Sick Days Fishing: June 6, 2017 – A Day of Small Stream Pigs

Not my best camera work, covering a 1/4 of the fish!

I had second thoughts this morning as I headed up north in a steady downpour. I wanted to fish, and I was prepared, dressed, even enthused for rain, but this was not what was supposed to happen. I was supposed to have at least from 5:30 to 8 or 8:30 AM without rain or with maybe a drizzle, according to the radar. I was also supposed to expect a half an inch of precipitation, at best, during the day. I guess I didn’t catch the fact that it may all come at the same time! I am glad I didn’t turn around, though, and I am equally glad that I cut my ride about 20 minutes short of my intended destination. The mighty Brodhead was truly mighty today, according to the gauges. Seeing the rain, and how the water was coming up on creeks I had already crossed, I had a perfect creek in mind, and it did not disappoint.

Have to start somewhere.

The morning was foggy and dark, so the first few photos are not great, but I hope I did a couple of these wild browns justice. I landed 6 fish between 15 and 18 inches, according to the measure net, plus at least that many more from 8 inches to 12 inches, even a couple rainbows with white-tipped fins and nice colors. The fish that opens this post may have been bigger than 18 if I had stretched a tape across him, but I was just happy to get the timer on my camera working and satisfied that I returned this fish, and all the others, in great physical shape. These were healthy fish too, heavy and wide-bodied. A couple of them would not quit and made me grateful for my choice of 4X tippet. Fittingly enough, the day started inauspiciously enough with a 9 inch wild brown who took the tungsten pheasant tail on a jig hook.

A foggy shot of the first good one of the morning, and yet the smallest of them!

The water was muddy, which doesn’t happen on this creek very often, so it must have really poured for a while upstream before I arrived. I considered tossing a big streamer, but the first fish convinced me that they could still see my offerings in the faster riffles and runs I had intended to target all morning with a single dropper Czech nymphing rig. I did put a bright pink SJ worm on the dropper, feeling like it might get their attention as the lead fly coming downstream at them. I tried the same with a black stonefly later, when the water really got dirty, but I had no takers on that particular fly. I did catch a couple on caddis pupae, walt’s worm, and even a prince dropper, too. With the stained water, and where the fish were set up feeding, it was more about getting a fly in front of them, I believe. That said, the 15 incher, my first quality fish of the morning, did take the pink attractor fly, as did a 17 inch brown, my third quality fish from the same short stretch of braided water.

17? 18? Eating the pink SJ worm I thought would just be an attractor.

One of the reasons I love this creek, besides that it holds up well and fishes well in the rain, of course, is that the browns here almost always jump, even the big fish. I don’t care how many big trout you have caught, the sight of an 18 or 19 inch fish going skyward 3 and 4 times is a sight to see and will make this grown-ass man giggle. I truly expected to see a 20 incher this morning, but I am not complaining about hard fighting, jumping 15, 17, and 18 inch wild browns! The biggest fish of the morning would not quit! I applied side pressure, had my long leader up through the guides so I had a short line with which to maneuver him into the net, and still it took maybe three passes to finally get him down to the tailout and out of danger so I could net him.

They were set up in the fast runs and under cover.

After landing 4 fish from this first hole, 3 of which would have made my day, any fisherman’s day on a small stream like this, I moved upstream and worked some more riffles and runs before landing another 17 inch fish out of the tailout of the next deep hole. This fish did not jump, but he slashed all over the surface immediately after hooked, no doubt trying to shake the pheasant tail out of his jaws. Unlike at the Little J in late May, I did not drop any of the fish I hooked today, and I used the butt section of my 10 foot 4 weight to apply just enough pressure to land them all rather quickly. This was becoming a little unreal, and I really did expect to see one of the real monsters I know live in this creek show his face to me. Before 8 or 8:30 AM, I was already harassing Eric, Tom, Kenny, even Kevin with pics. Kev was actually on his way to the Brodhead himself this morning, until he saw the same weather, and the creek’s response, that I did. We shared a little intel on the phone, and he had tentative plans to head where I was, but I was on the road towards my second stop of the day by about noon, so I never saw his truck. I did run into another fly fisherman who told me he talked a bait guy tossing nightcrawlers into releasing a fish over 20 inches long that he witnessed him catch. I heard the same story about 30 minutes later from the horse’s own mouth. The bait guy admitted he was guilted into releasing it, and subsequently maybe 3 other good fish. I told him that I would have given him the same trip, but I would have offered to snap a photo and send it to him, at least! Sometimes a little education with the right tone works, so the fly guy I spoke to definitely did a good job convincing the bait guy of just how rare and old and precious a 20 inch wild fish in a creek so small really is, and he was still in the other guy’s head when he released other nice fish this morning, no doubt. I hope I helped sealed the deal, as well. He seemed like a good guy, who just liked to hang a trout in the smoker once in a while, but I am glad that this big wild fish is not there this evening, you know?

A 17 incher from the second hole I fished too!

I jinxed myself “bragging” to Kev that I was killing it, and all large… I had a run of 4 or 5 little browns as the morning got later. However, I must have humbled up enough to deserve one last good one because I actually landed a sixth quality wild brown at the tailout of another deep hole. This one was all of 17 inches, maybe more, and a jumper as well. He took a caddis pupa under an overhanging tree and gave me another wild fight before coming to the net. After catching another cute little guy, I landed the aforementioned rainbow, which indicated that I was getting closer to stocked waters, so I turned back to have a snack, finish my morning coffee, and refill my water. As usual, I fished 6 hours or more today and two creeks on only water, coffee, and trail mix. I really could have used some beef jerky or something…

Just a brute and a beaut: another 17 or 18 inch acrobatic wild brown.

Same brute before the release.

It was about noon, and I debated taking a longer hike downstream and working back to my parking spot, but the water really was muddying up by this point, and I had done plenty of damage in a rather short while. Instead, I headed to another creek that was on the way home and made for a convenient stop to piss and stretch the legs if nothing else. It too was way too high to fish effectively by this point in the day, but I managed to hook two decent rainbows and land one before I decided that I was tired of being swampy and stumbling through creeks where I could no longer see my feet below me because of muddy water. Man, this was a good one, though. Not a day of pigs, but for a very small creek in SEPA, definitely a day of piggies!