January 24, 2020 – First Good Fish of 2020 and Not a Bad Day Overall – Northampton County Limestoner

Releasing a good one.

After putting in a good twelve hour day of working and commuting on the train on Thursday, I needed to take advantage of the milder weather today and catch some fish.  I had a bunch of meetings during the day and had to teach in the evening, so I took the train to Center City instead of driving and actually got some reading done for my poetry class on the way in and out of Philly.  It was not a bad weather day on Thursday, so I did get in a couple walks in the city and had a good lunch and at least two fancy-ass coffees to get me through my long day.  A walk is nice, but it is not fishing, especially on the mildest day in over a week, and Rittenhouse Square does not have a trout stream.  Thankfully, today was also mild, even started out just above the freezing mark, which is often a good sign of things to come.  I was tired, but I got on the road by 9:30 AM and was fishing in Northampton County by about 10:45 AM, I bet.  I landed 5 wild browns between 11 AM and 2:45 PM, and one was a good fish, my first over 18 inches for 2020, so it was a solid winter fishing day.

Sun and still a trace of snow.

I rigged up when I arrived with a frenchie on the anchor and a zebra midge on the dropper, and then I took a walk downstream in order to fish my first beat back to the parking spot.  I stayed up higher on the banks as I walked in, so I had a good vantage point in clear water and sunny conditions and was fortunate enough to spot a handful of fish suspended up in the back of a big eddy that usually looks a heck of a lot more productive than it actually is.  I catch fish here once in a while, but not as many as one would think.  It does have winter haven written all over it, however, and fish were certainly here today, and they also looked cooperative.  They were waiting on something, not sitting inactive on the bottom.  Later in the afternoon a midge hatch was much more prevalent and consistent, which filled in a missing piece of this puzzle.   

On the board quickly.

Because the sun was at my back, I stayed low to mix my shadow with the barren trees and some big rocks on the bank.  When I got into place, I dug for a little indicator I keep in my wader pocket this time of year.  I was set up on the bank to fish the back current because the fish were not facing upstream but, instead, facing into the slower back eddy, which was technically moving upstream.  I am not always this intentional, slow, and deliberate, but it’s been a minute since I fished, so I wanted to land one of these fish.  Bonus: I landed two of them before the second one disturbed the hole too much.  They both took the frenchie, very gently, so much so that I assumed they had eaten the midge.  One was probably a skinny 9 inches and the other was a slightly more plump 11 inches, but I was on the board, which felt good, especially since all the care I took getting into place and my impromptu plan had paid off.  I gave this eddy another ten unproductive minutes and then continued my walk downstream, figuring I could give it another shot later after it had rested, perhaps even from the other side of the creek where my shadow would not loom over the hole if I made a wrong move.

Another shot of the good fish.

The next hour or more was pretty uneventful, unless you count fly scavenging as eventful.  I guess the tired was catching up to me, or I was hungry, because I was making mistakes.  I got bounced once and missed before I hung my bugs in the same rake of tree branches at least twice.  My bugs were not alone, so I used my net to snag some branches and collect some flies, mine and others—one pair even came with an indicator, and there were a couple quality tungsten jigs too.  I would have rather had the fish and not blown up the hole, but I figured I needed to drink some water and eat a Cliff bar or something before I started getting cranky, so my mood was better suited for this work than fishing at the moment.  I fished two more holes, including the first eddy, now from the other side, rather quickly, and then I took a break at the car to drink the rest of my coffee, chug some water, and get a few calories in me.  That seemed to reset the mojo because I was fortunate enough to land a really nice fish not long after.  The beautiful, 18 inch, post-spawn male barely registered a pause in my sighter when he took the hare’s ear larva on my dropper in a deep, slow pocket near heavier water.  He put up a good battle, even making me leave my spot to chase him downstream in order to keep him out of some good rip rap and cover where he surely would have gotten loose.  He was all head with a skinny tail and had some battle scars, but he was colored up nicely and went back in good, still-energetic shape.  It felt really satisfying to get my first good fish of the year, but I wanted more than 3 fish for the day, so I kept fishing.

Number 4 and 5.

Since this little pig went downriver pretty early in the fight, I took a chance that he did not blow up the hole.  I was convinced that at least one or two more had to be sitting in this same slow, deep seam close to the current.  The midges I mentioned earlier were also getting more active in the warming air, so conditions just felt right.  I got bounced once in shallower water at the head of the pool but did not connect.  Eventually, I popped the small Airlock indicator back on the line to really let the bugs slowly move through the less turbulent water in this pocket, and sure enough the indicator paused and I came tight to another wild brown, this one about 10 inches and feisty.  He took the pink tag jig I was now using as my anchor fly.  This fish, of course, stayed in the pocket and made sure to disturb anyone else present, so I took off the indicator and moved up to the next hole, which is usually one of the last I fish on this particular stretch of the creek.  It does not have the deep water of the one below, but there is enough water and nearby cover to hold a fish that is actively feeding.  Bugs were still present in the air, so I fished the soft seam close to the bank on my side and thought I may have gotten hit.  There was no mistaking the bump I got in the soft seam on the other side of the run, however.  I could see that, like his larger cousin, this pretty fella also liked the hare’s ear larva on the dropper.  He fought really well too.  Had I not landed an 18 incher, this fish would have made me even more excited: a bit skinny, but another colored up, post-spawn fish at least 13 inches long.  After releasing this fish, my fifth now—not too shabby for under 4 hours in the winter on a tough creek—I checked the time to see if I should call it good.  It was after 2:30 PM, so I tried one last hole before calling it.  No more fish for the tally, but I enjoyed watching a few smaller fish rising in the flats while I sat and enjoyed the sunny mild weather for a couple minutes.  I was tempted to re-rig, but I just made a mental note to come back to this spot the next time I am here, perhaps with more than 10 minutes before quitting time left to work with.  Still, I had no complaints today.

Not a bad note on which to end.