Kettle Ck. Clinton/Potter, 5/26-29/2026

steve98

steve98

Active member
Joined
Sep 9, 2006
Messages
300
5-26 to 5-29
Water level Very High due to a major rain event either Sunday 5-24 or Monday 5-25!
Water temp steady at 50F
Fished Kettle from FFO all the way down to Hammersley FK.
Tough sledding foe 3 days with some hook ups.
Gauge height dropping every day.
Friday 5-29 gauge height just above normal.
Fished Upper Pine near West Pike.
Had great success, Native Brookies good size , Browns and RBs
There was a good hatch of what I think were Hendricksons correct me if wrong.
Fished that day from 9A till 3P
On Kettle near Cross Fork saw a Sow with 2 cubs 150yds down stream near the bank on my side
Observed for a bit to try for a pic
She started making her way my way
Retreated back to my truck
Warned another guy as he was getting ready to head that way.
I feel this water is going to be in prime condition this week and maybe more into mid June with just aliitle more rain here and there.
 
Upstate streams are still on the cold side. I'll wait another couple weeks for warmer temps before I venture up that way. Maybe gas prices will have dropped by then, but I'm not holding my breath on that.
 
Was up that way for my annual college buddy fishing trip this past weekend. Fishing was generally slow. Both small streams and large…we were in the Kettle, First Fork, and Pine drainages and main stems. We caught fish everywhere we went, but given the good flows, they didn’t come as easy as we expected. Cold nights being the likely culprit, and a general lack of bugs for the evening hatches. (Pine fished by far the best, FWIW.) Water temps were low 50’s on the small streams and mid 50’s on the main stems. We saw tan and black Caddis, Cahills (or Sulphurs), and a few Green Drakes. Not great numbers and not a lot of fish rising, but the ones that were were fairly easy to catch.

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I was up at Ole Bull w/ my dad and son the 28th into the 29th. Creeks were in great shape but there were WAY TOO MANY people up there. I don't know if it was the drakes (pretty steady hatch on Thursday night on Kettle), or people chasing the stocking trucks from the memorial day weekend stockings-even the FFO stretch was PACKED. 2-3 cars in every single pull off. Fortunately my son could fish the "kid's section" at Ole Bull, so he got more practice casting and landing fish without combat fishing w/ the crowds.

It was a harsh reminder as to why I stopped going up there in May.
 
The_Sasquatch said:
I was up at Ole Bull w/ my dad and son the 28th into the 29th. Creeks were in great shape but there were WAY TOO MANY people up there. I don't know if it was the drakes (pretty steady hatch on Thursday night on Kettle), or people chasing the stocking trucks from the memorial day weekend stockings-even the FFO stretch was PACKED. 2-3 cars in every single pull off. Fortunately my son could fish the "kid's section" at Ole Bull, so he got more practice casting and landing fish without combat fishing w/ the crowds.

It was a harsh reminder as to why I stopped going up there in May.
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For what its worth, Memorial Day weekend is probably the busiest weekend of trout fishing and water recreation for much of NCPA of the summer
 
I was part of the Kettle fracas on Thursday. Crowds were lighter, though still relatively busy in FF and The Pine. Never made it back to Kettle.
 
Swattie87 said:
Was up that way for my annual college buddy fishing trip this past weekend. Fishing was generally slow. Both small streams and large…we were in the Kettle, First Fork, and Pine drainages and main stems. We caught fish everywhere we went, but given the good flows, they didn’t come as easy as we expected. Cold nights being the likely culprit, and a general lack of bugs for the evening hatches. (Pine fished by far the best, FWIW.) Water temps were low 50’s on the small streams and mid 50’s on the main stems. We saw tan and black Caddis, Cahills (or Sulphurs), and a few Green Drakes. Not great numbers and not a lot of fish rising, but the ones that were were fairly easy to catch.

View attachment 1641251557View attachment 1641251558View attachment 1641251559
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Sexy brookie, dude.
 
Swattie87 said:
Was up that way for my annual college buddy fishing trip this past weekend. Fishing was generally slow. Both small streams and large…we were in the Kettle, First Fork, and Pine drainages and main stems. We caught fish everywhere we went, but given the good flows, they didn’t come as easy as we expected. Cold nights being the likely culprit, and a general lack of bugs for the evening hatches. (Pine fished by far the best, FWIW.) Water temps were low 50’s on the small streams and mid 50’s on the main stems. We saw tan and black Caddis, Cahills (or Sulphurs), and a few Green Drakes. Not great numbers and not a lot of fish rising, but the ones that were were fairly easy to catch.

View attachment 1641251557View attachment 1641251558View attachment 1641251559
Click to expand...
Great fish, Swattie. Was up that way myself the same timeframe. My observation was the same. The Pine fished better than kettle, and southern tribs a bit better than northern. Had one warm afternoon of steady risers to green drake duns which made the trip.
 
nd1001 said:
Great fish, Swattie. Was up that way myself the same timeframe. My observation was the same. The Pine fished better than kettle, and southern tribs a bit better than northern. Had one warm afternoon of steady risers to green drake duns which made the trip.
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Yeah, Friday was warm, until the wind blew in. We were small streaming to mediocre results during the good part of the day. Stopped for some Perry’s at the Sinnemahoning Camp store, and by the time we got set up on FF the wind was ripping pretty good.

Was weird, Kettle had more bugs, but Pine had more willing fish to the relatively less bugs. FF had neither largely.
 
The_Sasquatch said:
I was up at Ole Bull w/ my dad and son the 28th into the 29th. Creeks were in great shape but there were WAY TOO MANY people up there. I don't know if it was the drakes (pretty steady hatch on Thursday night on Kettle), or people chasing the stocking trucks from the memorial day weekend stockings-even the FFO stretch was PACKED. 2-3 cars in every single pull off. Fortunately my son could fish the "kid's section" at Ole Bull, so he got more practice casting and landing fish without combat fishing w/ the crowds.

It was a harsh reminder as to why I stopped going up there in May.
Click to expand...
My wife and I used to take a week in NCPA late May/early June back in the early 2000s. Was awesome. Started again mid May last year and this year now that my son is in college and figured we’d do mid week trips each year before he started working. This year will be the last time doing that. Tuesday through Friday was super busy. There were people everywhere and tbh think I saw more people flyfishing than spinning. Also a ton of turkey hunters in addition to vehicles with rooftop rod tubes when looking for peace and quiet off the beaten path.

Nice that there’s a kids section your son was able to enjoy.
 
It was wayyyy busier than I expected, especially Kettle. We deliberately chose the weekend after Memorial Day, figuring on less crowds too.
 
Swattie87 said:
Was up that way for my annual college buddy fishing trip this past weekend. Fishing was generally slow. Both small streams and large…we were in the Kettle, First Fork, and Pine drainages and main stems. We caught fish everywhere we went, but given the good flows, they didn’t come as easy as we expected. Cold nights being the likely culprit, and a general lack of bugs for the evening hatches. (Pine fished by far the best, FWIW.) Water temps were low 50’s on the small streams and mid 50’s on the main stems. We saw tan and black Caddis, Cahills (or Sulphurs), and a few Green Drakes. Not great numbers and not a lot of fish rising, but the ones that were were fairly easy to catch.

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How do you get the fish to pose like that for you. I have seen a couple other people that hold in a similar fashion.
 
riverwhy said:
How do you get the fish to pose like that for you. I have seen a couple other people that hold in a similar fashion.
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I've noticed in most, if not all, of Swattie's fish pics, he's cradling the trout, not gripping it. I do the same thing when I take a pic. Trout seem to be much more at ease when cradled, instead of actually being gripped. I'm guessing it's the same reason he does that too.
 
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