# It happened on Paint Creek



## Rokurota (May 30, 2013)

Just have to share a funny fishing story.
It happened to me on Paint Creek Friday morning 4 July.

Got to the park in Rochester about 06:30. No bugs on the water. No rises, and the creek was just short of chocloate milk from the rain we'd had the last couple days. But my bride had just got me a nice little 7'6" 4wt I wanted to try, and I'd already driven an hour so... swing some wet flies and hope for the best.

Hiked up to the playscape near the top of the park and started working down stream through the pools. Fishing a couple bright and big softhackles on the leader. Got a few bumps but no hookups.

As I was working down through the last pool I had time to fish and got to the tail of the pool next to one of the bridges I over shot my last cast and and hung up the dropper fly on the far bank. So I waded across the pool picking up my line and leader as I went and freed the dropper from the weeds on the bank.

As I waded back across the tail to climb out and head home, I had my rod in my left hand, and my coiled leader and top fly in my right hand, the partridge and green soft hackle dropper was dangling in the water next to my right thigh. Just as I got to the deepest section of the pool going across stream, I felt a familiar tugtugtug on my right hand...

Thought to myself "seriously!!!" and picked up the rig with a 5 or 6 inch brown trout hanging from the bottom fly!!! :xzicon_sm

So the question is... 
Do I count that as a "Caught Fish" 
or did I get skunked???:lol:


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## Big Frank 25 (Feb 21, 2002)

Caught fish! Work on perfecting your presentation!


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## DLHirst (Mar 14, 2009)

Nice! I was teaching a newb to fish last Monday on the Au Sable's South Branch. I had already "schooled him" on the importance of presentation, etc. He lost a fly and was struggling to tie on a new one. When he asked for help, I stuck my rod under my armpit, pointing away from us, and proceeded to tie on a fly. 

Yes, I felt that tug. Said casually "I think I got a fish", but finished tying on his fly. Reeled in a 8-9" brookie, on a dry fly, no less! Beautiful fish. For the next two days, all I heard was "tell me more about that presentation thing?".

All I could offer was "If you wait around to get lucky like I did, you will give up fishing long before..."


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## Shoeman (Aug 26, 2000)

Yup, power of the swing.... :lol:

So much for the drag-free drift.


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## workingman (Aug 16, 2007)

You were holding the rod and landed the fish. Caught!


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## jaytothekizzay (Apr 1, 2002)

Ive done that many times... just act like you knew it was there... awesome... lol

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## jkloess (Jan 14, 2014)

Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good...

After a couple hours of nymphing up and down a favorite stretch in the GR section, this guy decided to hit my pheasant tail while fumbling a fly line snag out of an overhead tree... good thing I didn't have to set the hook, otherwise I would have had to do some major rig surgery. 


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## monkman (Aug 22, 2013)

Now that's short distance hand lining!!!


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## jampg (Jan 27, 2007)

That's a good one for sure... I got a good chuckle out of it. 
You just never know do you...


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## Rokurota (May 30, 2013)

I suppose I could stumble and scoop one up down the front of my waders.... But what are the odds?!?! 

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## OH-YEAH!!! (Jun 18, 2009)

Great story. Definitely a catch. Don't ever do that during steelhead or salmon season as the top fly could end up wedged very deeply in your hand. :yikes:

Good luck getting the hang of setting the hook on a short rod. I've been fly fishing for 15 years and still struggle with that.

This past Thursday I spent 2 hours fishing a very nice hatch with my 8 foot 2 weight on a primarily small fish stream. I couldn't react quick enough with the short rod and missed at least ten decent rises.

After dark I resorted to tying on a bigger fly. I couldn't see so I just cast it to the top of a heavily stocked pool and tight lined my drifts.

I caught 15 dink stockers in about 25 drifts. There was no skill involved. They basically hooked themselves. But I finally put a bend in that 2 weight. ;-)


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## Boardman Brookies (Dec 20, 2007)

It is funny how that happens. I was fishing the hex a week or so ago and was just flopping my line around after it got tangled around last guide "caught" a pretty decent brown that was 5 foot from me. It was the only fish I "caught" that night.


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## B.Jarvinen (Jul 12, 2014)

I 'caught' a trout for my life list in Alberta  sorta  I was standing in a few inches of water casting a spinner. A Bull Trout followed right to within a foot of the rod tip, struck the spinner, and flopped onto the bank and just lay there looking up at me. I think we were both thinking "what just happened?"


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