Kevin Hines talks about catching and returning his 28 inch brown trout 5-16-2013

     It appears what is working depends on where you are on the creek or maybe what you are using. March Browns, Gray Foxes, and sulphurs are working (the sulphurs are just starting). At the same time other anglers are catching their trout underneath on emergers (including the soft-hackle caddis emerger), beaded nymphs (black or brown stone flies, micro stone flies, prince, nymphs of what's hatching, and on streamers and buggers. Take your choice and if one doesn't work, try another. For the last week I've caught all my trout on a #10 March Brown dry. But if I'd been using any of the imitations mentioned above, that may have worked as well. Keep your eyes open for any action and fish to it. If there isn't any action, it may be because they are waiting for your fly!

Dave's 16+ inch brook trout from Pine Creek. Where did this trout come from - and so incredibly colored. Watch a short underwater video below of the brook fight the #10 March Brown. Notice the deeper underwater scene is more hazy than the picture above.. 

          

     So many great anglers, and just great people in general, come into Slate Run Tackle Shop. One that comes into my mind immediately when I think of the consummate angler, someone who is always a surprise, is very young to be thought of in this manner, is always questioning, thinking, and enjoying each day to the fullest, and lives to fish, is Bryan Haywood. I think he is such a great angler because he still thinks and wants to know why, when, where, how - the questions burn in him and he uses his wiles along the creek to be shown the answers. He makes the offering to the trout in infinite variations and stores away the answers he gets for future days. I once saw Bryan, early in the season, after many anglers had fished an certain eddy up to their waists in the water, wait patiently for the area to "settle." He was almost on his knees in the shallows inching his way along to an area that seemed to be calling to him. A few short casts and he was into a nice brownie.

     I don 't know how many fish he caught, but when I saw him at the hotel later for dinner and asked, he simply said it was a good afternoon. That modesty would probably be the last part of the definition. It didn't matter "how many" or "what size," just that it was another great chance to be on his favorite water and to have learned something more from the masters themselves. With Pine as the teacher and so many riffles, runs, and pools, we have limitless opportunities to increase our abilities, and our big browns are usually more than happy to provide the lessons.

   

5-14 Pine Creek 16+-inch Brook Trout Fights Underwater - Taken on a March Brown Dry