December 20, 2018 – Got a Do-Over and Did Some Stuff with It – Northampton County Limestoner

Soldier of love?

On December 14, I had a trip cut short after only 45 minutes on the water.  It had to be done, as my wife needed my support with a dental emergency, but it was still tough to drive 90 minutes to fish maybe 40, and then drive 90 minutes or more to get home, especially since the conditions and the fish were telling me things could have gotten good—or at least winter good.  When deciding where to go today, another cloudy and potentially milder day, I owed myself a do-over on this small creek in NEPA, I figured.  I would not revisit the same stretch but, instead, target a couple other spots that would hold wintering fish.  This decision was not a mistake.  I had a really good day, especially for late December, landing 7 decent fish, 2 of them good wild brown trout, still colored up post-spawn—one buck even remained kyped, a soldier of love. 

Prettier cousin.

Fittingly enough, as I drove up beside the creek to my intended stretch, I saw the landowner I spoke to last week.  He appeared to be out enjoying his land with his dog, and seeing him prompted me to dig around for his business card, which I had forgotten to put to use this week but which I still have.  I had no plans of fishing the holes on his land today, but I still hope to reach out and see what’s happening this spring.  When I arrived at the pull-off where I would begin fishing, the thermometer on the Subaru read 36 F, not enough to ice the guides, but also not the kind of morning for a tumble, which happened here one winter a few years ago (I also had to drive back one time to find a rod I left on the roof that rolled off into a snow bank here.  Fond memories?).  I had the right clothing with me, even fingerless gloves and a warm buff for my neck, and felt soles with spikes, so I wasn’t going to let a little cold keep me from the creek, which looked fantastic, slightly stained and still higher than normal for this time of year.

A good start, but a slow one before it warmed up a few degrees.

Not surprising, fishing started out slowly before it started to warm up.  I began fishing with one of Sam’s big golden stoneflies and a small soft hackle pheasant tail up higher on the dropper.  I lost one little fish about 15 minutes into working the first hole, likely on the dropper, but a while later, after reminding myself to let the slowly drifting bugs slowly drift, I successfully landed a respectable wild brown, maybe 11 or 12 inches, on the stonefly.  I could get no other takers in this hole, but it was a good warm up round, and I felt encouraged that fish, especially wild browns, ate my offerings.

Rainbow liked the stonefly too.

The big stonefly has a way of finding the bottom, which is what it should be doing in the winter, but I should have re-tied after yanking out a few too many snags because I broke off the next fish that hit when I set the hook.  In order to find bottom more quickly, believe it or not, I took the opportunity of losing the big stonefly to tie on a bottom rolling caddis larva, and I even snipped off the pt and tied a walt’s worm on the dropper.  I was ready for the soft pockets around the heavier water I had to work through to get to the next hole, but the fish were not really ready for me.  I moved one little fish, but I had no takers.  Besides one or two deep pockets, it was unlikely that any of these spots were the alpha or beta trout feeding lairs, so I kept moving, only trying a few small buckets here and there.

Sucker, streamer, icy riffles, 'Ru in situ.

I was happy to see a decent stain in a favorite hole, one where I caught a brown nearly 20 inches long this year and tangled with a few other good fish, as well.  I fished the deeper part of the tailout with the heavy bugs, but I quickly came to my senses and tied on the stonefly once again.  I don’t think Sam had 22 inch white suckers on his mind as he worked at his tying desk this fall, but that was the first fish I landed from the deep, dark, snaggy pocket in this hole.  I did land a scrappy rainbow shortly thereafter to redeem myself, at least in part.  Rainbows that washed down from the stocked section, even beautiful ones that have thrived since being dumped in March, were not what I was looking for, to be honest.  I wanted to see some wild browns willing to eat.

My mind went to an exciting place after this...

After hoofing it overland and skipping the riffles between this pool and the next, possibly my last stop on this beat, I eventually moved from Czech nymphing to adding an indicator to fish a really deep section of the hole to changing things up altogether and tying on the same small black and olive bugger that caught the attention of Valley fish this week.  That last move, like my choice of stream today, was also one I would not regret.  After letting the bugger drop slowly into this deep hole, I started gently stripping it back and quickly got bumped deep and out of sight in the dark water.

  

And this...

No hook up, so I hoped he might hit again.  Same cast, same slow, strip, strip-strip, strip, and I was hooked up to a respectable rainbow that seemed a little pissed that he fell for it twice.  A couple casts later, and I landed an even better bow, maybe 15 inches, on the same bugger.  This one showed himself at the end of my drift coming up to give the streamer a swipe just before I was ready to lift and re-cast.  Like before, I made the same cast, and was tight.  Now my mind went to an exciting place.  I checked my phone for the time, 1 PM, which was plenty of time.  I somehow knew that this streamer was going to move fish in the two holes I fished with only mild success earlier in the morning, when it was a few degrees colder.

A tough guy, toothy, his kype still irritated

I hiked down the road this time and stalked through the sparse woods to the sucker hole, the same hole where I know big browns like to visit.  After one cast to test how deep I was going to get and see how much line I would need, my second cast with the bugger swung right into the sweet spot.  A few short, slow strips, and I was tight to a big old brownie.  It was not the 20 incher, but it was over 18 and just tough looking.  His kype was still irritated from earlier in the month, and he ate the bugger, no half-assed swipe or slow chase, he just opened wide and ate.  Even with the cold water of winter, he put up a nice fight—no leaps, but a couple brief runs and a lot of head shaking and digging for obstacles on the bottom.  He definitely scared my sucker out of that hole for a minute.  After a quick pic or three, I let him go in good shape.

The second nice brown, slightly smaller but much cuter.

I did not move any other fish in this hole, nor in the little pocket where I fed a fish a stonefly earlier, so I moved through the woods to the first hole I fished this morning, the one adjacent to the mighty Subaru (who needed a quart of oil on the way home to quiet the famous Subaru valve tapping, but my crappy commute home, that is another story).  I tried to swing one cast through this hole, but the sweet spot here is a deep pocket, a slow seam next to a fast moving and deep run, so it would take a different approach.  I lobbed the bugger upstream and let it drop into the hole.  The minute a bow in the line started forming, I gave it a short tug, then another short jig, and on the third jig, I was tight to another very nice wild brown.  This one was a little smaller, hand-measured at 17 inches before the quick release, but it was much prettier, without the war wounds of the first big brown.  Needless to say, I was pretty happy that I not only tried the streamer today, but also that I had the foresight to come back to these honey holes.  Looking right at my car, I decided to end here, perhaps scope out one other spot for the future (which I did before the heavy rain arrived), but end fishing on this high note.  I guess a few degrees in air temp added a couple degrees to water temp, or the approaching warm front turned them on, but whatever the reason, I got one heck of a do-over today.

Sam surely did not have 22 inch suckers in mind for his stoneflies!