May 7, 2018 – Be Kinder Rewinder – Return to an Oley Valley Limestoner a Little Wiser

Eating well, this one.  One might mistakenly call her stocky...

On April 20^th of this year, which was my birthday, I took a fishing trip and afterwards bemoaned the fact that I could be losing my nymphing touch after chasing stocked fish in the Wissy for a lot of the month.  I landed quite a number of fish that day, but I was convinced that I had missed about four wild fish in the last hole I fished, forcing it a bit in order to get a couple before racing home.  A good day ended in a rush and on a bad note.  I am usually more patient with myself and more humble, but it was just a day to be pissy, I guess.  In an effort to not repeat mistakes, I returned to the same stretch of creek late this morning and spent a good 4 hours on the water, once again the only stick on the crick, as I have grown fond of saying.  This stretch of water is stocked, but it holds a small wild population of fish, sometimes a decent population of wild fish on cooler, wetter years.  I had one of my better days here today, landing at least 4 wild browns, definitely losing another one at my feet, and also catching close to a dozen stocked fish, including a couple rainbows that certainly thought they were wild, all toothy and colored up like, well, rainbows.

A decent start.

I did not waste a lot of time in the lower end of the creek, stopping only to catch a few stocked trout in a few prime holes on my way up to the spot where I was seeking a little redemption, a little reset.  I caught an acrobatic little rainbow at my first stop, but only gave the hole a few more casts before moving on to the next one.  The next stop yielded a rainbow and three stocked browns, including one brown that was getting nicely colored, perhaps a hold-over from last season.  I was happy to catch fish, but I didn’t spend much time in any spot for long, my intention to hit the run where my chances of finding some wild fish were the best.  I took a couple casts in a nice run where I usually hook a few fish, but came up empty, but then I stuck two rainbows sight-fishing some froggy water (with actual frogs in it) that had a good overhanging tree keeping a brace of bows feeling safe.

More colorful that a the wild fish!

I was happy to see a good hatch of black caddis flies around noon.  Smaller tan caddis and midges were working before that, and my stocked fish mostly took a hare’s ear that was tied off my dropper tag.  Seeing the dark caddis, however, I switched out my anchor fly to something mayfly-ish, a simple “tag” fly with a pop of color on the collar, and I replaced my hare’s ear with a caddis pupa with a black tungsten beadhead.  That was a good call, as the dark caddis were even thicker when I arrived at “redemption run.”  I started out catching two beautiful rainbows that both took a few leaps, and I was starting to doubt my conviction that I had missed wild browns when I was here in April, rushing my approach through the best hole on the creek.  Thankfully, I got confirmation in the form of a pale wild brown, which also ate the caddis pupa that was higher in the water column than my anchor fly. 

A pale one like the caddis pupa.

Toothy and with a nice red band too.

I had landed three acrobatic fish in a short while, so I decided to push ahead and rest the hole, perhaps giving it another shot on the way back down.  There is a bit more water before it becomes posted, and I have tangled with some wild browns (and kamikaze chubs) in the small wooded pockets and plunge pools above this hole.  This was a good call because I saw a couple small fish rising before I stuck another prettier wild brown who was tight to the roots of a tree where water was pushing under.  This fish, and the one I lost at my next stop, also a wild fish and larger, both took the tag fly like they wanted it.  After catch a couple of the aforementioned chubs and coming up empty at the last unposted hole, I turned back downstream and tried to stay out of the water as much as possible so as not to cloudy my spot downstream. 

A couple prettier ones liked the "tag" fly I was using as the anchor fly.

I must have done a pretty decent job, or the fish liked that I was stirring up a free meal, because when I returned to fish the hole it produced a couple more rainbows that were in great shape, also very strong and acrobatic.  I got bounced a couple times as my nymphs were falling, so fish were probably taking the caddis as they emerged, but I only hooked one of these overeager fish.  The rest were on a tighline in braided water or just at the edge of the riffle and deeper hole.  Time was running out, it being almost 3 PM and me looking at an hour long ride home to meet the boy after the bus dropped him off, so I gave myself permission to take 5 more casts.  Unlike last time I was here, I took my time, concentrated, and I landed another gorgeous bow and the fat wild brown that opens this post.  I ended on that note, satisfied that I had given myself the chance to unwind, rewind, be humble and kinder to myself, and have a good day with both wild and stocked fish, which I do appreciate, honestly, especially when they start acting like real fish this time of year!

Another solid looker/leaper.

No creek pics today, so more fish pics??