June 14, 2019 – Some (Nearly) Summer Small Stream Sneaking in SEPA – Hay Creek

More rain, so what to do?

More rain this week, but I could not see myself fishing Valley again.  I like the place, for sure, but I reserve love for only a few creeks, and even then I couldn’t fish many of them as much as I do Valley—especially the last two rainy years!  Believe it or not, I went to Hay for the first time last fall.  I did a lot of exploring that day before I found the more productive water, and I only caught one stocked rainbow while landing a bunch of small wild browns and a lot of rougher species.  Today, in a different season, was a much different experience, but equally fun.  I caught wild browns and stocked rainbows.  I also caught stocked browns and a couple browns for which the verdict is out.  Nice fins, a blush of blue behind the eyes, but also a few beauties with evidence of a long period of fin regrowth.  Unless someone is stocking fingerling rainbows, or a particularly adventurous one swam up from the Schuylkill River, I may have even landed a wild bow, 6 inches long and all parred-up.  I also caught a bunch of chubs and fallfish and lost a mess of little fish, some wild trout others rough fish, so action was steady.  The water was stained and above normal, but in good condition to nymph.  I brought my 3 weight 10 footer, and I found enough space or was able to get close enough to riffles, runs, and plunges, even some wood, to get to use the long rod effectively.  At bends and below some plunges, the creek gets to 15 feet wide and deeper, but the average size in this stretch is much tighter and shallower.  On any other day not post a week of rain storms, a dry dropper or terrestrial would have been the right call.

Still landed plenty of these, but definitely a different experience than last fall.

In my previous post about Hay, I tried to explain why this particular section exists and produces some wild fish and holds over many others.  Today, I took the long way out to explore the headwaters, though I did not fish them.  There is just so much tree cover in the deep gorge that I am not surprised that even some brook trout remain in the posted water upstream.  I am sure that the rain this year and last allowed fish to move further up and down the creek than in other years, so I found stocked fish in great shape, beautiful many of them, in places well off the beaten path.  It is a little disappointing to drop the nymphs into a prime holding spot, set the hook and fight a strong fish, only to slip the net under a stocked bow or brown, but the experience itself was just like hunting for wild fish in an isolated, small freestoner, so I quickly revised my disappointments and expectations and simply enjoyed. 

A bucket, the River, a redd?

Today was the last (half) day of school for the boy, and Tami’s dad was flying in from Ohio, so I only had about 6 hours total to travel and fish.   I spent just under 4 hours fishing, I suppose, just after 8 AM until about 11 AM, but I tried to cover more water than last fall, and I did find some great holes upstream of where I ended last year.  I know that there is still more unposted creek to explore, and this creek is right in Tom H’s wheelhouse, so the two of us might have to take a longer walk this fall.  The fish were where they should be, and I was rewarded for making tough casts or testing particularly snaggy spots.  The rainbow that I think was wild was in such a spot, a really small pocket behind a rock in a riffle, and some nice browns were in the bounciest slow(er) pockets in a given stretch, not unlike the better fish would be on a wild trout creek.  If there is a pocket the size of a dinner plate that looks too good not to hold a fish, there is usually something in there, especially when fish have moved from feeding on caddis in riffles to hiding in riffles for oxygen and overhead cover for the summer.  I lost my first good brown in a deep log jam situation, and I was miffed because it looked wild, but I landed another shortly thereafter, and it was just a gorgeous holdover, so I will tell myself the first one was part of a stocked pair who made a life here in this wood pile. I hooked the first fish while below a down tree, so in order to net, I had climb over said tree while the fish was hooked up, all the while trying to keep him out of the other branches and roots.  It ended as expected, although I managed to keep him on during the gymnastics only to lose him later in the match.

A few really pretty holdover browns.

It was a chilly and breezy morning that ended far too quickly.  It was the kind of day where I could have fished until 2 or 3 PM before remembering it was nearly summer and getting warm.  I did not take a water temp reading, but the air was in the low 60s, yet the water still felt cold to the touch, so I did not bother checking, feeling confident that I was working some cold water for mid-June.  I saw an isolated sulfur or two but not much else in terms of bug life.  Not surprising, a Frenchie worked on most fish, but a size 18 pheasant tail on the dropper also landed a good number of fish.  A terrestrial with a drowned ant or something on the dropper would be fantastic in clearer conditions because there is so much overhanging vegetation and wood everywhere.

A nicer bow that took the dropper.  Love the translucent fins!

We have my father in law visiting until Thursday, and I am also doing a writer’s retreat as part of my MFA program starting next weekend and lasting until the following Friday, but I hope I can get out at least once or twice this upcoming week.  I guess I could cash in the Father’s Day card on Sunday morning, but I will have to check the forecast.  There is always Valley Creek, right?

Another ate the pt dropper.

June 10, 2019 – Opportunity Sandwiched between the Green, Amorphous Digital Blobs – Valley Creek

Light rain and showers eventually improved streamer conditions.

The title is a reference to the radar on my weather app, which was showing rain in the area once again.  It did not rain overnight much, so the gage on the creek was barely starting to climb, but I assumed it would continue to rise and even get stained before the noticeable spike.  For what it was worth (not much in the end) according to the future radar feature on my phone, it appeared that I might get a two hour break before the heavy rain.  I donned the waders and rain gear in the garage and arrived at the creek around 9:30 AM.  The holes were already somewhat stained, but the riffles were nymph-able.  Unfortunately, I chose to bring one rod, my 5/6 streamer rod, so I would bide my time and make it work.  I started out chunking a big streamer, and I had no hits at the first spot, a miss and a follow at the second, and then a string of small fish missing or coming off the hook after one leap or head shake. 

At least one on the Roberdeau before I treed it trying too hard to draw them out of cover.  

Having moved close to 6 fish, I only landed one decent 11 inch fish on the bigger streamer.  But I was looking for the one or the other one, so I kept on moving at a good pace.  With only a t-shirt on under the raincoat, which is supposed to breath, I was still swampy and getting frustrated with my glasses constantly fogging up, but I guess I was covering water quickly.  I had the foresight to bring a cloth to clean my glasses periodically (constantly).  I tried to keep them off, and go on feel alone, but if you have tried to streamer fish without some decent polarized lenses, you may know that it is a loser’s game, so I kept walking, casting, and wiping.  I was casting aggressively, too, really trying to hit the structure until the water got more stained and helped bring the fish out of cover, so I eventually lost the bigger roberdeau I was throwing in a spot I could not get at, a branch hanging over a deep hole.

A smaller bugger with some custom weighting accounted for the longest streak of fish.

To get a little mojo going, I tied on a smaller bugger and added a small split shot just above the beadhead. It had now been raining for a while (so much for the predicted break late in the morning) and so I did begin to notice more of a stain coming on.  I also started fishing upstream more.   Sometimes I drop into a spot and fish it down with a streamer, which I can get away with in already high water.  If I am the one creating the stain, this is far less effective, dig?  The combination of the smaller bug and the new approach, paid off with a handful of fish, including a couple good ones in the 12 inch range.

Now we were getting somewhere!

One good fish just bumped it once, and I got a good strip to set, but another in the next hole upstream clobbered it and went airborne two or three times after trying just to hold in the heavy current like I would forget he was there or something. That fish made me forget that I was hot, humid, and fogged up, so after another couple of small fish that may or may not have come off, and one more beautiful 11 inch fish, I decided to put a bigger bugger on and go for it again. Because the water was getting dirtier and higher now, I went with a bulky black jig.  I continued to get a few bumps and follows on the bigger bugger, not unlike when I started in the morning, but I did connect with probably the best fish of the day on this larger streamer.  This was a good 13 incher with gorgeous colors.   With rain, fog, and dark skies a lot of the day, it was not a great day for photos, but I did my best to take a few shots of most of the better fish or really pretty ones when conditions allowed.  It was not a numbers day, even though I did move over a dozen fish and land maybe 7 or 8.  Of that half a dozen+, however, five of them were pretty quality fish for Valley Creek.

Back to a bigger bugger (and black this time) to give the one (or the other) one last shot.

I covered three times the real estate I would have with the nymphing rod, so it was cool to catch some fish or at least move some fish in places I don’t frequent all that often.  I did see two other guys out around 1:30 PM when the actual break in the rain happened.  By then I had my rain jacket tied in a knot around my pack.  It was still humid, so there was no chance my t-shirt was going to dry out, but it did feel a lot more comfortable without the hood up.  Letting that heat out also helps alleviate the effects that contribute to the fogged glasses, but then one must mess with rain drops on the lenses, so there is no way to win, really.  Once I turned back, I only stopped at two other spots.  One was the place I caught the huge brown earlier this spring, and the other was a spot I have moved a good one a couple times.  It was worth a second shot.  As I write this, we are experiencing torrential downpours, so even though the radar forecast was a tad off today, I should be grateful that I went out and found a window during which to fish.  Tomorrow looks like a good day to catch up on work.

June 8, 2019 – Where Jay Gives Me a Nice Excuse to Fish on a Saturday – Brodhead Creek

Patience pays off for Jay.

Jay has read this blog for a while and reached out to me about a guided trip with Sam this year, which I was more than happy to recommend.  The reports from both parties were positive, which was nice too.  That was our first positive connection, but then when I posted about Hus and his outdoor classroom, Jay was motivated to get the kids some fishing rods and lures and all kinds of gear.  We met up so I could get the gear from him and had lunch one day this spring, and I found him to be good company, so it was inevitable that we would get out fishing at some point.  Well, today was the day.  I will post about this in more detail soon, but I did finally take all the fishing gear that Jay, Kenny, my dad, and I put together for Hus and his students, and I had a great experience at the school and a couple surprises too.  I shared the good news with Jay via text, and he mentioned he would like to get out fishing, maybe even during the week next month.  In a moment of weakness, I suggested that I might be able to do a Saturday.  Not my favorite day to fish, but it does happen sometimes, especially for the right reason or right person!  Jay has no issues with early, so I was at his house at 5 AM to load up his vehicle and make the ride north.  We had plenty of company on the mighty Brodhead, whose flows are very fishable right now, nearly optimal, I dare say.  Despite limited options at times due to some surprise and also surprised company too, we caught some fish on a beautiful late spring day in NEPA.

Some bows in great shape came out to play.

I have not been to the creek since April 28^th, when it was a bit too high, and I rarely fish on the weekends, plus I learned this week that some parts of a favorite section have been posted recently, so I had a lot options and considerations dancing in my head when we arrived in town.  I settled on taking us to a popular stretch with easier access, and we caught enough fish that we did not have to drive anywhere else.  It started out very slow and chilly, conditions which perhaps were directly related because around 8:30 AM to 11 AM seemed to be our most productive window.  There were enough caddis to make fish look up at times, and there were also some stonefly husks on the rocks.  I believe Jay got his fish on a stonefly, his anchor fly.  I caught the majority of mine on a big jig, either a CDC jig with a red tag or a Frenchie with a gold hot spot.  A few took the dropper, a soft hackle pheasant tail, when I fished in the riffles.  I actually caught the only potentially wild brown on the swing targeting a riser, but when I stopped to do the same at another spot, I landed a mighty rock bass instead.  I had one other fish take the jig right off my 5X tippet with a jolt of a hit one other time when I let the flies swing, so swinging to risers was not a real pattern, so to speak.

Little riser took my bugs on the swing.

Jay earned his fish and did well handling the new challenges of a big freestone creek, including the wading.  We worked to get into a couple of my favorite spots, only to turn the corner and find hidden by knotweed stands a handful of other fly guys in our path.  We made the most of it, however.  I am sure every hole we fished was tested by at least two other fly fishermen and/or spin guys today, but we had action in each one anyway.  The most memorable fish was landed at the big rock, where Jay is pictured at the opening of this post.  It is just one of those spots that poses a puzzle.  At my urging, Jay dropped his flies in a back eddy and just exercised patience as the fly marinated until a nice fish ate.  I had a few fish hit in similar type spots, including this particular one on the way upstream in the morning, and it is what always makes fishing the Brodhead, even for stockies with the crowds, a memorable experience for me.

Some browns in the mix too.

Jay asked me at one point how many fish I caught, and I really didn’t know at the time.  He twice mentioned 8 as my tally, and it sounded about right but also a bit low, so I took the time when I went through photos and tried to count the small tally at each spot.  It was not a dozen, but I think 11, so a decent day considering.  What I realized is that the water is so loud in spots, even at only 130 CFS, that Jay did not see me or hear me land a few fish!  I did not know he lost a couple fish that he had hooked up either until he told me about them later.  Last May when I was here with young Eric, I had the same experience.  Although when Eric and I were here last May, I landed a big wild brown in one of the spots Jay and I couldn’t get into today due to a gathering of anglers camped out!.  I had hope a couple times, though.

I twice landed huge suckers today in a deep run, and before they showed themselves, I did think I had duplicated last year’s success, landing a pig brown cleverly hidden in plain sight.  When hooked in big water, the suckers do something similar to big browns: stay put for long beat or two.  A big brown usually makes his move eventually, however.  When the suckers make a move, they have one run in them and then they reveal themselves and come easily to net instead of making more runs or digging for obstructions on the bottom to dislodge the hook or any other item on the wild brown list of ways to get free.  Disappointing, but still fun to have a deep bend in the rod and to get Jay going for his net to assist.

A couple porkers left, healthy and strong.

By targeting braided water and riffles once the sun was in full effect, we had some action even midday.  A nice breeze from the north turned into a wind once in a while, but it did keep the perspiration at bay.  We quit in the early afternoon and bushwhacked through all the new green, invasive vegetation to find the path for a more leisurely walk back.  Before heading home, I gave Jay the two dollar driving tour of my favorite creek, and we saw anglers out everywhere.  It made me grateful that I come here during the week, for sure!  Jay is willing to take a day off in July, so he can experience that luxury too.  I have a busy week next week, but June 11 is also my last official day of work until the fall.  I am teaching classes part-time, and the boy is finished school this upcoming week, too, but I should have more opportunities to get out early and take advantage of the false dawn at 5:30 AM now that bus duty is winding down.  I promised my dad a NEPA trip, so we may do the Brodhead or maybe even Little Skuke next week, perhaps Lehigh Valley, instead?  I am also itching for a Lackawanna trip, so more June adventures to come, I hope. 

Out there in the big water made wadable with favorable flows.

June 4, 2019 – Working with Borrowed Time – Wissahickon Creek

Cool temps, cool shirt?

I spent Monday in the Lehigh Valley at Dorney Park chaperoning the boy’s class trip, and it was pretty chilly!  One of the kids in my group was shivering in the morning, in fact.  Even though I was tied up, I made a mental note that Mother Nature may have handed my dad a couple more days of Wissahickon fly fishing lessons.  I texted him when I got home and said if he wanted to fish to be at my house at 7:30 AM.  Punctual, as usual, he pulled in front of my house this morning, and together we took the short ride to the Wissy to give the remaining fish a shot.  The USGS gage in my neighborhood actually has a temperature reading, and it hasn’t been promising.  It is hovering around 70 every afternoon, which means it’s over here, but the water in the city stays cooler longer.  The fish we caught were in good shape early in the morning, but we quit shortly after I took a water temperature around noon that was 69 degrees.  There are plenty of fish left, however, and if cooler nights prevail, there may be a few more chances to get at them, especially early in the morning. We caught close to 20 trout in a few hours, mostly on a tungsten Frenchie or a CDC jig with a red tag, a couple on the hare's ear dropper, deep in the braided holes or in oxygen rich pocket water.

Some nice, healthy (for now) fish left in there.

The water was stained and a bit high, so nearly perfect conditions minus the temperature concerns.  Sunfish and bass are fully engaged at this point, so there was plenty of action.  My dad’s goal today was to go bobber free, and he did catch a couple fish this way, but he earned them.  Without the bug life that was present last time we fished the creek, the trout were not nearly as active.  I actually dug 7 or 8 fish out of deep runs with a drop shot rig because the fish, especially browns, were in the heavier water and deep, not up off the bottom actively feeding.  I tried to let my dad just put in his time alone today, as I know the time I spent over the years figuring out new fishing methods alone was often as beneficial as the time I spent with patient tutors.  I did want him to have some success, though, so I eventually intervened when it appeared he'd had enough solo time.

Took a while to find them, weeding through mostly rainbows for the first hour.

Always wonder how they escape capture...

When I caught 6 in a row, including 4 browns, while he was retying on the bank, I decided to spend the remainder of the morning working more directly with him.  Once he got the monkey off his back with a fish on the indictor and a mess of sunfish, I fished again for a while.  I landed one of those gold fish and a few more browns and rainbows at our last stop, but like last time we were here, the slow walk back upstream working pocket water and riffles was the most fun.  We took turns with my rod and pulled three more fish, a couple of them pushing 12 inches, out of small hideaways.  These are the fish with the best chances of surviving the hot but likely wet summer we have in store.  Unless we get some more cool mornings again this month, I will likely give them a better shot at survival by leaving them alone.  NEPA calls and some journeys west in July too.

Some decent browns too, mostly in spots that might hold them over if they are lucky (and I leave them alone).