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| Bad pic of a big beast. A 19 inch rainbow in the net. |
With my semester winding down, I was looking at a hellish 4 out of 5 days this week helping students with papers and proctoring exams, early mornings and late nights. Today was the only day that presented a window to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather, so after some debate in the morning, I decided to “work from home” for half the day and head about an hour north for some trout. The water temp was a nice 57-58 degrees on my chosen Lehigh Valley stream, which has some limestone influence that keeps it free of ice all winter. That has not been a factor so far this winter, with average lows equaling the normal average highs for this time of year.
I started out fishing with a zebra midge and a size 20
pheasant tail dropper. While working my
way up to a flat deep hole that I know usually holds fish, I watched at least
two fish feeding, bulging just below the surface in a run along the far
bank. I put one down with a bad
cast. The hole is deep, even in low
water like this December, so I couldn’t wade out far to get enough room behind
me for a long back cast. Making due with
the room I had, I just nicked a tree branch on the back-cast, which sent the
cast plopping down short of the run. No
worries. I slowly inched up to the next
fish taking nymphs. I didn’t mess this
one up, either. After a nice fight, I
had a healthy 12 inch wild brown in the net.
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| First fish of the day: a sporty wild brown. |
Action was slower than I expected after that. From a high vantage point, I could only see
the odd sucker or two flashing near the bottom.
I made my way around the next bend to a good deep run, but got no
attention there either. I decided to
swing a wet fly back down through the same run.
I tied a heavier pheasant tail on and dropped a size 16 soft hackle
about a foot below it. I then high
sticked the pockets and let the wet swing up at the back of the run and into
the quiet eddies. Not long after
switching up techniques, I landed a little wild brown, all of 6 inches. It was good to see at least two year classes
in the creek, though.
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| Behind that big rock in a deep pocket... |
The highlight of the day, however, was taking a beast of
a holdover rainbow out of the pocket water above. None of the section of the creek I was fishing is stocked, but fish move their way up and down over time. This bow was ornery from living in tight
swift quarters for a while. Fat, he’d
been eating well all summer and fall too.
When I set the hook, he just stayed put under the white water, so I had
no idea how big he was until I put more pressure on him and he took off running
up and down the tight spot. I had to
jump off a rocky perch and get into a better place to net him, and even then he
took two more runs when I thought he was spent.
I took about 5 pictures, but only the one at the top of the post was not
blurry or foggy (hot, humid day). I
measured him at 19 inches before I revived and released him. I ended the day thinking I had another pig,
which ended up being a big sucker who ate a copper john in a deep hole at the
base of a falls. On that note, I packed
up and headed for home. Not a numbers
day, but it was certainly a great way to spend a December weekday.
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