Sharknado5
Active member
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2017
- Messages
- 196
Met my friend who has 2 camps on lower First Fork (so we could social distance!) on Monday early afternoon and we fished in the Keystone Project in Potter County from mid afternoon till 6. The fish commission has sneakily enlarged the project by about a mile, now extends above Bailey Run up to the 872 bridge about a mile below Wharton. We started at that bridge and I'm sure that wasn't a stocking point, so after about an hour of futility went down to the big long hole at the end of the straight stretch below Bailey Run. I swung a Picket Pin and caught 3 rainbows, and had 5-6 other strikes. My last fish was about 18 inches, but got off as I made a grab for him, forgot my net. My friend caught 3 browns nymphing. It was a beautiful sunny day, 60-65 degrees, minimal breeze. The water temp was 52 at about 5 PM. There were tons of small stoneflies all over but didn't see hardly any surface activity. Only 2 other guys in that hole, seemed to be more guys at the other usual stocking places. And there were about 6-10 cars at the new stretch in the one place where the road, (Creek Road) runs near the stream, near the small cemetery. Nice water thru there.
So Tuesday Morning my friend lets out a whoop when he's looking at his phone, says trout season is here. We decided to try some "virgin" water instead of the project. It still took us a while to get going, but we hit 40 Maples (pretty sure that's Cameron County) in the upper deep run and he caught at least 20 in about 3 hours nymphing(euronymphing). I continued with the wet fly scheme and caught 5 all on the Pin. There were 5 or 6 big palominos that were swimming around. I wasted a lot of time trying to nail one but no go. He caught one that also eluded him at the net. A few trout were rising so I switched to dries but didn't know what to use. I didn't have a good stonefly that size so tried a small Elk Hair caddis and had a yellow head take a swipe and miss. But no other takes. Then I tried a #18 parachute Adams and caught 3 and missed a few. Temp was about 60 as it started out sunny, but then clouds moved in, it got windy and sprinkly and my friend had to leave. I think his arm was tired from catching fish. I headed north and checked a couple more holes, all below the project, and saw one with about 30 fish working the surface. It was almost 4 PM, raining off and on and getting cold. But I geared up and put the Adams back on and had a good time. Caught 5, missed 6 in about an hour, nothing big but all decent. I did see some small brownish mayflies on the water and in the air but don't know what they were. Didn't look like the little sailboats that Hendricksons look like on the water. One other guy showed up at the hole and caught a few euronymphing...
It seems First Fork is well stocked, the average fish seems bigger and the palominos make it interesting. The project still looked pretty full of people as I left late. Very few fishermen were in the regular water. A couple I talked to weren't aware the season had opened. It was a strange and memorable day.
So Tuesday Morning my friend lets out a whoop when he's looking at his phone, says trout season is here. We decided to try some "virgin" water instead of the project. It still took us a while to get going, but we hit 40 Maples (pretty sure that's Cameron County) in the upper deep run and he caught at least 20 in about 3 hours nymphing(euronymphing). I continued with the wet fly scheme and caught 5 all on the Pin. There were 5 or 6 big palominos that were swimming around. I wasted a lot of time trying to nail one but no go. He caught one that also eluded him at the net. A few trout were rising so I switched to dries but didn't know what to use. I didn't have a good stonefly that size so tried a small Elk Hair caddis and had a yellow head take a swipe and miss. But no other takes. Then I tried a #18 parachute Adams and caught 3 and missed a few. Temp was about 60 as it started out sunny, but then clouds moved in, it got windy and sprinkly and my friend had to leave. I think his arm was tired from catching fish. I headed north and checked a couple more holes, all below the project, and saw one with about 30 fish working the surface. It was almost 4 PM, raining off and on and getting cold. But I geared up and put the Adams back on and had a good time. Caught 5, missed 6 in about an hour, nothing big but all decent. I did see some small brownish mayflies on the water and in the air but don't know what they were. Didn't look like the little sailboats that Hendricksons look like on the water. One other guy showed up at the hole and caught a few euronymphing...
It seems First Fork is well stocked, the average fish seems bigger and the palominos make it interesting. The project still looked pretty full of people as I left late. Very few fishermen were in the regular water. A couple I talked to weren't aware the season had opened. It was a strange and memorable day.
