October 30, 2017 – So, Maybe I Got Greedy – Valley Creek

I wanted the ones that eat these little guys....

I fished Valley after the soaking rains ended this morning.  The creek recovers quickly, but it was still pretty stained when I arrived in the early afternoon.  By tonight, I am sure it will be back to normal for this time of year.  I was hoping that fish would be actively chasing streamers, maybe even some big fish, as there are so many fingerlings in the creek to feed on!  I started out swinging a smaller black bugger, and I landed a few small fish. As the water began to clear, I even set up to Czech nymph some deep holes, and I caught even more and even smaller.  I bet I caught a dozen fish, but I only landed one very good one that was about 14 inches.  I moved a couple other good fish for Valley when I decided to fish large, going with a big olive bugger and even Sam's mighty roberdeau streamer against wood and in deeper runs.

The small black bugger was effective on the 8 to 10 inchers.

After catching nothing over 10 inches long and many fish in the 3 to 5 inch range, I decided to go for broke about an hour into my 2 hours on the water.  I moved a few fish that even breached the surface coming after the big meal, but I only got the hook in the one beautiful fish.  I fought him well, measured him up in the net, and then I got greedy and wanted a good picture in my wet hand to show the size and the gorgeous colors, and I dropped him.  It happens, but it still hurts sometimes.

Fly eating log jams held fish, at least one good one too!

I thought I had finally found a productive formula, but I only had fish chase the streamer a few more times after that before I had to quit to get the boy at the bus stop.  I am thinking that the crazy wind meant really high pressure and other meteorological challenges that kept the fish from fully committing, but it is also possible that the fish that are “of age” are ready to spawn and were not in the places I was targeting or not interested in eating (chasing, yes, but not eating).  

These beauties were a consolation prize, though.

Condition might be better on Tuesday, and I have some time from 8:30 AM to about 2:30 PM, so I may give it a shot somewhere a little further away tomorrow, maybe even meet up with Kev.  Plenty of action in a short window today, but I got greedy and blew the photo op with a really nice fish for Valley, and I had him in the damn net too…

And the late afternoon light and colors weren't too shabby either.

October 27, 2017 – My Home Away from Home Stream Was Good to Me Today – Brodhead Creek

Only 17 inches but one badass.

My favorite creek in NEPA can be totally confounding one day and immeasurably awesome the next.  A lot of the creek, which would be called a river in any other state in the Union, is stocked, so rainbows find their way all over, and even come up from the Delaware River, but there are also much more fickle wild browns, some really quality fish, often hiding in plain sight.  This condition is not uncommon, even on wild brown trout streams with a Class A biomass of fish.  Some days you would swear there is not a fish in there, and then when conditions are right, or they simply feel like it, there are fish all over the place.  Of the fish in his similarly positioned home creek (also more like a river) Sam says, “These fish can be dicks…”

Sure, it looks friendly... today!

The Brodhead does not carry a heavy population, certainly not Class A, but it does carry a healthy one and, while the fish were not “all over” today, they definitely came out to play.  High sun, breezy, low water, 10:30 AM to 2:20 PM fishing window, and still the big creek gave up a good one today.  I landed 7 or 8 wild browns, and a few were 10 to 12 inches, but two were quite nice fish.  The measure net keeps me honest, so I know one was 17 and change and the other was 15.  The 15 looked bigger than the first, and without a tape on him, I would have claimed it was 17 too!  While other game fish are measured by weight and even girth, we trout guys usually use one metric alone, length, to measure the fish, but it does not mean some shorter fish are not impressive in other ways like shoulders, kype, and teeth, not to mention balls when it comes to fighting!  I was duly impressed by both fish today and thankful that the creek decided to grant me a memorable one in a week or two of memorable ones.

An average one to start the morning.

The water was cold.  I know this because I had to save myself from a slip by taking a knee and bracing myself with a stiff arm, which was soggied to the shoulder about a half hour before I headed for home.  This is usually a good sign to head for home even on a nice 60 degree October day.  By that time, I had had my fun, but I still managed to land one more little guy in some heavy riffles.  There was a small spike on the gages on Thursday, so I suppose there was a little stain to cover my approach, but I did take advantage of low water in a couple places in order to cross the creek to have the sun at my face instead of behind me.  A long rod and longer casts helped too.

Perhaps more impressive than his longer cousin earlier in the day.

I started out fishing with big nymphs, a brown stone and a yellow stone dropper that was a little smaller.  There were still cases on the rocks in spots, but I didn’t hook up until I switched to much smaller bugs, size 16 to 18.  Most of the fish took the anchor fly on a two fly set up, usually a jigged pheasant tail, but a couple took a caddis pupae too.  There were caddis and midges in the air, so I am not surprised that smaller was the ticket, especially in low water. 

The pockets gave up some, but not the bigger ones.

I crept around and highsticked some deep pocket water behind big boulders and beneath plunge pools, and a couple smaller fish came from these places.  The two larger fish were further back in the runs and shallow, the largest also tight to a log jam trailing parallel to the run.  The other was in a dark bucket in an otherwise flat tailout littered with boulders.  It was sunny enough that I could cast to the spot and use the high visibility tippet floating on the surface to detect the subtle take.  Still, I was surprised to take the beauty 15 inch fish out there exposed with hawks and eagles about, as I saw both today.  I spied no spawning redds, but sometimes fish act oddly when the time nears, not unlike all the bucks that become roadkill this time of year.  It is also possible that this pocket is his home and is deep enough most of the year to keep him safe.  It is certainly a good spot to intercept a meal!

The release of a dark and lovely one.

In about four hours, I had lost half a dozen flies to submerged timber, gotten a sun tan, almost taken a swim, caught a good number of fish on a tough creek, and covered only 100 yards of water, which leaves plenty for next time I take a longer drive.  The heavy rain on Sunday sounds promising, but we have been down this road before this month.  I will wait and see, but if the flooding rains come, I will be out there taking advantage.  For whatever reason, I was extremely grateful to the universe today.  I don’t really pray much, especially FOR things, but as I walked back to the Subaru, wringing out my left sleeve, I did take a deep breath this afternoon and say thank you to no one in particular.  Perhaps it was gratitude to god but it may have been gratitude to the creek itself for being so nice to me today.  While much of the world worked, I was outdoors, you know?  I will pay for it this weekend, as final grades for three of my accelerated courses are due by Sunday, but it was totally worth it.

More dark and lovely fishes.

One last one for the road, wet sleeve and all..

October 25, 2017 – What’s with All the Rainbows, Sam? – Centre County Tour

Cloudy and cool in Central PA

I had been trying to plan a of day fishing with Sam for a couple weeks, but Central Pennsylvania needed a shot of rain as much as my area did, so when the forecast called for storms on Monday into Tuesday, we penciled in today as a go.  Sam ended up taking Tuesday off from his 12 jobs, including guiding and working at the TCO shop in State College, so he was on day two of the post rain holiday.  Like closer to home, however, the rains here were not exactly what the fish gods ordered, but they certainly stained the water, which always helps, and the clouds and cool weather (39 degrees to start!) today brought out the blue winged olives too—mostly ignored by two nymph fishermen, mind you, but they and the persistent tan caddis did make the fish active above and below for much of the day.  We stayed within a 20 mile radius of State College today, but we took a tour of a lot of Sam’s favorites close to home.  As always, it was a long, fun day with good company.

The exhibitionist stole the show.

The story today, for better or for worse, will be of the pig rainbow that I landed with Sam’s netting help (when I finally gave up chasing the beast around with my little measure-net) in public waters.  This was likely an “exhibition” fish that washed down from downtown Bellefonte, but based on the shape of this fish and the fight he put up, he’d been around a while.  I know Jimmy Carter probably paid to catch fish like this on some private lodge on Spruce Creek, but I saw this as a fun novelty and a good photo op.  While making our way towards somewhere to take a lunch break, we spied a posse of big fish looking to get active, so we both tied on streamers quickly.  I didn’t even take off the caddis dropper, which the fish ate, of course..  Thankfully, my dropper knot held and, along with Sam’s big FishPond net, we have it to thank for the photo above.

The contender, a good 16 or 17 inch brown in all his fall splendor.

If not for the big rainbow, the most memorable fish would surely be the muscular 16 to 17 inch brown Sam let me have at our first creek of the morning.  He called this one, knowing this particular pocket in a riffle very well—one of many 5 x 5 foot pockets, tree limbs, and root balls he has in a mental Rolodex of Central PA spots culled from many hours on the water.  He actually guaranteed a fish—no a good fish—and thankfully I didn’t let him down when opportunity thump thumped, landing a gorgeous bruiser in great, moderately heavy water.  The cocky bastard (Sam, not the fish) called a couple other spots too, and he was mostly right.  I totally understand the pride and satisfaction of taking a buddy to one of your spots and saying, There’s one here, so don’t eff it up, and it’s not like I stuck one of his 23 inch pets, so I appreciated the selflessness.  He stepped in and cleaned up at few runs too, and I had the “opportunity” to fish behind him a few times too.  Let’s just say that one should not be surprised that I caught the bows after he stuck all the browns!

Another tough guy.

That said, a couple of the rainbows I tussled with were pretty pristine, probably stocked as fingerlings, white tipped fins, and great colors.  One memorable one pictured above may have even been a strain that spawns in the fall instead of the spring.  I also landed some feisty 12 inch wild browns and one big sucker that dug for the roots of a sycamore like a big brown, convincing enough that Sam started coming down to help before I got a look at the ugly thing and called off the assist.

I was king of the rainbows, but a few were really nice fish.

I kept talking about chunking a streamer, but the nymphing was so consistent that I never re-rigged.  Hell, I think I only retied twice, once when a hook set hung my pair of tungsten beauties in a tree limb Sam and I had taken painstaking care to avoid for the ten minutes prior.  After landing a nice little brown in a perfect, complex hole, I guess I got excited when another fish popped my rig as the bugs were still falling in an eddy.

The kind of place that eats flies but hold nice fish!  Love it!

Fish took a pheasant tail on a jig, as well as a purple pt with a silver tungsten bead, but the morning was ruled by the same little weightless caddis dropper that fooled the pig rainbow and a lot of his friends.  We really only fished riffles, pockets and bankside runs, so it was a Czech nymphing day, all day long.  Maybe Sam caught the browns because they liked his new tie better.  I am looking forward to using a new creation he is tying now, a simple hot spot mayfly nymph with another pop of color on the tag too.  He gave me a couple even before I bucked up at the end of the day for my next fly order, but I never really felt the need to re-rig, as fishing was consistent all day on the bugs that I already had tied on.

Sam did let me catch some browns, though.

We called it a day a little before 6 PM instead of driving to one more spot and fishing a mere 15 or 20 minutes more.  I was on the road and home in just over three hours of driving, and while I am writing this at 5 AM on Thursday, the day after, I was able to fall asleep pretty early, despite living on caffeine, Slim Jims, and Sheetz Shamwichez.  Sam offers a sleeping bag on the floor but, so far, I am still good with these long drives at my “young” age.  Because it was cool and I stayed pretty hydrated all day, I feel good, but I will need a nap later.  I have a lot of work to do Thursday, but perhaps Friday will be my third fishing day this week?  I am heartened that rain is supposed to arrive again this weekend.  I think I need to get young Eric out fishing now that he has killed a deer with the bow and is no longer content to be mere spectator (I tortured him with pics all day).  Maybe, inspired by Sam, I will even say, There is a good fish there, so don’t eff it up, and let a mitch have first crack at it. 

Another memorable day in Central PA.

October 24, 2017 – All at Once, the Rains Came – Southern Lehigh County

Helped me avoid the skunk, this guy.

I was so excited to fish the significant rain that blew through that I probably jumped the gun a bit.  In my defense, this storm was not what it was billed to be, and it was pretty hard to predict rising water versus just plain flood conditions.  Instead of showers and thunderstorms, it ended up being fast moving and spotty thunderstorms, so the rain came all at once in unpredictable flashes, flooding the creeks northwest of me with muddy water and debris.  Case in point: while fishing a good hole in bright sun, not a cloud in sight, I began to see the water rise, full of long-dead black leaves and any other human-generated litter that made its way from the roadways and gulches.  My best hit on the streamer was a 14 inch sycamore branch, and I missed a nice 16 ounce Dunkin’ cup, but I didn’t move any big fish in a Lehigh County Trophy Trout stretch, However, it was an adventure that ended with sunny, windy fall conditions.  I avoided the skunk with one little wild brown on a black bugger, just so I could quit and go home to pack for Central PA on Wednesday.

Mmm,,, chocolaty.

October 16 to 20, 2017 – A Good Walk (or Three) Spoiled – SEPA Prospecting in Low Water

Wet hand with fish minus the fish who probably slipped to stage left...

There is an old saying about golf that also pertains to fishing, namely that it is a good walk spoiled.  That little nugget came to mind a couple times this week as I enjoyed mediocre fishing in beautiful places. Fishing conditions, especially at mid-day when I had the chances to get out, were not great—low water, sunny, chilly mornings—but for just hiking and enjoying the beautiful scenery within an hour of my home, it was a perfect week.  The autumn air was crisp and clean, the trees were in late fall colors, and bugs were actually hatching: olives, midges, and caddis on two of the three creeks I visited.  That said, I saw nary a riser and caught most of my fish on a midge or a streamer—which are both still very fun, mind you.

Buckets were chased...

I started the week taking a peek at the Ridley Creek FFO, which was pretty much a waste of time besides the return of fall weather.  It was the lowest and warmest creek, too, and it was crowded following the recent stocking. To make matters worse, the fish were dumped in two holes right above the bridge, perhaps to give them a chance to live until the next high water event spreads them out, or perhaps because no one was around the help.  I hope it was the former.  I walked away from the crowd to spots deeper in the FFO section, but I saw no trout, so I honed my skills highsticking a few chubs before taking a long walk upstream into the all tackle water.  I saw a couple buckets dumped in slow deep holes, but I had to walk a long while to find pocket water or runs to fish.  When I did, it was chub water.  The long walk, however, was very enjoyable.  The state park here is a beautiful place.  Before I left, I decided to nudge my way into an open spot where there were fish (I landed one on a pheasant tail on the way upstream) and I tossed a black bugger with a hot bead.  I managed to end with 3 or 4 fish in a short time, enough success to move on and go home.

A few recent stockies on the bugger and one on a nymph before calling it quits.

Later in the week, I took a ride to southern Lehigh County to a well-known Trophy Trout regulations section of a limestoner.  Here, bugs were going crazy, perhaps the end of the tricos, but also swarms of BWOs and caddis in all the streamside vegetation.  The only thing missing was fish—well, fish in the net, anyway.  With low water, I did a lot of creeping around, and I lost a few flies fishing under logs and undercut banks.  

Hatches, hatches everywhere (click to enlarge), but no successful landings.

Under one such log, I had one bang bang that broke the 6X tippet holding a midge dropper, just two pumps—a tell for a violent headshake sometimes.  That didn’t bother me as much as the second fish I lost, which looked to be a rainbow that washed down from above the special regs, as it was really silver and wide-bodied.  The thing was at least 24 inches—I fought her into the shallow water below her downed tree lair for about 30 seconds, and I saw the entire fish surface a couple times.  Just massive!  At any rate, I actually was a bit pissed off and surprised when I tried to turn the fish away from tree branches and rip rap with side pressure, and the midge hook bent and popped out!  I rarely get emotional about losing a fish, but this thing was like Pequest hatchery fish big, the kind of healthy but outsized monsters New Jersey stocks in little creeks they call rivers.

Massive stocked rainbow bent a hook on a midge, unknown piggie shook off 6X like it was a spider web..

Skip ahead to Friday, and I only had a 2 hour window to fish with the boy having early dismissal from school and band in the morning.  Bad math, again, but I took a 60 minute ride to fish 120 minutes before a 60 minute ride home.  I knew this creek would be cold and have water in it, however, and it ended up being the most enjoyable trip this week.  I had been talking to Kev about this section of one of my favorite creeks in Northampton County earlier in the week, so I guess it was on my mind this morning.  After taking the boy and a neighbor kid to band practice, I hit the toll roads to make the trip as quickly as possible.  I fished from 10 AM to 12 noon before taking another nice walk back to the ‘Ru. 

Bad math, but good times: drive 120 to fish 120?

In that short time, I caught a gorgeous wild brown of 14 inches.  This fish took a size 20 caddis emerger dropped under a couple small beaded midges of similar size and proceeded to jump three or four times.  I caught a rainbow with the same set up a few minutes later and then the bite shut off in this small, now thoroughly disturbed hole.  Time was running short, so I decided to fish a streamer back down to the parking spot, and I had a ball, catching another rainbow on the mighty Roberdeau streamer.  I also moved two other fish and hooked another, watching the visual strikes in shallow braided water and whooping it up too. 

A 14 inch wild beauty was fought and released (finally!).

My last walk of the week was more like a run, but I made it to the car and home in time to take the boy to a haircut appointment and some outdoor play.  This was not the best week of fishing, and I was not all that inspired to write until today, but it was a good week to have some time outdoors, for sure.  I am praying for rain, as I have penciled in next Wednesday with Sam in State College area.  Streams are low out there also, so it's time for a rain dance!

Big streamers were slung with success.

Pretty wild-at-heart rainbows helped salvage a good walk spoiled.