July 5, 2017 - Good Flows and Decent Temps Continue in SEPA – A Short, Productive One in the Oley Valley

A pretty holdover on a good morning in Berks County.

After spending most of the Fourth at the pool throwing the boy and other people’s children around the shallow end, I was sore and up early this morning.  It was 4 AM when I rolled out of bed to drink some water, high fiving Tami (and Lucy the cat) doing the same thing, so I decided to fish a Berks County stream that got not one but two spikes of rain this weekend into Monday and was still 10 or 12 cfs over the summer average..  It also has some limestone influence in the tributaries, so it was a good bet water temperature-wise, too.  As another bonus, in addition to the holdover stocked fish, I usually find a couple wild browns to keep it a little more interesting.

Good flows, cool enough, and even a stain = not bad for early July.

The water was still stained and only 66 degrees in a shallow unshaded spot when I arrived at 5:30 AM.  It was 65 F at a deeper, more forested run later in the morning about 9 AM, so the fish showed no signs of stress yet.  I was hoping to see some BWOs rising or even caddis, but besides the gnats harassing me, I was not so lucky with the bugs.  However, I went back to my bread and butter and Czech nymphed about a dozen fish out of the creek in only 3 hours of fishing and walking.  I had the place to myself, and the conditions were very favorable for early July, so it was a good morning and under an hour drive from home, which is a bonus with such a short morning bite.

A short fat, pale one.

Another little wild one with prettier colors

I started off catching two little wild browns not far from my parking spot on a small dropper that could resemble a BWO, and I caught another later on my jigged hare’s ear anchor fly, but none were over 10 inches.  I did catch a better brown that was a hold-over with good fins and colors, just not wild.  I also caught a couple other stocker browns and a few bigger rainbows.  One bow was really gorgeous!  He had a tough guy jaw and good fins, probably from hanging in a prime undercut bank untroubled for a few months or more.  I tried to take a photo of a larger bow in my hand later in the morning, but he was not having it.  The result was a blurry show of force before I let him drop.  It is too warm to go giving fish undue prodding for photos, so he earned his quick freedom flight.

A fattie doing a scene from Jacob's Ladder.

I only covered about 500 yards of creek and didn’t waste my time with the slower pools, except one that can sometimes produce a good fish.  Today it produced the biggest chub in the creak, the über chub, and also a respectable smallmouth bass of about 12 inches.  I did catch a couple more trout, including another stocker brown in good shape once I moved up into the riffles ahead of the hole.  At this point it was about 9AM, so I took a water temp reading, chilled out a minute, and watched for risers to the sparse olives coming off, then headed back downstream when nothing developed.  I caught at least one more on the return trip and turned one other in a hole that held nothing for me on the way up, so I would call that a productive stop.  I was back on the home turf by 11 AM, tired from an early wake-up, but pleased that I snuck another trout trip in this summer.  If I am so fortunate, I may chase a trico hatch in Northampton County tomorrow at dawn before heading for the beach next week.

A great looking rainbow who has claimed a prime hiding spot.

Thanks, ladies...