2009 Chapter Trips. 

Kettle Creek - The dates of the trip are; Arrive Thursday May 14th and leave Sunday the 17th. This is the weekend before Memorial Day; I tried for the weekend after but the lodge had already been taken. The lodge holds approximately 17 people in beds so we have plenty of room. I have not received the updated cost of the trip however it should be close to what we paid last year at $ 80.00 per night and includes breakfast and dinner. I will start taking deposit checks at any time. Please make your $ 100.00 per person deposit check out to Bucks County Trout Unlimited to confirm your spot. Mail to Steve Good 826 Sherrick Court Chalfont PA 18914. I will take deposits up until the end of March. I will collect the balance two weeks before the trip. Remember this trip fills quick. If you are a new member please don't be concerned about coming along. The fishing is good and the company is even better. It's amazing the entertainment a little bit of bourbon, a fire poker and a citronella candle can provide around the campfire. 
 
Maine- Sean Crocker is hosting a trip to Lakewood Camps in Maine over the Labor Day weekend in September. If you remember we had the proprietors of the camp come and give a presentation in November about the incredible fishing opportunities in the Rangeley lake area of Maine. I have personally fished the area and it is fantastic. Beautiful secluded areas with plenty of Landlocked Salmon and Brook Trout. Please contact Sean at 609-306-9787 his cell or email seancst@yahoo.com for more information. 
 

Montana trip July 2008 

Caught in a Run Down  - David Vassar

 

On our recent trip out West we had the good fortune to fish some of Montana’s great rivers including the Big Hole, the Madison, the Ruby, and Rock Creek. However from a big fish perspective, none sticks out in my mind like the Beaverhead River. The Beav’, as the locals call it, is a tail water fishery that runs north out of Clark Canyon Dam located just south of Dillon to Twin Bridges, Montana, where it merges with the Ruby and the Big Hole to form the Jefferson River. As western rivers go the Beaverhead is a baby compared to the likes of the Madison or Big Hole but it is a veritable bug factory where brown and rainbow trout grow big. Although the average fish runs 16 inches or more this does not tell the whole story as these are hefty fat fish well adapted to living in an environment of strong flows where even 800 cfs is a lot of water to cram down such a narrow, twisting stream channel.

 

On the second fishing day of our visit Dan, Andy, Peter and I hired John and Brad from Anderson and Platt Flyfishing to drift the Beaverhead. We put our two boats in at the dam at around 9 AM and pulled out at Henneberry about 4 miles downriver at 6:30 that evening. To say it was a great day of fishing would be a gross understatement! We hooked fish running between 16 to 21 inches consistently all day long. I say hooked because many never made it to net, escaping after straightening our #16 hooks or simply breaking off our 4X tippets. Truth be known I lost many more than my boat mate Peter, never having had the experience of fighting such strong fish. It was a truly memorable day of fishing. The next day we could hardly wait to go back to wade the Beaverhead and see if we could apply what we’d learned and get back into some big trout. Our guides had shown us a new rig configuration for fishing tandem droppers off a lead weight suspended 6 inches below the bottom nymph to bounce bottom with a small balloon strike indicator suspended up the leader approximately 7 feet. Andy and Peter adapted to the new techniques extremely well and caught a bunch of nice fish that day. I had one of those days you’d like to just forget, almost being blanked until late in the day. The following    day the group was excited to visit some of the other great rivers in the area but I decided to stay behind and return to the Beaverhead to attempt to discover what had gone wrong the day before. I entered the river at High Bridge near a gravel bar and small island I remembered from our float trip. The gravel bar was already busy with drift boats so I headed downriver to the small island. I started fishing the upstream end of the island where 60 or so yards of riffle water narrowed sharply to circumvent the island. PMD’s were hatching so I rebuilt my rig trying to be extra careful to exactly replicate our guides’ instructions. Once complete, I put a #16 PMD nymph on the lower dropper and a PMD emerger on the top and cast into the converging currents. I immediately started to pick up fish, a brown, then a rainbow then two more browns. After my poor success from the day before I was feeling much better and suddenly realized how stunning the rugged scenery was surrounding this section of the river. After 6 or so fish the PMD hatch petered out and stone flies started to come off. I switched over and again had success as I walked the riffle upstream from the island. After 3 or 4 additional fish the hatching activity again slowed as did the fishing. As I looked across the river I noticed a deeper section of water at a bend in the river with what appeared to be some undercut banks. Due to the shallowness of the riffle area the drift boats had to swing out wide close to this bank in order to pass downriver but because the water was quite deep and fast most of the boats simply passed through this section without fishing it. I cast into the bank and as the fly line hit the water a silver streak shot out from the undercut bank like a torpedo and my rod bowed deeply. The fish swam into the deepest portion of the run and hunkered down. Minutes went by as I tried without success to move the fish out of the deep run. Suddenly he started to run downriver to the vortex of rapids opposite the island. I was quickly down to my backing and realized it was time to get down river before this fish broke me off. I clamored clumsily out of the thigh high water and finally reached the island. The fish showed no signs of stopping so I hoofed it across the island. At the end of the island a guide had stopped his boat to let his clients wade fish and I had to quickly apologize as I ran by them. The guide smiled and yelled back “no problem, looks like that fish is headed to Dillon”. Shortly after the island I was able to stop the fish and get my fly line back onto the reel. Then at about 50 feet from me the fish again took off downriver again stripping me down to my backing. Not wanting to be spooled I again took off after him trying to move from bank to bank avoiding the deeper water. Once more I was able to stop the run and again recaptured line at which point he came out of the water for the first time revealing a very big rainbow. However no sooner had he hit the water and again he was off. Again my line flew off the reel and again I was into my backing. By this time I was approximately 150 yards downriver from where I had hooked this fish. The river was getting deeper as it narrowed to a section no more that 20 yards wide. I looked to see which side of the river offered shallower water from which to continue the fight. Unfortunately up ahead on the left shore I saw another guided party and that party was into fish which limited my passage to the right side of the river. The right side was deeper water and moving with more force as the channel narrowed. By now this scene had become high theater. Guide boats that I had passed up river were coming by and asking if I had seen the fish yet. The guide and his clients on the left shore, having landed their fish, were sitting wondering what this crazy guy running down the river with rod bent to a candy cane was going to do for encores. Finally the guide on the left shore yells over at me as I am totally engrossed in trying to pick my way through some heavy water trying not to stumble, “hey that’s an incredible fish but if you can’t land him you have to cut him off or you’re going to kill him”. Well, I must tell you despite my pro catch and release philosophy the welfare of the fish was the last thing on my mind as I realized I was quickly getting into trouble. I could feel the hydraulics pushing me downstream and I fought to stay upright. Unfortunately the power of the river flows got significantly stronger as I was pulled into chest high water to a point where I was literally skating along the bottom. I assumed a water ski position as the current continued to pull me downriver and despite cleated wading boots I was literally sliding down the river channel. Finally the inevitable happened, I was pulled into deeper water and lost my balance and went under. By the time I was able to regain my feet my fish had escaped to thrill another fisherman on another day.

 

 

 

2008 Kettle Creek Lodge  by Ed Harrington

 

Our annual chapter trip to Kettle Creek Lodge occurred the weekend prior to Memorial Day this year.  Over the years, trip organizers have had to decide in advance whether to go early or wait until after the holiday.  It’s a crapshoot. 

 

Some years, the season’s weather plays out at both ends-- bluebird days and mayflies all day.  Other years, it warms way too early and we miss a lot of dry fly action, which usually will then only happen at dawn and dusk.  Of course, this year was the opposite.  Spring was cool, and the forecast for the weekend didn’t look good.  Actually, it was to be cool and wet.

 

Peter Klein and I left sunny Warrington Thursday morning with intentions of arriving in Potter County mid-day, fish a few hours, and then head over to the lodge in time for dinner.

 

Steve and Laura Benna, our hosts, accommodated our wishes and served an early dinner so that we can all get back out for the evening hatch.

 

We stopped in McConnell’s fly shop for the usual flies and info and talked to a fella that had been fishing the area.  He mentioned that the big Pine had been doing well in the evening at the mouths of the tributaries and that the tributaries were still cold with very inactive fish.

 

So, of course we went up to Cedar Run, a Pine trib', cast dries and droppers to the most astonishingly beautiful freestone water in the state.  At fifty degrees, just like the fella said, the water was too cold.   We saw few bugs and fewer fish, and we looked forward to the evening hatch.

 

Judging by the fish talk, the weekend pattern can be summed up like this:  If you fish mostly stocked trout water and found some fish, with a little work, you could dredge up a few with nymphs, or you might find some risers at dusk.  The mostly “wild fish” waters were really tough with very little dry fly action.  This was kind of a disappointment because, being mostly an underwater enthusiast, after my six years of going on this trip, I look forward to it as my yearly dry fly dose.

 

Conditions being what they were, I think everyone caught fish anyway. 

 

Kevin Randall and “Rattlesnake” Rich Metzger had a run-in with a serpent on Slate Run, where later that evening Kevin landed a sixteen inch plus wild brown on a size20 midge pupa.

 

Andrew Koons caught an eighteen inch plus rainbow on the West branch Pine Creek with a size #12 bead head caddis.  He had to work an undercut bank below a tree from two different spots. Fishing a 3 wt. and 5x tippet, Andy eased in the big fish of the weekend.

 

Fishing is not a numbers game, but this weekend, the game was clearly won by the Morris family.  Friday night, Jim and son Brian located a hole on the lower Kettle that was just loaded with fish.  Saturday, they got there early and “camped out” all day (Jim sent Brian for lunch).  They caught over thirty fish each.  “What a day,” said Jim, “Best fly fishing day ever.”

 

That evening, eavesdropping at dinner, I thought I heard the location of the secret spot, so Peter and I decided to give it a try.  The Morris’ had been kind enough to send Dan Weaver and his 16 year-old son Dan, Jr. there because young Dan hadn’t been having much luck. 

 

Upon arriving at the creek, I figured that they and we were in the right spot when I saw Dan, Sr. hooked up.  I fished below a ways down, had some luck, and noticed the sky turning my favorite color, dark blue dun.  As I headed back upstream, I could see young Dan had a fish on.  Then the skies opened up.  He was so excited, with thunder and lightning and buckets pouring down, it reminded me of the Caddyshack scene with the priest in the storm.  “We can’t leave now”, young Dan must have thought.  We had to.

 

Back at the Lodge, the Saturday night bonfire was obviously doused, so hearty back-porch bourbon drinkers warmed themselves with a selection fir for the top shelf in any Kentucky bar.  Others headed for the comfort of the fireplace in the lodge’s main room.

 

Our tradition of branding a log with Bucks TU and the year was enhanced by the addition of a wonderful chapter brand welded by Jerry Reed.  What a neat thing to do.  BJ Haegele, “Master Brander,” burnt in the wood a scene with a fish surrounded by raindrops, thus commemorating the weekend’s weather.  The drops might well have been tears.

 

At breakfast, I ordered eggs, sunny-side up. We took a group picture, said our goodbyes, and, as we drove home it seemed as though the storm was following us.  Four hours later, as we pulled into the driveway to unload.  My wife came out to greet us and said, “It just started raining a few minutes ago.”