May 8, 2018 – I’m a Little Coal Country – The Lackawanna River

Where does one go from here?  Today?  Downhill, of course...

I took a two-hour ride in the dark this morning to the Lackawanna River in hopes of finding a couple nice fish.  I found one that I taped at just over 19 inches, so mission partially accomplished.  After catching a small fish just after sunrise, this fine looking brute was only my second of the morning, so he was a tough act to follow.  There are a lot of big fish in the river, but the river is also big, and it was running just a tad higher than I like, making crossing in certain spots where I like to cross in order to maximize my approach to a hole, for example, a bit hairy or completely off the table.  I can confirm, however, that several year classes of wild fish are present, not just the fabled hogs, as I landed probably 7 fish from 19 inches on down to 8 inches, with the average definitely on the shorter side, which has not been my previously charmed, albeit limited, experience with this fishery.  As the morning wore on, and my early start caught up to me, I lost a couple decent fish too, though nothing as big as the first little piggy.  Needless to say, I will be back again.

Just before sunrise in coal country.

This is coal country and pretty urban.  One previous post I made about the river mentioned all the random debris I found, like roller-skates and a basketball,even a dead rat, but today’s highlight was an old colored TV—and one big blue inflatable ball actually looked like it belonged nestled in some flotsam in a back eddy, just bobbing peacefully.  But the river is full of bugs, too.  There were massive amounts of size 18 blue winged olives coming off all morning.  I fished from about 6:30 to just after 12:30 PM with one short break to eat a PBJ and to finish my coffee while driving to another stretch, and each hole had olives and several large caddis coming off.  I was fishing braided runs and pockets, and the water was a bit stained for an all-out surface smorgasbord, but I did see one about 15 inches or more come up after a caddis.  I lobbed my nymphs upstream of him shortly thereafter and thought I had him when I got bounced immediately.  Unfortunately, it was a pretty 11 incher who took my walt's worm on the swing (or the fall, actually).

8 inches, then 19 inches, then 11 inches, but mostly on the small side today.

Before landing a few small fish, I did have quite a battle with the fish that opens this post.  I got bounced in a deep pocket on the soft side of a run and, after a few requisite head shakes, the fish decided he was going to run right up into the riffle and keep on going.  Thankfully, he didn’t go downstream, as I may have taken a swim, and he didn’t go for the rip rap on the opposite bank with any conviction that I could not match.  In hindsight, I bet he did a great job of tiring himself out heading up into the riffle a couple times and holding for a while on one occasion, so I was able to get him in the net with little drama after the initial runs.  A couple joggers stopped, but probably thought I was snagged based on the bend in my 10 foot 4 weight!  After a few pics, I sent him back in good shape.  This was my second fish of the morning, and the morning was young, mind you, but instead of a day of beasts, things slowly petered out, so I made a short drive around 11 AM to another section of the creek.

It wasn't unwadable, but it was cetainly moving some water this morning.

The second spot was also interesting!  I hooked a good fish early into this walk, but this one did dig for the bottom and found a tree or some branches to run under.  I could see him pulsing on the end of my anchor fly, but the dropper a couple feet up the line was snagged in the debris.  It was too deep to go get him, so I waited to see if he could free himself and my fly, but instead he got off.  I only lost the dropper, though, so that was courteous.  This fish was maybe 15 inches, so not huge, but I would have liked a pic, you know?  After that, I landed three small fish in short order.  A size 18 pheasant tail dropper was very effective with all the olives coming off, but I think the larger fish were looking for the larger caddis, perhaps. 

Some eager youngsters kept the action pretty steady.

Like I said above, I found a few different year classes today, which is good news for the fishery, but I lost a second decent fish further upstream too, so while I was gifted when it came to landing a bunch of small fish, besides the big one from the morning, I was experiencing diminishing returns when it mattered.  As I got into position for what I planned to be my last hole, one where I have landed a 19 and a 17 in the past, I snagged up and lost my flies not once but twice.  I decided I was tired and that was why I was okay with quitting by noon today, which was actually true.  I was up at 2:30 AM to use the bathroom and never got back to sleep before my 3:30 AM alarm, and I took a two-hour drive from 4 to 6 AM, and then waded some heavier water for a few hours in humid conditions and only a peanut butter and jelly sammy.  I suppose I had earned my diminished skills.  After giving a streamer a few half-hearted swings through this last hole, just to say I fished it, I suppose, I climbed up onto the streets, found the river trail, and took the short walk back to the Subaru.  I definitely needed a cup of coffee around Hickory Run, and I can tell by the tone of this blog post that I should be in bed now, but I did make it home in one piece and have some good pictures of a beautiful wild brown for all the effort!

So much for my theory that the larger fish were on caddis not BWOs!