August 7, 2020 – Six Hours of Silly Fishing for Trout in August? - Valley Creek

Some good ones in the mix, but no big mama/papa.  This one has met a treble hook....

Isaias came through with a vengeance a couple days prior, and the creek was certainly altered, but as the water cleared allowing the cooler water temps to return, the fish were feeling frisky today.  Not quite used to how many minutes of darkness grow each day, I arrived way too early, but I was in place and ready to fish before sunrise at least.  With gray skies, it really took until after official sunrise at 6:05 AM to be able to see a sighter in my leader, but based on the time stamp on my first fish pic, I was already on the board by then.  The basic pink san juan worm.  If I had stuck with that for all 6 hours on the water this morning, I might have landed 50+ fish.  Instead, after catching 25 or more, I switched to a streamer to fish back to the parking spot. 

Def there early but fish were too.

After the silly number of fish from 6 to 12 inches, I wanted to try and move a good one in the deeper holes where the stain was still prevalent.  I have not been in the park since it was closed for Covid in March; the trip with Tom last month was my first trip to Valley at all during Covid, in fact.  Small changes would have occurred since then for sure, but the tropical storms this summer have really messed up a couple of my go-to spots.  I had a few of these in mind to target with the streamer when I made the switch, so I had to make do with what I had.  That goes for equipment too.  To end the trip, I was throwing a small bugger on my 10 foot 3 weight nymphing rod, just some 4 X tippet added to my nymphing leader.  I know I missed a few fish that I would not have missed with a shorter, stouter rod, but I got to practice my strip set, anyway.  The one better one I lost was due to being unable to control him well: full bend in the rod, downstream of me, and he went right under a big rock with the bugger in his mouth.  He came off as I rushed down to try and change the angle or get him to swim out.  At least I established that I could throw a bugger with the long whip and that competition nymphing line—not that I would choose to again—and I could adapt without hiking back for another rod to throw if I had to in the future.

Basic pink sj worm with small tungsten bead

I witnessed the stream clear in real time, and the water temp go from 66 to 64 in that same window, so conditions for nymphing actually improved, I bet, but the streamer was a lot of fun.  I did move a couple 14 to 15 inchers, one that hit at the surface on the bank, basically.  I landed another 10 on the streamer up to 12 inches, and I lost the better one, but most of the responses were territorial swipes and rolls.  I had no heart-stopping rolls from big mama or papa, but just the number of flashes and follows was worth the switch.  I was in the TCO shop to buy boots on Thursday, and I chatted with Sam’s buddy John for a long time.  Like me, he had a big fish come after a hooked dink this summer, and he noted that the fish are a bit crazy and territorial this summer for some reason.  My experience today gives credence to that.  Not necessarily eats, but just responses to flies are out of character.  They are definitely looking up for terrestrials too, as I had the bugger attacked as it landed several times, and I even had a couple fish follow one that I hooked on the bugger.  Even in the crowded park, the non-human inhabitants of the world have a newfound sense of devil may care security—that is my theory, anyway.  I have had more surreal daytime encounters with foxes, deer, birds of prey this summer than I can remember.  I hope they don’t somehow know that they will be taking over soon!

Photoshop that mess out for the engagement pics?

I watched a 30 foot tree fall in real time around 7 AM, so I should have expected all the alterations to the park.  A well-known cement dam was comprised enough that I wondered if the last dam before the river was finally breeched; it has been moving that way for some time now.  I should have asked the masked park ranger out for a damage assessment stroll, but I didn’t think of it at the time, nor did I hike down to see for myself.  Besides the dams, a favorite photo op for engaged couples was also pretty jacked up.  Some of my favorite down trees from way upstream were pinned under it, and the stone work on the banks seemed damaged too.  A large telephone wire (I hope) and pole were also down in this area and running just above the surface of the creek.  I did not photograph the six foot deep cuts in the softer banks, probably because they gave me the same sinking feeling I get when I walk the Wissy and see all the damage.  Gravel was deposited in new places and limestone and harder surfaces were exposed in others.  The creek was definitely flowing on Route 252 for quite a while.  It's no wonder the water temp had been as high as 74 degrees during and after the storm.

A lot of alterations to the man-made and natural environment

I only ran into one other dude fishing tenkara and a couple young bucks with spinning rods around quitting time.  Pressure from gear fishermen is present but not as bad as it had been in May in the Lehigh Valley, for example.  One of the better fish I photographed had lip damage that was certainly not done by a perdigon or even an articulated streamer….  I also noticed a torn lip on another average fish as I was editing photos.  O, Covid-19 when will you allow people to go back to work and school, so I can get my spots back!  As I noted above, before switching to the streamer I had many, many eats on the pink san juan on the dropper tag and many hits from little guys too.  I only hooked one YOY that stayed on long enough to identify as a trout not a minnow, but it is getting to that time of year where I avoid the midge because last year’s brood is big enough to party.  In marginal spots, they can border on annoying, so I avoided those marginal spots today.

Some decent ones on the bugger

I know that a heat wave is supposed to return next week, but August has felt good so far after such a tough end of July.  It is not uncommon for me to only log two or three trips in August, but this year it was July that was light.  I am supposed to fish with Eric on Sunday somewhere, probably one of my quartet of unnamed “Northampton County Limestoners,” so August already has the potential to be more fishy than July.  I had to do a little work last evening in case we do go.  The bugger put a nice twist in that light competition fly line, so I spent some time unfurling line yesterday before I rigged up again to nymph.  I was throwing a small bugger, but the light tippet probably did not help the thin line much.  Some lessons must be learned or, in this case, ignored in order to have fun and catch fish.  I often carry an extra reel with a traditional tapered 3 weight line, especially if I am fishing all day or hiking a long way from the ‘Ru and want the flexibility to change to dry fly or even indicator fishing.  I should probably spring for the spare spool for this reel but, as I may have mentioned, I am looking to buy a new net too for the fall.  You may notice I used a big net today, trying to get used to it, trying to avoid the mishap of my last trip, but I don’t love this one that I found on the Brodhead—too deep and a little snaggy for my taste.  I dropped 250 on some G3 boots this week, so both will have wait!

Moved and hooked some better ones but settled for many Valley-average/average+