January 26, 2016 – Post-Blizzard of 2016 Wild Browns

For the first time in a long time, the forecasters were right on, and we got at least 28 inches of snow in my area on Friday night and Saturday morning.  I spent Saturday watching Netflix, Sunday digging out, and Monday sledding with the boy, but I wanted to go fishing.  The thing about snow storms is that the weather can at times be warmer than during those frigid high pressure days before and after.  That was true of this storm.  I suppose the low pressure system stays around for a while before the dry air and winds return.  A lot of times, the only thing that discourages me from fishing after a snow storm is the question of parking…  At any rate, it was forecasted to reach 42 today, and it actually reached closer to 46 by noon, so I took a ride to a limestone creek I knew, for the most part, would not be iced up, and where there was a fair chance I could park somewhere nearby. 

The Blizzard of 2016.  They called him Jonas.

When I arrived at the creek, I was happy to see that the local township had at least plowed the entrance of the parking area before quitting or moving on to more important things like major roads and heavily traveled side streets.  There was parking for two cars, one for me and one for a young snowboarder willing to hike a ½ mile in 2 feet of snow to take a couple runs.  We both thought the other was nuts, no doubt.

Just me and the deer (trails).

It was definitely scenic and quiet.  The only signs of life present were from deer trails and fresh droppings, one blue heron who, like me, didn’t let a little snow stop him from fishing.  The water was stained from the snow melt and colder than usual, colder than I expected.  I feared that fish would not be active.  I was relieved when I did move a couple trout with a CD 1 and a CD 3 before I finally hooked my first, a pretty wild brown.

A pretty one who hit a CD 3.

I targeted deep holes with jigs, plugs, even a trout magnet under a float, but fish were hunkered down, perhaps due to the high sun and the shock of snow melt. I went back to the CD 3 and covered some water instead.  I missed a nice fish in a long sandy flat.  He chased the plug to within 5 feet of me, and I set the hook early because I could see him, not feel him.  I love when that excitement happens on a productive day, but I hate when that happens on a slow day!  After about 45 minutes more of unproductive fishing, I finally hooked another fish and brought him to hand. 

And a second one.

 I figured two fish and a couple misses were respectable for a snowy late January afternoon and started hiking back to the Subaru, hoping I wasn’t towed.  I got a workout when I tried to go overland, so I stayed in the streambed.  I bought a new sling pack this winter, so I could carry more stuff with me, but unfortunately, I don’t think it has a place to store snow shoes.  They would have come in handy today.

January 10, 2016 – High Water, Spinning Rod, and Some Good Wild Browns

Best of the day.  A monster for this trickle, probably 14 inches!

I had it in my mind that I must fish on a 65 degree day in January, even if it rained over an inch in my neck of the woods overnight.  When I checked the gages this morning, however, many creeks were blown out, some approaching flood stage (in the 99 th percentile for several in the area).  I wasn’t ready to quit, but I took my time, knowing my wife and son had plans from 1:30 to 4:30 today.  I had coffee, played some Legos with the boy, and actually ate a real breakfast.  Fly fishing was off the table, but there was a chance that the spinning rod could get called into service if I picked the right stream.  

Hours passed and the gages didn’t look much better, but the rain had stopped for a long time, so I just said eff it around noon and headed to a little trickle in SEPA, a tributary of another creek I fish from time to time.  It was a relatively short ride, so I figured if it was unfishable, I could go further north and find a couple other similarly sized creeks that often fish better with a jolt of water.  Wild trout never really get stupid—they can still amaze me with how hard they can hit something with a treble hook (or two) and not get hooked—but muddy water does make them braver.  The high water also coaxes the big fish out of their safe, secure lairs.  The creek was far from perfect, but it was fishable and seemed to improve as the day progressed.

When I arrived, the sun was trying to peek out of the clouds, but in the course of three hours I had sun, clouds, wind, torrential downpour, and even distant thunder a couple times.  No one weather pattern lasted more than 30 minutes, but at least it stayed warm.  I had silk long-johns on under my pants and breathable waders, and if I were a wrestler trying to make weight tomorrow, they would have been a good idea.  I was glad I wore my rain jacket, though.  

I actually landed smaller ones than this today too.  Cute little guy...

I fished a deep hole to start, and I got a couple short hits on jig and soft plastic combo.  It’s been a while since I fished for trout with the spinning rod, so I had to remind myself to be faster with my hooksets, the kind of hooksets that would break 5x tippet if I was fly fishing.  I got the hang of it again after a while, and by the time I found bigger fish, I was an old pro, hooking everything that made a move for the Rapala CD 1, from 4-inchers to 14-inchers and all sizes in between.  

Side note: I have a love/hate relationship with this deadly plug (CD1, CD 3 and CD 5 all work well for trout—size dictated by the creek).  For years, I have had the bills break during normal fishing.  In the past, I would collect ten or twelve plugs and send them back to Rapala’s customer service department, and they would replace most of them if I had receipts.  About two years ago, the return form letter changed, blaming the fisherman for fishing the plug too deep and, god forbid, letting a crankbait bounce off rocks!!!  No replacements…  I have tried numerous alternatives, everything from pins minnows, to Dynamic Lures, to Trout Magnet plugs, to Rebel Trackdowns, to just plain jig and a twister or paddle tail.  Nothing seems to work as well, so I reluctantly put up with the breaking.  I had another plug break today, so I will be sending another package to Rapala, but I am not holding my breath.  Not surprisingly, Kenny found an old lot of Rapalas, mostly CD 3’s, and they don’t break nearly as easily, so Rapala has definitely changed materials over the years.  The change in form letter tells me I’m not the only one sending them back with similar problems.  Oh, well, back to fishing…

Getting better as I made my way downstream.

The fish were getting better as I made my way downstream hitting each pocket and pool.  Downstream was effective due to how shallow the creek is and how slowly I had to work the plug to get hits, often just about holding it in place in the current.  I didn’t want to jinx it, but I actually had a feeling that I would find a big one or two on the prowl today.  Conditions were just too perfect not to fool a normally wary wild piggy.  As I approached a log jam/plunge pool/undercut bank trifecta of a hole, I thought this is the one, and sure enough a good 14 inch fish smacked the plug.  I saw him turn and dart back to his lair, but I couldn’t turn him in time.  He was hung up in the roots of the tree for a hairy minute or so.  This was almost another “big one who got away” story except that I stayed patient and kept even pressure, waiting, hoping he would free himself.  Luck was on my side, as he darted out again, and I was eventually able to drag him into a shallow eddy to land.  With all the rain, I decided to forego “keeping him wet” and get a shot that would show his size a bit better than my hand.  Two pics turned out okay (the one that opens this post and the one below), and I got him back in the water with plenty of fight left in him.

Another shot of the little piggy.

It started to pour again, and I almost quit shortly after that, but it was still early, maybe only 3 PM, so I just turned and fished back upstream, targeting spots I couldn’t fish effectively from upstream.  If it rained again, at least I would be moving in the right direction.  One particular log jam only produced one little guy on the way down, but it yielded a better fish when I was able to drop the plug right in the cover from below.

Plenty of cover for them to hide in.

My "last fish" was another decent one, around 11 inches, who hit the plug in a deep, muddy flat that I assumed was shallow and sandy on the way downstream, so it was a good stop to make.  He took a nice leap or two, which was appreciated, so much so that I decided to end on that and make my way quickly back to the Subaru.  I always have to make one last cast though (several, actually), so I caught two more little guys while in sight of my vehicle before I actually quit for real, for real.  I lost count around a dozen, and at least 5 of those were over 10 inches, including the one who was about to outgrow this little creek.  I would call it a great day.

Another good sized one, my last decent fish of the afternoon.

January 8, 2016 – More SEPA Wild Browns on the Fly

Size 22 zebra midge did the trick on a dozen or more pretty wild browns.

I learned my lesson about ice yesterday and targeted a popular southeastern Pennsylvania limestoner for a productive 3 hours today.  After doing some work at home and running a couple errands, I arrived on the stream about 12 PM and fished until 3 PM.  The air got as warm as 46 degrees according to the Subaru’s display (and a couple banks I passed on the way home) and the water was a great 48 degrees, which was quite an improvement over yesterday.   

No signs of ice today.  Water was a good 48 degrees.

The fish were still small, as they often are on this creek, but a couple were decent, including the one who hit a streamer and got away from the camera.  Ward teased me yesterday that I should be chasing chubs at the creek we used to hand-line for bait (and just for fun) when we were kids, implying correctly that my first fish of the year were tiny.  I had the last laugh (he was working!) when I sent him a pic of my biggest fish of the day, a huge chub .

For Wardman...

My only company was some deer and some dog walkers.  One crazy lab took a quiet bath across the creek from me at one point.  He was more courteous than some fisherman, though, just gently sitting down in a shallow pool, so I didn't have the heart to shoo him away.  I ended the day with at least a dozen little browns in a couple deep winter holes, most on the 18 or 20 zebra midge.  One decent one ate a stripped bugger by an undercut bank, and one other took a slightly larger pheasant tail from which I had dropped the zebra midge.

Nice colors on this little guy.

I caught a few fish gently snap-jigging the nymphs, which was interesting.  I guess the bigger pheasant tail got their attention, and then they took the easy meal of the midge when they swam over to investigate.  Or, I was successfully making it look like a midge hatching....  The fish were active for a while, revealing themselves with flashes close to the bottom, though that could have been the chubs, which I caught a bunch of too. 

Today's average size.

After exploring a bit and finding another couple of deep holes to target later this winter, I called it quits after landing one more colorful wild brown, the smallest of the day and probably only last year's brood.  All in all, it was a great day despite the lack of size.  What they lacked in size they made up for with beauty and, more importantly, a willingness to cooperate with me on a winter weekday!

Ended with the smallest of the day.

January 7, 2016 – Better Than February 22, 2015! – First Fish of 2016

I call this a "selfish."   My first fish of 2016 (look closely).

Well, I am on the board for the new year with a couple wild browns from Berks County. Both fish hit scuds under a small indicator in the slow eddies of some deep pockets.  Good enough for me!  It was so cold last year that I didn’t accomplish this same feat until the third week of February, so even though it was chilly today, I am hopeful that this won’t be the last winter excursion.  Sunday, which is penciled in for another fishing trip, looks to be over 55 degrees again, so maybe I'll best the 10 inch mark for 2016 this weekend!

My second of 2016 was a bit better...

Today, I targeted an Oley Valley creek with some limestone influence, hoping it would be relatively ice-free.  As I headed west, crossing over the Wissy, the Skippy, the Perk, and so on, things were not looking all that promising.  Slow pools were iced up, and many banks were rimmed with ice up to 5 feet from shore.  I didn’t leave the house until 12:30 PM, and the temperature was supposed to get to 42 or 43, but I was wondering if I jumped the gun by a couple days (it was 20 degrees last night).  Actually, I did.  The wintering hole that I intended to fish today was unfishable due to ice, but I made the most of my two hour window of fishing, catching two pretty parr-marked wild browns and hooking a third, not to mention enjoying the still, fresh winter solitude.

I lost a third who headed for the roots!

After I suited up and walked down into the creek, seeing a bit of ice, I took a water temp reading: barely 37 degrees.  But I saw enough fishable water upstream that I stuck with the plan.  I quickly targeted a couple small holes that usually have some life in them, but as I said above, the plan was to get to the deep hole where I’d done well in past winters.  Good thing I didn’t rush too much because the only action I had was in these smaller holes, including a root-laden undercut bank where a third fish took the scud.  I fished from 1:30 to 3:30 PM, and besides my toes, I was plenty warm, especially when the sun peeked out a handful of times.  I hope the overnight temps stay mild until Sunday, though.  These winter days are short enough without having to wait until noon to break the freezing mark!