February 24, 2016 – Berks County Wild Browns in a Short Window between the Storms

I put my phone's photo timer to use today. A nicer fish on a bigger plug.

I had every intention of working this morning, not knowing how much or how little rain we had over night, and thinking that the rain from yesterday surely had spiked the gages. I often have the option to work later in the day, which is great for half-day excursions within an hour of home, but I have to choose my days wisely.  I thought this morning was one to save for another “rainy day,” but after a shower, I sat down at the laptop and checked the USGS web site and was happily surprised to see that stream flows looked great in several areas.  I quickly changed plans and loaded up the ‘Ru with water, a Cliff bar, a rain jacket, and both my fly rod and my spinning rod.  I have packed the fly rod at least three times this month and then after seeing the shape of the particular creek, went with the spinning rod.  Today was pretty much the same story when I arrived at my destination.  I chose a new creek in Berks County that has a reproducing population of wild brown trout.  I have driven past it before, done some research, and found parking via Google street view, so I’d basically done everything but fish it.  It was hard to tell with the rain what the creek would look like in May or June, but today it certainly looked fishy.  It is about 15-20 feet wide with characteristics of a freestone creek even though it is spring fed in spots.  I like fishing pocket water and riffle/pool/riffle/pool, so I was pleased with my choice.  I had about 3 hours to make something happen before heading to work.

Stained and running high, but 3 trout shot out from those logs and grabbed the plug.

Not knowing the creek at all, I was not surprised that the first 45 minutes were slow. I was trying to get a feel for where the fish would be, especially since it is still winter.  I did, however, miss a fish within 15 minutes of fishing, so at least I knew that there were trout in the creek, so I pressed on upstream.  

One of the little guys.

I finally pulled 3 fish in a row out of a downed tree, and one of them was a nice, healthy fish.  I was throwing a CD 5, something bigger to get their attention and possibly weed out the little guys.  I still hooked two under 8 inches, but 4 of the 6 fish I landed today were good, healthy trout on any creek on any day.  Within an hour, I could see that it must have been raining harder upstream from me, based on short bursts of debris washing down the creek. Visibility began to suffer too, even before I had to hide under a bridge during a particularly heavy downpour.  Before it got too bad, I did hook 3 more nice fish about 12 inches long on the CD 5.  

Gotta love hiding from the rain under a culvert and catching a fish.  Took him out in the light to show off the colors!

I only fished about 400 or 500 yards before seeing my first Posted signs, but most were well away from the creek itself, so on a less rainy day, I am thinking that I could stay in the creek bed and have access to a bit more water from this particular parking spot.  Today, staying in the water was a bit rougher, but getting out was bad too.  I noticed blood on my hand in one fish picture, no doubt from the many briers and thorns I had to maneuver around or through.

Thorn wound dripping blood on a decent brownie.

I didn’t have the time to drive around some more and explore, but I will next time.  By 1 PM the water was getting muddy, so I quit and headed home.  As I write this, my phone is going off about tornado watches and flash floods, but the drive home from work tonight was not all that bad, maybe because no one was on the roads!  I am glad I had a rather productive 3 hour window and success at a new creek.  With all this rain, it may be a few days before that window opens again.