April 11, 2019 – Several Decent Browns, Some of Indeterminate Origin – Manatawny Creek

On the low side, but not bad.

I drove just under an hour from home to bucolic Berks County today to fish the Manny for the first time this year.  I only fished for three hours, and I spent two in the car getting there and back, but I needed a change of pace and it was a successful outing, so the ride was worth it even if I had my doubts early on.  I almost stopped at the Skippack Creek as I drove over the bridge on my way west, but judging from the all the cars there on my return trip home, I would be willing to bet they stocked this afternoon.  In other words, my original plan was the right call.  I like the Manny, which is different than fishing the average stocked creek. There are a couple walk-in areas of the creek that allow access as it runs through private property, and I usually catch a couple wild fish and a lot of holdovers once I get away from the easy access points.  Even today, I saw at least three different vehicles parked near where I was fishing, but I only saw fishermen right by the road at the obvious spots when I was coming and going.  Not true today, but there are decent hatches, too.  In my experience, and in the sections I fish, they are especially good in the caddis department with sedges being plentiful for sure.  None of the creek has been restocked since the initial preseason stocking, so this also made it a good day to find a little solitude and to target unlikely pockets and cover looking for the odd holdover and wild fish. 

Several pretty browns.

A couple took a soft hackle on the swing, but most the bigger jig pictured below.

The wild population fluctuates with flow and water temps, but 2018 was a good one for wild fish.  I bet one-third of the fish I caught in certain areas were wild.  Many of them hold over for so many years that, minus the missing blue eye spot, it is often hard to tell a wild from a stockie gone rogue.  I landed at least 7 fish today and I dropped 4 others after short battles.  Most of the fish, all browns, looked like holdovers, and a couple may have been wild.  Besides losing three that hit tentatively in the cold water, my first fish of the day also came off because I tied my anchor fly on with a suspect knot that unraveled—tired this morning or low light in the garage or rushing to get on the road or all of the above.  At least I knew that the fish would cooperate even in the colder weather, and action was pretty steady.  The Manny, in addition to the some of the highlights mentioned above, also has some limestone influence from its tributaries, so it does not have the extreme temperature swings of freestoners and often fishes well into July.  I also waited until after 11:30 AM to start fishing, which helped today.  A cool breeze kept it feeling like early spring, and blue bird skies and bright sun also had fish a bit spooky in the shallow spots.  I spooked more suckers than trout, however. I guess what I am saying it that, minus significant active bug life, the conditions and the fishing were good today.

Size 12 purple jig in the absence of any hatches got their attention.

I had a particular hole or two in mind that I wanted to get to during my short fishing window, but I fished my way up to them, looking for wild fish in a few runs and undercuts that I know held them last fall.  It was on my way upstream that I lost the four fish, so I don’t know if the browns I fought were wild or not. The one rainbow certainly was not wild, but bows hold over well in the creek too.  Though barely hitting my purple CDC jig and soft hackle dropper, once hooked all the fish fought well, many jumping and taking good runs, probably blowing up a few small holes and pockets by making too much commotion before coming to the net.  I did a little surgery on one fish who had a size 10 hook nearly in his gullet, one of the few signs that other fishermen had been in my honey hole recently, but I probably should have left him be because he did not look any happier when he swam away.

Pale pretty one.

The first fish I landed took the soft hackle as I swung it under overhanging limbs and tight to a down tree, and I caught one more fish on the swing, but most were in riffles at least 18 to 24 inches deep.  I did dig two fish out of a very deep hole, as well.  I saw no risers, but I did spot a handful of small caddis adults flitting about, so things might be getting started soon.  It did not take long for 2:45 PM to arrive, and with a 10 or 15 minute walk back to the car, I did not retry any spots on the way back.  I will likely return in May or, more likely, after the final spring stocking, but I was pleased with today’s results.  I am itching to have a real adventure soon, but work has been busy and the boy is on spring break starting tomorrow afternoon, so this was about as adventurous as I could be this week. The statewide Opening Day on the horizon does offer a lot more options to choose from, perhaps even my first trip to the Brodhead or Lehigh River for 2019 in the next couple of weeks?

Fun fish, and beautiful, however they got here.