March 30, 2017 – Chasing Wild Browns and Native Brookies in NEPA—Plus a Bonus Piggy to End the Day

I could have led with the big fish pic, but this is what it's all about some mornings.

I had a vacation day planned today—my last one at my soon to be old job—because young Kenny and I were supposed to go out for smallmouth on the Susquehanna.  With all the rain and snow melt, the river is blown out, so Captain Chris called and postponed.  I decided to do something special, anyway.  I set the alarm for 4:30 AM and made plans to take advantage of good flows and do a tour of a few wild trout streams in the State Game Land and Delaware State Forrest land in NEPA.  I was up by 3:30 AM instead of 4:30 AM, so I had a couple cups of coffee and couple stops on the way, and yet I still arrived just before dawn.

The morning stats: pretty winter-like.

It was cold but clear with very little breeze early in the day.  Clouds increased throughout the morning, but it was really a beautiful day.  The fact that I caught a bunch of native brook trout and some wild browns, including a big, wide, hooked-jawed and toothy piggie of 19 inches, made it even more special.  My planned tour of a bunch of little streams never materialized, mainly because I caught over a dozen brook trout and a couple browns at creek #1, and so I felt no urge to leave—especially after I nearly landed about a 12 inch brown in a mountain creek barely 10 feet wide.  Heartbreaker—well, except for the fact that the fish gods smiled upon me at creek #2 later in the afternoon!

About 4 in the 8 to 9 inch range = not bad for brook trout

I thought I would fish a dry dropper at the first creek, but the water temperature was only 40 degrees and, even at noon, I saw only minimal bug life.  Plus, the flows were great with deep holes in spots where I usually have to sneak around and hide in the trees in order not to spook them.  I caught a couple on my walk in, but most came from the same wintering hole, probably 9 of them from the same spot over the course of an hour.  The first fish of the morning was a nice 8 or 9 inch brownie.  I catch browns here once in a while, but the majority of fish are brook trout, so it was good to see a couple better fish in the mix, though I am not sure if it’s good news that the biggest fish in the brookie hole is a brown.

I good brown for a tiny creek, but nothing compared to the big one that got away, of course.

After catching close to a dozen on caddis pupae as I worked my way up to shallower headwaters, I decided to try the honey hole one last time on my way back down, this time with some meat.  I dead drifted a purple bugger through the hole and thought I got a decent hook set on a good fish.  I saw a flash of yellow, so I doubt it was the biggest brookie in the creek, more likely a big brown (12 inches is huge here) who watched all his little friends get caught earlier and was waiting for a bigger meal.  He came off, but I had to laugh.  What could I do, complain?  I caught a dozen wild and native fish in beautiful surroundings—I had Eden to myself this morning too.

The honey hole for the day.  They were still in winter mode, stacked together.

Following a break at the Subaru to eat a Cliff bar and refill my water bottle, I debated taking a ride to another trickle about 30 minutes away.  It was close to 12:30 PM by the time I was ready to leave, I had to be home by 4 PM for the bus stop, and I was 2 hours from home, maybe more in traffic, so I retooled and headed to a much larger freestoner with wild fish.  This creek was only a few minutes away, and I had my 10 foot rod with me in case creek 2# made the cut today (and wasn’t blown out too).  I love this creek; it disappoints sometimes and other times it is truly amazing—difficult and amazing, the best kind of creek (especially after you caught a dozen already and are in the right frame of mind to take a skunk if need be).  It was high and stained, but certainly fishable visibility-wise.  It looked treacherous but great, which it often does in the spring.  I had a flashback to my Penns Creek trip earlier this winter, and so I rigged up a muddler in black and got my split shot handy in case the streamer was not heavy enough itself.

Running high and un-wadable, but I found one to make it worth the stop.

Just an absolute beauty.

I only had about an hour to fish, I figured, so I walked and scouted a good, accessible spot for the current conditions instead of jumping right in anywhere.  There was no way to wade out safely in order reach slack water on the opposite bank, although I tried…  And even a good reach cast left the streamer in productive water for all of 5 seconds, provided it even got down.  I decided, instead, to fish the slack water on the near bank, which definitely involved some billygoating into place while trying not to spook everything within a mile with flailing arms out to balance and guard against tumbles. 

Like jetty fishing...

I dropped a nice cast in the relative slack water behind a boulder and highsticked the bugger downstream.  Bang!  I set the hook on a big fish, so big in this heavy current that he just started running downstream taking line.  I couldn’t get in the water, and even with a long rod, I was not sure I could keep him from ramming his nose into the bank and dislodging the hook, so I took off after him, jumping rock to rock, looking for whatever handholds I could find—saplings, logs, bushes, reed—all the while keeping the rod out of trees and the line tight. 

All of 19 inches and toothy.

After catching up to him a little, I got him turned back in towards the bank, so I was able to frantically reel in line and keep tension to insure he was tight.  I got a look of him from my perch, and he was a big wild brown, a big male with a mouth full of teeth.  There was nowhere to get in the water without ending up whitewater rafting in just waders, so I decided to use side pressure and get him close (and hope for the best).  I was using 4X, thank goodness, because I was able to turn him in the current, get his head out of the water, and glide him into the net.  Whew… I popped the streamer out of his mouth, took a measure on the measure-net, snapped a few quick photos with my phone, and eased him back into the creek.  I had already experienced a great morning, so this was just the kicker.  I didn’t think I could top it, so I put the fly in the hook keeper and walked back to the parking spot, but not before texting a couple pics to all my fishing buddies ;)  Despite terrible traffic on the way how, the whole day felt a bit charmed. 

The release.