It's gonna be a good year....

.....or, so I tell myself at the start of every trout season. After a winter
of record snow, family annoyances at every turn and a even uglier turn in
the nation's mood, I was as ready as I'd ever been to start my trout fishing
season. Yesterday was opening day, which on many PA streams is a mix of
chaos and festivity, with crowded fishing conditions. The weather, a near
perfect 65-70 degrees F, was conducive to larger than usual crowds. Thus, I
waited and got some yardwork done and didn't wander out until 3 pm. I went
to the Tulpehocken Creek, and while noting some souls still flailing away,
many were packing up for the day. The water was still sort of high and
moving pretty strongly, the product of heavy rains earlier in the week.
It felt good to get into the waders again, and string up the old Thomas and
Thomas which has been my trusty pal for over 15 years now. A glance at
conditions suggested streamers, so I tied on a Shenk's White Streamer, which
had, in years past, produced well in early season. A quick dunk in the creek
to get it waterlogged preceded my first cast of 2010. Two casts later, I
aimed for a sunken tree, which was a new piece of structure generated by the
harsh winter, and got slammed by what turned out to be a nice, 15 inch
brown. What a wonderful start, I thought. A quarter mile walk downstream
over the next hour or so only yielded one more fish, though, a smallish
rainbow. Still, it was a wonderful experience, feeling the water
around my waders, hearing the songbirds, seeing the new spring growth,
smelling the assorted woodland aromas. I sat down, taking it all in, on a
rock outcropping, before walking the hill up to my car. Then, I saw it. A
ring, followed by a more aggressive swirl of water. A handful of flies were
coming off a flat bit of water. Grannoms! Now, in a few short weeks, I will
see Grannom caddis by the bazillions up at Penns, but these early stragglers
had gotten the attention of a couple fish on the Tully. I lengthened the
leader with some 5x tippet and tied on
a #14 Coyote Ugly, my personal go-to fly for these hatches. My first couple,
three casts were butt-ugly displays of rusty technique. However, the fourth
got right over where I'd seen the swirl of water, drifted for about a foot
and disappeared into the mouth of a hungry, small brown trout. As I removed
the hook and sent him back on his way, I noted that he'd been solidly
hooked. On the way back to the car, I got to thinking......who was more
solidly hooked, him or me? The coming weeks will draw me, again and again,
back to familiar streams and new places. I'll enjoy this trout season by
myself, amongst strangers and with friends, some of whom go back over 30
years.
Yes, it IS gonna be a good year........

Tom