September 29, 2017 – Different Day, Different Results on the Big D – Delaware River

More fun with filters: Stylized treacherous beauty.

After having a good day earlier in the week, chasing smallies on the fly rod, I figured I would try to find another productive spot or two.  I have fished the river a bit over the years from a boat, but finding accessible spots that fit the bill not only for bank or wade fishing, but also fly fishing is a different story sometimes.  The area I targeted today was in New Jersey, actually, only because the access to the PA side is tough with miles of rock walls, initially constructed back in the day, I assume, to protect the canal levees.  I thought of Tom C and his comments about bringing a rope with him to the Lehigh River, even Batman and Robin climbing the side of buildings in the campy 70’s version, but I decided to cross the river and find easier access instead.  I drove and walked more than I fished today, but I caught a few fish for all the effort, and I found legal, accessible spots for the future.

Made me want to trout fish, unfortunately!

The topography or geology of the area I fished today, even though it was probably only 10 miles from the location of my previous trip, was quite different.  It felt like a trout river, and I even tried nymphing some pocket water after seeing caddis in the trees and some small stoneflies hatching.  Fry, perhaps shad still making their way back to the ocean (?), are feeding everywhere in the flat water, but at this time of year they could be any type of young of the year.  I bet the striped bass are having fun in the evenings!  The wading was a bit hairy, and even though I brought my staff, I left it behind in the ‘Ru for some reason.  I was tired from a long day of work on Thursday, but I waded as aggressively as I felt comfortable doing, at least for the first couple of hours.  I fished and explored from 10 to 2, and I only tagged a few small fish.  

Still put up a fight at this size, but they were hard to come by today.

The weather had changed, a cold front was still moving through, so the high pressure and wind was a big change from the last two weeks.  I am sure that contributed to the lock jaw.  I tried it all:  I went smaller, different colors, deeper (and lost plenty of flies that way, of course), faster, slower, even hung a small wet fly off the back of the swinging bugger.  My casting was better, however, even in the wind, and the area I fished was gorgeous, so it was still a good day.  

A bit smaller today!

I will try this area again next year or in a different season because it looks too fishy not to produce, unless it gets pressure that I am not aware of.  There is a boat ramp or two nearby, but boats can only pass through here, not slowly fish every pocket and run.  My trip on Wednesday was definitely in a less accessible area, and that has been an experience I have had with the Delaware River, in general, and one that probably ensures the sale of jet boats for years to come: if you find spots that are hard to reach, the fishing improves exponentially.  I guess I will just have to work harder next time... and bring a rope ladder.

I'll be back on a better day.

September 27, 2017 – Waist Deep Wet Wading for Big D Bronzebacks – Delaware River

The Delaware River in Northampton County.

I can think of worse places to be than “family jewels” deep in the Delaware River on an 88 degree day in September.  I have had a new 7 weight set up just crying to be taken out for a couple months now and, with the weather over the last couple of weeks making trout fishing next to impossible, not to mention irresponsible in all but spring creeks and tailwaters, today was the day.  The lack of rain over the last two weeks or more made the river tame enough to wade in a place I have been itching to try in Northampton County.  Usually, this stretch would be float trip or jet boat territory, but today, I could effectively get into a few spots that I knew would hold bass—if I was willing to hike half a mile.

One of the better ones of the afternoon chewing a basic olive bugger.

I got a late start because I ended up spending an hour chatting to my 90 year neighbor who lost his wife last year and is in declining health himself.  What I thought would be a 10 minute conversation ended up being an hour at his dining room table covering everything from my family to lawn care and tree work to the successes of his many grandkids all over the globe.  He obviously needed to talk because I got a hug after!  I guess I carried that good karma with me to the river because I did well for a hot, sunny mid-day excursion.  I bet I landed close to a dozen, with at least 3 fish in the 15 to 16 inch range too.

River fish are mean.

The rod I used today was a bargain AND L.L. Bean, so it could be returned if it didn’t perform, but it actually did well for a 100 dollar rod.  Kenny gave me the reel a while back, an inexpensive one, but one with a solid Rulon drag, large arbor, and other upgrades that belie its price tag.  For me, it was free, so it performed even better for that price range!  Unlike trout, bass don’t run much, so it’s not like I needed more than line storage, especially throwing 2X tippet, but the drag did sing a couple times today on a few solid, leaping smallmouths using the river current to their advantage, as only river fish can.  Valley Creek and the mighty Wissy don’t require the double-haul very often, as you can imagine, but I was able to get back in the swing of things and shoot some decent casts into the river—some ugly ones too, of course.  Most fish hit an olive bugger—big, probably size 4—and a couple hit a conehead muddler in black—also big or at least long—after I hung the bugger one too many times to expect to get it back.

Borrowing from John Gierach: I like where smallmouth live too.

Besides trout fishing, and fluke fishing in the bay, my earliest fishing with my dad was chasing Delaware River smallmouth and walleye, first from a Grumman squareback canoe and then a series of different boats that may even rival his truck and car purchases over the years… maybe.  I love this kind of fishing, and I don’t do it often enough anymore.  I go in phases.  Trout is king right now, but plugging the surf for striped bass was a prior and, arguably, concurrent obsession.  Before that, back bay fluke and weakfish.  But I still love smallmouth bass!  I fish for trout because I like the places trout live, and the same goes for smallmouth.  I can’t handle too many trips in a sloppy lake chasing largemouth in one year, but give me the Suskie or the Big D, and I still get the same charge I got as a kid.  I guess what I am saying is that I had a fun day.  I did a mitzvah, took a hike, wet waded on a hot day, saw bald eagles and gorgeous rocky bluffs, and I even tangled with a bunch of fish.

One that obviously came from a deep, dark hole.

I saw my first fish of the morning chasing the bugger in the current before we connected, but most hook-ups were on a long line, out swinging in the current.  The jolt of a tightline strike, followed by an immediate jump was par for the course.  A couple fish leaped multiple times before resorting to the oldest smallmouth trick in the book, using their wide bodies to bulldog in the current.  Funny how they aren’t led by side-pressure the way big trout are.  If anything, that attempt to lead them only makes them pull harder in the opposite direction.  Did I mention I like river fish?

I fooled a few on the muddler too, once I hung the bugger one too many times.

It was hot,yo, and shade was hard to come by, so by the time I hiked back to my parking spot, it was unclear where wet wading ended and sweating began.  I packed more water than usual, but one can never have enough, so I downed a couple even before packing up my stuff to drive home.  Instead of napping, I graded papers and made a phone call before taking the boy out to dinner because Moms was working.  I am surprised I am still awake at this hour, but I know I will sleep well when I stop moving.  I have meetings on campus most of the day tomorrow, so I have to figure out how to explain my own new bronze complexion, but I still may take advantage of cooler temps on Friday.

I guess with all the trout fishing I have been doing, I have not seen this much sky in a while...

September 22, 2017 – Breezy, Beautiful, and Barely a Handful – Tulpehocken Creek

Not a Keystone Select fish but still a fat 14 and change and feisty.

I have not fished the Tully DHALO since March of this year when I wrestled with a couple Keystone Select piggies.  I am not a fan of crowds, and it is hard to avoid them on the Tully, especially now that the new designation and the accompanying big stocked fish are in effect, so I fish it only a few times each year, sometimes only once or twice and usually on weekdays in the winter and early spring.  That said, the creek had been higher than normal for weeks, as it is a tailwater fishery that experiences releases of water from Blue Marsh Reservoir, and I was hard-pressed to find another stream within an hour of home that had both healthy temps and flows.  Even a favorite NEPA creek was borderline earlier in the week, so I know I am pushing fall expectations a bit.

I am deadly hooking leaves this time of year (a few nice weeds too).

It felt less humid today with a nice breeze stirring the leaves and sending them into the creek, but they were not impossible to fish around yet.  To that, add a bit of grass and other debris from the dam, I assume, making its way downstream, not to mention heat and sun again, and you still have a potentially challenging day to fish.  I took a relaxed pace in the morning too.  I teach on Thursday nights and am wired up when I get home sometimes, so I did not get to bed until later.  I also had to take the boy to the morning bus and take care of some work, but I arrived in a nice shaded stretch of pocket water and braided runs about 10:30 AM.  Nothing optimum, of course, except that I was fishing.

A smaller but prettier one.  It took a basic black zebra midge after I "cracked the code." 😏

As expected, there were a handful of other cars, and I spoke to one nice guy who was leaving after a less than spectacular morning, but this same guy mentioned that another fisherman had tangled with quite a few in the same general area.  Some positive and negative feedback at the same time, but while taking a pre-wadering piss, I took a peek at the creek, and it looked promising for September, so I was hopeful.  

An arty release?

A bit of color and healthy flow.

I caught only 4 trout and a little bass in about 3.5 hours of working the same stretch, which had also been worked by another fisherman before me.  I spoke to him as we were both packing it in, and he ended up being the fisherman who was part of my earlier conversation.  He had a slow afternoon, like me, but he stuck probably a dozen on the day, most in the morning.  While Czech nymphing, I caught two fish on a jigged mayfly nymph, and a bass on my wet fly dropper, before tying on a size 22 zebra midge and taking two more.  Go figure!  I learned after the fact that this was what this successful angler caught all of his fish on today.  I was seeing fall caddis, so my droppers were more like size 18 and looking caddis-like or BWO-ish, as I saw a couple of those too, but the midge was working all day long…  I guess these fish have seen a lot of flies this year, so I will be fishing small the next time I visit during this season of the year—which may be a long time, mind you.

Plenty left from the spring stockings.

One brown was pushing 15 inches and was a lot of fun to fight in fast water, but I didn’t mess with any remaining Keystone Select fish from the spring.  There are a lot of fish left in the creek, however.  With another stocking coming in October, it should be a good bet.  The water temps were in the mid-60s, but it has been hot, so that bodes well too.  A little rain would help the entire region, at this point, but the Tully is fishing pretty well, it seems, just not for me on this particular leisurely day!

September 20, 2017 – A Fall Preview in 85 Degree Weather – NEPA Freestoner

With bigger mayflies around like cahills and isonychia, the fish took a big tungsten frenchie.

It wasn’t the best day to go trout fishing, sunny and 80-something, and I didn’t even leave the house until after 9 AM, but I managed to tussle with a couple decent fish this afternoon in beautiful surroundings.   Valley Creek got a little overnight spike of water, but I just couldn’t bring myself to sneaking around on my knees again this summer.  Plus, I had from 9 AM to 4 PM open between bus stop duties for the boy, which meant I could take a little ride and at least scout and explore.  I did a similar trip last week in Northampton County and found low water and no bugs, so beside a brief battle with an unseen fish well hidden under a tree, last week’s trip was a lot of walking, not much casting, and the first skunk in a while.  I did find a couple new spots, though, so there is always that.  September has never been a memorable fishing month for me, but my low expectations today meant I enjoyed my time out, did not rush there or back, and worked on restoring my farmer’s tan to its spring peak (I forgot sunscreen).  I even did some work while sitting in the shade streamside in my home away from home office (The new course management program we use for classes has a mobile app, which is potentially dangerous).

Last week I took a skunk after losing one under here....

Today was also a day of low water, plus warm and sunny weather, but there were bugs this time, so I was confident that I could find at least a couple.  No risers and no steady hatches, but there were sparse caddis and what I have heard called chalk cahills around.  I actually sat and watched a few beautiful flats, looking for the odd midday riser, but nothing developed in the time I fished from about 10:30 to 1:30 PM.  The leaf hatch is starting on windy days, and I hooked a couple dandy maple leaves on the swing. Granted, catalpa leaves put up the best fight...  I took a water temperature at 2 PM as I was leaving the creek bed for the rest of the short hike back to the car, and I got 67 in a shallow spot, so that was not ideal either, especially for chasing evening risers should that idea strike me next week, but the riffles were cold enough for a couple holdover rainbows and a lovely wild brown to fight well, even go airborne a couple times.

Nowhere to wade usually, but in low water, it is possible.

The gages on the creek were low, but over the many years I have fished here, I actually tend to target a spot or two on this creek in low water because, otherwise, it is next to impossible to wade.  The spot today is in a deep gorge with deep water often right up to the rocky banks.  Today, I was able to wade waist deep in calmer waters to reach runs on the other side of the creek, and I was also able to use a couple huge midstream boulders to hide behind.  I scored two of the fish I actually brought to the net while highsticking from behind one such slab of rock.  Of course, I then had to try to keep them both out from under the other side of it, but that was fun too.  I have to repair a small nick in my fly line because the other fish I hooked definitely headed for cover quickly, and I ended up snagged after a brief, long distance release.

A fat holdover rainbow of about 14 inches and change.

The brown was a real beauty of a fish and the bow I landed was at least 14 inches and fat.  It was hot, so the camera lens on my phone was fogging, which meant I had to wipe it with my sweaty buff, so don’t get your eyes checked if the otherwise clear fish pics appear a little fuzzy.  If they look fine on your end, then it’s my allergies affecting my eyesight!  

The back of my "trout blind" provided some cover.

When the warm breeze kicked up and leaves began to fall, it felt like autumn was still on its way, but my swampy legs and the salt stains on my t-shirt from dried sweat told a different story.  Let’s call it a preview day.  We need rain again pretty badly, but I will take cooler temperatures first.  Weather permitting, I have tentative plans for Friday, but tomorrow the boy is off from school, so who knows where we will end up?

September 6, 2017 - A Quick One in between the Rains – Valley Creek

The best of the afternoon took an Air Lock indicator before settling on a purple pt.

The forecast today called for a 100 percent chance of heavy rain, but at 1 PM after working at home for a few hours, I noticed it had done little more than drizzle.  Apparently, some showers did hit overnight, because the gage at Valley showed a short blip.  I took a chance that the creek would still be stained, and I put on a rain jacket hoping it would color up more once the forecasted rain got started.  Yes, I left the house hoping to get rained on!

Plenty of visibility still, but better than gin clear.

The water in the park was pretty low (normal) when I arrived, though a bit off-color, but the rains never arrived to help advance my cause.  I fished about 90 minutes and managed a handful of fish on a purple pheasant tail on a j-hook.  I also turned a couple other small fish in the riffles in a few spots. 

I had to do a lot of sneaking, and I even popped on a small indicator to make a long cast to a deep flat pool with the added cover of a downed tree.  A better fish came up, popped the indicator and then took the anchor fly.  Go figure: My best fish of the afternoon was a novelty catch.  I also caught one swinging the soft hackle under some hairy structure—lost a couple flies that way too, of course.  The fish was also a better fish, though, and this time I actually caught him without any fun and games, so maybe he was worth a few bucks in tungsten???

I was supposed to get the boy at the bus stop by 4:15 PM, so I quickly ran out of time, but I was happy to tangle with a few fish and have the place to myself for a couple hours.  I got a walk in, too, hoofing back in a hurry to beat the traffic home.  Perhaps the heavy rain promised will arrive tonight.  If so, I will be ready again.  I left a lot of the better water for a better day, one with more advantageous conditions.  I have to teach tomorrow evening, but I put in plenty of prep time this evening, so I am sure I can spare a couple hours if the signs look positive on Thursday.

Worth sacrificing a fly or two?  Perhaps.

Not shy about a size 12 nymph.  I expect big things of this guy some day....

September 4, 2017 – "The End of Labor is to Gain Leisure" – Monocacy Creek

A twelve incher from a creek barely twelve feet wide is not a bad way to ease back into the fall.

I took another relatively short trip to the Lehigh Valley on Labor Day morning, this time to suburban Bethlehem to target wild browns on the Monocacy Trophy Trout section.  It’s been a couple years since I fished the Illick’s Mill section up to the conservation area, but today I decided to try some new waters above Gertrude Fox that would usually be pretty skinny this time of year.  The flows in the Lehigh Valley have been great, just a bit higher than normal, and the Monocacy, like the Little Lehigh earlier this weekend, was stained enough to hide an upstream approach with the nymph but clean enough to allow for effective nymphing.   I got out early, suited up, and hiked down the railroad, figuring I would work my way back up to the parking spot and then fish upstream further if I had the time and energy.  I landed about 7 fish in under 4 hours, not bad at all for new waters, so I did not feel the need to keep pushing as I again reached my parking spot.  No need to work too hard on this day of all days.

The days of the dams are numbered.

The trend of pulling down dams has continued here too, I eventually learned.  I guess it will be a good thing in the long run, and today it didn’t seem to affect my fishing, but it is weird to have a landmark in mind and find, instead, no dam and only the abandoned caution signs about swimming and wading.  At any rate, I started out at sunrise tossing a black bugger and got a couple takers on the swing before switching over to a Czech nymphing set up with a jigged pheasant tail as the anchor.  I really didn’t need a dropper, as all the fish I caught took the anchor fly as I led it through riffles and runs.  Most took a soft hackle pt, except for one that took a copper john that I put on as a lighter alternative to tungsten in a shallower stretch of water.  

A perfect place to drop a jigged pheasant tail, and a couple fish responded.

I tangled with no “trophies,” but I did catch some feisty fish in the 11 to 12 inch range, which was just fine on a small creek on my 9 foot 4 weight.  As I stalked through shady backyards, it felt like I was hunting on a tiny mountain creek, even though the highway noise and lawnmower exhaust and barking dogs were only a hedgerow away at times.  I know the limestoners of the Lehigh Valley are not what they once were, and development keeps on developing, but I still admire the quality fishing opportunities so close to civilization that are still available in a region that is under an hour drive from home.  

A couple decent fish in the 10 or 11 inch range, too.

The water temperature was in the high 50s in the shade, which is not surprising after a chain of cool nights.  I knocked a few caddis out of the trees and bushes, but only saw a handful in flight.  Midges were prevalent, but I guess the water was too stained for risers.  That was fine by me, as I got to fish in a way I really enjoy—a nymph on a short, tight line in braided water and small pockets.  

Pale and lovely

With an average depth of maybe 12 inches through much of the stretch, fish were holding right in current or in pockets behind midstream obstructions.  They all fought well, with a couple leapers in the mix. Unlike the last couple of outings, I landed no 3 or 4 inchers (don’t know if that is good news?) so all the fish were over 8 inches and uniquely pretty to this creek.

I quit around 10:30 AM as the heat started to increase and the neighborhoods came alive.  I was home and cleaned up by noon, ready for a farewell afternoon at the swim club, complete with dance contests and beer dives.  Summer is over.  The boy starts school tomorrow.  Tami is driving again.  I am starting to teach three new courses, beginning on Tuesday night.  The irony is that I will regain much of my leisure time.  I may have to spend some nights teaching and grading, but I will be chasing fish with greater frequency during the day.  Aristotle was the first to say work hard and play hard, basically.  Perhaps this is related to all the years doing seasonal rentals at the beach, but Labor Day usually has a melancholy air.  I think I spent this one well, however, and I look forward to the fall.

Someone's backyard, you know?