Prospector
Well-known member
Just finished our annual full week on Kettle and it’s tribs.
The short version is....
Kettle was really high and cold when we arrived but there were lots of insects. We had afternoon dry fly fishing but most of the mornings were very cold and required subsurface fishing. Early in the week the tribs were too cold. As the week worn on the weather warmed, the streams did too and water levels improved every day. By the end of the week it was viable to dry fly fish all day. The only downside was the hot sunny days later in the week did not produce much of a hatch. Our group had 3 people for a week and one for 3 days and we caught 327.
I have a full report below for those of you that like more detail. Most of the days the insects are redundant. We had so many different types of insects early in the week, it seemed like it just repeated every day. Selecting the right time of day to be on the stream was very important.
*****SUNDAY
June 2 Kettle Creek FFO section
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Time Fished: Noon - 130pm
Weather Conditions: 59 degrees, overcast
Water Conditions: 50 degrees; water running about 680 cfs
Insects: some BWOs hatching; saw a coffin fly dab on the water a a few times. There was only 1 rise.
There were 5 vehicles on the FFO section and one vehicle between the FFO and Cross Fork.
I fished about 5 streamers through a few holes and got 1 rainbow. Got the best reaction to the largest streamers. The trout just weren’t very active and the stream was unusually fast and cold for this time of year. Nymphing might have been a better choice.
June 2 Kettle Creek Open Water
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Time Fished: 615pm - 830pm
Weather Conditions: Sunny 63 degrees with a slight breeze
Water Conditions: 50 degrees; running about 750 cfs
Insects: There were a lot of insects. The cold water allowed many flies to escape as I watched dun after dun float down creek untouched. Duns on water: Big and Little Sulphur, BWO, Slate Drakes, Gray Fox, Light Cahill, plus 2 types of Caddis. Spinners: Slate Drake, Sulphur
Went to a hole that is usually very slow but the high water got it moving a bit. There were so many flies floating down it was hard to believe the fish weren’t rising better. I tried 2 different sulphur patterns (thorax style and a sparkle dun) since that seemed like the predominant insect but I never had a strike. Since the mayfly profile wasn’t attracting any attention, I switched to a dark bodied Caddis and immediately began catching fish... got 9. When my Caddis became hard to see I switched to a rusty spinnner and picked up 5 more. All things considered, a pretty good evening for high, off color water. I ended up with 8 brown, 5 brook and 1 rainbow.
*****MONDAY
June 3 Kettle Creek Open Water
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Time Fished: 115pm - 345pm
Weather Conditions: 55 degrees and Sunny
Water Conditions: 50 degrees and heavy flow (about 700 cfs)
Insects: Dark and light Caddis, BWO, March Brown, Green Drakes, sz 20 Paraleptophlebia,
Insects showed up in a big way about 3pm but there were no rises. Lots of naturals on the water and the colder air temp kept them on the water for long stretches plus the faster flow moved them a long way before they were ready to lift off (30 - 50 yd trip). They passed over a lot of fish with no takers.
When I arrived there were no fresh insects just some Caddis floating in the backwater eddies. I fished a wooly bugger and leadwing coachman wet and had about 5 strikes and caught what I thought was a tiger trout (see picture below). Tried a streamer and had no strikes. When insects began to hatch I saw a number of March Browns so I put on a MB nymph and caught a rainbow. A bit of a disappointing day considering how many insects were available. I did have an eagle fly over as I was swinging wets.
June 3 Kettle Creek FFO section
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Time Fished: 715pm - 9pm
Weather Conditions: 63 degrees, sunny, breezy
Water Conditions: 50 degrees, heavy flow; cfs was 668 (the median for today’s date is 142)
Insects: Coffin Flies, Caddis, other mayfly spinners
With poor stream conditions, not many people fishing tonight. From Cross Fork to FFO bridge there were 5 vehicles. Along the FFO area there were another 5 vehicles.
When I arrived on the stream the Coffin flies were in full egg laying mode. This was much earlier than I expected for the spinner fall and I had wasted some time checking out other locations before settling on this spot.
I had tied on a dark Caddis at the truck so I put it over several rising fish but never got so much as a look. It became clear that I needed to tie on a Coffin fly.
While I was tossing around the Caddis, I was observing how the trout had adjusted to the tendencies of the Coffin fly. The spinners were flying about 10-15 ft over the water then they would quickly descend, they would stay on water for a “one one thousand” count then lift off. To counter this, some of the trout would actually explode to the surface and take the fly the instant it would hit the water and continue airborne about a foot into the air. So they were in motion before the fly touched down. I saw one trout jump out 3 consecutive times to nab a green Drake before it could take off. My fly was 4th drake it saw in a row and it took it on a spectacular jump.
The Coffin fly pattern our group uses is very simple and is much smaller than the natural but it works great. You just have to ensure the color scheme remains intact. Every rising fish that I could cast to took my fly and I landed 7. The others either were lost, stuck, broke me off or were missed. They obviously had been feeding on Drakes for awhile and liked how they tasted.
The unfortunate thing was the Coffin flies were all but gone by 745pm. I could bring up fish through random casting but the high, fast water made drifts on long casts very difficult. By 820pm I had finally hooked and lost the last rising fish in the hole so I tried to hit a few other holes but their dark backdrops made seeing the fly problematic.
On the night I caught 4 Rainbow, 2 brown and a brook. I had a beaver climb out on the opposite bank and then slip back in the water after he saw me casting. After dark, walking back to truck I also heard a woodcock singing its mating call and doing it mating flight. There seemed to be an increasing number of woodcock along Kettle.
*****TUESDAY
June 4 Kettle Creek Open Water
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Time Fished: 2pm - 845pm
Weather Conditions: Sunny, 68 degrees
Water Conditions: 52 degrees, Clear; still high for this time of year (550 cfs)
Insects: BWO, Slate Drakes, Brown Drakes, March Brown, Gray Fox. Green Drake, at least 2 kinds of Caddis. Lots of volume of insects too. A constant flow of bugs.
The water was warming up due to the sun and the fish were very aggressive. The mayflies were cooperating and many insects were hatching together.
Started out with a Wooly Bugger and a Royal Coachman wet combo. Caught 2 on the wooly bugger but had a lot of misses so I switched to a smaller fly, a March Brown nymph, and cut off the Coachman to avoid tangles in the wind since it had been an unproductive fly anyway. Still had a lot of misses but caught 22 on the March Brown nymph. It was about 4pm when there were enough rising fish to warrant switching over to a dry.
I started off with a BWO but it was hard to see due to glare so I switched to a larger Slate Drake imitation that I had tied the previous day. Both insects were hatching together. I got 30 on the Slate Drake. I finished up with a Coffin fly and caught another 9 on it about the time spinner fall ended.
It was just one of those days when you happen to be at a place when every fish wanted to eat.
Interestingly what didn’t work was a dark Caddis dry, a Royal Coachman wet and a Slate Drake wet.
The breakdown by type was a little surprising: 62 Rainbow and 1 brook trout. 0 browns. Some of the rainbow were very nice. Landed one in the 18 inch range and several from 14 to 15 inches.
The fellow across the creek did well too . He caught fish on a hares ear nymph. Caddis emerger and yellow humpy. Since he was upstream I wasn’t facing him a lot but many times when I looked up he had fish on. He certainly caught at least 25 and probably a lot more.
*****TUESDAY
June 5 Kettle Creek Open Water
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Time Fished: 645am - 720am
Weather Conditions: 60 degrees, calm, overcast
Water Conditions: 50 degrees, just a little off color; water runny at 500 cfs
Insects: Spinners (either March Brown or Slate Drake) and saw a couple mayflies hatching
This was the first morning that it wasn’t cold. Earlier in the week it had been in the 30s. I made a streamer pass behind camp and had 4 strikes but didn’t land any. The interesting thing about the morning was the spinner activity. They were 8-15 ft off the water and some were mating (saw 2 pair connected in flight).
June 5 Kettle Creek Open Water
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Time Fished: Noon - 300pm
Weather Conditions: 65 sunny but transitioned to overcast then rain
Water Conditions: 53 degrees, a little off color and running heavy; 465 cfs
Insects: BWO, sulphurs. Caddis
Nothing happening when I arrived so I fished subsurface and caught 4 on 3 different flies. When the clouds arrived the BWOs started to hatch. The trout rose okay. I thought more should be coming up based on the amount of insects. Eventually I switched to a BWO dry and caught 2 then it began to rain which prevented me from trying other flies. I tried waiting out the rain and I did fish a little during breaks, but eventually I quit and headed for camp.
Some other fisherman I talked to had done well on Slate Drakes prior to the rain.
June 5 Kettle Creek Open Water
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Time Fished: 530pm - 845pm
Weather Conditions: 65, Mostly rain
Water Conditions: 54, off color; 450 cfs
Insects: Slate Drake, Brown Drake, a few Caddis
I went back to the location where I had done so well the afternoon before. The creek was noticeably lower and it looked like it would rain any second. Which it did for about 2 hours. I fished through it and had a lot of strikes on a March Brown nymph and landed 9. I tried a prince nymph for a bit but never had a strike.
Throughout the rain the fish were rising very well. There seemed to be a decent number of insects with Brown Drakes being most abundant. When the rain stopped, I put on a brown drake dry and got 8. I switched to a Slate Drake and picked up 2 more. Finally at dark I put on a Coffin fly, strictly for visibility (there were no Coffin flies around), and I caught 2 more. Every trout was a rainbow.
*****WEDNESDAY
June 6 Kettle Creek FFO
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Time Fished: 11am - 415pm
Weather Conditions: 67 & overcast
Water Conditions: 54 degrees,Clear, flow is still a little heavy (400 cfs)
Insects: BWO, Slate Drakes, Brown Drakes, Cahill, Caddis, saw 3-4,Coffin Flies
There were 6 vehicles from Cross Fork to FFO bridge. There were 7 vehicles parked along the FFO stretch.
I was on the upper end and every hole was full of fisherman. I ran into 2 groups that came from the parking lot at the bridge downstream. So don’t rely on where the vehicles are parked to assess where people are fishing. The movement made me believe people weren’t running into active fish.
The hatches started around noon with BWO being first and heaviest. Slate Drakes started a little later and a size 14 brown mayfly came last. They could have been brown drakes but I thought the flies were too small.
It’s pretty universal that hatches occur most frequently during overcast or rainy days. Today I noticed hatches would continue for a little while after sun came out but the fish stopped rising immediately when sun hit the water. This also happened to another person in our group who noticed the fish stopping when the sun peeked out. After the hatch I was able to bring up fish to any fly that had been hatching. All of my day was spent dry fly fishing so I had to bring up fish.
I ended up catching 8 rainbow and 5 brown on BWO, Slate Drake, Dark Caddis. BWO was the best producer and was most effective of the 3 flies on slow water fish.
The turtles must have been laying eggs today since in the limited driving I did I saw 3 turtles crossing the road. (Total sightings for the week was 8). The toads were getting started too with their high pitched song.
June 6. Cross Fork Creek CRALO
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Time Fished: 5pm - 640pm
Weather Conditions: 72 degrees and sunny
Water Conditions: 48 degrees, very high but clear
Insects: yellow sallie, Coffin fly, Caddis a few mayfly
The rains yesterday were not good for a stream like Cross Fork that was now really flowing heavy. I did not see any rises but I blind casted and brought up mostly small trout. I wasn’t getting any strikes in the main flow just along the edges. That will change as the stream drops. Right now only about 10% to 20% of the stream is fishable.
I caught 6 brook and 1 brown. One hooked jaw 7 1/2 inch Brookie was the biggest
June 6 Kettle Creek Open Water
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Time Fished: 730pm - 900pm
Weather Conditions: 70 degrees & Clear
Water Conditions: 56 degrees; Clear; still a heavy flow; 350 cfs
Insects: laying eggs... a lot of yellow sallies, lots of Slate Drake spinners, a few Coffin flies, several types of Caddis, Sulphur spinners hatching... Green Drakes, sulphurs, Brown Drakes, Light cahill,
The stream was alive with insects hatching and others coming back to lay eggs. My little jaunt to Cross Fork Creek had allowed others to get stationed in the best holes for the spinner fall long before I arrived. I tried to walk in to a lightly fished area but it was taken too. I tied on a Dark Caddis since they are always the first egg laying flies to arrive in this section. I caught one fish on my way upstream and found an open riffle and got 5 there. I moved to one last open area before it got dark and got 2 more. Ended up with 5 Rainbow and 3 brook.
*****THURSDAY
June 7 Kettle Creek Open Water
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Time Fished: 630am - 715am
Weather Conditions: 55!degrees and overcast
Water Conditions: 52 degrees and clear
Insects: Saw some mayflies from a distance
Made a streamer pass before breakfast and had 7-8 strikes and caught a brook and brown. About halfway through I noticed some mayflies floating down and saw about 8 different fish rise as I continued through the end of the hole. Some of the rises were likely for leftovers from the spinner fall in addition to the fresh insects.
June 7 Kettle Creek FFO
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Time Fished: 1215pm - 4pm
Weather Conditions: 75 degrees & Sunny
Water Conditions: 56 degrees, 300 cfs; Clear, water levels were very good
Insects: Not many. Some Caddis a mayfly or 2 but no hatch
My son got to camp last night so he was with me today. He tied on the Dark Caddis that had been working all week and I used a BWO. When we started there were no insects and therefore no rises so we just casted our dries through the riffles and pools. My son got one on the first cast so that was both a lucky guess and a good sign. I watched for awhile and then joined in. We brought up a lot of fish. Many took the fly while others just looked. It was a good day searching for fish. My son got 8 rainbow, 2 brown and a brook. I got 5 rainbow and 2 brown.
At one point I tried a beetle under some trees but trout never even came to look. This is usually a hot week for beetles but the summer is late in coming this year.
June 7 Kettle Creek Open Water
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Time Fished: 7pm - 9pm
Weather Conditions: 75 and clear
Water Conditions: 58 degrees, Clear, 290 cfs
Insects: Caddis, Slate Drake Spinners, Sulphur spinners
Left camp a little late for the spinner fall and, on the way to our first choice, a momma and cubs crossed the road. She then sent the cubs up a tree so that caused a further delay since we had to watch it all unfold (but it was well worth it). Our spot was taken so we reversed direction and ended up at another familiar evening location. It’s a series of riffles and pools that get a heavy Caddis flight at dark. Caddis tonight out numbered spinners by about 4:1 . We had been using a dark caddis dry all week and it was a producer tonight accounting for all of our fish. 3 Rainbow, 3 Browns, 2 Brook
*****FRIDAY
June 8 Kettle Creek Open Water
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Time Fished: 650am - 800am
Weather Conditions: 54 degrees & Overcast
Water Conditions: 52 degrees, Clear and just about a normal flow; about 260 cfs
Insects: None were visible
Made a streamer pass before breakfast, had 4 strikes and caught a brown and brook. I saw about a dozen rises, most were in the riffle. A few guys came down and tried dries but never had a take.
June 8. Germania Branch C&R All Tackle
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Time Fished: 1230pm - 200pm
Weather Conditions: 72 degrees and sunny
Water Conditions: 46 degrees, Clear, good flow
Insects: none to speak of
The fish either weren’t there, were already fished over earlier or the water was too cold. My son and I had very few strikes (10-12 combined). He used a dry and caught 2 brook trout I used a nymph and caught one brook. This stop was the most disappointing of the week.
June 8 Upper Kettle Creek
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Time Fished: 245pm - 430pm
Weather Conditions: 78, Sunny
Water Conditions: 52 degrees, Clear, nice flow
Insects: very few
There were very few rises so we just blind casted dry flies and we brought up a lot of fish. My son got 7 (4 brook, 1 brown, 1 rainbow) and I got 22 (19 brook, 3 brown). He used a size 12 and I used a size 16 and that accounted for the disparity in hookups.
June 8 Cross Fork Creek CRALO
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Time Fished: 7pm - 9pm
Weather Conditions: 76 degrees and Clear
Water Conditions: 55 degrees, Clear
Insects: Lots of Caddis, rusty spinners (sz 12 & 18), Coffin flies
When we arrived, nothing was happening. Totally dead. We tied on dry flies and in the first hole we brought up several fish but only caught 3. As we continued upstream, fish activity improved until the spinner fall was in full swing with lots of insects. The rising fish wanted what we had, although we missed the majority of the strikes since many were small fish. My son and I landed 8 brook, 5 Rainbow and 2 Brown.
*****SUNDAY
June 9 Kettle Creek Open Water
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Time Fished: 720am - 830am
Weather Conditions: 58 degrees, sunny
Water Conditions: 53 degrees, Clear
Insects: midges, Caddis, and leftovers from spinner fall
Made a streamer pass and got 1 brook trout. Several fish rising sporadically as I moved through the hole so on way back upstream I tied on a tiny Caddis and caught another brook trout, but overall the fish weren’t interested in this fly.
June 9 Kettle Creek FFO
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Time Fished: 1045am - 1230pm
Weather Conditions: 75 degrees and sunny
Water Conditions: 56 degrees, Clear
Insects: none to speak of saw a few Caddis and Cahills
There were a few rises in the holes we fished but we mostly brought up fish by casting to likely locations. We both chose Caddis. We got 4 Rainbows and 2 brown. There were very few people on the creek today. My son headed for home and I made one more stop.
June 9. Upper Kettle Creek
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Time Fished: 130pm - 3pm
Weather Conditions: 76 & Sunny
Water Conditions: Clear
Insects: A few BWO
Same story here as lower Kettle. Only saw a few rises, otherwise all fish were brought up by working through all likely spots. I got 11 Brook 1 brown and 1 Rainbow. That puts a button on my Kettle Creek days and it ended well. Always nice to get there.
Last weekend in my Marvin Creek Stream Report, I mentioned being careful with deer. On my way home about 445pm I was on 555 just south of Driftwood and 2 SUVs were Northbound coming toward me and 80 yds away. Brush extended all of the way to the edge of road. A deer walks out of the brush unknowingly into path of these vehicles. Just pops out of nowhere and into their lane 10 yds in front of them and stops. The driver did not swerve into my lane so he just crushed the deer. What a terrible sight to see at 55 mph. I only mention it for all of you to keep in mind. There is no way to avoid these situations but keeping your speed down can be the difference between a drivable vehicle and a ruined fishing trip while your truck gets towed to the nearest garage. I had many deer near the roads all week and they seem to be conditioned to stand still when a vehicle is coming down the road. They must see an hundred or a thousand vehicles drive by within a few feet while they stand roadside. They just don’t understand to always stay off the concrete.
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Photos from the trip
On the insect identification below, please comment if you feel I’ve misrepresented an insect. I feel I have a pretty good handle but some of you may see finer points that I miss.
Same holds true on wild vs stocked fish identification. I catch fish and know which ones look nice but that doesn’t always translate to stocked vs wild based on clues you might see.
Some Comments on pictures
-- Bow with Stripe --- I think that is a holdover
-- Both Wild Browns, I'm saying that primarily due to the spots lining up on center line
-- Is that a Tiger Trout? Never caught or have seen one but they have been stocking them in Kettle
-- Slate Drake with Pattern...I set that natural in front of me as I tied the fly. I made sure my fly was a little smaller than the natural and the body was a little lighter since it tends to get darker in the water. I only tied 2 of these late that evening since it was unproven. For you beginners out there, please note how my fly is not perfect (messed up the hackle a little, but used it anyway). Well I caught 30 trout a few days later on those 2 imperfect flies. Experiment.
-- On all of the ones marked Gray Fox, those are very small March Browns. We felt the barring on the legs was the clincher for the identification. Note that on duns and spinners
-- The turtles were different types. This was the only one I snapped a shot of
-- There were actually 3 cubs with the momma bear. 2 cubs are in the picture, but the cub lower on the tree sort of blends together with the mother bear's head. I also saw a big male in Deb's dumpster at 950pm on Monday night. Have seen 9 bear so far this year.
Sorry if you experience issues with Picture Orientation. They look great on my desktop (perfectly aligned) but on my iPhone many of the photos are rotated 90 degrees...not sure how they look on an android. The 90 degree rotation also distorts the shape a little.
The short version is....
Kettle was really high and cold when we arrived but there were lots of insects. We had afternoon dry fly fishing but most of the mornings were very cold and required subsurface fishing. Early in the week the tribs were too cold. As the week worn on the weather warmed, the streams did too and water levels improved every day. By the end of the week it was viable to dry fly fish all day. The only downside was the hot sunny days later in the week did not produce much of a hatch. Our group had 3 people for a week and one for 3 days and we caught 327.
I have a full report below for those of you that like more detail. Most of the days the insects are redundant. We had so many different types of insects early in the week, it seemed like it just repeated every day. Selecting the right time of day to be on the stream was very important.
*****SUNDAY
June 2 Kettle Creek FFO section
=========================
Time Fished: Noon - 130pm
Weather Conditions: 59 degrees, overcast
Water Conditions: 50 degrees; water running about 680 cfs
Insects: some BWOs hatching; saw a coffin fly dab on the water a a few times. There was only 1 rise.
There were 5 vehicles on the FFO section and one vehicle between the FFO and Cross Fork.
I fished about 5 streamers through a few holes and got 1 rainbow. Got the best reaction to the largest streamers. The trout just weren’t very active and the stream was unusually fast and cold for this time of year. Nymphing might have been a better choice.
June 2 Kettle Creek Open Water
=========================
Time Fished: 615pm - 830pm
Weather Conditions: Sunny 63 degrees with a slight breeze
Water Conditions: 50 degrees; running about 750 cfs
Insects: There were a lot of insects. The cold water allowed many flies to escape as I watched dun after dun float down creek untouched. Duns on water: Big and Little Sulphur, BWO, Slate Drakes, Gray Fox, Light Cahill, plus 2 types of Caddis. Spinners: Slate Drake, Sulphur
Went to a hole that is usually very slow but the high water got it moving a bit. There were so many flies floating down it was hard to believe the fish weren’t rising better. I tried 2 different sulphur patterns (thorax style and a sparkle dun) since that seemed like the predominant insect but I never had a strike. Since the mayfly profile wasn’t attracting any attention, I switched to a dark bodied Caddis and immediately began catching fish... got 9. When my Caddis became hard to see I switched to a rusty spinnner and picked up 5 more. All things considered, a pretty good evening for high, off color water. I ended up with 8 brown, 5 brook and 1 rainbow.
*****MONDAY
June 3 Kettle Creek Open Water
=========================
Time Fished: 115pm - 345pm
Weather Conditions: 55 degrees and Sunny
Water Conditions: 50 degrees and heavy flow (about 700 cfs)
Insects: Dark and light Caddis, BWO, March Brown, Green Drakes, sz 20 Paraleptophlebia,
Insects showed up in a big way about 3pm but there were no rises. Lots of naturals on the water and the colder air temp kept them on the water for long stretches plus the faster flow moved them a long way before they were ready to lift off (30 - 50 yd trip). They passed over a lot of fish with no takers.
When I arrived there were no fresh insects just some Caddis floating in the backwater eddies. I fished a wooly bugger and leadwing coachman wet and had about 5 strikes and caught what I thought was a tiger trout (see picture below). Tried a streamer and had no strikes. When insects began to hatch I saw a number of March Browns so I put on a MB nymph and caught a rainbow. A bit of a disappointing day considering how many insects were available. I did have an eagle fly over as I was swinging wets.
June 3 Kettle Creek FFO section
=========================
Time Fished: 715pm - 9pm
Weather Conditions: 63 degrees, sunny, breezy
Water Conditions: 50 degrees, heavy flow; cfs was 668 (the median for today’s date is 142)
Insects: Coffin Flies, Caddis, other mayfly spinners
With poor stream conditions, not many people fishing tonight. From Cross Fork to FFO bridge there were 5 vehicles. Along the FFO area there were another 5 vehicles.
When I arrived on the stream the Coffin flies were in full egg laying mode. This was much earlier than I expected for the spinner fall and I had wasted some time checking out other locations before settling on this spot.
I had tied on a dark Caddis at the truck so I put it over several rising fish but never got so much as a look. It became clear that I needed to tie on a Coffin fly.
While I was tossing around the Caddis, I was observing how the trout had adjusted to the tendencies of the Coffin fly. The spinners were flying about 10-15 ft over the water then they would quickly descend, they would stay on water for a “one one thousand” count then lift off. To counter this, some of the trout would actually explode to the surface and take the fly the instant it would hit the water and continue airborne about a foot into the air. So they were in motion before the fly touched down. I saw one trout jump out 3 consecutive times to nab a green Drake before it could take off. My fly was 4th drake it saw in a row and it took it on a spectacular jump.
The Coffin fly pattern our group uses is very simple and is much smaller than the natural but it works great. You just have to ensure the color scheme remains intact. Every rising fish that I could cast to took my fly and I landed 7. The others either were lost, stuck, broke me off or were missed. They obviously had been feeding on Drakes for awhile and liked how they tasted.
The unfortunate thing was the Coffin flies were all but gone by 745pm. I could bring up fish through random casting but the high, fast water made drifts on long casts very difficult. By 820pm I had finally hooked and lost the last rising fish in the hole so I tried to hit a few other holes but their dark backdrops made seeing the fly problematic.
On the night I caught 4 Rainbow, 2 brown and a brook. I had a beaver climb out on the opposite bank and then slip back in the water after he saw me casting. After dark, walking back to truck I also heard a woodcock singing its mating call and doing it mating flight. There seemed to be an increasing number of woodcock along Kettle.
*****TUESDAY
June 4 Kettle Creek Open Water
=========================
Time Fished: 2pm - 845pm
Weather Conditions: Sunny, 68 degrees
Water Conditions: 52 degrees, Clear; still high for this time of year (550 cfs)
Insects: BWO, Slate Drakes, Brown Drakes, March Brown, Gray Fox. Green Drake, at least 2 kinds of Caddis. Lots of volume of insects too. A constant flow of bugs.
The water was warming up due to the sun and the fish were very aggressive. The mayflies were cooperating and many insects were hatching together.
Started out with a Wooly Bugger and a Royal Coachman wet combo. Caught 2 on the wooly bugger but had a lot of misses so I switched to a smaller fly, a March Brown nymph, and cut off the Coachman to avoid tangles in the wind since it had been an unproductive fly anyway. Still had a lot of misses but caught 22 on the March Brown nymph. It was about 4pm when there were enough rising fish to warrant switching over to a dry.
I started off with a BWO but it was hard to see due to glare so I switched to a larger Slate Drake imitation that I had tied the previous day. Both insects were hatching together. I got 30 on the Slate Drake. I finished up with a Coffin fly and caught another 9 on it about the time spinner fall ended.
It was just one of those days when you happen to be at a place when every fish wanted to eat.
Interestingly what didn’t work was a dark Caddis dry, a Royal Coachman wet and a Slate Drake wet.
The breakdown by type was a little surprising: 62 Rainbow and 1 brook trout. 0 browns. Some of the rainbow were very nice. Landed one in the 18 inch range and several from 14 to 15 inches.
The fellow across the creek did well too . He caught fish on a hares ear nymph. Caddis emerger and yellow humpy. Since he was upstream I wasn’t facing him a lot but many times when I looked up he had fish on. He certainly caught at least 25 and probably a lot more.
*****TUESDAY
June 5 Kettle Creek Open Water
=========================
Time Fished: 645am - 720am
Weather Conditions: 60 degrees, calm, overcast
Water Conditions: 50 degrees, just a little off color; water runny at 500 cfs
Insects: Spinners (either March Brown or Slate Drake) and saw a couple mayflies hatching
This was the first morning that it wasn’t cold. Earlier in the week it had been in the 30s. I made a streamer pass behind camp and had 4 strikes but didn’t land any. The interesting thing about the morning was the spinner activity. They were 8-15 ft off the water and some were mating (saw 2 pair connected in flight).
June 5 Kettle Creek Open Water
=========================
Time Fished: Noon - 300pm
Weather Conditions: 65 sunny but transitioned to overcast then rain
Water Conditions: 53 degrees, a little off color and running heavy; 465 cfs
Insects: BWO, sulphurs. Caddis
Nothing happening when I arrived so I fished subsurface and caught 4 on 3 different flies. When the clouds arrived the BWOs started to hatch. The trout rose okay. I thought more should be coming up based on the amount of insects. Eventually I switched to a BWO dry and caught 2 then it began to rain which prevented me from trying other flies. I tried waiting out the rain and I did fish a little during breaks, but eventually I quit and headed for camp.
Some other fisherman I talked to had done well on Slate Drakes prior to the rain.
June 5 Kettle Creek Open Water
=========================
Time Fished: 530pm - 845pm
Weather Conditions: 65, Mostly rain
Water Conditions: 54, off color; 450 cfs
Insects: Slate Drake, Brown Drake, a few Caddis
I went back to the location where I had done so well the afternoon before. The creek was noticeably lower and it looked like it would rain any second. Which it did for about 2 hours. I fished through it and had a lot of strikes on a March Brown nymph and landed 9. I tried a prince nymph for a bit but never had a strike.
Throughout the rain the fish were rising very well. There seemed to be a decent number of insects with Brown Drakes being most abundant. When the rain stopped, I put on a brown drake dry and got 8. I switched to a Slate Drake and picked up 2 more. Finally at dark I put on a Coffin fly, strictly for visibility (there were no Coffin flies around), and I caught 2 more. Every trout was a rainbow.
*****WEDNESDAY
June 6 Kettle Creek FFO
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Time Fished: 11am - 415pm
Weather Conditions: 67 & overcast
Water Conditions: 54 degrees,Clear, flow is still a little heavy (400 cfs)
Insects: BWO, Slate Drakes, Brown Drakes, Cahill, Caddis, saw 3-4,Coffin Flies
There were 6 vehicles from Cross Fork to FFO bridge. There were 7 vehicles parked along the FFO stretch.
I was on the upper end and every hole was full of fisherman. I ran into 2 groups that came from the parking lot at the bridge downstream. So don’t rely on where the vehicles are parked to assess where people are fishing. The movement made me believe people weren’t running into active fish.
The hatches started around noon with BWO being first and heaviest. Slate Drakes started a little later and a size 14 brown mayfly came last. They could have been brown drakes but I thought the flies were too small.
It’s pretty universal that hatches occur most frequently during overcast or rainy days. Today I noticed hatches would continue for a little while after sun came out but the fish stopped rising immediately when sun hit the water. This also happened to another person in our group who noticed the fish stopping when the sun peeked out. After the hatch I was able to bring up fish to any fly that had been hatching. All of my day was spent dry fly fishing so I had to bring up fish.
I ended up catching 8 rainbow and 5 brown on BWO, Slate Drake, Dark Caddis. BWO was the best producer and was most effective of the 3 flies on slow water fish.
The turtles must have been laying eggs today since in the limited driving I did I saw 3 turtles crossing the road. (Total sightings for the week was 8). The toads were getting started too with their high pitched song.
June 6. Cross Fork Creek CRALO
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Time Fished: 5pm - 640pm
Weather Conditions: 72 degrees and sunny
Water Conditions: 48 degrees, very high but clear
Insects: yellow sallie, Coffin fly, Caddis a few mayfly
The rains yesterday were not good for a stream like Cross Fork that was now really flowing heavy. I did not see any rises but I blind casted and brought up mostly small trout. I wasn’t getting any strikes in the main flow just along the edges. That will change as the stream drops. Right now only about 10% to 20% of the stream is fishable.
I caught 6 brook and 1 brown. One hooked jaw 7 1/2 inch Brookie was the biggest
June 6 Kettle Creek Open Water
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Time Fished: 730pm - 900pm
Weather Conditions: 70 degrees & Clear
Water Conditions: 56 degrees; Clear; still a heavy flow; 350 cfs
Insects: laying eggs... a lot of yellow sallies, lots of Slate Drake spinners, a few Coffin flies, several types of Caddis, Sulphur spinners hatching... Green Drakes, sulphurs, Brown Drakes, Light cahill,
The stream was alive with insects hatching and others coming back to lay eggs. My little jaunt to Cross Fork Creek had allowed others to get stationed in the best holes for the spinner fall long before I arrived. I tried to walk in to a lightly fished area but it was taken too. I tied on a Dark Caddis since they are always the first egg laying flies to arrive in this section. I caught one fish on my way upstream and found an open riffle and got 5 there. I moved to one last open area before it got dark and got 2 more. Ended up with 5 Rainbow and 3 brook.
*****THURSDAY
June 7 Kettle Creek Open Water
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Time Fished: 630am - 715am
Weather Conditions: 55!degrees and overcast
Water Conditions: 52 degrees and clear
Insects: Saw some mayflies from a distance
Made a streamer pass before breakfast and had 7-8 strikes and caught a brook and brown. About halfway through I noticed some mayflies floating down and saw about 8 different fish rise as I continued through the end of the hole. Some of the rises were likely for leftovers from the spinner fall in addition to the fresh insects.
June 7 Kettle Creek FFO
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Time Fished: 1215pm - 4pm
Weather Conditions: 75 degrees & Sunny
Water Conditions: 56 degrees, 300 cfs; Clear, water levels were very good
Insects: Not many. Some Caddis a mayfly or 2 but no hatch
My son got to camp last night so he was with me today. He tied on the Dark Caddis that had been working all week and I used a BWO. When we started there were no insects and therefore no rises so we just casted our dries through the riffles and pools. My son got one on the first cast so that was both a lucky guess and a good sign. I watched for awhile and then joined in. We brought up a lot of fish. Many took the fly while others just looked. It was a good day searching for fish. My son got 8 rainbow, 2 brown and a brook. I got 5 rainbow and 2 brown.
At one point I tried a beetle under some trees but trout never even came to look. This is usually a hot week for beetles but the summer is late in coming this year.
June 7 Kettle Creek Open Water
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Time Fished: 7pm - 9pm
Weather Conditions: 75 and clear
Water Conditions: 58 degrees, Clear, 290 cfs
Insects: Caddis, Slate Drake Spinners, Sulphur spinners
Left camp a little late for the spinner fall and, on the way to our first choice, a momma and cubs crossed the road. She then sent the cubs up a tree so that caused a further delay since we had to watch it all unfold (but it was well worth it). Our spot was taken so we reversed direction and ended up at another familiar evening location. It’s a series of riffles and pools that get a heavy Caddis flight at dark. Caddis tonight out numbered spinners by about 4:1 . We had been using a dark caddis dry all week and it was a producer tonight accounting for all of our fish. 3 Rainbow, 3 Browns, 2 Brook
*****FRIDAY
June 8 Kettle Creek Open Water
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Time Fished: 650am - 800am
Weather Conditions: 54 degrees & Overcast
Water Conditions: 52 degrees, Clear and just about a normal flow; about 260 cfs
Insects: None were visible
Made a streamer pass before breakfast, had 4 strikes and caught a brown and brook. I saw about a dozen rises, most were in the riffle. A few guys came down and tried dries but never had a take.
June 8. Germania Branch C&R All Tackle
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Time Fished: 1230pm - 200pm
Weather Conditions: 72 degrees and sunny
Water Conditions: 46 degrees, Clear, good flow
Insects: none to speak of
The fish either weren’t there, were already fished over earlier or the water was too cold. My son and I had very few strikes (10-12 combined). He used a dry and caught 2 brook trout I used a nymph and caught one brook. This stop was the most disappointing of the week.
June 8 Upper Kettle Creek
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Time Fished: 245pm - 430pm
Weather Conditions: 78, Sunny
Water Conditions: 52 degrees, Clear, nice flow
Insects: very few
There were very few rises so we just blind casted dry flies and we brought up a lot of fish. My son got 7 (4 brook, 1 brown, 1 rainbow) and I got 22 (19 brook, 3 brown). He used a size 12 and I used a size 16 and that accounted for the disparity in hookups.
June 8 Cross Fork Creek CRALO
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Time Fished: 7pm - 9pm
Weather Conditions: 76 degrees and Clear
Water Conditions: 55 degrees, Clear
Insects: Lots of Caddis, rusty spinners (sz 12 & 18), Coffin flies
When we arrived, nothing was happening. Totally dead. We tied on dry flies and in the first hole we brought up several fish but only caught 3. As we continued upstream, fish activity improved until the spinner fall was in full swing with lots of insects. The rising fish wanted what we had, although we missed the majority of the strikes since many were small fish. My son and I landed 8 brook, 5 Rainbow and 2 Brown.
*****SUNDAY
June 9 Kettle Creek Open Water
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Time Fished: 720am - 830am
Weather Conditions: 58 degrees, sunny
Water Conditions: 53 degrees, Clear
Insects: midges, Caddis, and leftovers from spinner fall
Made a streamer pass and got 1 brook trout. Several fish rising sporadically as I moved through the hole so on way back upstream I tied on a tiny Caddis and caught another brook trout, but overall the fish weren’t interested in this fly.
June 9 Kettle Creek FFO
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Time Fished: 1045am - 1230pm
Weather Conditions: 75 degrees and sunny
Water Conditions: 56 degrees, Clear
Insects: none to speak of saw a few Caddis and Cahills
There were a few rises in the holes we fished but we mostly brought up fish by casting to likely locations. We both chose Caddis. We got 4 Rainbows and 2 brown. There were very few people on the creek today. My son headed for home and I made one more stop.
June 9. Upper Kettle Creek
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Time Fished: 130pm - 3pm
Weather Conditions: 76 & Sunny
Water Conditions: Clear
Insects: A few BWO
Same story here as lower Kettle. Only saw a few rises, otherwise all fish were brought up by working through all likely spots. I got 11 Brook 1 brown and 1 Rainbow. That puts a button on my Kettle Creek days and it ended well. Always nice to get there.
Last weekend in my Marvin Creek Stream Report, I mentioned being careful with deer. On my way home about 445pm I was on 555 just south of Driftwood and 2 SUVs were Northbound coming toward me and 80 yds away. Brush extended all of the way to the edge of road. A deer walks out of the brush unknowingly into path of these vehicles. Just pops out of nowhere and into their lane 10 yds in front of them and stops. The driver did not swerve into my lane so he just crushed the deer. What a terrible sight to see at 55 mph. I only mention it for all of you to keep in mind. There is no way to avoid these situations but keeping your speed down can be the difference between a drivable vehicle and a ruined fishing trip while your truck gets towed to the nearest garage. I had many deer near the roads all week and they seem to be conditioned to stand still when a vehicle is coming down the road. They must see an hundred or a thousand vehicles drive by within a few feet while they stand roadside. They just don’t understand to always stay off the concrete.
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Photos from the trip
On the insect identification below, please comment if you feel I’ve misrepresented an insect. I feel I have a pretty good handle but some of you may see finer points that I miss.
Same holds true on wild vs stocked fish identification. I catch fish and know which ones look nice but that doesn’t always translate to stocked vs wild based on clues you might see.
Some Comments on pictures
-- Bow with Stripe --- I think that is a holdover
-- Both Wild Browns, I'm saying that primarily due to the spots lining up on center line
-- Is that a Tiger Trout? Never caught or have seen one but they have been stocking them in Kettle
-- Slate Drake with Pattern...I set that natural in front of me as I tied the fly. I made sure my fly was a little smaller than the natural and the body was a little lighter since it tends to get darker in the water. I only tied 2 of these late that evening since it was unproven. For you beginners out there, please note how my fly is not perfect (messed up the hackle a little, but used it anyway). Well I caught 30 trout a few days later on those 2 imperfect flies. Experiment.
-- On all of the ones marked Gray Fox, those are very small March Browns. We felt the barring on the legs was the clincher for the identification. Note that on duns and spinners
-- The turtles were different types. This was the only one I snapped a shot of
-- There were actually 3 cubs with the momma bear. 2 cubs are in the picture, but the cub lower on the tree sort of blends together with the mother bear's head. I also saw a big male in Deb's dumpster at 950pm on Monday night. Have seen 9 bear so far this year.
Sorry if you experience issues with Picture Orientation. They look great on my desktop (perfectly aligned) but on my iPhone many of the photos are rotated 90 degrees...not sure how they look on an android. The 90 degree rotation also distorts the shape a little.
Attachments
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Kettle bow stripe.JPG -
Kettle hefty rainbow.jpg -
Kettle Nice Rainbow.jpg -
Cross Fork wild brown.jpg -
Upper Kettle Wild brown.jpg -
Kettle Tiger.JPG -
Kettle BWO measured.JPG -
Kettle BWO profile.JPG -
Kettle BWO belly.jpg -
Kettle Slate Drake measured.JPG -
Kettle Slate Drake belly.JPG -
Kettle Slate Drake with pattern.JPG -
Kettle Brown Drake Measured.JPG -
Kettle brown drake profile.JPG -
Kettle Brown Drake belly.JPG -
Kettle Dark Caddis.JPG -
Kettle dark Caddis belly.JPG -
Kettle Gray Fox measured2.JPG -
Kettle Gray Fox profile.JPG -
Kettle Gray Fox belly2.JPG -
Kettle March Brown Spinner.JPG -
Kettle MB spinner belly.JPG -
Kettle Sulphur Profile.JPG -
Kettle Sulphur.JPG -
Turtle.JPG -
Kettle bears.JPG
