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The grind continues. |
Man, an eagle showed me more courtesy than the first angler I encountered this morning. It wasn’t even 6 AM before I got high-holed by some jadrool, and I nearly lost my shit. Let’s just say I clearly communicated my feelings with words, made a splashy exit from the creek, and took a walk to cool off—I was not going to let some idiot ruin my morning, but I suppose I had to make him feel something too. Dude either knew better and was being a douche, or he was new to the sport and did not know. I saw three anglers all morning, so he had plenty of other holes to try, but he walked in like we were fishing for stockers on the Wissy. Come to think of it, we kind of were. This creek used to be a Class A wild brown trout fishery, but it has not been in some time. I actually caught a wild brown today while fishing water where I knew there had to be a couple if there were any left. Before this lone wild brown, I could not even find YOY, which I have typically encountered this time of year even during this steep habitat and population decline. They were a cause for hope, but that is dwindling each year that I visit. The water is still cold, like 62 F this morning, which is why I was here, so the rainbows are looking great. Some of them are either wild or Trout in the Classroom plantings—they are shaped like wild trout and their fins are perfect. I have actually caught 4 inchers in this stretch too, so I would not be surprised if the lack of browns is allowing some rainbows to breed successfully. If the place once again gets wilded, I don’t care what species they are, but it would be really sad if it simply declined into a creek that needs stocking be a fishery. Parts of it already are.
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Pretty bow with all her parts in place. |
Not long after I settled into a long stretch of pocket water to start my morning again for the first time, I heard a loud splash downstream, and my mind immediately went to my other nemesis: dogs off leash! It was actually an eagle splashing down to eat a trout. It looked like a decent rainbow, too, but at least he didn’t high-hole me. I saw mergansers and several herons, so when the water is low, they are not helping the struggling wild population of trout, but that does not seem to matter on other creeks in the region with similar wildlife. There are bugs too, but not as many as in the recent past. I spoke with a friendly and courteous trico chaser later in the morning (perhaps only to confirm that all stream etiquette is not lost) and he found a few swarms and no rising fish in some of his favorite spots. I saw some today myself, but not as many as before. I had the most success throwing a single, olive nothing on 6X. With all the flies these fish see, I usually find I have to throw dull brass or black beads and small natural bugs with no hot spots or anything too flashy. In the darker predawn minutes, I began tossing the bugs I had on from my last trip in NEPA, but when I had three short hits in a row and no fish to show for it, I retooled for success based on previous experience.
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Another pretty holdover. |
That simple, buggy
olive nymph got down enough and fell slowly enough not to collect weeds and
algae, and so it did the trick. I caught
5 rainbows in pocket water and stuck two others that jumped off in shallow riffles. When that nymph didn’t work in a deeper,
braided hole and plunge—where I was convinced a brown had to live—I rerigged with
a size 16 perdigon on the anchor, a 18 CDC soft hackle on the dropper tag. It was that little dropper with a lot of
movement from the CDC that notched the only brown trout. It was not a YOY, either. I wouldn’t say it was a big adult fish, more like a toddler, but
it was something. By 9:30 AM it was
already getting hot, so I decided to quit after finding this brown trout. The only reason I was out this morning was
because Saturday was cooler and cloudy, so the creek stayed in the safe range
all day. I was not so sure that was
happening today, even though Monday through Wednesday looks great. It was good to catch some trout in July, but I am not
sure I will return to this creek for a while.
It lived up to my expectations, which is not a good thing. Along with the creek I visited a couple weeks ago, it
is just a place I visit once a year, just to visit, I think. Maybe it’s just nostalgia because it’s certainly
not the fish or some of the anglers I encounter here.
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Toddler not YOY. He must have parents, but where are they? |