March 20, 2020 – Another Successful Day with the Mono Rig – Saucon Creek

At least four plumpers in the mix.

I left the house a little before 9 AM this morning and headed towards Bethlehem, unsure of which Lehigh Valley limestoner I would target.  I figured the rain would have the Bushkill running high, and the Monocacy stays dirty longer than the Saucon.  Saucon is also under an hour from home, so I headed there first, figuring I had the day and could jump around if I had to.  It was foggy and cloudy on the ride up, and it stayed that way most of the morning and early afternoon.  I even got rained on for a while.  Honestly, I almost turned around and headed elsewhere when I saw another fly guy suiting up in the lot of the first stretch I wanted to fish, but we had a nice chat and happened to have two different directions in mind, so it all worked out.  Maybe it’s the social isolation in place now, or the fact that I am 25 trips into the young year and having a good start, but the crowds have not been irking me.  I even had a nice talk with female fly fisher—one of two, she told me—at Valley yesterday, and we bonded over catching the same big trout in the same log jam in recent months.

Slow start

The plan was to fish some prime pocket water with the mono rig and small bugs.  The water was slightly stained and running a tad high, perhaps higher than I initially estimated.   I stuck with the small bugs for a while, especially because only midges were active for the first hour, but once I started seeing olives and larger midges around midday, I put on two heavier bugs.  That was a good move.  I landed about a dozen fish, and a couple took the small hot spot pheasant tail dropper I have been using to imitate emerging olives, but the hot fly today was definitely a grubby hare’s ear on the dropper, a little brown nothing, small profile on a bigger competition hook.  I am a firm believer that a well-presented fly will trump a particular pattern most days, as long as you are close, and time of day could have had everything to do with it, but this little fly got them chomping today.  In the first hour, I landed one little holdover rainbow and one small brown, but in the last two hours I landed a bunch of wild browns, another better bow, and the requisite sucker.  I even think I miffed on a really good fish.

That hot, nothing fly.

Like yesterday, midday saw an influx of anglers, but I had tangled with at least 10 fish by 1 PM and got two more before it got too warm for my liking and water consumption.  Because fishing had improved, or my rig had gotten more effective, or both, I worked through the same run of pocket water twice and caught fish both times before moving to the stretch where most of the other fishermen seemed to want to target.  In a hole where I have had a lot of luck, but have also tangled with a sucker at least twice, I landed a big white sucker that barely fit in the net.  A little further downstream, I dropped my nymphs in a small, prime spot and got a gentle take just about on the swing.  Because of the downstream angle of the drifting line and some trees around, I had to come nearly straight up on the hook set, not downstream on the fish.  When the fish came off in one heavy headshake, I had that knowing, sinking feeling that I had missed the best of the day.  I guess I have just caught enough large trout on the nymph to know how they usually take the bugs.  This was near the end of my trip, and I was fishing water that had been targeted all morning, so I did not think through the end game if a fish hit in this little bucket of a spot, nor did I expect a pig at 2 PM in the sun with all this activity on the creek.  Next time, I hope.  I have moved a good one near here with the streamer, even seen a handsome pair on redds in the area last year, so I should have been on my A game, I guess.

A handsome one.

Like the shock of seeing so many other anglers on a weekday, even seeing a spinner fisherman with a nicer trout in the net, out of the water, for far too long while he looked for I don’t know what (camera, hemostats?), I can shake off that irksome feeling pretty quickly these days.  I landed a few nice, plump wild browns—at least two close to 12 and at least two over 12—and I had fun with the new rig.  The Silver Fox jinxed me, though.  When I told him I was experimenting with a mono rig on Valley yesterday, he joked that Tenkara was next.  Well, wouldn’t you know it…. I did land a good fish without the reel.  After retying or releasing a previous fish, I hadn’t noticed that the leader had gotten wrapped around the tip of my rod, and after I set the hook on a strong fish, I quickly realized that neither he nor I was going to get any more line to work with.  I played the fish more gently than normal and took pains to keep him upstream of me and, finally, voila, in the net, Tenkara, yo.  I think that a heavier running line that retains limpness but adds some diameter, strength, and possibly abrasion-resistance may have to factor into my next leader formula, as it will probably stop this from happening again.  It was fun, but if I lost an 18 incher and broke my rod tip, that would not be awesome. 

Landed Tenkara style, though not on purpose....

When the sun came out around 1:45 PM, it got hot out, but the change also seemed to cause a little spurt in bug activity.  After watching a few risers not far from where I parked, I considered running up to the ‘Ru and getting my other rod.  Instead, I snuck up behind the risers and gently dropped my nymphs—sight fishing anyway.  Well, I landed a little brown this way, as well as another rainbow, this one a bit bigger and feistier than my first of the day.  That was enough for the day, I figured.  I took my time walking back and getting undressed, had a snack and some water, even talked to the same guy I saw first thing this morning for a minute.  Even with a couple stops for supplies for the house and cheap gas, I was home before 4 PM when it was inching close to 80 degrees in late March. It is still creepy to see all the flowering trees popping already, but I am seizing the day, even if it’s not the right day, and trying to catch my first striped bass of the year on Sunday.  Jeff and Dolf already have nasty bloodworms and salted clam.  Word on the street is the fish they are here…

Sight-fished a couple to end.  And the sucker has been lobbying for a shot for a few months.