January 14, 2020 – It’s Been a Longer Time than I Thought – Northampton County Limestoner

Nice small stream fishy

I had to dig in the archives back to December 20, 2018 in order to determine the last time I had visited this particular creek in Northampton County.  It once was one of my favorites, and I have landed some really good wild browns here, a couple just shy of 20 inches, a handful over 16 inches.  Things change.  At some point in 2018, I know some more posted signs went up not long after I met a new landowner with big plans for a bed and breakfast with private access to the creek, which was very disappointing, but I was sure that I had fished it at least once last year.  I guess not.  Well, the posted signs are still up, and I saw some fresher ones in another stretch, so maybe my gut was telling me that I was running out of familiar water here.  Still, it was good to poke around and find some fish today, and I found a couple in totally new spots.  I landed an even half-dozen, three wild browns and three spring holdover rainbows, and a couple of the fish were solid ones.  I more expected small stream average fish today, even though I was hoping to move a pig with a streamer if the rain arrived early.  Short of a substantial later spring, early summer, or early fall rain event, however, the big ones rarely come out of hiding on this pressured stretch of water.  I did try with a streamer for about 45 minutes, even jigging one of Kenny’s hair jigs on the bottom of some deep holes, but I moved nothing.

Some feeding in the softer seams.

With a couple short breaks and one exploratory ride upstream, I estimate that I fished at least 4 hours today.  I started around 10 AM and had action early.  Instead of starting at one of my old honey holes, I walked down the road from my parking spot and tried two smaller holes that I probably have fished only once before.  Within 10 minutes of making my first casts with a pink tag fly on the anchor and a caddis larva on the dropper, I picked up a porker of a holdover rainbow.  No measure net today because I had high hopes of tangling with a larger fish, but my best hand measure estimate was roughly 16 inches.  The fish fought really well too, especially in shallow water.  All he could do was run around, though he did take one decent tail walk too.   Based on his colors and girth, he has been living well.

First fish of the morning, rogue little piggie.

Not ten minutes later, I hooked another hot fish, and this one was a wild brown at least 13 inches long, the wide-bodied one pictured in the net at the top of this post.  In the same pocket water conditions as the first rainbow, with no place to go but downstream, or up in the air, he chose to go up, jumping three times before coming to the net.  It crossed my mind that this start was potentially too good to be true, but by the time I reached my first honey hole, the reality of winter fishing returned.  I worked this spot thoroughly, eventually losing a couple flies really trying to get deep when it was clear that the fish in this run were not sitting on the soft edges ready to eat like their friends downstream.  Because some midges were present, I even tried a smaller dropper for about 20 minutes, and I did get bounced once on this set up before landing another wild brown, this one a small stream average one.  I had to add some split shot a couple times to get two flies down in bouncier spots, so I eventually went back to the original pair of larger tungsten nymphs.

A couple of these too.

Before reaching my next favorite hole, I landed another small wild brown on the caddis larva.  The hole itself was disappointing, however.  When I got no love working the soft edges, I even popped on an indicator and really let the bugs marinate in the deep hole in the back, but I just found new tree limbs and eventually stirred up the spot too much by freeing a couple snags.  It was past midday by now, and it had rained a couple times, though nothing major, but it also felt warmer, like over 45 degrees.  Not balmy, of course, but I had taken off my fingerless gloves at some point.  It crossed my mind to go get my streamer rod before trying the next stretch of water, and perhaps try to move something in the water I had rested since arriving, too.  After a short break at the car for a drink and some rigging, I took a short drive upstream to fish a couple deep holes.  I moved nothing with a sculpin, so the Hail Mary was a 1/8 hair jig that I borrowed from Kenny.  Even gently bouncing that tasty morsel from Kenny's vice in two big fish spots produced nothing, however.

I guess grubby caddis is my new winter confidence fly?

Instead of watching a bobber in one last deep, slow hole, I decided to walk back to the ‘Ru and take a ride to explore another spot in the stocked waters.  I know there are wild fish the length of the creek, so the Stocked Trout Water signs were not a deterrent at the last stretch I fished today.  Honestly, I just wanted at least one more fish so I could call it day.  It was approaching 2 PM, and the rain was starting to fall more consistently, so I told myself I would quit if I got one more.  I was lucky enough to land two more before 2:30 PM.  Both were spring holdover bows, so I had notched three of each, not too bad.  As discussed above, some of my best spots, especially for winter fishing, were now posted, and I spent 45 minutes swinging a streamer with nary a touch, so I was pretty content with these last couple of fish.  One of them just dug in deep trying to dislodge my fly, but the other jumped multiple times, feeling feisty for mid-January.  One last pic, and it was time to drive home in the rain.  That was by far the least fun part of the excursion!

A couple of these too.