Yesterday, I did well nymphing, but I’m still not very good fishing dry flies. I have a lot of practice nymphing from steelheading and drifting crayfish patterns for small mouth. I just had to downsize the nymphs and split shot as well as kick the indicator. I was able to adapt to the changes in nymphing technique pretty quickly and hooked up right away. I tied my own leaders (for the first time) and I had to alter the length of the tippet until the leader preformed properly; it was a trial an error process. The small tippet and tiny flies were a challenge to deal with. The tippet is light and breaks easily making knot tying difficult as I am used to heavier tippet so I really crank on my knots to make sure they are solid.
When I arrived in Titusville, I went straight to Oil Creek Outfitters to get the scoop on the hatch and to purchase some flies and floatant. Mike at Oil Creek Outfitters was kind enough to point me to a section of the creek where the fishing has been hot lately. I filled my fly box and I was off to the creek. When I arrived, there were about a half a dozen other anglers near the access point, I fished around them until I worked my way below them and walked to a secluded spot where I had the river to myself.
I hooked up with a nice brown in a run that was within eye shot of the parking lot. Even though I lost the fish, I thought to myself, this is going to be a good day! Things slowed down from there. I fished down and around the bend with no luck; I walked down past the couple of anglers who were fishing below me. I stopped to have lunch in a shaded spot on the bank. It was right near the walking trail that ran alongside the stream. The Park Service had placed some old oil pumping equipment trail side for since it is Oil Creek. I thought it was kind of cool (I should have taken a picture).
After a nice streamside lunch, I continued walking through a stretch of water that held no fish as it was about 3 inches deep. The next hook up I had was after lunch on the secluded stretch of water I found way down river. I lost both of those fish. I don’t know if I was not setting the hook properly or if it was just the tiny flies. Either way, after losing the second fish (which seemed to be a rainbow) I was beginning to get a little down.
I walked back up stream to a nice riffle I had fished on the way down, the sun had moved and this section was now in the shade. I hoped that the shade would make the fish feel a little more comfortable and they would feed more actively. I fished from the bottom to the top of the riffle, just below the top I hooked up. Just after I set the hook, out of the water leaped a beautiful rainbow trout! It was a perfect specimen and fought with all the grit rainbows are known for. I finally put the fish in the net and got a couple of nice pictures. After putting the fish in the net, I let out an “ALL RIGHT”, out loud. I was very happy to finally land a fish and get the skunk off my back. I worked the rest of this riffle and the water above it with no more hook ups.
I walked upstream to an area near the parking lot that the guy at the fly shop said was loaded with fish and I noticed a bunch of fish rising in the mid section of the pool. I switched leaders and tied on a small BWO and a nymph dropper, loaded it up with floatant and let it rip. I struggled with the dry fly presentation. I couldn’t land the fly where I wanted and I couldn’t see the tiny little fly among all the junk floating on the water. The BWO was too “natural” looking to track visually from a distance; it just blended in. I switched to a Griffith’s Gnat pattern that had a touch of red so it could be seen from a distance. The guy at the fly shop called it “the old man’s gnat” because of the red. I rigged it with a tiny midge nymph as a dropper. I hooked two fish on the gnat rig. I actually saw the first fish take the dry fly. As the fish rose to take the fly, it pushed the surface of the water up forming a bump in the surface before the water tension broke and the fish breached the surface to take the fly. I saw it plain as day and it seemed to happen in slow motion. It was a really neat experience. I had the fish on for a minute before it threw the hook. While it was disappointing to lose the fish, it is so cool to see the fish sip the fly off the surface. I would say that is among the best experiences fly fishing has to offer. I hooked the second fish on the gnat rig after dusk; it was too dark to see the fly. I saw the ripple from the rise, but that was it. The only way I knew I had a fish on was from the tug on the end of my line.
I continued to fish for a few more minutes until I saw lighting off in the distance, and heard the first crack of thunder. That meant it was time to pack it in and get to the car. If not for the approaching storm, I could have stayed and fished for another 10-15 minutes before it would have been too dark to fish. I packed up the car and headed for home. The first drops of rain hit the car as I was driving up hill out of the river valley. It was a great first time trip to Oil Creek. I caught a fish, hooked a bunch more, the weather was nice and I had the best spot on the water to myself as the risers began to feed from the surface. I was glad I made the trip.
