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| Skinny and clear at creek #1 |
Despite Montgomery County creeks getting a spike on the gauges
on Monday, the evening did not pan out with additional rain, as I had
hoped. Also, this too-brief rain event
seemed to affect less of SEPA than I had expected. Still, I woke up and did some work at home
this morning, encouraged that the clouds were sticking around. Despite the dry streets outside my window, I
was still trying to psych myself up to take a fishing trip today. In the end, I did not find the conditions I
was hoping for (I should have played hookie yesterday!) but I did manage to
catch a handful of respectable fish, and I had far more refusals than I care to
count. In low water, on wild trout
streams, even seeing some aggressive fish at two creeks before connecting with
the hooks at a third creek was a good enough sign that, despite some battle
scars, this dreadful summer wasn’t too rough on the residents. Perhaps the fall won't be so bad after all?
My first stop of the morning was a Bucks County
limestoner that I have found to be hit or miss, but usually miss. I have gained access to two sections of the
mostly posted creek, but neither one is consistent. In May of 2015, I caught two very big
trout here on the fly rod, and I have had success on smaller fish a couple
times, but this year, I have not seen much life on the creek. I spent about an hour here, mostly walking
and tossing a Rapala CD 1, and I only had one refusal by a 10 inch brown who
was hiding in the weeds in a deep hole.
The water was low, but it was a healthy 65 degrees when I left at 11:30
AM. Even with Monday’s rain, though, it
was clear already. I may rest this creek
or find more access closer to the headwaters.
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| No 20 inch monsters today. |
My second stop was another small limestoner in
Northampton County. When I was here a
few weeks ago, I moved a bunch of fish and caught a huge wild brown. Since it was on the way to the
third creek I had in mind, I figured I would target two holes where I saw a
number of fish last time. I did not
climb all the way up to the hole where the big brown lives, mostly because I
didn’t want to knock on doors to gain access, and I also didn’t want to
bushwhack in from above. Well, this
mission failed too. The water flow was better here, and also cold, but it was not
stained like I had hoped. These fish,
especially the larger ones, are not easily duped in high sun and clear water.
Like last time, I had several follows and refusals, and I missed the hookset on
one decent fish who did finally commit.
He did not take the plug until it reached the tailout, however, and I
could see him hit before I could feel him hit.
All I got for my troubles was a plug flying 10 yards behind me and a
spooked pool!
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| Finally at creek #3! Outside of the mouth still count?? |
My last stop finally paid off, thank goodness! Since it is a larger stream than the
trickles I started the morning fishing, it was a bit stained still and flows
were good. Even at 3 PM, the temperature
of the water was in the high 60s, and fish hit with gusto when I could find
good summer holding water. It didn’t
take long to catch a smaller wild brown.
I was tossing a larger Rapala CD 5 with my 7 foot ultralight, not the
shorter rod I threw earlier in the day.
This combo also has Nanofil spooled on it, which seemed to give me the millisecond
I needed for a faster hookset due to low or zero stretch. Even then, I got a couple on the outside of
the mouth!
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| A good healthy rainbow |
I ended up catching 5
decent trout here, most in fast, oxygenated pocket water. The two rainbows were angry and healthy. One of the wild browns, which was a good 13
inches long, looked like he had had a narrow escape from a blue heron or a hawk,
but he fought well and scooted back to his lair in good shape.
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| Bow # 2 |
I would have kept fishing, but I needed to get the boy at
school by 5 PM, so I called it a day around 4 and headed for home. Not the day I was hoping for, and I had to log
some mileage, in the car and on foot, but I avoided the skunk with some quality
fish. I was drenched in sweat, had gone through all my water, and was covered in little green burrs from all the vegetation, but I was happy to get in a fishing day. Come on rain and cool
temperatures! This summer has gone on far
too long.
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| Some battle scars, but strong and healthy. |
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