Thom Glace’s Yellow Breeches Rainbow is only a few hours from Cedar Run Inn. Visit an award-winning watercolorist’s website.
To seine or not to seine
By Henry Clement
My introduction to seining, screening a riverine flow for aquatic life, was with cheap mosquito screening bought at the hardware store—a framing system of any kind works. My friends used a roll-up mosquito screen stapled to dowels at two ends. A shovel system with more than two sides framed looks better, but it takes up a lot of space. It looks more professional but has no real advantage.
The Pennsylvania Potters, true ‘yins’ guys if ever there was
My teachers were the Potter boys, Tad and Tom. It was in the early 1970s. My maiden voyage to Potter Country was on Tad Potter’s luxurious bus-size RV. We landed on the lawn of the now-famous inn called Cedar Run, which sits on Pine Creek and empties into the Susquehanna River, which empties into the pollution-tormented but beautiful Chesapeake Bay.
It is a four-and-a-half-hour trip from Sewickley, Pennsylvania, to my first encounter with Wycoming County, where there are many trout and bass-filled waters throughout the region.
A nice rainbow. Image credit Wirestock/Envato
Cedar Run Inn
During trout season, the inn is primarily occupied by anglers, rafters, and get-out-of-the-city folks yearning for the sound of wind and water and an escape from neon and concrete.
The inn’s fly fishers are mostly repeat guests, as are trail hikers and birders. Introductions among guests seem the norm, and tables of two often greet others looking for a seat for breakfast or dinner. Loud party types do not seem to visit.
Looking for Godot
The Potters knew the whereabouts of all the hard-to-get streams—some rarely saw an angler in a fishing season. In North Central Pennsylvania, I learned the trick of seining before casting. I do not recall having a blank trout day when I seined the flow to know what aquatic creatures the salmonoids were feeding on.
Seeing through a mosquito screen
Put yourself facing downstream. At your feet, but as far from them as possible, kick the benthic (stream or riverine bottom) and seine it. Repeat a few times. What you will find, hopefully, is what the trout are eating. You will see size, color, and ephemeral aquatic beings, most likely being eaten.
Another rainbow by Wirestock/Envato
If you are amid a hatch
Repeat the try process and let the seine capture the hatch. From that capture, you can tie or find the type, size, and color of the hatching aquatic bug in your fly box.
Holy smokes
More than a few times, you will be surprised by your findings. Getting the fly that mimics ‘somewhat’ the ephemeral being found, seining that matches size and color, and you should be in for a perfect day. Conversely, riffle-like runs, without debris, are more productive than those with structures that impact the current. I do not know why.
Learn to swim your fly
Be sure to swim the creatures correctly. For example, no bug attacks a fish. Anything unnatural spooks a fish.
It could look like this
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