Prospector
Well-known member
SUMMARY
The week itself threw us some curve balls. Earlier in the week we had cold air temps down to 39 degrees. Then later in the week we fought with air temps in the upper 80s. We had some bad timing of thunder storms that wiped out a couple spinner falls. Aside from those struggles the fish generally were active and receptive. I caught 156 in Kettle (91 rainbow, 42 Brown and 23 Brook) which translates to 3.2 fish per hour. I think that’s an “OK” per hour number in the scheme of things. Angler pressure seemed fairly light. We tended to get the locations we wanted to fish. In addition to the fish, we also saw some wildlife, despite not seeing a bear or an elk (which is always a bummer). There were some strange spinnerfalls that were non existent until just at dusk. I don’t talk to many people on the stream but I ran into 2 different guys that were by themselves and fishing Kettle for the first time. One drove from Buffalo and the other guy lives near the “Little Lehigh”.
Overall a very good week. My father is nearly 86 and he still gets some time on the water each day. He’s slow, has a hard time releasing a fish, has a hard time tying a fly on and he takes a while to get to the creek, but he still enjoys it up there.
DETAIL BY DAY
======================
June 1 - FFO Section
Potter County
======================
Time Fished: 345pm - 850pm
Weather Conditions: 57 degrees, Cloudy and Breezy
Water condition: 50 degrees, 187 cfs
Insects: lots of insects. Several mayflies including March Browns, BWO, couple kinds of Caddis , coffin flies were laying eggs
The hole I wanted to fish was taken so I went to my second choice and it was free. As I approached the water, it was easy to see that the trout were very active. Lots of rising fish.
Caddis was the preferred offering with a BWO imitation being second best. The number of insects present kept the trout busy. I landed 20 before I left (Brown, Brook, and Rainbow). About an hour before dark the action slowed, so I used that opportunity to assess the riffles and holes upstream.
There are some areas that tend to hold brook trout. As I worked through those historical brookie lies, they didn’t seem to be there. Maybe the fish were full or they just weren’t there (due to the heavy flow). I expected to land more than one on my way upstream.
Although it was a pretty weak spinner fall, I picked up 5 more rainbows before daylight faded.
======================
June 2 - Open Water Section
Clinton County
======================
Time Fished: 9am - 955am
Weather Conditions: 43 degrees, Sunny
Water condition: 46 degrees, 164 cfs
Insects: there were quite a few Caddis working the riffles.
I fished the hole behind camp using a white feather-winged streamer. I only had 6 strikes but they were solid strikes. No doubt about it. I imagine the water temperature made the fishing tough. I landed 3 browns.
I saw a turtle and a water snake (they were doing their best to hide.
======================
June 2 - Open Water Section
Clinton County
======================
Time Fished: 205pm - 315pm
Weather Conditions: 70 degrees, Sunny
Water condition: 46 degrees, 158 cfs
Insects: there was the occasional Caddis and some sporadic hatching mayflies
Just to kill some time I went behind camp and fished a dark Caddis down and a rusty spinner back. I had 4-5 fish splash at the fly and not take it. I caught a brown and lost another trout.
====================
June 2 - FFO Section
Potter County
====================
Time Fished: 525pm - 855pm
Weather Conditions: 68 degrees, Clear
Water conditions: 55 degrees, 160 cfs
Insects: March Brown, yellow Sally, black Caddis, very few coffin flies, midges, some Duns were hatching but I didn’t see the color (might be yellow body).
The first hole I fished started out little slow since insect activity was minimal. The insects started to come back and the trout followed suit. There were a handful of easy ones once the insects came but a substantial amount were educated. They were tough but not impossible. Slowly, one here and one there would made a mistake and I had caught 10. I decided to take a chance to jump into a new spot before dark since the remaining fish were downright tough.
When I arrived at the new hole, no one was there (very lucky) and the trout were rising well. I caught 4 fish on 6 casts but then it got tougher. I stayed until dark and only landed 5 more.
At stop #2 there were a number of brookies and they were very educated. Granted, they were in shallow, slow moving water but they knew a fly from a natural
====================
June 3 - FFO Section
Potter County
====================
Time Fished: 1000am - 630pm
Weather Conditions: 68 degrees, Clear
Water conditions: 58 degrees, 137 cfs
Insects: BWO, Caddis, March Brown
Two friends of mine were in the area and we decided to fish together. Although these guys have Kettle Creek experience, they have not seen the entire Kettle Fly Fishing Only section. So our goal was to fish the water from top to bottom. Without planning it, we ended up with a guy that had a Euro nymphing setup and a dry fly rod. He switched back and forth depending on which rod made the most sense. We also had a guy that would euro nymph exclusively. I chose a dry fly rod. We were interested on how this day would play out.
The morning wasn’t the best. There was very little insect activity. But the crew was excited about the day and we jumped in full bore. The Euro nympher (who carried his fly rod) got on the board in less than 5 min. The “other” Euro Nympher was second to get on the board. I didn’t get a trout until we were at the 4th stop.
It was a nice way to approach the day and I was really curious how the totals would play out. We jockeyed back and forth on who would lead on various runs. In the end, I just wanted to have enough time left in the day to catch a decent spinner fall at dark.
The results of the fish catch totals were predictable. The fellow willing to use 2 rods was the clear winner. He caught 32. The Second place guy landed 25 trout. I brought the least amount to hand, 18 trout, but that felt like a solid amount.
====================
June 3 - Open Water
Potter County
====================
Time Fished: 700pm - 855pm
Weather Conditions: 68 degrees, Clear
Water conditions: 56 degrees, 135 cfs
Insects: Yellow Sallies, Lime Sallies, Black Caddis, March Browns, Crane Flies,
It was a strange spinnerfall. I sat for nearly an hour without seeing a rise. My friends had luck here the previous night so we knew what might happen. Finally the floodgates opened at about 820pm and it was overwhelming. Some of the most intense spinnerfalls I have ever seen but it seemed like very few insects actually hit the water. I landed 9.
====================
June 4 - Open Water
Clinton County
====================
Time Fished: 910am - 110pm
Weather Conditions: Sunny, 55 degrees at start and 81 degrees at end
Water conditions: water temp rose from 53 to 59 degrees; 137 cfs
Insects: BWO, Caddis, ISOs
I made a streamer run after breakfast and I didn’t have a strike in the 200 yard stretch . I was planing to go elsewhere but surface activity began to pick up. I settled on a pod of about 10-12 trout and they rose pretty well for the next 45 min. The primary insects were BWOs and Caddis. I didn’t see any yellow sallies but they have been in strong numbers over the last few days I also tried them. I caught fish on small dark Caddis and Yellow Sallies for a total of 7.
A mink came up the far bank and disappeared in a big hemlock root directly across the stream from me. Shortly thereafter a hen merganser was trying to take her ducklings upstream in the worst way. I was hoping for some fireworks but I wasn’t so lucky.
====================
June 4 - Open Water
Potter County
====================
Time Fished: 645pm - 850pm
Weather Conditions: Sunny, 82 degrees
Water conditions: 63 degrees, 133 cfs
Insects: some dark Caddis, some spinners…. Nothing like last night’s spinnerfall
Tonight, the Insects didn’t start to move until 830pm. It was a slow trickle but there were about 15 risers at one time or another. I caught 1 fish on a BWO and 6 on the traditional rusty spinner.
====================
June 5 - Open Water
Potter County
====================
Time Fished: 1120am - 140pm
Weather Conditions: 85 degrees and Sunny
Water conditions: 63 degrees, 128 cfs
Insects: not many insects.
I fished upstream with a Caddis the entire time. Just spent the time hitting the possible lies in this broken water. It’s a shadier section during that time of day and I was looking to stay cool.
I caught 12 brook trout and 1 brown. One native brookie was pretty nice, 11” range.
====================
June 5 - Open Water
Clinton County
====================
Time Fished: 600pm - 700pm,
800pm - 900pm
Weather Conditions: 82 degrees and Cloudy; then light rain; 70 degrees after rain
Water conditions: 64 degrees, 122 cfs
Insects: Caddis
There was not a lot of insect activity before the rain but not much catching.
The rain and lightening chased us off and to the camp porch. After the rain, the amount of rises increased a bit, but the rises weren’t even close to what we typically see. Overall this was the worst night of fishing this week.
I caught 2.
====================
June 6- Open Water
Clinton County
====================
Time Fished: 800am - 945am
Weather Conditions: 66 degrees, light rain
Water conditions: 60 degrees, 126 cfs
Insects: mostly insects from previous night spinner fall
I fished a streamer down a long shallow stretch. There was only one hole that produced a nice brown and rainbow. After that I walked further downstream, where I saw a fawn laying within a foot of the water’s edge. It did not spook.
When I reached the next hole I still had my streamer on. I worked it from top to bottom without a strike. I had noticed several rises while working the streamer so I tied on a dry. I caught 3 rather quickly and then my luck changed when I missed/lost the next 4 trout. By this time the rain started and I had a bit of a walk to get back to camp.
====================
June 6- FFO Section
Potter County
====================
Time Fished: 1145am - 445pm
Weather Conditions: 72 degrees, overcast
Water conditions: 58 degrees, 128 cfs
Insects: none to speak of
We drove to the Fly Fishing Only section to find our favorite spot and no vehicles were there. There a couple nice holes not too far apart, so we went to the one that has been best this week. Unfortunately there was zero insect activity. My son was in the best spot and he was getting some trout to show themselves but it was tough.
I was in the secondary water and it was tough to get anything going. I managed to land 3. My son caught 8.
We then took a shot that the other hole was still open, and it was. We toiled around there for an hour or more and we managed to each catch 2. It was really dead today. As we walked to the truck we heard distant thunder so we probably picked the right time to leave. It’s been raining here at camp and it’s been raining at least 45 min (as I type this).
====================
June 6- FFO Section
Potter County
====================
Time Fished: 715pm - 905pm
Weather Conditions: 66 degrees, overcast hard rain ended 30 min ago
Water conditions: 61 degrees, 155 cfs
Insects: yellow sally, lime sally, a few Caddis, a few mayflies
A heavy rain event occurred between 515pm and 645pm and it appeared to have impacted the spinnerfall. From 715pm and 830pm there was only a handful of rises. We stood and waited for the first rise and it occurred about 835pm. We checked the hole above and the hole below. The hole below had 3 risers. The hole above had only a handful of risers. It was one of strangest nights as spinner falls go.
I caught 4 rainbows, on the roughly 20 casts I made.
====================
June 7 - Open Water
Clinton County
====================
Time Fished: 745am - 830am
Weather Conditions: 63 degrees, overcast, light mist at times
Water conditions: 57 degrees, 158 cfs
Insects: small Caddis, lime sallies
Not much happening this morning.
====================
June 7 - Open Water
Clinton County
====================
Time Fished: 1015am - 345pm
Weather Conditions: 63 degrees, overcast, then it got Sunny, 74 degrees
Water conditions: 61 degrees, 158 cfs
Insects: midges, some Caddis
I pretty much worked the same hole for several hours. I only bumped over to a couple spots just for a brief time.
I made several passes and thoroughly worked the near and the far cover. I felt like I wasn’t detecting all of the strikes due to the amount of line I had out. I tried to keep a tight line but something was missing.
I caught 30 trout on wets and 2 on dries. Also caught a smallmouth on a streamer. I was roughly 55% Rainbows and 45% Browns.
I used an olive woolly bugger, Royal Coachman wet, Grizzly King wet, March Brown Nymph, Pickett Pin wet, Caddis wet, White Zonker, Caddis Dry and BWO dry.
====================
June 7 - Open Water
Clinton County
====================
Time Fished: 830pm - 905pm
Weather Conditions: 74 degrees
Water conditions: 61 degrees, 155 cfs
Insects: Saw various insects but was more focused on watching for rises.
Since this was Saturday night I figured everyone would be fishing, however when I stepped on the water there was not a soul. The trout were rising well so I caught 2 on just a few casts. Before I could cast again a springer spaniel is looking to get in the water. The owner is no where in sight. The dog appeared to be a retriever or was just accustomed to getting something thrown in the water. When a trout would rise the dog charged in that direction and then looked back at me like “where’s the ball”. Finally after 4-5 minutes the owner gets the dog and takes it back to their camp.
Although some trout were scared out of their feeding stations, several trout are still rising. I catch 3 more but the last fish bloodied the fly and I couldn’t tie one on in the fading light. So that ends my Kettle vacation.
The week itself threw us some curve balls. Earlier in the week we had cold air temps down to 39 degrees. Then later in the week we fought with air temps in the upper 80s. We had some bad timing of thunder storms that wiped out a couple spinner falls. Aside from those struggles the fish generally were active and receptive. I caught 156 in Kettle (91 rainbow, 42 Brown and 23 Brook) which translates to 3.2 fish per hour. I think that’s an “OK” per hour number in the scheme of things. Angler pressure seemed fairly light. We tended to get the locations we wanted to fish. In addition to the fish, we also saw some wildlife, despite not seeing a bear or an elk (which is always a bummer). There were some strange spinnerfalls that were non existent until just at dusk. I don’t talk to many people on the stream but I ran into 2 different guys that were by themselves and fishing Kettle for the first time. One drove from Buffalo and the other guy lives near the “Little Lehigh”.
Overall a very good week. My father is nearly 86 and he still gets some time on the water each day. He’s slow, has a hard time releasing a fish, has a hard time tying a fly on and he takes a while to get to the creek, but he still enjoys it up there.
DETAIL BY DAY
======================
June 1 - FFO Section
Potter County
======================
Time Fished: 345pm - 850pm
Weather Conditions: 57 degrees, Cloudy and Breezy
Water condition: 50 degrees, 187 cfs
Insects: lots of insects. Several mayflies including March Browns, BWO, couple kinds of Caddis , coffin flies were laying eggs
The hole I wanted to fish was taken so I went to my second choice and it was free. As I approached the water, it was easy to see that the trout were very active. Lots of rising fish.
Caddis was the preferred offering with a BWO imitation being second best. The number of insects present kept the trout busy. I landed 20 before I left (Brown, Brook, and Rainbow). About an hour before dark the action slowed, so I used that opportunity to assess the riffles and holes upstream.
There are some areas that tend to hold brook trout. As I worked through those historical brookie lies, they didn’t seem to be there. Maybe the fish were full or they just weren’t there (due to the heavy flow). I expected to land more than one on my way upstream.
Although it was a pretty weak spinner fall, I picked up 5 more rainbows before daylight faded.
======================
June 2 - Open Water Section
Clinton County
======================
Time Fished: 9am - 955am
Weather Conditions: 43 degrees, Sunny
Water condition: 46 degrees, 164 cfs
Insects: there were quite a few Caddis working the riffles.
I fished the hole behind camp using a white feather-winged streamer. I only had 6 strikes but they were solid strikes. No doubt about it. I imagine the water temperature made the fishing tough. I landed 3 browns.
I saw a turtle and a water snake (they were doing their best to hide.
======================
June 2 - Open Water Section
Clinton County
======================
Time Fished: 205pm - 315pm
Weather Conditions: 70 degrees, Sunny
Water condition: 46 degrees, 158 cfs
Insects: there was the occasional Caddis and some sporadic hatching mayflies
Just to kill some time I went behind camp and fished a dark Caddis down and a rusty spinner back. I had 4-5 fish splash at the fly and not take it. I caught a brown and lost another trout.
====================
June 2 - FFO Section
Potter County
====================
Time Fished: 525pm - 855pm
Weather Conditions: 68 degrees, Clear
Water conditions: 55 degrees, 160 cfs
Insects: March Brown, yellow Sally, black Caddis, very few coffin flies, midges, some Duns were hatching but I didn’t see the color (might be yellow body).
The first hole I fished started out little slow since insect activity was minimal. The insects started to come back and the trout followed suit. There were a handful of easy ones once the insects came but a substantial amount were educated. They were tough but not impossible. Slowly, one here and one there would made a mistake and I had caught 10. I decided to take a chance to jump into a new spot before dark since the remaining fish were downright tough.
When I arrived at the new hole, no one was there (very lucky) and the trout were rising well. I caught 4 fish on 6 casts but then it got tougher. I stayed until dark and only landed 5 more.
At stop #2 there were a number of brookies and they were very educated. Granted, they were in shallow, slow moving water but they knew a fly from a natural
====================
June 3 - FFO Section
Potter County
====================
Time Fished: 1000am - 630pm
Weather Conditions: 68 degrees, Clear
Water conditions: 58 degrees, 137 cfs
Insects: BWO, Caddis, March Brown
Two friends of mine were in the area and we decided to fish together. Although these guys have Kettle Creek experience, they have not seen the entire Kettle Fly Fishing Only section. So our goal was to fish the water from top to bottom. Without planning it, we ended up with a guy that had a Euro nymphing setup and a dry fly rod. He switched back and forth depending on which rod made the most sense. We also had a guy that would euro nymph exclusively. I chose a dry fly rod. We were interested on how this day would play out.
The morning wasn’t the best. There was very little insect activity. But the crew was excited about the day and we jumped in full bore. The Euro nympher (who carried his fly rod) got on the board in less than 5 min. The “other” Euro Nympher was second to get on the board. I didn’t get a trout until we were at the 4th stop.
It was a nice way to approach the day and I was really curious how the totals would play out. We jockeyed back and forth on who would lead on various runs. In the end, I just wanted to have enough time left in the day to catch a decent spinner fall at dark.
The results of the fish catch totals were predictable. The fellow willing to use 2 rods was the clear winner. He caught 32. The Second place guy landed 25 trout. I brought the least amount to hand, 18 trout, but that felt like a solid amount.
====================
June 3 - Open Water
Potter County
====================
Time Fished: 700pm - 855pm
Weather Conditions: 68 degrees, Clear
Water conditions: 56 degrees, 135 cfs
Insects: Yellow Sallies, Lime Sallies, Black Caddis, March Browns, Crane Flies,
It was a strange spinnerfall. I sat for nearly an hour without seeing a rise. My friends had luck here the previous night so we knew what might happen. Finally the floodgates opened at about 820pm and it was overwhelming. Some of the most intense spinnerfalls I have ever seen but it seemed like very few insects actually hit the water. I landed 9.
====================
June 4 - Open Water
Clinton County
====================
Time Fished: 910am - 110pm
Weather Conditions: Sunny, 55 degrees at start and 81 degrees at end
Water conditions: water temp rose from 53 to 59 degrees; 137 cfs
Insects: BWO, Caddis, ISOs
I made a streamer run after breakfast and I didn’t have a strike in the 200 yard stretch . I was planing to go elsewhere but surface activity began to pick up. I settled on a pod of about 10-12 trout and they rose pretty well for the next 45 min. The primary insects were BWOs and Caddis. I didn’t see any yellow sallies but they have been in strong numbers over the last few days I also tried them. I caught fish on small dark Caddis and Yellow Sallies for a total of 7.
A mink came up the far bank and disappeared in a big hemlock root directly across the stream from me. Shortly thereafter a hen merganser was trying to take her ducklings upstream in the worst way. I was hoping for some fireworks but I wasn’t so lucky.
====================
June 4 - Open Water
Potter County
====================
Time Fished: 645pm - 850pm
Weather Conditions: Sunny, 82 degrees
Water conditions: 63 degrees, 133 cfs
Insects: some dark Caddis, some spinners…. Nothing like last night’s spinnerfall
Tonight, the Insects didn’t start to move until 830pm. It was a slow trickle but there were about 15 risers at one time or another. I caught 1 fish on a BWO and 6 on the traditional rusty spinner.
====================
June 5 - Open Water
Potter County
====================
Time Fished: 1120am - 140pm
Weather Conditions: 85 degrees and Sunny
Water conditions: 63 degrees, 128 cfs
Insects: not many insects.
I fished upstream with a Caddis the entire time. Just spent the time hitting the possible lies in this broken water. It’s a shadier section during that time of day and I was looking to stay cool.
I caught 12 brook trout and 1 brown. One native brookie was pretty nice, 11” range.
====================
June 5 - Open Water
Clinton County
====================
Time Fished: 600pm - 700pm,
800pm - 900pm
Weather Conditions: 82 degrees and Cloudy; then light rain; 70 degrees after rain
Water conditions: 64 degrees, 122 cfs
Insects: Caddis
There was not a lot of insect activity before the rain but not much catching.
The rain and lightening chased us off and to the camp porch. After the rain, the amount of rises increased a bit, but the rises weren’t even close to what we typically see. Overall this was the worst night of fishing this week.
I caught 2.
====================
June 6- Open Water
Clinton County
====================
Time Fished: 800am - 945am
Weather Conditions: 66 degrees, light rain
Water conditions: 60 degrees, 126 cfs
Insects: mostly insects from previous night spinner fall
I fished a streamer down a long shallow stretch. There was only one hole that produced a nice brown and rainbow. After that I walked further downstream, where I saw a fawn laying within a foot of the water’s edge. It did not spook.
When I reached the next hole I still had my streamer on. I worked it from top to bottom without a strike. I had noticed several rises while working the streamer so I tied on a dry. I caught 3 rather quickly and then my luck changed when I missed/lost the next 4 trout. By this time the rain started and I had a bit of a walk to get back to camp.
====================
June 6- FFO Section
Potter County
====================
Time Fished: 1145am - 445pm
Weather Conditions: 72 degrees, overcast
Water conditions: 58 degrees, 128 cfs
Insects: none to speak of
We drove to the Fly Fishing Only section to find our favorite spot and no vehicles were there. There a couple nice holes not too far apart, so we went to the one that has been best this week. Unfortunately there was zero insect activity. My son was in the best spot and he was getting some trout to show themselves but it was tough.
I was in the secondary water and it was tough to get anything going. I managed to land 3. My son caught 8.
We then took a shot that the other hole was still open, and it was. We toiled around there for an hour or more and we managed to each catch 2. It was really dead today. As we walked to the truck we heard distant thunder so we probably picked the right time to leave. It’s been raining here at camp and it’s been raining at least 45 min (as I type this).
====================
June 6- FFO Section
Potter County
====================
Time Fished: 715pm - 905pm
Weather Conditions: 66 degrees, overcast hard rain ended 30 min ago
Water conditions: 61 degrees, 155 cfs
Insects: yellow sally, lime sally, a few Caddis, a few mayflies
A heavy rain event occurred between 515pm and 645pm and it appeared to have impacted the spinnerfall. From 715pm and 830pm there was only a handful of rises. We stood and waited for the first rise and it occurred about 835pm. We checked the hole above and the hole below. The hole below had 3 risers. The hole above had only a handful of risers. It was one of strangest nights as spinner falls go.
I caught 4 rainbows, on the roughly 20 casts I made.
====================
June 7 - Open Water
Clinton County
====================
Time Fished: 745am - 830am
Weather Conditions: 63 degrees, overcast, light mist at times
Water conditions: 57 degrees, 158 cfs
Insects: small Caddis, lime sallies
Not much happening this morning.
====================
June 7 - Open Water
Clinton County
====================
Time Fished: 1015am - 345pm
Weather Conditions: 63 degrees, overcast, then it got Sunny, 74 degrees
Water conditions: 61 degrees, 158 cfs
Insects: midges, some Caddis
I pretty much worked the same hole for several hours. I only bumped over to a couple spots just for a brief time.
I made several passes and thoroughly worked the near and the far cover. I felt like I wasn’t detecting all of the strikes due to the amount of line I had out. I tried to keep a tight line but something was missing.
I caught 30 trout on wets and 2 on dries. Also caught a smallmouth on a streamer. I was roughly 55% Rainbows and 45% Browns.
I used an olive woolly bugger, Royal Coachman wet, Grizzly King wet, March Brown Nymph, Pickett Pin wet, Caddis wet, White Zonker, Caddis Dry and BWO dry.
====================
June 7 - Open Water
Clinton County
====================
Time Fished: 830pm - 905pm
Weather Conditions: 74 degrees
Water conditions: 61 degrees, 155 cfs
Insects: Saw various insects but was more focused on watching for rises.
Since this was Saturday night I figured everyone would be fishing, however when I stepped on the water there was not a soul. The trout were rising well so I caught 2 on just a few casts. Before I could cast again a springer spaniel is looking to get in the water. The owner is no where in sight. The dog appeared to be a retriever or was just accustomed to getting something thrown in the water. When a trout would rise the dog charged in that direction and then looked back at me like “where’s the ball”. Finally after 4-5 minutes the owner gets the dog and takes it back to their camp.
Although some trout were scared out of their feeding stations, several trout are still rising. I catch 3 more but the last fish bloodied the fly and I couldn’t tie one on in the fading light. So that ends my Kettle vacation.
