March 6, 2018 – Chasing Fresh Stockies with a Self-Imposed “No Bobber Rule” – Pickering Creek DHALO

Notice: Chasing stockies on the DHALO.

Several SEPA streams with special regulations got a fresh load of fish late last month and earlier in this one, so I was able to stay close to home today and catch over a dozen fresh stockies, some of them pushing 16 inches, at the Pickering Creek Delayed Harvest section.  The next Nor’easter is set to arrive tonight and last into Thursday, so even though I had some work to do this morning, I cut it short around 10 AM and took a ride.  I had the creek to myself for about 2.5 hours, but as I got closer to the popular holes as the day got warmer and the hour later, I eventually ran into a bunch of anglers: my signal to call it a day.  In about four hours of fishing, I landed close to 15 rainbows, a feisty white sucker, and even one little brown that may have been wild.  I tangled with a half a dozen more that got off tiny barbless flies after a short tussle on a short line.

A few 15 and 16 inch chunks in there.

I made a promise to myself to fish without an indicator today, even in flatter, quieter water where an indicator may have been effective.  I have a lot of confidence in my Czech nymphing in pocket water and runs with good, moving water and turbulence to cover my approach, but I am also lazy about changing rigs and digging for thingamabobbers when I am on the water, so I am looking to get more confident with the sighter line alone in other situations, maybe even “frog water” if I have too!  I had plenty of success all along the creek without the aid of the indicator, even at some distance from my rod tip (another skill I am still perfecting) so I may make that rule a thing when I fish for stocked trout—not a snob thing, just a challenge to myself to keep improving my game.  I also am catching more fish by feel alone, which is nice.  Sometimes fish bounce a rig hard enough to see a sighter line dip or pause, but sometimes the only indication is a slight tick, especially with lighter flies.

The only brown of the day, one with many signs pointing to stream-bred.

I wish I had taken a couple better pictures to help confirm, but I believe I even landed a wild brown in the creek today.  Besides having some telltale markings, even the blue dot near the eye, other things added up: he was in a faster run where black stoneflies were sporadically hatching; for a smaller trout, he fought better than many of the bigger rainbows (though not as good as the wild sucker); he was in an area that, while in the DHALO section, is not a pressured area because the water is shallower and swifter; and he was tight to a down tree.  If I can steel myself from ridicule ahead of time, I may post a picture on the fly fishing forum to get some corroboration.  I know the stream has some natural reproduction, but I don’t think much of it happens in this section.

A bigger holdover who survived a low water battle with a bird of prey?

It was a mild day, even though it took a while to warm up, and there were bugs around, some midges and a smattering of black stoneflies.  There was not enough happening on the surface to switch to dry fly fishing, though I did see a couple rises, but as these fish set up and start looking up, as some of the hold-over fish from the fall are likely doing, it might be fun to stalk around with a dry or dry/dropper some other afternoon this month.  For today, I stuck with a pair of nymphs on a tight line, and they were enough to get the job done.  The most technical or intentional thing I did all day was change my dropper to a size 20 zebra midge to coax a few more takers out of a run after the size 16 and 18 flies stopped getting love.  These were also a few of the fish that came off after a short fight, but I did feel the hits, even on the midge since it was tied on a dropper tag line.  I am off next week, so some adventures further from home await, perhaps a State College run early in the week, but it was good to get out and catch a mess of fish today, especially because I kept to my self-imposed rule and had as much, if not more, success because of it.

A chilly start, but eventually a mild day before the next Nor'easter arrives.