February 28, 2017 – First Silly Fishing Day of 2017 – More Winter Dry Fly Action

One of 5 on the dry fly.  Another 10 took a midge dropped under the gnat.  Silly morning of fishing.

I fished the Pickering DHALO for just over two hours this morning before heading in to work for a 1 PM meeting.  I arrived about 10 AM and immediately found fish rising to midges.  I was half-hoping and half-expecting as much, since the flow and visibility looked perfect after a shot of weekend rain, and today was a sunny, blue-bird day.  The air temperature read 45 degrees at 10 AM, and it probably rose close to 60 by the end of the day, but it was not that crazy 75 degrees and humid of last week.  Fish were stocked about a week ago, over top of a huge number who thrived after the fall stock, so each brood acted and fed differently.  A dry dropper was the ticket, as the old heads hit the Griffiths gnat dry, while, with maybe one exception, the new kids hit a zebra midge or bwo midge in size 20 dropped about 36 inches below the dry.  As with most of the month, little black stoneflies danced without getting any attention, at least on the surface.  They do love landing in my beard.

15 inches and a porker.

I had plans all weekend, so roles were reversed, with Tom, Eric, Kenny, even Sam out in State College texting me pictures of fish (Sam, a 19.5 wild brown!  Tom, a fat suburban blue-lined wild brown on a creek you can jump across on one leg!  Eric, a half a dozen freshly stocked bows in a short window.  Kenny, a mess of prespawn largemouth bass.).  I was happy for the fellas, and the family and I were having a cool day on Saturday doing a service project with Tami’s class at Elmwood Park Zoo and celebrating the baptism of my newest niece on Sunday—Brooke, so that surely means she will fish?  However, I knew I could only take so much before I stole a couple hours this week to realign.  I tried to sneak out Monday, got to my destination, but I then had to double-back to handle some business with my doctor.  I never even suited up!

Another over 14 inches who took the dry and proceeded to leap all over the pool!

I only had a couple hours today, so there were only a few choices.  Eric had a good time at Pickering on Saturday, before the heavy rain on Sunday, so that is where I pointed the Subaru, figuring I may even check out Valley for a little while too.  Well, I ended up netting 15 trout in two hours in the same stretch of water.  A third of the fish took a dry fly too, so I was not leaving them to squat behind a tree at VC, at least not today!  

One brown in the net and hooked another.

I only caught one brown trout, and I hooked another, but some of the rainbows were beastly.  The largest was 15 inches (by measure net, of course), and another was over 14.  Many of the new fish are average 10 inchers, but the ones that have grown fat on midges during this mild winter, feeding all day on sunny days, no doubt, they have some shoulders now.  When I had 8, I said I would quit at 10.  When I had 10, it became a dozen.  When I had to leave for home or risk being late for an important meeting or attending in chest waders, I had 15 tallied.  Plenty.  I couldn’t do this every day—that would be plain silly—but it is fun to catch rather than hunt some days.  I had my fill for a while, and will likely stalk some wild ones next week.  I am also planning a trip to State College to fish with Sam next week, which is my spring break.  After seeing the picture of his 19.5 inch wild brown, I was ready to go Monday!  I will be working a lot of hours the rest of the week, but it will be worth it if my next fishing furlough proves productive.  I am looking forward to a couple relaxing days next week, not to mention a Central PA adventure with a guy who is basically fishing for a living at this point!

February 23, 2017 – Early Summer in February – A Stolen Moment on Valley Creek

A couple were fooled by the plug, including this pretty little one.

The forecast for the next few days has the high in the seventies with sun, so I was encouraged to wake up to a chilly fog and drizzle, believe it or not.  I worked late on Wednesday night, and didn’t go to bed until late, and didn’t sleep well when I did, so I had a slow start to my work day to begin with.  It would not take (did not take) much for me to embrace a relaxed attitude toward life today.  After doing a little work at home, and finding out my 11 AM meeting was postponed (the tipping point), I decided to grab the spinning rod and a couple plugs and walk Valley for a while.  Call my crazy, but I am not a fan of summer weather this time of year!  The morning was pleasant, however, and mildly productive for the conditions.

Stayed cloudy for a little while, even drizzled, but the hot sun returned quickly.

I parked lower on the creek than I usually do, and I took an even longer walk downstream, just to try and observe fish and perhaps find another winter holding spot. I was too tired to be in gung ho, combat fishing mode, and that is probably needed right now, as the creek is gin clear and low.  I didn’t find any new honey holes, but I saw a lot of suckers and a couple carp.  I also didn’t move any fish until I got closer to some of my familiar spots.  Part of the reason for the spinning rod and the plug is because I saw two different pig browns the last time I was out on this stretch.  With the low light, I was hoping I could get a long cast at one or both of them without spooking.  Well, I missed a hit at the one spot, so who knows?  Maybe it was the 15 incher I saw, or maybe it was more like the fish at the top of the post, a Valley tween.  I had many, many tentative follows, which will happen in clear, low water and high sun.  I should have used the low light in prime water while I had the chance.  You see, the clouds and coolness did not last very long, and I only caught two fish and missed another, but I did energize myself enough to face the office for a few hours.    

February 21, 2017 – A Leisurely Few Hours with the Dry Fly – Pickering Creek DHALO

Sun and clouds, calm and wind, but a good day and  much more appropriate weather for February.

After Sunday’s tiring disappointment with Eric, I decided to take an easy walk on the Pickering Creek today and, if I was lucky, just target risers.  Besides tying on a midge to target one deep hole I had not fished in a while, I stuck with the plan too.  I worked the morning from home and cashed in some comp time for the afternoon.  I did have to come back to get the boy at the bus stop around 4 PM, so the window was short but long enough to make something of the afternoon.  The air temp got up close to 55, but it was breezy at times, which played a little havoc on my 3 wt. set up.  I had a 4 wt. in the ‘Ru, but I didn’t want to leave rising fish to hike back and re-rig.  It all worked out just fine in the end.

The Griffiths gnat despite some little black stoneflies around.

I fished from around noon until a little after three, and had plenty of action and five fish to hand.  For the first couple of hours, I had the place to myself.  In the last hour, one older gentleman arrived and headed upstream, and a few anglers were arriving as I was leaving.  The footprints and mud everywhere showed the signs of the weekend’s festivities, though.  I saw little black stoneflies coming off sporadically, but anything close that I had with me was refused.  The fall stockies have been in there long enough to refuse even a hi-vis Griffiths gnat (so much for giving the eyes a break).  I did play a sixth fish who took a zebra midge dropper under the hi-vis dry, so there was that option for a future day with less educated fish.  When I tied on a size 20 gnat, however, it was game on.

Some fatties showing signs of being caught many times...

Some of the fish I caught showed signs of being caught half a dozen times, but a few looked pretty pristine too, believe it or not.  The fish are getting bigger, and they were big to begin with, the average being 12 to 13 inches, with a few 14 inchers prowling around too.  A lot of the water seemed devoid of fish, and other holes had 10 risers in them.  Fish were rising in flat pools, but I had much more luck when some current was present, as is often the case.  The midges were size 22 or smaller, so the current also hid the fact that I was not exactly matching the hatch.  I don’t carry anything smaller than 20, generally, probably never will (?).  The warm up is coming again, but I prefer these 50 degree days.  I just hope it doesn’t get frigid when I have a week off in March…

February 19, 2017 – It Happens Sometimes – A Northampton County Double-Skunk

Tough fishing on nice water.

Eric and I fished from about 7:30 AM to noon today (too long) for a goose egg between us.  Speaking of geese, waterfowl did contribute to the problem, as the geese are pairing up already and making a ruckus.  A pair flushed and splashed down a pool ahead of us a half a dozen times through a prime stretch of pocket water in the late morning, and two dozen were swimming in one of my favorite, go-to winter holes, as well.  I spotted mergansers in this area early last year, and we saw one first thing this morning too.  Like loons, these birds dive and fish, so we have had some competition this summer.  That said, we fished some great water, had some awesome drifts, fished different combos of flies from each other, and we still had a tandem beat down.  To add insult to injury, I narrowly escaped a swim—in the gentlest of all the stretches we fished!  I emerged with only a wet arm, but it was just the kicker to a tough morning.  Imagine navigating a mine field, only to sit on a grenade in the Humvee.  Skunky, I tell you.  It happens.  I would have been happy if Eric stuck one, so we could have quit two hours before we did!  He probably felt the same way.  It doesn’t help that young Kenny was sending me pics on our way home of big bows from a Berks County lake, and Alex landed a beauty bow much, much closer to home.  

I ignored one riser in my honey hole, not wanting to backtrack, which in retrospect was silly, but the morning was young, and we were full of hope and promise.  The aforementioned geese were there by the time we circled back late morning.  Midges were coming off steadily, but the wild browns just seemed to be hibernating today.  They live in water, remember, so even though it was a perfect day for us, these fish obviously wanted no parts of it.  In their defense, 66 degrees and sunny in mid-February is pretty ridiculous.  It is supposed to stay mild this week, so I will sneak out somewhere, I am sure, somewhere very easy to wade and fish with, like, a mop fly on 4X under a 2” diameter thingamabobber.  Or maybe a big hatch of little black stoneflies?  Eric and I earned that much today…

February 15, 2017 – A Stolen Moment to De-stress before an Interview – Pennypack Creek

Who needs yoga and meditation?

I tagged one nice 14 inch rainbow on the Pennypack today in about 45 minutes of fishing and walking.  The water was cold and a little stained, but it did me good.  I had an interview for a full-time professor gig, which is a rarity in the Humanities (especially for a guy without a terminal degree), so I was excited, confident, but also a bit nervous just sitting around the house until 2 PM.  A visit to Tami’s work to deliver a left behind lunch and bum a good cup of coffee, certainly helped, but I still had a couple hours to kill around the house, so I rigged up in the garage, grabbed the 4 wt and my pack, and spent a minute on the Penny.  Before the weather changed later in the day, when I was walking through Philly in 20 knot winds and drizzle, the day was mild and sunny.  Midges were coming off, but nothing was reacting to them on the surface.  In a small, swift pocket, high-sticking with a lot of weight, I was able to tangle with a beautiful hold-over rainbow that accounted well for himself.  True to form (and Tom can back me up here!) fish at this section of the Penny do not like cameras!  Before I could get a net under him, perched waderless on a jagged, slippery rock, he popped off the barbless zebra midge and was gone.  Mission accomplished, though.  I got a little time out of my head, and I know I did well in the interview (probably had a healthy glow too).  Man, I could be dangerous with that kind of freedom with my work time!  Here’s hoping….

February 11, 2017 – A Change of Plans – Ridley Creek FFO A Couple Days After the Snow

Pretty redband bow.

My wife and son had plans on Saturday to meet with some friends, so I had most of the day for an adventure, at least until dinner time when we had plans to eat in Conshy.  The snow, followed a couple days later by a mild day, had me excited to try NEPA for my first native brookies of the year or maybe some Lehigh Valley wild browns?  Then, about 8 PM on Friday night, I got a text from Eric: “You want to wet a line tomorrow?”  Well, I let him talk me into staying closer to home because he had a much shorter window to fish today. 

Zebra mitch...

I ran through a list of streams that we could fish and landed on Ridley Creek in the Fly Fishing Only section since it was one of the few creeks within 30-45 minutes that I haven’t fished in recent months.  Eric should be glad we did, as he definitely caught a couple more fish than me… mitch!  He’d never fish the creek, so I was guiding for free, as often happens with my buddies and me.  I do all the hard work, I tell you!  I guess there are worse things than putting friends on fish and fishing the state park is hardly work, I suppose.  In the end, we had a successful, leisurely, picturesque three hours with some nice rainbows to show for it.  I will let Eric slide on this one (but not without of few mitches thrown in).

One of Eric's 6 or 7 on the zebra midge.

As is often the case, the limited parking at Ridley was filling up by the time we arrived at 10:30 AM.  We did manage a spot near the bridge, so we started at the pool where everyone starts, with predictable results: a couple tentative nibbles on the zebra midge by pressured October stockies.  Eric explored up to the falls but found shallow water this time of year.  When he came back down, I took him down to a couple holes downstream, and we each got on the board with nice sized rainbows.  The measure net had both near 13 or 14 inches and fat.  The ones that have been in there a while have a rich, dark color, many with the distinct redband like the one pictured at the top of the post and in the net.

A fat 13 incher

The honey hole was a bit tight for two guys to fish, so we eventually moved downstream again.  When I took a water temperature at a deep bend where I usually catch fish, the thermometer read 37 degrees in the sandy shallows.  I was not surprised, then, that the fish I caught here barely registered movement on a small indicator.  The best thing about catching a fish or two here was that I was on the bank with my cold feet out of the water!  Eric is not a big fan of fishing those slow winter holding holes, and he had success in some faster pockets upstream, so I followed behind him as he returned to the honey hole. 

The guide was allowed to catch a few too!

Since it had warmed up, fish were responding better to the nymphs.  We saw some midges rising, but with the snow melt, the creek was muddy, so fish must have been eating the emergers while still hunkered near the bottom.  Once in a while, I could see the tell-tale flashing of white mouths of trout or the full body flash of suckers and chubs eating.  By the time we quit before 1:30 PM, fish even hit the hare’s ear or pheasant tails in size 18 that we were using to get the 20 and 22 zebra midges down in the strike zone.

Winter fishing at its picturesque best.

While we had the place to ourselves in the morning, by midday we were starting to see other anglers fishing and walking around, so we didn’t bother working further upstream towards the Subaru (Talk about guiding, I even drove!) and, instead, called it quits.  Before we left, Eric let me sneak into the honey hole to try and close the gap in the fish tally, but by then I think he had tagged every fish in there, maybe even the ones we caught the first time through.  It was a good day, catching close to a dozen between us, and I got home long before my wife and the boy, so I even got a short nap before going out to eat some high-end soul food.  All the nearby special regulations creeks will be getting fish from the PFBC around the third week of this month, so more winter stockie fishing to come, at least until my spring break in March...

Picking pockets in the snow.

February 7, 2017 – Warm Rain, Rising Water, and Success with the Spinning Rod – Valley Creek

One of 6 pretty wild browns to hand.

After beginning the new year targeting eager (for winter, that is) stocked fish, even catching double digits a couple times on the dry fly, a weapon I don’t use that often—mostly because I like to fish early in the morning and then get off the water before many hatches begin—I decided to fish a couple tough streams on my last two outings.  Yesterday, I landed two wild fish in two hours of fishing, but one was on a dry fly and the other a streamer, so at least didn’t have to kneel in the weeds and tight-line midges for the day.  Rain was in the forecast, and I was home in the morning doing some online work, so I was hoping I could sneak in two hours with the spinning rod and the CD 1 before going to the office.  When I fish Valley Creek and other streams with mostly small wild fish, I tend to pinch the barbs on the treble hooks for quick release.  The Rapala CD 1, like a spinner, only has one set of trebles too.  Now, to be honest, if I have a chance at a 20 incher on a big freestoner, I probably wouldn’t pinch the barbs, nor would I be throwing such a small plug.  I would also have a net with me, maybe…

A few were hanging in some warmer, darker, muddier flats.

It was raining pretty heavily as I parked and got dressed, but it took a couple hours for the rain to muddy the creek significantly.  I was thankful that I put my waders on before taking the short drive to the creek (only the truck drivers know my little secret, as I probably look normal-ish from the waist up).  I walked downstream a good half-mile, staying a long distance back from the water where I could, and began to fish when I thought I had walked off roughly two hours of fishing.  The morning began slowly, even though the overnight temperature was mild, but when I reached the first decent hole after about 30 minutes of nothing, I hooked and briefly battled my first fish.  If he were my last of the morning, I would have been salty at myself for dropping him after a short battle.  When I switch between fly rod and spinning rod, there is a muscle memory learning curve, unfortunately.  Thankfully, the first trout was not my last opportunity of the late morning trip.

This little one was colored up nicely.

There is no set rule for large fish equals hard hit.  In fact, some big fish just slurp it in with barely a touch telegraphed up the line.  However, when I get a hard jolt, I often think I missed a good one, when just as often it could have been a kamikaze dink unloading on the plug.  Either way, I missed at least three fish who clobbered the plug deep in a hole or log jam, and I also dropped at least three more after a short fight.  The fish here, even in the winter, tend to go crazy when hooked, and I often have to reel as fast as I can to keep up with the downstream runs and leaps and shakes.  It’s almost as if they are taking advantage of my barblessness gesture.

Baby bass pattern plug?  Why not?

After landing a few fish, I guess my hands were wet whether glove or not.

Again, dropped fish would have bothered me a little if I wasn’t fishing barbless hooks, and I didn’t end the short trip landing 6 wild browns up to 11 or 12 inches.  I would have liked to have seen one of the ghost bruisers who only come out in cloudy water (or night, perhaps), but I was happy to have so much action and land so many beautiful fish in such a short, leisurely (minus the rain)  trip close to home.  I even landed a couple fish upstream of where I usually stop fishing.  I was creeping into what looked like private property, so I didn’t push it, but it was encouraging to find a couple more holding spots to try in the future.  Saturday may be my next opportunity, unless we get a snow day in SEPA on Thursday, of course.

February 6, 2017 – Skittish and Camera Shy Wild Browns in Berks County

Lovely day, and I landed one out of 4 rising fish on the dry fly in this shallow run.

I stalked around a little Berks County trickle this afternoon for a couple hours and had challenging fun, but I have zero photo evidence of my very mild success.  I started out midging a deep hole or two that I have fished before, but it was tough.  I could see 5 or 6 feet deep in clear, cold water.  I decided to explore upstream behind some un-posted backyards, places I would only venture on a weekday in the winter, I think.  Eventually, a few fish began to rise in the spot pictured above to what looked like blue winged olives.  At least that is what one pretty wild brown took off the surface.  The little 10 inch brown shook off in my hand and he put down the rest of his little buddies, so I moved further upstream.  When I switched to a caddis larvae in a great looking undercut bank, I couldn’t keep the creek chubs off my line, so my last 30 minutes or so involved chucking a streamer.  I crept up to a deep-ish plunge pool, wishing I had the dry fly back on because a couple fish were bulging the surface.  Instead, running low on time (bus stop duty), I tossed the streamer a bit shy of the disturbance and had one nice fish make a vee downstream grabbing the fly at the last minute.  Another photo-less catch followed as he too shook off at my feet before I got a net under him.  The next cast was met with a strong hit, so strong in fact that I overreacted (thoughts of 20 inchers lurking in unlikely places) and snapped the muddler off with my overzealous hookset.  This last experience was exciting enough that if it rains tomorrow, I think I am taking a break from this difficult, technical fishing and tossing the spinning rod in rising water.  Plenty of midging and minuscule dry fly fishing left this winter and spring.  I did splurge on some hi-vis gnats this week, though!

February 1, 2017 – An Inauspicious Start to February – Valley Creek

Wild sucker fishing....

Oh, Valley Creek... Beautiful place, public access, and lovely, challenging wild fish so close to home.  I have a special place in my heart for you, but you can also be quite cruel to me sometimes.  I have caught some amazing fish in your crystal clear water, and I have caught the skunk by the tail too, and now I can say I even became a sucker angler.  When the creek is low and cold, it is not the place for leisurely fishing, and I just didn’t have it in me to creep and crawl while cleverly avoiding other fishermen today.  The sucker was a first here, though, and on the mouth no less…

I had the day off on Wednesday, so after doing some work at home and running around town until 11 or 11:30 AM, I went over to Valley in the park.  I have not fished this heavily pressured area since the covered bridge was repaired and the road re-opened, so I wanted to give it a shot, knowing full well that much of that stretch is shallow and clear.  I was hoping to find some rising fish and then target two or three deep holes if that did not pan out.  I figured on a windy Wednesday in February, I would not encounter many, if any, other fishermen, but there were at least two other guys, and both hit the winter holding holes I was hoping to hit before I got the chance.  I saw one flat pool loaded with suckers, with mostly small trout mixed in.  There was even a pig of a male mixed in with them, sometimes chasing the lot of them around the hole.  I briefly battled a smaller trout and quickly spooked that hole, so I moved on to the next target, which had a dude crouched nearby.  I jumped above him quite a bit, only to see him hoofing it above me now…  Oh, well, such is life on a popular urban stream, even in February, I suppose.  I found one run with rising fish and put them all down by hooking my backcast in some reeds and standing up too tall to retrieve my flies.  On to the next open hole, and I botched the hook set on two fish, turning one on a size 20 zebra midge, and finally nailing the white sucker shown above for all my hard work.  Time to go home.  Did I mention I have a conflicted relationship with Valley?

Oh, Valley Creek...