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| Beating a dead.... |
I was so excited to see rain this week that I snuck out
of work during the height of the storm on day one of rain, only to find Valley
choked with leaves to the point where I could not fish. Even though the flow was great for a
streamer, I could not retrieve a foot without hanging a leaf or twelve. I gave it about 30 minutes, and then went
looking for cleaner, less muddy water upstream—all to no avail. Flash forward to Thursday, and again I was so
excited I took the day off and drove 90 minutes north to the Lehigh Gorge,
hoping that by late in the morning, the gages would have fallen quite a
bit. The opposite happened, in
fact. I knew it was pointless when I saw
a father and daughter float by around 11 AM.
The water continued to rise, but I was over 2 miles from my car, so I
tried to find some eddies and slack water (which were also leafy, but not unfishable).
I had one legit hit
on a streamer close to the bank (the near bank because as the day went on, it
was not possible to wade out and cast across).
Also, I stuck one little guy close to the bank, hiding from the flood. That
was it before I took a nice hike and scouted a couple other spots for the
future. When I was leaving, actual
whitewater enthusiasts were gearing up. If that's not a sign that you picked the wrong creek, I don't know what is.
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| Feeling black and white about this week. |
Hmm… this was the day to hit a tiny creek like
Valley. I even had tentative plans to
hit a wild creek nearby the mighty Lehigh, but it too was roaring. I guess the gages I saw in the morning did a
double spike (it was still very high today).
It’s been so long since I fished with rain as a variable, that I blew
it. Plain and simple. Skunk # 3 of 2016?
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| Rain made the falls nice, though. |
On Friday, I took the boy to the bus stop in the morning,
and then I decided to blow off some leaves.
That led to two hours of working on the lawn: leaves, the final cut,
running the gas out of the mover and winterizing. By 11 AM, I realized I was not working today. I could have stayed at home and relaxed, but
as Tami said when she saw me hosing off wading boots this afternoon: I can’t
relax without fishing, apparently.
I took a 30 minute ride to another section of Valley,
deciding that 90 minutes of fishing would do me good. I had to celebrate this rain storm,
dammit! The creek looked fantastic when
I arrived. I decided to target one deep
hole with midges and then call it a day—no more 4-hour endeavors with little to
no payoff this week. As I creeped up to
the hole, I was happy to see relatively clear water and some midges dancing
around. I hooked a couple fish right
away, including one that had to have been born this year, all parr marked and
jumpy, one the smallest trout I have landed in a long time... Then tragedy struck, tragedy that
could have and should have been avoided.
Not one but two dogs offleash came splashing into the water. I don’t hate dogs; in fact, I kind of like
them and had one as a kid. However, I
hate irresponsible dog owners who run and swim dogs in wooded parks. I am going to do a Deep Thoughts on this one
day.
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| Two under, ahem,, parr before the pooches waded in.. At least I was feeling sepia toned today. |
I let things settle when they moved on, and caught a few
chubs away from the current seam. I sat
and retied a larger caddis larvae to avoid the chubs, hoping the rest would
allow me to catch a couple more without having to go walking. Not
three minutes after I missed a hookset on the caddis did another dog barrel
into the water! These folks apologized,
but I was done. On my way home, via
text, Tom made me feel better by sharing a story about horses and Valley, so
things could have been worse. But with
the unsuccessful week I have had, and early success in some great looking water
finally, I was done. I hoofed it back to
the Subaru and called it a day… week. I have over a month off at Christmas time, so the lesson today was relax, man. There will be more rain, more snow, more fish, more posts.
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| I wonder what the erosion is from, Fido's mommy? |
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