January 10, 2020 – A Normal Winter Day Wedged Between a Deep Freeze and Temps Close to 70 for the Weekend – Berks County Limestoner

The best wild one ate a frenchie.

It has been a mild winter, but go tell that to yesterday.  Of course, Thursday was the day I had scheduled to drive out and fish with Sam in Centre County too.  I still debated making the run, and Sam would have fished, but we decided that fishing would likely shut down that day.  Cold is okay, but the first day of really cold weather for the season, probably not.  Sam texted me in the morning to let me know it was 12 in State College, so we made the right call, but it was still disappointing because I am going to get busy again next week with classes starting up.  Thankfully, the deep freeze only lasted one day (two if you count a windy and cold Wednesday) and it did not completely shut down the bite or ice up all the creeks.  Seeing it was going to hit 50 at some point today, I knew I would get out for a short consolation round, and I did fish for two productive and enjoyable hours.

Sun was getting lower by the time it warmed enough to spark a short bite.

Kenny came by in the morning to complete a punch list of things in our bathroom remodel, so I hung out and talked with him while he worked until about 11 AM.  I also bummed a couple 1/8 ounce hair jigs for which I have future plans—they may involve the heavy jig serving as an anchor in a few deep, deep plunge pools, perhaps with a lighter bunny leech on the dropper above.  He had a few bass rods in his vehicle too.  I guess all this working around my house has cut into his fishing time!  I was already packed up to fly fish, so he went his way and I went mine around 11:15 AM.  I had no clue where I wanted to go, but I knew I didn’t want to chase tiny stockies close to home, and I did not want to go to Valley.  I decided to head west and fish a Berks County creek with some limestone influence to mitigate yesterday’s cold.  This creek also holds over spring stockers very well and has a decent population of wild fish, as well.

A beaut, but probably a longtime holdover.

It took about an hour to get out there, so by the time I suited up I only fished from 12:30 to 2:45 PM, but I landed some fish, including a gorgeous holdover of 13 inches or more that, minus a blue spot, could have passed for wild.  He may have been a multi-year holdover based on the fins and the colors.  I also landed 3 wild browns up to 11 inches, and I dropped a silvery mystery fish on a long distance release.  It might have been a rainbow, though not many of them make it through the summer here, but the browns were rather monochrome today too.  I am out of practice with the bobber, especially on a long cast with a reach mend, so fish number 5 of the day got off easier than his compadres.  I landed my last fish of the afternoon fishing the back of a deep run with an indicator, so I batted .500 with the bobber.  I landed the other three Czech nymphing a frenchie with the grubby caddis on the dropper.  I only landed one on the caddis, and the one I dropped took that fly was well.  The others bounced the frenchie pretty decently even in the cold water.  Midges were hatching, but nothing was rising to them, and I moved nothing when I briefly tied a size 18 zebra midge to the dropper.  It was necessary to dredge the slower water near the bottom of some deeper runs and pockets to connect, at least with the handful of fish I found out there willing to eat today.

One wild one ate the caddis larva.

I expected it to take a while to warm up today, but it really took a while.  It was still about 42 degrees when I started fishing, even though my car thermometer read 53 by the time I returned.  Besides the first fish that I dropped, the rest all came between 1:45 and 2:45 PM, so the window of opportunity was small today.  I am a master of making bad math decisions—driving two hours to fish just over two hours, one of which was productive—but this little creek was actually a good choice for today.  There was no ice, some bugs, no other fishermen, and some willing wild brown trout.  I wish the warm up in the forecast was for Monday and Tuesday, not Saturday and Sunday, but I still may sneak out early with a bugger on Sunday if we get any real rain.  Sometimes temperatures near the 70’s this time of year gives a false hope, but the milder weather is supposed to continue, at least in the 50’s, so I am hopeful that the weekend warm up is merely a catalyst for something even better next week.  I have some post-spawn fish in the Lehigh Valley that I need to visit with, possibly to reacquaint them with a streamer, maybe even introduce them to one of Kenny’s hair jigs, you know?

One last one before quitting time.