September 21, 2018 – A Little Bit High at My Happy Place – Brodhead Creek

Two mediocre shots of a not so mediocre fish.

I wanted to visit one of my favorite creeks today, and I knew it was going to be a bit on the high side, especially for this time of year.  The gages were showing about 400 cfs, which is early spring flow, borderline fishable, and not great for plumbing pocket water with stoneflies like I was hoping to do today.  However, I figured I would check it out anyway, and then try a couple smaller creeks if I found the mighty Brodhead was indeed too mighty today.  Well, it was high, but it was not all that stained anymore, and leaf litter was minimal, so I decided to try a couple spots that work in the high water of spring and, thanks to some previous experience, most recently with Sam at Spring Creek, I believe, I used a great high water pattern/approach and put together a solid day, including landing a good 16+ inch wild brown in some sporty conditions.

A day to hug the bank, both me and the fish.

As I walked down to the creek, it became apparent rather quickly that I was not going to be doing any hero-style wading.  The visibility of the creek was great considering all the rain in recent days (weeks, months) but the chances of my fishing most of this particular stretch, specifically the other side of the creek, was certainly off the table.  I didn’t bag it and head for a smaller nearby creek as planned because of the aforementioned good visibility and because I actually landed a little wild brown within 15 minutes of arriving.  That was followed by a second one about 15 minutes later, pictured at the beginning of this post, that was a beefy wild brown pushing 17 inches who gave me a heck of time in the heavy water.  This was why I came to this creek today, despite the less than favorable conditions, so I was content with my stream choice within 30 minutes of arriving.  Having fished so infrequently over the summer, I was even more happy than usual to have success at my happy place.  This is challenging water on a challenging creek, and the wild fish especially can be finicky or downright ghostly, depending on the day, the pressure, and/or the conditions.  Tom, the Silver Fox, was jibing me on Thursday about not having any blog posts for him to read at work, so I sent him a preview picture and waxed poetic about my favorite stretch of Pocono freestoner before returning to the water.

Golden stonefly and jigged pt: nothing fancy today.

When 5 out of my first 6 fish of the day ended up being wild browns, albeit small with the exception of the aforementioned little pig, I decided to try a few other spots on this beat of creek and not give up and head for calmer, smaller waters.  I quit after four hours of fishing with 9 trout, I believe, including a holdover rainbow that was over 15 inches and a holdover brown of about 12 inches that I had to examine a few times, and again in photos, to rule out as wild—it was just that colored up and strong!  Regardless of what angle I held him in the light, he was not going to grow that blue eye spot, but besides a few fused black spots on the body, he was a nearly perfect specimen that fought very well and was arguably as pretty as his streambred cousins.

The pretty stockie??

I dug two holdover rainbows out of a deep hole with an indicator, but all the other fish came out of less than 2 feet of water while tight line nymphing the edges.  When the water gets high and fish tire of hunkering down and need to eat, they move to the sides in these conditions.  If I had rushed in and tried to fish, say, the current seam further out and not the seams right in front of me, sometimes at my feet, I would not have had the day I had.  In certain creeks, you might miss a chance at 50 percent of the fish if you are looking midstream and not right along the banks upstream from you.  I remembered a recent day on Spring Creek or the Little J with Sam where all our fish were in the soft water near the bank, so I texted him to let him know his flies and his tutelage paid dividends today.  A large tungsten jigged pheasant tail and a big golden stone accounted for all the fish, with the pt just edging out the stone. Now that I am able to fish again after this tough summer, Sam and I made tentative plans for mid-October when I get a bit of a fall break.  In the meantime, I have not ruled out revisiting another section of my happy place next week.

A nice sized rainbow towards the end of the trip.

First of the morning, tight to the inside seam.