My Favorite Stream  

…. is located in Pennsylvania. There are two branches with the East being our favorite. You enter this creek off the second bridge and by a cabin. Walk through the back, then through the thorn bushes, watch out for the waders, and finally down a feeder that leads into the creek itself. The routine is always the same; my friend goes up ahead of me along the right bank but away from the stream. I have a smoke and then start upstream. When you enter here it’s about six feet wide and very fast riffles. Actually most of the stream is fast like this and with a very rocky bottom. A nymph will always catch one or two here. I seldom bother because I have tied on an Elk Hair Caddis already. This is the fly for this stream and Brook Trout are the reward. They aren’t big, six to nine inches. This is a small stream ranging from two to seven feet wide. There is foliage right up to the edge of the creek. Pine, Birch, Rhododendron and thorns bushes are the main players. Walk upstream, follow it to the right and choose the left side to walk up because the water is fast and shallow, six inches.

On the other side there are the undercuts with depths at least triple what you’re walking through. You kneel here not so much to avoid spooking the fish but to avoid the Pines, which must be magnetic considering the way they’ve grabbed your fly in past years. Short, quick casts with 5 second floats are the norm. Blip! You’ve got one. Get him out quick so he doesn’t scare off the rest. Wade upstream crossing where the water is so shallow it forms glass envelopes around the rocks. Now the water slows, you get out, walk on shore and take what seems to be fifteen minutes to walk back into the stream through the water. The bank is at least four feet above you and the trees are a good three feet back. Easy casting but the problem is Rhododendron on the other side. It’s at least eight feet tall and while it’s providing cover for the Brookies, it’s decided to take up residence about a foot off the surface. Side casts and prayers to the Goddess of Gotchas are in order. You start upstream of this mess, stop your cast half way through so you have about three feet of unspent leader ahead of the fly, and hope you can straighten it all out if a fish falls for your scheme.

Next is Mary’s Pool. This is one of the widest parts of the stream and unusual because it’s always so glassy smooth. No more rocks just smooth slate. By now I know if you cast into the riffles ahead of here, you can take quite a few in the fast water. What always amazes me is the slow, dead calm, slate bottom pool. The Brooks will still hit the fly, even if it’s traveling at a rate determined in furlongs per fortnight. I still don’t see them until after they strike. Where were they? And so it goes. I have fished this stream for six years and in the beginning, often came away without ever seeing a fish. Half of this stream is always in the shade because of the canopy. I finally learned you fish it with the same approach as a larger stream only thinking smaller. Instead of six foot holes they are two, 6” undercuts are 2”, 18” rocks… 3”. The fishing is fast with short rods and short lived drifts. You always come away tired and feeling pretty good at the end of the day.