July 29, 2015 – Pohopopo Creek – A Day or Two Early

No it's not the Lehigh River, just the Pohopopo near flood stage.

I wanted to fish this morning, but I didn’t have the energy to do a lot of planning or walking, and even the driving had to be easy!  I even left all the packing until the morning, as I wasn’t sure that I wouldn’t just turn over and go back to sleep when the alarm went off at 4 AM.  With that attitude, I probably should have stayed in bed because trout fishing this time of year does take a bit of work looking at USGS gages and weather and water temps.  Well, as I told my buddy Kenny yesterday, at least I was fishing.  Today was not great, and I should have packed up and tried a nearby Class A stream for some little brookies or browns, but I was fishing on a weekday close to August and still had a few fish in the net.

Part one of the quickly hatched plan failed.  Instead of 4 AM, I got up to use the bathroom at 3 AM and decided to stay up.  After making some tea instead of coffee, I went to the garage and packed up two fly rods and my gear to put in the Subaru.  I figured I would take my time driving up 476 and even stop at the Allentown rest for a Starbuck’s latte.  Well, the Starbucks was open when I got there, at least the lights were on and the displays were full of treats, but I waited for a barista who never showed.  I could feel daylight creeping up, so I left without coffee.  That was part two of the plan that failed.  I also nearly hit a skunk on Old Mill Road as I approached the creek, thinking, I hope that’s not an omen.  

The plan was sounding bad.  I could hear the creek roaring over the low head dam as I got out of the car…  I did take a cursory look at gages the night before, but I haven’t fished this tailwater in a long time, so I didn’t know it would be blown out of its banks based on the current levels, which were steadily dropping but not quickly enough for my small fishing window this morning.  A day later on July 30, the flow was looking great, but today it was still reading close to 400 instead of a good 200 to 175 or so like earlier in the month.  The water temperature was under 64 degrees, so at least that was encouraging for late July.

The coolwater release from Beltzville

As I approached, the creek was clearing up and looking fishable, but it was still creeping up on the banks and making the cover of overhanging trees and rhododendron all but impossible to cast underneath.  Not knowing the water well and by myself, I used a lot of caution wading in the low light too.  I saw some midges rising all morning, and even shook one caddis off a tree branch I was using to steady myself in the swift current, but no fish rose all morning.  I managed to bring 4 small fish to the net on a green weenie, 3 rainbows and one wild brown.  I know they stocked rainbow fingerlings this year, but one of the little bows I caught had par marks and bright colors.  The creek supports wild browns, but I am thinking some wild bows exist too, which is quite cool.  With the humidity, my camera was fogged and the pic didn’t turn out.  He managed to slip out of the net before I realized the photo was bad.  Nothing about today was working out as planned, so why should the pictures be great?

Sadly, the biggest fish of the day, a 10 incher...

The fish I caught were tight to the banks in slack water and in roots of trees.  I caught my first wild brown while standing on the bank high sticking a nymph under a tree.  As I said above, a lot of the bank side cover was dangling in the creek, making it impossible to cast under, and the wading was just challenging enough that I couldn’t cover much ground to look for structure in the creek that would obstruct flow.  Below the dam, the creek is pretty much a straight shot, so the fish need the cover on the banks to rest and feed.  I should have grabbed the 3 wt and headed up the little creek nearby, but instead I got an early start on the ride home.  I am not a fan of the dog days of summer, so I impatiently wait for some cooler fall temps.  Oh, wait, we still have August to get through…

July 9, 2015 – A Few Oley Valley Wild Browns - Just a Few

I didn't give this staging too much thought, honestly!  It was taken during a bathroom break, I swear...

I have had such a good trout season staying relatively close to home this year, that I guess I am not ready to quit and head to the shore to chase fluke and weakfish.  Anticipating a dead day at work, I decided to take a “sick day” and fish this morning in the Oley Valley area of Berks County, which has a few streams with some limestone influence to keep them cool, in theory.   Like Northampton and Lehigh Counties, I can get to the area in an hour or less, which is convenient for short weekday trips.  I ended up spending most of my time this morning in the headwaters of the Manatawny, mainly because it had more water to fish.

I have had some good days on the Manny, the last being a day in December of 2014 when I had a blast catching little wild browns stacked up in a couple wintering holes.  Today was a tougher day than I expected, and the main creek was not all that cool, considering I had temps of just 70 in the Wissahickon in Philadelphia last week.  I took temp readings in three different areas as I fished and never found water cooler than about 67 degrees near the surface.  The creeks were still stained, and the only fish that would come up for a dry were creek chubs and dace.  Because the fishing was tough, I ended up fishing way too long, until nearly 12:30 PM in 85 degree heat, trying to crack the code.  I have no problem heading for the showers on an easy day, but I tend to stay too long on the tougher ones.  I guess I will never learn.

Sure is bucolic around these parts.

The area is beautiful, with covered bridges and grazing cattle and lush green hills, so it was an enjoyable morning despite the mediocre fishing.  I ended up bringing only 2 fish to hand, both wild browns about 10 inches long.  I also dropped a decent fish at my feet fumbling for my phone to snap a picture.  I am 99.9% sure he was a wild brown, as well, maybe 12 inches.  I also lost a fish on a black conehead bugger before I could bring him to hand (And I was carrying a net too!  Oh, well, just one of those mornings), and I missed one on a hopper under a tree when I had few places to go for a hook set.  That was it for the morning, unless I count half a dozen chubs that took the dropper under the dry and big rock bass that took the bugger and had me thinking that I had a solid trout on the line because he was deep under an overhanging tree by an undercut bank.  I spooked two other fish hanging in the tailouts of a couple pools, but the fish I caught were deep and hidden in cover.  The first fish of the morning came as I floated a prince nymph deep under a tree, feeding line with the aid of a very small Palsa pinch-on indicator, and none of the other catches were any easier, really.

Not very colorful this time of year, but pretty nonetheless.

I was able to explore a new section of the watershed (on a weekday, no less) and saw some potentially nice spots for the spring or fall, but with water nearing 70 degrees at midday, the fish were hiding themselves well this morning.  I did move a few when I switched to the bugger, which was encouraging, but I would have liked for them to commit.  The one fish (and the rock bass) I did catch on the streamer took it on a slow pulsing swing in a deep hole.  It’s possible that the wild population fluctuates quite a bit in this area too, but it’s worth more trips in the future just based on the scenery, solitude, and relatively proximity to home.  And I can always sneak down to the stocked section in the spring to salvage the days like today when the wild ones have lock jaw....

Another pale wild one..

July 5, 2015 – Wissahickon Creek – My Last Attempt at Wissy Trout until Next Year

A Wissahickon Creek brown trout chewing on a san juan worm.

To make up for a hot and dry May, June in SEPA was one of the wettest in a while.  Even though the Wissahickon Creek in Philadelphia is a freestone stream, it can stay cool into July and even August if we have a wet summer.  There are cold springs, more like cool water seeps, really, and a lot of shade from big mature trees.  On occasion I have caught trout here in August tight against the shallow riffles while targeting smallmouth bass, but that is rare.  

Another decent brownie

Neither serious fishing nor travel was really on the agenda this weekend; it was supposed to be more of a relaxing family time close to home, but my son and I did well during a short trip last weekend, and there were some showers and cool weather during the week, so I figured if given the opportunity I would give the creek one last chance with the fly rod at some point.   The fish last week, and this week, seemed healthy, and today I only stressed out one big rainbow enough that I considered keeping him.  I was able to revive him successfully and watch him strongly swim away, though.  Well, seeing an opportunity on Sunday morning, I gave myself a small window from about 5:30 to 10 AM, in order to beat the heat, not to mention the crowds of bikers, hikers and, my favorite, folks swimming their dogs off the lease in Fairmount Park, destroying the banks and making them like muddy beaches in the process.  But enough about my pet peeve: there’s no authority in the park to enforce the leash law, and there is probably not much public desire to do so, anyway, and so it does me no good to get pissed off, I try to remind myself.

One of 3 or 4 rainbows who ate the scud nymph.

I didn’t sleep well, so I was up at 3 AM and then tossed and turned until the alarm went off at 4:15 AM.  It only takes 15 minutes to drive to the stretch I had decided to target, so I took my time and had a leisurely coffee and even rigged up a dry dropper in the garage.  I secretly wanted to catch a Wissy trout on the dry this year, but it didn’t happen today or any other day.  Hatches are sporadic, at best, but on the right day, I am sure a big splashy terrestrial or caddis would get their attention, as it certainly works for the bass when the water conditions are right.  Today, I caught nothing but sunfish on top, and had to resort to the scud and san juan worm to catch trout.  The water was still stained and the temp was reading 68 degrees at around 7:30 AM, which are nice wet-wading conditions but borderline conditions for catching trout the way I had hoped. 

Rainbows preferred the scud over the sj worm this morning.

The water temps in most pools must be hitting 70+ degrees almost every day now, so I knew this would be my last trip chasing trout on the Wissahickon until next year.  Thankfully, my last trip was a good one.  I landed 7 or 8 trout once I resigned myself to the fact that I would have to a use proven fish catcher like an SJ worm to get their attention.  The best part about summer fishing for me, however, is where the fish tend to set up—in the fast, oxygen rich waters—so I had great time high-sticking fish out of tiny deeper pockets in the shallow riffles.  I caught a mix of browns and rainbows.  The browns seemed to prefer the san juan worm, and most rainbows took a flashback scud pattern in the seams of a couple deep runs.  I even caught one bow stripping a bugger in a fast, shallow riffle.  I caught fish steadily throughout the morning, likely my last morning on the Wissy targeting any species of fish until the fall.  Bluegills, especially, appreciated the SJ worm, but they wouldn’t say no to the scud either if it landed too far out of the current and away from the likely trout holding spots.  

All said, it was a good way to spend a few stolen moments close to home. Despite minor nuisances like misguided dog owners, I am always grateful that I have such a beautiful park and stream so close to home.  And there are other funny things that happen in a public park.  With folks walking on Forbidden Drive, I sometimes have an audience, and today two ladies stopped to watch, and I didn't even know since I was probably hooking and landing a trout.   Finally, one of them said something funny to get my attention:  "We are watching A River Runs Through It, and you're Brad Pitt."  I laughed and said, "That might have been true 25 years ago..."  Even that long ago, I am not sure how true it was, so we were both being kind!

The best of the morning.  He needed a bit of time to recover from a good fight.   The water is too hot, finally.