August 9, 2017 – Just Ignoring the Tricos, Really? - Northampton County Limestoner

Tricos in flight (click to enlarge).

I finally got out fishing again!  It has been a while, but we are beginning to see the beginning of the end for my wife’s ACL recovery.  We are on to physical therapy and getting strong enough and quick enough with the right leg to drive.  This goal is still a month away, maybe, but things are getting better each day, especially her mental state.  Being cooped up for so long is not Tami’s style at all. Knowing my mental state was in question, too, she gave me a green light this week to get out.  The issue with being so busy is that I had no time to plan or change gears, and I also wanted to be nearby, so I just picked a relatively close limestoner, hoping the cooler nights and rains would give me something to bend the rod.  Mission accomplished, but it was not easy.  It was a perfect morning, almost fall-like, so the walk and the fresh air did me wonders.  The fishing was a little worse than expected, honestly, but not terrible for a short trip in August.

Close but not there yet: Still too stained for dry fly fishing.

When I arrived a little before 6 AM, the creek looked great from afar, within its banks and only mildly stained in the shallows.  The deeper holes were pretty opaque brown, however.  As I hope you can see from the collage above, the tricos were out in force for a couple hours, but nothing but a few chubs and/or small trout in the clearer shallows were taking notice.  I was hoping some dark caddis or other bugs would come off later in the morning, so after watching for rises for a long period of time, I decided to rig up to nymph some pockets and pools and return later to the hole to see if it cleared more.  Before leaving home in the morning, I strongly considered tossing my new toy, a 9 foot 7 weight, with a big streamer, but I was expecting that after a full day of rest that the creek would have cleared enough for dry fly action.  Oh, well…  

A holdover bow in good colors and translucent fins.

The water temperature that I took was 60, but I didn’t take my time with it or take multiple readings, so it is very likely that the creek was a bit warmer than that, which could account for the slow fishing.  At 60, the fish should have been very active, but they were not.  The air was 58 or 59 when I started, so instead of waiting for the thermometer to lower from the air temperature, I probably should have been waiting for it to rise from sitting in high 50s all night.  Again, oh, well…  It took going down deep with shot and an indicator to dredge up two hold over rainbows.  I also missed one half-hearted bump while swinging a wet fly under some overhanging trees that I couldn’t fish effectively with anything else.  I quit by about 11 AM after taking a little walk back to the car, happy that I had some success in less than prime conditions.  The streamer rod should get some action after the next rain storm, however.  If the rivers keep dropping, I feel smallmouth in my future too!