April 11, 2016 – A Short, Decent Morning Trip on the Wissahickon Creek

One of 6 or 7 this morning.  They were active chasing emergers after the rain.

I decided at about 8:30 this morning that I wanted to fish the Wissahickon in Philly to see if it was fishing better than near my house.  I was coffee-ed up, suited up, and fishing one of my favorite stretches by 9:15 AM, and I had 6 or 7 trout before I quit at noon, mostly rainbows but a couple browns.  This was much better results, especially this far out from the first stocking, than the results in Montgomery County, so I was pleased that I took the chance.  Because of the light rain, midges and olives were hatching pretty well, better than I have witnessed on the creek in years.  The fish weren’t hitting the dries, but they were keyed in on the emergers and making splashy takes all over one particular hole.

Pulled a couple out of some deep seams with a 18 zebra midge.

It took a bit of fooling around to get a productive fly in front of them.  I was hoping I could have some dry fly action on the Wissy, which is a rare treat, but I ended up getting 2 fish on a red zebra midge dropper, 2 on a black zebra midge in a deep seam, and two or three of the risers took a soft hackle in the film.  Nothing took my BWO on the surface, and I didn’t see a real one taken off the top either.  They will figure it out soon, though, I am sure!

Nothing on the dry fly, but a few hit a soft hackle in the film, which was fun.

Heavier rain is forecasted for tonight, so I am not sure if I will get out tomorrow morning or not.  If I do, I may pack the spinning rod too.  I am heading to the NEPA opener on Saturday with my dad and probably Kenny, and I will at least start out with the spinning gear even if I switch to the fly rod later in the morning when it thins out.  I guess it wouldn’t hurt to re-sharpen my hookset skills in the rain tomorrow.