Watershed of the Nation
There are still a few
places
where you become a rather
insignificant part of the scene. All it takes is a little imagination
to wonder what it must have been like...years and years ago. (My little
3 oz. rig leans against an old cherry tree on a wild trout
stretch of the Upper Allegheny River. c. 1994)
The
author
works some fast water on Prouty Run, c. 1990
Fly Fishing Gear for Potter County
After an awfully lot of fooling around with various rigs, line weights and terminal gear my fishing outfit has settled into a rather simple and straight forward set of tools. With the emphasis set on catching trout, I have pretty well abandoned most of the do dads and extraneous "toys" the merchants would have us all buy. It seems to pay off...I consistently catch several hundred trout each year, with an hourly rate just shy of 4 trout. The sooner you can forget about your gear, the sooner you can concentrate on the stream, the hatches and the trout.
Everyone, of course, has his own personal preferences when it comes to gear, regardless of the stream or area he is fishing. Probably the primary consideration when fishing the smaller streams of Potter County is a rod that is enough, but not too much. That is, with the exception of the lower reaches of the primary watershed streams, a rod of medium weight, perhaps slightly favoring light, and no more than seven and one-half feet long.
My preference for many years, after trying many combinations, was a 7-1/2’ for 4-weight. Equipped with an inexpensive Battenkill reel for which I have an extra spool (with a weight forward 5 weight line) that I carried in the vest, I was rarely stumped. This particular rod was a prototype 5-piece travel rod, custom built. It is a true backpack rod as it stores in a tube only 23" long. Alas, a couple of years ago this 10,000 trout rod was brutally mangled by the “rod nemesis” – the bed of my truck – and had to be consigned to rod collector heaven. I now fish with an inexpensive eBay Chinese 2-piece, same weight and length. It is scheduled to be replaced by something better.
A longer rod somehow always seems to be catching on things, and, since distance casting is not normally necessary, seems to be overkill. Often, the drill is to find enough casting room to start with; a long rod merely makes your presentation that much more difficult. For the very small jump-across brook trout streams I usually carry a wonderful little 6'-3" Powell equipped with the Lamson Lightweight reel. The whole outfit weighs but 3 ounces. Though designed as a 3 wt, I use a 4-weight line for quicker loading and to cut down false casting.
Terminal gear is a braided butt looped to a 3X and 4X tippet for early season when it is often necessary to work a heavy streamer. I abhor long leaders and find them totally useless except for extreme low water situations in late season. Preferred leader length is 2 or 3 inches shorter than the rod. That way, you can quickly shake out a cast and be fishing to a rise while the other guy is just getting warmed up with interminable false casting.
As the weather warms, I extend this system to a 5X tippet of about 2 feet or switch over to a variation of the George Harvey soft tippet leader. For fall fishing it sometimes helps to lengthen the whole outfit a couple more feet to cover the delicate puddle casts necessary in the tails of pools.
Contrary to a lot of thinking, I prefer to go heavier on tippet, rather than lighter, all other things being equal. Why? You can bring a trout to hand much quicker, release him before he is exhausted (preferably without even removing him from the water) and be onto the next riser within minutes. Quick releases also spook fewer trout in the pool (especially if you release them below the pool your working) thus giving you a lot more fishing in the same stretch of water. Think about it.
A quality vest is a must. Cheap vests (and other clothing as far as that goes) simply won't take the beating of scrambling through the brush, the briar patches, etc. Also, zippered pockets are a must for important stuff. Pin the license on the back, for God's sake...you don't need any more possible line snaggers than you already have. Speaking of...nearly all zippers possess a potential tippet snare. It's the loop where the zipper pull is attached. It's rarely closed. Close the gap with layers of nail polish, shoe goo, or whatever. Don’t attempt to pinch them shut with pliers as they may break. But close them! I prefer to attach Velcro to my sheepskin drying patches. I switch them when I change from trout to smallmouth to night fishing, etc.
Author with nice
Prouty
brown
(note modified Big Mac fishing shirt)
For warmer weather a fanny pack is more comfortable than a heavy vest. But few lightweight fanny packs are available. I converted a soft-sided hunters pack and it works well. For the dog days of summer you really can't beat a fishing shirt, especially if you are limited to the evening hatches. A good choice is the old standby Big Mac work shirt. I re-designed this old favorite, added some bigger fly box pockets, etc. and it helps me keep cool on those sultry evenings when fishing close to home.
Speaking of clothing. Even in mid-summer, temperatures can dramatically drop when the sun sets below the hills. A lightweight sweater carried in the vest feels good when hiking out after a long fish up these headwater streams. And nothing beats a pair of Big Mac work twills for comfort and durability. Do you prefer a bill cap? Paint the underside of the bill with black paint. It cuts down on glare and spurious reflections between the water and your polarized glasses.
Wading
shoes or boots? Chest or hippers?
Felts or spikes? Chest is nice - warm, snug and great if the underbrush
is wet
from recent rain. But what a hassle to get into just for a few hours
fishing.
And, how many times do you need to wade deep? And the agony of
stripping down
in time to relieve yourself. Why not a good sturdy pair of insulated
hippers,
with felts? Quick on, rugged, self-ventilating. Turn the straps around
so the
loose end hangs inside the boot! One less thing to tangle your line.
Spikes or
hobnails definitely help, but I'm not convinced they are worth the
extra cost.
Summer fishing is wading boot time - with or without lightweight nylon waders (which can suffice in colder weather if you first don a pair of long johns). Water levels are down and temps up. Wet wading is neat, but not with jeans. Twill is better (it dries faster). Don't forget to empty your pockets - there may be one or two holes in which you'll wade deep, just to cool off, if nothing else.
What else? Forget the net. Not needed, not wanted, it can only lead to trouble (release in the water, remember?). If you're going to harvest a few it doesn't much matter how you get them on the bank. Duct tape. Yes. Quick repairs to just about anything. But most of all, a narrow piece wrapped around your ankle just above the ankle bone will keep your lightweight waders from creeping down into the toe of your wading shoes. Two pair of socks do the same thing when wearing standard hip boots. A safety pin to unsnarl the inevitable wind knot. Fishing year 'round means your fly dope in that handy little squeeze bottle with pop cap will thicken up in cold weather (unless you carry it in your pants pocket). I taped a ring to the bottom of mine and I carry it upside down on a zinger in a convenient vest-pocket. Always primed - hot or cold weather!
And now, some words about that world-wide absolutely necessary final component of the tackle collection: the six pack of favorite brew. Gang, I’ve got news for ya all: fly fishing is tough enough without introducing still another impediment. OK, so you want to become more of a pack horse, so you want to dull your reflexes and screw up on casting, making the strike, on landing the fish. ‘Taint worth it!
I recall several years ago being invited to join with three other fly fishermen to work Cedar Run. Cedar is not your neighborhood stream. There’s nothing there but woods and water. And it’s a long drive. It turned out that one of the crew (the driver and inviter) had brought along a case and insisted we all saddle up with the cans. To be polite, I agreed to carry one; the others loaded up and before we took our first streamside break had managed to consume most of the brew. In the ensuing inevitable streamside bull session, one of the gang trampled and broke another’s expensive graphite rod while stumbling around. My personal rule is simple: wait.
The beer tastes ever so much better at the first roadside tavern on the way home.
