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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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....
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| Another pale wild one.. |
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