandem nymphing rigs, two each of my favorite Spring Creek patterns and positioned them in a long productive run. John was at the head of the run and was first to hook up with a hard fighting 20" Rainbow Trout. John fought the fish well but View more...I've been so fortunate in my guiding career to have super awesome human beings to guide. That was especially true with John and Rob who I guided for Wild Trout on Spring Creek near Milesburg, Pa. They were such a treat to spend the day with and I now consider them both friends.
John and Rob were both new to the sport of fly fishing but both men were accomplished Bass fishermen and very eager to learn the ins and outs of the sport. So after showing them some of the basics we got to work trying to find some feeding Trout.
I rigged both men up with tandem nymphing rigs, two each of my favorite Spring Creek patterns and positioned them in a long productive run. John was at the head of the run and was first to hook up with a hard fighting 20" Rainbow Trout. John fought the fish well but as the big guys always do, it got down stream and John unfortunately lost it. John got back in the game and was very quickly hooked up again with a stream bred Brown Trout. We got the fish into the net and John now had his first fly caught wild trout on Spring Creek.
Rob found a 20+ Golden Rainbow or Palomino Trout holding under a tree limb at the tailout of the run and he was hell bent on catching it. Cast after cast resulted in not as much as a look from this ultra wary Trout. I tried every fly I could think of to try and illicit a strike but to no avail. It was time to move to some fresh water and fresh fish!
We moved up stream about a hundred yards and I put Rob on a nice shallow riffle section that abutted a deep section that bad a fallen tree in it. The fish like to hold in the riffles to feed and then retreat to the deep water and tree for safety. Rob worked these riffles over like a pro and just when we thought there weren't any fish he hooked into a gorgeous Wild Brown Trout. He fought the fish perfectly and we got the fish to net without incident. Rob had his first fly caught Wild Brown Trout! The smile he had on his face will never leave my mind and I'm so happy to play a part in his happiness.
After some quick pictures we released the beautiful fish to his chilly water home and proceeded to fish. Moments later John hooked up and I was running upstream to net his fish. After netting his fish we headed to another location upstream.
This new location is riddled with many stream improvement devices and water deflectors and is highly desirable to the fish. I put Rob in one such spot and took then took John upstream to another one. A few moments in I glanced upstream and noticed a Black Bear attempting to cross the stream about 30 yards for us. The Bear retreated back into the brush after hearing me bellow out some curse words. The Bear excitement was short lived because Rob was hooked up with a feisty Spring Creek Rainbow. I netted the fish for him and again that smile said it all. I walked back up to help John and the moment I reached him Rob was hooked up again. The bite was on!
Both men caught several more fish throughout the evening and we called it a day when a storm hit upstream of us and raised the water level to an unsafe level.
We threw a vast variety of flies and the ones that produced were San Juan Worms, and a Blue Wing Olive Soft Hackle. John had a small pocket of fish rising to Tiny Blue Winged Olive so I tied him on a dry fly to match and he landed one and had several that he unfortunately missed. Water was 60 degrees and it was party sunny most of day. Great day to be on the water.
