July 3, 2020 – A Whole Lot of Pink (and Some Brown) – Northampton County Limestoner

Oink....

Hot, you know?  I was happy to see one of my go-to spots had slightly higher than average flows when I checked the gages last night.  I have been itching to fish, but not really feeling a long drive to the beach if a pop-up storm was going to chase me off.  I even thought about the Big D, but even that was 78 degrees the other day!  My last trout fishing trip was decent at best, and the stream conditions were pretty mucky, low, and getting warm for a limestoner, but it would have to be limestoner and it would have to be an early and quick one if I was going to get out this week.  When I checked the water temp of this creek at 8 AM today, it was 65 in the shallows, so not bad.  Still, this is one of my favorites, so I have no interest in abusing the residents (or the holdovers who really seem to take it hard).  I began my walk-in just after 5 AM, and I fished until 9 AM and called it a day.  I only caught six or seven fish, I believe, but three of them were beauties!  All came on either Eric’s pinky bomb, the caddis version this time, or a pink tag fly—a lot of pink today, especially if you add in the colors on the heavy rainbows with fired-up gill plates and flanks.  But three browns, including a nice one over 16 inches, came out to play this morning, too.  Besides the pre-dawn waking and driving for less than four hours of fishing, followed by another hour drive home, it was a pretty fun July fishing day.

A couple of these too, which is nice.

When I arrived, I climbed down to the creek to relieve the bladder, and it looked like normal flows and limestone green.   I suited up quickly and took the sketchy land route to a deep riffle and hole instead of fishing my way up there.  There is a trico hatch on this creek, but I did not see them today, though there were some pre-sunrise splashy rises to dark caddis.  I was fishing with a mono rig on my 10 foot 4 weight, so not much casting was going to happen.  Instead, I went right to the deepest part of the riffle and dug a rainbow and then a decent wild brown out of there.  In this deep hole, it was the big pink 4mm bead caddis that got the attention of both fish.  They hit well and fought well, so I was happy that water temps seemed good.  I took a step at a time and thoroughly fished this prime spot, hoping for a pig brown not accustomed to visitors so early.  I thought I got my wish when I set the hook on my third fish of the morning.

Oink, oink....

It was not a brown, but it might have been a steelhead!  Or a redband football!  Holy crap, this was a fat, pristine rainbow.  It was definitely a multiyear holdover, a big male all kyped up with great fins and deep hues.  It would not be the first big rainbow I have landed in this hole over the years, maybe not even the longest, but it was definitely the biggest and widest.  I had no clue how to hold him up for a photo, and I had to revive him for a while, so I took a lot of pics while resting him.  I know the water is borderline warm now because the rainbows, even after a quick fight, tired quickly.  The browns raised in this creek are a tougher sort and went back very spry—two of the three jumped a foot out of the water during the fight and fought hard the entire way to the net, but still darted off strong, as they should in mid-60s.  Both times I took a water temp, it read 64-65 after a good long soak, but a bow this fat did not get that way from working out.  I stuck with him, head into the current, and he went back to the deep to fight (and eat again) but this long revive did prompt my first temperature check of the day. 

Normal flow, cool enough early

A favorite deep riffle and hole came up empty, so I tried smaller bugs for a while, and I did land another smaller wild brown on a pink tag fly about size 14 in some heavy riffles.  I ran into another dude fishing downstream with a spinning rod AND a fly rod, and we talked a bit as I let him pass down below me.  When he said he had some worms with him, I was worried that the last hole in this stretch would be a wash, but I actually caught two more rainbows before I climbed out and walked back along the road to my parking spot.  Before I landed a 12-inch rainbow that looked familiar from an early spring or winter trip (he was even in the same pocket) I was in a standoff with what felt like a pig of fish, almost like a carp or catfish but probably a big trout.  I hooked this big fish right in the heavy water under a plunge, and he would not move.  The standoff ended when I eventually tried to drag his butt out of there to no avail. 

Pink tag fly, Eric's pinky bomb in green caddis.

I got bounced and did not connect at another similar spot, but before I left I tried the same standoff spot and pulled a good 15+ rainbow out of there.  I don’t think it was the same one I had on before, but who knows.  This one bulldogged in place too but eventually reacted to side pressure and took a run out behind me.  I was standing in waist deep water at this point, and he almost went for my legs, but it ended well with a couple nice pictures.  This one went back in better spirits too, no prolonged nursing.  I took a water temp again, and it was still 65 degrees.  It was cloudy too, so I decided to try one more spot closer to where I parked in the morning before 80 degrees became 90 degrees, and I had to go home. The sun starting burning off the early haze as I walked.

Another pig holdover rainbow in pristine shape.

The parking lot was full of masked up cyclists and joggers also trying to beat the impending heat.  I quickly fished a couple rainbow holdover spots, and bridge spot that has often held at least one small brown.  I actually saw a brown chasing a rainbow several times.  I have heard that they will do that until they are exhausted if the bow or brookie doesn’t leave the brown’s lair—not good on a hot July day, but the two of them seemed to work out their differences.  I left this one alone but targeted a deeper yet quieter pocket on the other side.  I stood back and lobbed the bugs in and, using the sighter as an indicator, just let them swing for a second or two.  I lifted to set the hook when something felt fishy and, sure enough, I was attached to a good wild brown.  He ranged all over the confines of this hole, even took a big old leap in the air before I was able to bring him to the net.  All that fight, and he still went back in great shape, putting that porky rainbow to shame. It was 9 AM now, however, and the sun had burned off any remaining haze, so I did not push it any longer and headed across the creek towards the ‘Ru. 

Bonus brown to end!

 It was hot on the asphalt of the parking lot, that’s for sure.  I am afraid this heat is here to stay again too (if it ever left), so I was grateful to sneak one in this week.  Barring rain, a day of full clouds, or a cool night or two in a row, I don’t think I will harass the trout within an hour of home again for a while.  I would like to get one more good day in somewhere responsible, but the idea of leaving at 2 AM to go to State College and only fishing until 10 AM at best seems silly right now.  Talk to me in a few days, I guess.  I did rig up some ¾ oz bucktails and fluorocarbon leaders on a couple fluke rods, so maybe I will do that with the boy once the holiday weekend is over?  Maybe?  Hot out there....