Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 38

One-on-One
by Richard Tate
photos by the author
On April 14, 2019, I was fishing to a grannom hatch on a
well-known central Pennsylvania stream and was enjoying
a successful evening. The trout were taking my imitation
dry fly enthusiastically, and I was playing, landing, and
releasing fish efficiently. Several of the trout were much
larger than average. I was approaching a bathtub-size
pocket where I expected to find at least one trout rising.
I was not disappointed. A big trout was feeding eagerly.
I checked my leader for frays and then knotted a fresh
Grannom to my tippet. The trout took the fly on the first
cast but got away.
I returned the next evening to fish for that one fish. Again,
the trout was rising. When my Grannom drifted over the trout,
it sank out of sight and did not take another fly that evening.
The spring of 2019 was rainy, and several deluges raised the
stream, so that dry fly fishing was nearly impossible. Finally, on
May 8, the waters receded enough for me to return to the pool

38

Pennsylvania Angler & Boater * March/April 2021	

where the big trout lived. There was a nice hatch of sulphur
mayflies on the water, and fish were rising. I caught and
released quite a few fish before I got to the bathtub-size pocket.
The big fish was rising. However, it refused the comparadunstyle dry fly I tossed it. Again, the trout quit rising. I was
frustrated. I fished for the trout unsuccessfully the next several
evenings, and I then hit another spate of rainy weather.
I could not return to the bathtub-pocket fish until
May 22. I was not confident. This fish had refused to take
my best Grannom and Sulphur imitations, though I had
another fly in my arsenal to toss to it. There were not many
sulphurs now, but I knew I had to try to match the hatch.
Instead of my favorite comparadun, I knotted a standard
hackle-point winged Sulphur Dun to my tippet. I had
dropped from a size 14 to a 16, hoping the fish would not
recognize the smaller fly as a fraud. It didn't. The trout
inhaled the little Sulphur Dun on my first cast, I set the
hook, and for the next few minutes, the trout gave me all
I could handle. Finally, I caught and released the 20-inch
Brown Trout. Though I had caught a larger trout earlier in
the season, this one was the most satisfying fish of the year.
This fish challenged my fly fishing skills for more than a
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Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021

Contents
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - Cover1
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - Cover2
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - Contents
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 4
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 5
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 6
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 7
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 8
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 9
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 10
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 11
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 12
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 13
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 14
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 15
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 16
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 17
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 18
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 19
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 20
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 21
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 22
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 23
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 24
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 25
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 26
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 27
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 28
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 29
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 30
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 31
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 32
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 33
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 34
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 35
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 36
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 37
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 38
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 39
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 40
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 41
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 42
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 43
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 44
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 45
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 46
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 47
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 48
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 49
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 50
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 51
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 52
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 53
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 54
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 55
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 56
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 57
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Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 61
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 62
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 63
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 64
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - Cover3
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - Cover4
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