Clavemeister's Penn's Report-Pt.1

Well, the Penn's Clave has come around again, and Saturday found me en route to
Coburn under beautiful weather! I arrived in town, went to Jonas' shop and
encountered Frank Reid, who regaled me with horror stories of his drive up. He
was in the shop for a wader upgrade, new wading shoes, etc, and had simply
lobbed his wallet into the shop and asked Jonas to empty it. Continuing on to
Hemlock Acres, I found Wolfgang setting up camp, encountered Gene Cyprich,
unpacked my things and headed to the Creek. Penn's was at a near-perfect level,
with a bit of color, but not anything problematic. On the Creek, encountered
the Handyman(who had already power-washed Clave Central to an incredible
shinyness), Bruce Fisher(the so-called Third Apostle) taking outrageous bug
pictures. Later arrivals included Tim Carter, Wolfie and Frank. The hatches all
week seemed to want to concentrate into the last hour or so of light into pitch
black darkness. We flailed away to varying success, retreated after
thunderstorms to Clave Central, where Gene provided filet mignon and smoked
sausages, along with a hearty salad. I provided Yeungling. Asadi had arrived, I
heard rumors of a crowd in town downstream at the Carolina Cabin and finally
Wayne Hart arrived, and it started raining.
Sunday meant a trip to greet the other clavers downstream, so I headed with
the Handyman over the hills to Cherry Run. I met Wally and his pal at the
cabin, and patiently listened to Walt regale me with big-fish-and-no-picture
stories. He was grinning ear to ear, though, so I chose to believe him(the fish
was 19 inches when he left Coburn, and I see it put on 4 inches in less than a
weekg). As they left town, Bill Claspy and I set off upstream in search of
Makela and the Swede, Roger. After a bracing 45-foot walk up the path, they
emerged from the bushes. Roger was, as has been reported, a walking
advertisment for Scandinavia, a solidly built soul, with a near-constant
smile(I later saw that smile disappear for a wee bit, but that won't make it
until Part 2 or 3). We fished during the daytime below Blue Rock, in the Cabin
run, but the whole group managed but a few fish. Makela foul-hooked a couple
decent browns, and may have fairly landed a couple more fishing stonefly
nymphs. Said my hellos to Jeff and Indian Joe, headed off to Coburn to greet
the folks I had yet to see(I had successfully greeted all but Lou Teletski and
Joel Axelrad by days end. Fished the same head-scratching mix of bugs at dark
and returned to a fine meal at camp. Some folks were starting spread the rumor
that there was a bear in Hemlock Acres area, but sightings were dubious.
Monday morning coffee brought over our neighbor up the road, a pleasant
soul, who asked,"Did you see the bear?". Apparently a large(400-plus pound)
black bear was ambling between his trailer and ours at dawn, but I had missed
him.
Wayne Hart having left, the weather was rain-free, so a long day of fishing
ensued.
The smallmouth contingent floated the lower Creek, while the rest of us
descended into the Coburn area. Once again, a few fish here and there we
caught, all had a fine time. Many took pictures, which I urge all to send to
me, so I can compile a CD, or at least a few decent Web pages for all of ROFF
to see. The evening again provided a concentrated bug parade, consisting of the
following:
March Brown, duns and spinners; Grey Fox duns and spinners; Sulfur duns and
spinners, Tan Caddis and a Dark Olive Caddis. The latter proved to be what the
fish near Makela and I were taking. Neither of us went to that selection while
we could still see to tie flies on, so one fish was landed between us in two
hours of hard fishing. On the other hand, Mike(Handyman)Shaw had blasted trout
a short ways upstream on Sulfur Duns. We returned to steaks on the grill,
another fine salad, etc. Lou Teletski and Vince Norris joined us on the deck of
Clave Central, and stories were told. Yeunglings were consumed. The smallmouth
folks returned as well, happy,but fishless. Toward the end of the evening,
Vince turned to me and stated,"there is no more than a 20% chance of rain the
whole rest of the week. It's going to dry and perfect weather!". Thus, was the
jinx placed on us......
to be continued,
Tom