The_Sasquatch
Well-known member
Just got back from a week in the mountains.We were there celebrating 65 years of my family's cabin. 80+ people across 4 generations of my family were invading Denton Hill, renting out every campground, inn, and vacation home in the area. My grandfather would have never imagined his great grandchildren would be there celebrating 65 years when the camp was built. Anyway...onto the fishing.
Got there Sunday night, and of course, it starts dumping rain into Monday. I fished a small stream in Coudersport Monday morning, but the water was pushing, it was raining hard, and things were getting dangerous, so I bailed after about 45 minutes.
Monday evening the rain let up so my dad and I hit the back roads looking for fishable water. Ended up on Lyman Run, and I'm glad. My dad never had a good day on that stream (it's hit or miss!), but Monday was a hit! Lots of hatches, and even in the fast, high, but relatively clear water, the brownies and brookies were rising. I think we caught 2 dinks or so, but everything else was "legal size". Easily a double-digit day for both of us.
Tuesday we headed south down 144. Ended up on the Hammersley. Never saw it so full of water! In fact, at the ford a few kids who had a camp downstream were putting rafts in and floating back down to the mouth of Kettle! Bet they don't get many chances to raft in that stream.
Water was high, fast, but again, clear. We didn't fish far. For those familiar w/ the stream, we fished up to the fork, and then the right branch a few hundred yards. Beautiful day, and still, the (mostly) brookies were rising to dries even in the rapids. My dad caught one of the most beautiful brookies I've ever seen in that area. I tried to snap a pic, but it jumped out of his hands before I could get the camera to it.
Thursday we headed south again, this time to Kettle. All the pros were fishing the stocked sections, but we were interested in the old WBTE area above rt 44. Hiked in, and again, lots of willing and able rising brookies. I couldn't land a fish to save my life that night, though. I must have lost 20 trout! Just one of those nights I guess...but my dad managed to land several.
Overall, I was grateful to see the streams full of water and full of trout. If the populations took a hit during the droughts last year, it didn't reflect in our angling experience this week. There were plenty of trout everywhere you'd expect to find them.
On a side note, several of my mom's cousins were renting a large-ish "mansion" in Coudy w/ a nice pond full of largemouth and bluegills. The largemouth were spawning for sure, and not interested in eating, but I had a great night catching blue gills, some were HUGE, on cahills. Got to fish and chat with some of my mom's cousins from Alaska and California, people I haven't seen since I was a teenager who all made the trip in to celebrate the camp's anniversary. Great evening on a lovely mountain pond.
Got there Sunday night, and of course, it starts dumping rain into Monday. I fished a small stream in Coudersport Monday morning, but the water was pushing, it was raining hard, and things were getting dangerous, so I bailed after about 45 minutes.
Monday evening the rain let up so my dad and I hit the back roads looking for fishable water. Ended up on Lyman Run, and I'm glad. My dad never had a good day on that stream (it's hit or miss!), but Monday was a hit! Lots of hatches, and even in the fast, high, but relatively clear water, the brownies and brookies were rising. I think we caught 2 dinks or so, but everything else was "legal size". Easily a double-digit day for both of us.
Tuesday we headed south down 144. Ended up on the Hammersley. Never saw it so full of water! In fact, at the ford a few kids who had a camp downstream were putting rafts in and floating back down to the mouth of Kettle! Bet they don't get many chances to raft in that stream.
Water was high, fast, but again, clear. We didn't fish far. For those familiar w/ the stream, we fished up to the fork, and then the right branch a few hundred yards. Beautiful day, and still, the (mostly) brookies were rising to dries even in the rapids. My dad caught one of the most beautiful brookies I've ever seen in that area. I tried to snap a pic, but it jumped out of his hands before I could get the camera to it.
Thursday we headed south again, this time to Kettle. All the pros were fishing the stocked sections, but we were interested in the old WBTE area above rt 44. Hiked in, and again, lots of willing and able rising brookies. I couldn't land a fish to save my life that night, though. I must have lost 20 trout! Just one of those nights I guess...but my dad managed to land several.
Overall, I was grateful to see the streams full of water and full of trout. If the populations took a hit during the droughts last year, it didn't reflect in our angling experience this week. There were plenty of trout everywhere you'd expect to find them.
On a side note, several of my mom's cousins were renting a large-ish "mansion" in Coudy w/ a nice pond full of largemouth and bluegills. The largemouth were spawning for sure, and not interested in eating, but I had a great night catching blue gills, some were HUGE, on cahills. Got to fish and chat with some of my mom's cousins from Alaska and California, people I haven't seen since I was a teenager who all made the trip in to celebrate the camp's anniversary. Great evening on a lovely mountain pond.
