March 12, 2020 – From SGLs to Posted Signs to Keystone Select – NEPA

A fool's errand, but an enjoyable, aerobic one.

The Silver Fox and I took a full-day tour of some of my old and current stomping grounds in the Poconos.  Without accounting for low flows due to zero snow melt this winter, I suppose, the plan was to search a couple spots in State Game Lands for wild browns and brook trout.  Tom loves small stream fishing, and he has shared a couple of his trickles with me, so today the plan was for me to march him through at least two of my old favorites.  We ended up getting in an enjoyable and aerobic hike, as this first spot is mostly a steady climb uphill in a gorge buffeted on each side with rhododendron and rocky peaks. 

Looked like the spot....

The flow looked a little low, but I was encouraged that I caught a little four-incher at the first spot we stopped for a breather.  Until you get into the headwaters, this creek involves fishing for skittish wild brown trout in brook trout water, so it is not easy unless you get some help from a caddis hatch and/or good flows.  One gets them in the current picking off nymphs, so you have some cover, the other just plain covers the sound and sight of your approach—maybe even allows you to skitter a dry….  We had clouds, even a brief sleet shower, to shield us a bit today, but the flows were just too low for this early in the spring/late in the winter.

The brookie version of browns.

When we arrived in a prime stretch and fishing was slow, I was worried that my little spot had fallen into decline, but eventually we began spooking more fish, probably a couple dozen of them in the end, set up in shallow tailouts waiting for bugs that never showed.  We landed a few beautiful little wild browns, but fishing was not good enough to commit to the second creek I had in mind, also an uphill hike.  When decision time came for a move, we instead hiked downstream from the spot where we entered the woods to a couple holes where I have had success in the past.  It’s been at least four years, maybe more since I have been here, but the two holes were still intact.  We caught one little one in a hole that should have held the best of the day before we spooked the others, and we surprised another fish in the second hole even before having to reach in for snags.  Because of postings, fresh ones (more on that below), we could go no further downstream.  It was 2 PM by then, anyway, and we were close to the ‘Ru, at least in distance not altitude (!), so I pitched something different for round two: very freshly stocked, like one day in the water, Keystone Select monsters in Stroudsburg.  

Something completely different.

Because of a long detour, we ended up crossing over the Mighty Brodhead up by one of my favorite stretches.  Fishing is off limits in the general regulation sections across the state, but Tom humored me for a walk to see firsthand if there were any changes to a spate of postings that went up last year.  Because of the rain last year, I didn’t fish this part of the creek much last summer and fall when it was all going down, and when I fished the creek with Jay late in the fall of 2019, we steered clear of this section except for an inconclusive drive-by.  Well, I had heard rumors that folks like local guides and the TU chapter were trying work with the landowner to keep open a section that has been open to fishing for as long as I can remember.  Your may recall that I have fished this creek since the late 80s!  Our walk confirmed that a lot more work needs to be done, unfortunately.  It took a while to shake off the disappointment, though I was prepared for what I found.

Alive!  Alive!

When we rolled up to the lot for the DHALO stretch of McMichaels, there were 5 or 6 vehicles there and a few fishermen visible from the road when I took a reconnaissance drive downstream.  So be it, we thought.  Recently stocked trout, so it was to be expected, and the usual decorum about space would be relaxed too.  We just decided to rig up and find an unoccupied or recently vacated hole or two.  The first run with any depth came up empty, but we saw a spinner guy downstream in a deep hole lose a big fish.  When the deep hole ahead of us cleared, we worked in and found a decent rainbow.  Not long after, I drug a big bug, a size 12 hot spot jig, near the sweet spot of the hole and got to tangle with my first of two Keystone Select delegates.  This one was a really quality looking brown of at least 18 inches with nice fins and colors, not your average brood stock released after the prime of life. 

A net meant for brook trout...

I had been giving Tom first shot or his choice of water (head of run, tail of run) but I really concentrated on letting him lead after that.  Fish were barely hitting, and the drastic changes in depth meant making a lot of tedious adjustments in order to hit one on the head and make it eat.  I call it ugly fishing: dragging attractors through deep, muddy holes in cold water, but then again, I had caught a big brown.  I wanted Tom to get one, ugly fishing or not.  He missed a couple and saw me miss a couple, but when I left him alone during the last 20 minutes of fishing, he landed 2.5 (one broke him off) without me coaching or watching—I did see one clear the water with an impressive leap from my vantage point downstream.  I didn’t quit fishing, just gave him space in a good hole that had active fish.  I went down to fish the deep, flat hole by the parking lot, looking for another one of those delegates.  I found one, this time a rainbow over 20 inches.   Ugly fishing, but it is still fun to mess with two outsized trout in an afternoon.  She went back healthy, and so did the brown, so maybe a kid or someone new to the sport will also get a momentary thrill.  For us, it turned the page after a rougher, tougher morning chapter.

And even bigger.

It would have been equally fun, perhaps more fun, to have Tom land one of them, but he was there with me for both, so we some had laughs, and I had a photographer for the second pig.  Same sentiment with the morning.  Few others would be so game for a fool’s errand on his day off.  Two 50-year-old dudes huffing up a mountainside to land 5 or 6 tiny wild fish in 45-degree weather with some beef sticks and canned lattes between us.  It was a good day to be oblivious to the world too, as COVID 19 finally triggered a state of emergency in my state and county.  Tami, Lukas, and I will be home for a minimum of two weeks, so I lost my home office just in time for the start of my next three classes.  I am fortunate and grateful that the nature of my job permits an online-only option, however, and my office away from home will be open if I need some sanity.  I ran into Eric in the neighborhood and talked about Sunday morning, and Tom texted about Saturday, so great minds think alike?