August 24, 2019 – First Taste of Autumn or a False Fall? – Northampton County Limestoner

A short early shift on a perfect morning.

A cool and drizzly Friday was followed by a cool and sunny Saturday, so even though I am not much for weekend fishing, I had to sneak out this morning to get a taste of the fall weather and hopefully the happier and hungrier trout.  The boy is in an in-between time, and I am home with him, also in-between—finishing two summer classes and getting prepped for my full fall teaching load—not to mention another graduate class towards my MFA.  Summer camps have ended, school is still over a week away, and Tami is back to work as of August 1.  Add another summer heatwave that just ended, and we have the makings of my typical August fishing output.  Looking back over the blog posts, it appears that I average a whopping two trips per August, especially now that I don’t spend as much time at the shore.  There will be more to come in September, and August is hardly prime time.  Even in the great conditions this morning—air temps in the high 50’s to start, water temperatures in the Lehigh Valley dipping a couple marks under 60—the fishing window lasts all of two hours in the morning, perhaps another hour in the evening, unless one fishes the night shift.  I was tempted this week, when I noticed how long it had been since I’d been out, but fishing late into the night and playing with a boy all day while still teaching two evening classes just sounded like too much work!

Only one in the first hour.

I arrived at my destination just before 5:50 AM, so by the time I suited up, I had enough light to take a short walk followed by my first casts.  The first hour was slow, as it often is, but it was still enjoyable.  I landed one little fish and again saw the two foxes that I encountered the last time I was on this creek.  They look full grown, but they must be young siblings because they were still running side by side, making the geese nervous this morning.  Perhaps their parents have left them to their own devices now, so they are not ready to go it totally alone.  So many geese this morning!  The creek is too small to share, so they will rarely pass here, as they would on a larger creek.  To avoid a ruckus, we had to play nice.  I eventually took the courteous steps up the bank, as if to say, “Go for it,” and they took my cue and whisked on by me downstream with nary a honk, which I believe is as close to thank you as the mean-spirited goose language allows.  Still, it was like waiting for a freight train to pass.

Small, but picking up on the perdigon.

The water was normal, very clear and almost low, this morning, so as it got brighter out, and I had a better grasp of the conditions, I had to make some adjustments and use smaller bugs and tippet.  I was tempted to go back to the car and get my 8’6” 3 weight that was rigged with a dry dropper, but I stuck with my nymphing rod instead, and it all worked out eventually.  The first couple of fish took a small CDC jig, but once I started catching fish with consistency, they preferred a blue perdigon in size 16, so I tied that as my point fly for efficiency sake, putting a smaller pheasant tail on the dropper.  Tricos were present in the same spots I usually see them, but even when some spinners began to fall around 9 AM, nothing took notice on the surface.  In fact, fishing slowed to nearly nada not long after 9 AM, so the trout may not totally trust this short break from the summer heat.  At least some days in July, I can get them to eat until 10 AM!  Fish were smaller than my average here earlier in the summer, too, but I caught nothing under 8 inches, I suppose, and I landed a couple pushing 12 to 13 inches.  All were in good shape despite last week’s heat; many jumped and dashed for undercut banks with some power.  

Some decent ones showed.

After only landing the one trout in the first hour and following my adjustments, I put together a modestly productive two hours of fishing.  I was happy to be out there and happy to be catching pretty, feisty wild trout again after nearly a month without.  I could not land 11 fish, even after trying a green weenie on the dropper and even mining one of the few deep holes with a bigger jig.  Going deeper from 9 to 9:30 AM, all I got was algae on the hooks, so I had to be content with my 10 fish morning.  I was back in the driver’s seat of the ‘Ru by 10:05 and home cleaning up before 11:30 AM, so that is one upside of these early shifts.  Besides being a little tired and/caffeine up, which nixes a nap, there is still a lot of day left.  The boy and I actually took a hike along the Wissy later in the day, as it stayed breezy and below 80 degrees all afternoon.

Another healthy one.

With an Easterly or Northeasterly flow continuing, it appears that the cooler temperatures will remain in the forecast this week, so Camp Dad might get outdoors more this week than last.  The boy and I even talked about fishing one day this upcoming week.  That may be my motivation to get all my grading done on Monday and Tuesday, so I can have a brief vacation before the fall semester gets going.  Even just a little taste of fall—a teasing false fall or not—today got me excited about the end of the summer doldrums and the imminent start of one of my favorite fishing times of the year.

That little perdigon worked for a solid two hours.