July 1, 2016 – Persistence (or Stubbornness) and Good Health Pay Eventual Dividends – A Challenging NEPA Trout Day

A beautiful 15 inch wild brown eating a classic wet fly pattern!

I met Kenny at his house before 4 AM this morning, and he was coughing and wheezing. He informed me that he’s been sick for nearly 10 days, but he thought it was nearly over… I only slept from 11 PM to 2 AM, but Ken was lucky if he got any rest.  He was still a go, however, so we stuck with the plan and headed up to the Poconos for a few hours of trout before the heat and thunderstorms kicked up.  We made good time and, after a short hike, we dropped into the water, which was very low but a very favorable 61 degrees.  Kenny and I were both unsteady on the slippery rocks, slime covered and rolled round by the normally swift current on this mountain freestoner.  I even had studded boots on, and I still was getting frustrated trying to keep a comfortable foothold.  I had too many close calls, and the alternative of billy-goating from boulder to boulder had its own potential perils.

Some of these on the rocks.

Some caddis were in the streamside vegetation, but nothing was on the water but midges and a few stonefly cases on the rocks, so I started out throwing a big streamer, hoping to duplicate my success of a few weeks ago when I had some early morning streamer fun on a similar stretch of water.  Kenny quickly switched to the spinning rod.  After an unproductive 45 minutes, only scaring one fish, I stuck with the long rod, popping another reel on from my pack and tying up a nymph rig.  I was stubborn or patient enough to know that I could pick some pockets and white water plunges in this low water with some heavy flies and some high sticking.  I decided that I needed to move slowly and stealthily as possible (on the verge of falling at any moment) and tight line a large caddis or stonefly and midge dropper.  I got one bow on a big stone, but the rest came on a combo of caddis larvae and a classic wet dropper.  On a whim I tied on a royal coachman, of all things, trying to double my success by swinging the fly after it passed me.  It tricked at least one of the browns, so there was that.

High sticking with a lot of weight finally broke the slump.

Ken definitely overestimated his health, texting me before 9 AM that he was heading back to his car to rest up.  He skirted the skunk, landing a fat rainbow on a trout magnet, so that probably sealed the deal.  Okay, I can sleep now, he probably thought.  I promised to be back by 10 AM (yeah, right!), but it was 10:50 AM when he picked me up on the road a half mile upstream.  I appreciated the understanding and trust that he would have done the same thing if I encouraged him to do so.  I still felt a little bad, but I was finally catching fish, so I couldn’t quit until I salvaged the morning just a little more.  Salvage, I did.  I only got 5 fish before I finally texted him back saying I would meet him for a pick up if he was ready.

A very tired and/or serious face with gorgeous, buttery brownie.

I landed two healthy rainbows between 12 and 14 inches with good fins and bad attitudes, fingerling plants from last year or earlier, but it was the three great brownies that really gave me hell.   The biggest one, photographed in the net, was 17 inches and took all my wits to land in fast pocket water with plenty of obstacles to use in his favor.  After a downstream chase and a lot of side pressure, I finally got his head up in a shallow eddy and slid him into the net.

This one measured out to 17 inches (also on the coachman!).

All my drinking water was gone, Kenny was texting me wondering where I was, and I had tallied 5 fish, all good ones, and I even used a massive boulder as tripod for some decent self-fish shots, so I hoofed it back to a spot where I could hitch a ride with Ken, quickly hopped in apologizing, and did a quick change in a parking lot in town, so we could get home early-ish.  I drove his new Subaru Crosstrek home, which was a joy, even in wet pants and tired bones.  We made good time, with 15 minutes to spare for me to get the boy to a long-needed haircut.  With the pre-holiday traffic, I definitely cut it a little close (Sorry, honey!), but it is hard to quit on those bad mornings.  Despite the pictures to the contrary, it was a tough day that ended with a good flurry of activity, enough to make it worth getting out of bed at 3 AM, maybe.  If Ken gets some sleep tonight, maybe he will agree.  Maybe.

Not many and hard to come by, but they were all quality fish this morning.