April 25, 2016 – Picking Pockets on the Pennypack

Low water, but the pockets did produce.

I gave the Wissahickon a rest this morning, and fished the Penny in the ‘burbs.  It was already very warm when I arrived at 9:30 AM.  The water is low and clear, so I could see plenty of fish from a high vantage point.  Caddis and midges were active, but I only saw sunfish rising in a flat pool.  I was rigged up with a caddis larvae and a size 20 prince dropper from the other day, so I decided to tight line some pocket water instead of culling through sunnies for the odd trout on the surface.  I probably made the right call in this high sun and low water (at least until this evening).

Best of the morning, a real bulldog.

I love this kind of fishing because it reminds me of small stream fishing on mountain freestoners (only 18 minutes from home!).  Fish grow tough living in pocket water, and they fight hard.  The big rainbow above felt like a snag for a solid ten seconds because he had his nose up to the plunging whitewater and wouldn’t budge.  Even the smaller fish wouldn’t quit, so I was glad I had a net.

Size 20 prince dropper scored about three.

I got a couple rainbows on the small dropper, so they were probably tuned into the constant parade of midges, but by adding a split shot and rolling the cased caddis on the bottom, I also pulled up a couple decent brown trout too.

Barbless caddis came out while in the net = easy release of decent brownie

I only spent about 90 minutes on the water before I decided to quit (partially prompted by a mugging from 3 young bulls who hadn’t learned about giving other fishermen space or that most fisherman work upstream—not to mention it being too hot).  

Never gave up: better that rock get splashed than me...

Before I had company, I was able to pick my way up the riffle and back twice and pull 5 decent fish out of a pressured stretch.

My last fish of the morning grabbed the caddis larvae at the base of a big boulder and then ran down to the tail-out before taking a nice leap.  It was a good time finding fish where they should be, even if someone put them there on purpose.