March 11, 2019 – Day One of My Spring Break Brings Good Fortune – Berks County

Fish number 2 was exceptional.

And so begins my spring break, and under favorable weather and water conditions too.  I am not totally off, as I have some work to do this week, a little prep for my next three classes starting in 9 days, but I will no doubt fish quite a bit this week.  Today’s forecast was for 55 and sun, and I debated taking a longer ride on day one of my break, but I figured that higher winds and run-off from the weekend’s rain (and snow melt) would make conditions a bit more challenging today than, say, Tuesday or Wednesday, so I stayed in SEPA and only fished about three hours.  I picked a short open stretch of a small SEPA creek with some limestone influence, knowing it would only give me a few hours at most, but it gave me a few enjoyable and productive hours too.  I have not been to this little gem since October 12, 2018 before the spawn.  I don’t overfish it, as I may have shared, but I do tend to enjoy maybe 3 memorable trips here each year. The first trip of 2019 did not disappoint, either.

Snow and stonflies (and some BWO's)

I arrived around 11:30 AM this morning, and the water was stained but not too high.  I quickly landed a decent fish in a deep, stained hole on a frenchie, but the feisty 10 incher dropped back into the pool before a photo.  My next fish was a beauty, a wide-bodied male that was about 12 inches and just gorgeous!  After that early success, however, it took a bit of walking and looking around for bugs and just getting a feel for things before I put together another run of fish.  It was rather windy, making euro nymphing a bit tough, but this is the kind of creek where indicators can spook them, so I stuck with it and timed my casts around gusts while seeking sheltered lies.  The water was moving too, and my first fish came in a quiet seam, so I kept looking for them there, in the softer water.  There was no pattern established, however.  I caught two on the dropper, a small sexy walts, including the big male, one on a caddis larva, and at least two on the sj worm after I hung the bottom-rolling caddis in an ugly spot.  While a couple good looking runs and pockets looked promising but did not produce, it was one hole that salvaged a mediocre day in a matter of 30 or 40 minutes, allowing me to end with 3 or 4 more good small stream fish, including a skinny female that was probably 13 inches long.

Size 18 sexy walt's worked a couple times.

The honey hole was nearly the end of the line before posted signs, so I picked it apart and fished intentionally—or more intentionally, I guess.  I was likely helped by the warm-up, bringing some stoneflies and even a few olives out of hiding.  That said, the bigger female and another fatty took the anchor fly, a hot spot sj worm.  The best fish from this hole, unlike the male who was in soft water, was sitting right in the current actively feeding or riding some sweet hydraulics.  She actually surprised me because I put the cast where I did to allow the flies to get under the lip of the riffles, but she stopped it dead in heavier water before the drop off.  All the fish were fun on my light 9 footer that I use for nymphing Valley and other small creeks like this one, but this fish was even more fun. 

Two pics of same long and skinny one.

The water was cold, as you may gather from all the snow that remains on the adjacent hills, so no leapers today.  A least two fish pulled a little drag though, so that is something, right?  This creek has been good to me, and I was very grateful for the strong finish, so I did not tempt fate by fishing back downstream with a streamer.  Landing a half a dozen nice wild browns in a short trip should be enough for one day, especially when I have more days this week, and it really was.  After trying one hole that usually produces but did not on the way upstream and finding no cooperators yet again, I was ready to call it good.  I had no desire to hunt around for another spot, and I appreciated the lack of traffic on the roads at 2 PM.  Let’s see what day two of spring break holds, yeah?

Another plumper that liked the hot bead worm.