 |
| Bonus round beauty |
I am not mad at September or this particular creek about
45 minutes from home. I also had a good
day here earlier this month and once as recently as late August too. I was hoping for a more significant rain,
sustained rain, but even a little bit helps sometimes. The graph on the USGS site probably looked
like the thinnest upside-down V possible, more like an EKG signal, but the
creek retained a little stain from the brief pop-up storms on Thursday and into
the wee hours this morning. I was even
met at 6:15 AM with a trace amount of drizzle, and the clouds lasted until 10
AM. All those factors added up to a good
morning of nymphing—well, mostly nymphing, I guess. I landed somewhere around a dozen fish, maybe
a couple more than that, with one beauty pushing 14+ inches and another maybe
12, but technically 5 or more of the other more average 8- to 10-inchers
actually ate Eric’s duracell on the swing down and across during a brief
morning hatch. Last time I was here, it
was caddis and splashy rises, but today they were just suspended up, so either
olives or midges. I see poorly enough in
high sun, so forget bug IDs before sunrise!
The water was not high or dirty enough to have any chance encounters
with the resident pigs, but a mess of plump hard fighting wild browns that were willing to eat made up
for that.
 |
| Some decent swingers early |
Because of the clouds and light rain, I actually took my
time getting dressed to wet wade and walk to my first spot, but I still had to
stand around waiting on the bank for some more daylight. A heron was not happy with me, and I even got
the very vocal business from a couple deer.
I was hoping that a rise or two might give away the position of a
pre-dawn fish, but the fish didn’t get active until about 6:30, so just before
sunrise. It wasn’t silly like the last
visit in higher water and with a strong bug presence, but it was steady for
over two hours. I mentioned catching
half a dozen swinging a small CDC jig in a deep run, and that was fun
early. When that petered out, I put a
heavier anchor fly on, a small bug with an oversized tungsten bead, and
starting working pocket water. A couple
decent 9 to 11 inchers cooperated early.
Every time I set the hook on a gentle take on the swing, however, I was
expecting a large fish to start tugging, but I was happy for the cooperative
fish of any size. I nearly launched a
young of the year into the weeds behind me, but other than that, the fish were
all decent size and feeling feisty in 64 degree water. It was not that warm out, and still there was
a little smoke on the water until about 8:30 or 9.
 |
| Smoke on the water and a number of average plumpers on E-Love's Duracell... |
A favorite deep run was disappointing, though I did pull
a couple out of there, and I even got another on the swing further downstream
before I needed to make a bigger move.
I debated working through some pocket water a short hike away, but
instead decided to walk downstream and inspect a section of creek that I have
not seen since the winter, maybe. There
is a deep run and hole that always has a few finicky risers. This hole is a winter midging spot too, but
since I always encounter more fishermen in this stretch, I don’t fish it as
often as other beats. I got to fish the
hole, and even took a bonus fish out of there, but I also ran into another
angler. We talked for bit, and he was
all about us giving each other space to fish.
He even remarked that he saw my car in the lot early and went somewhere
else on the creek—my kind of guy. I told
him how Eric and I got high-holed there in August even though both our cars
with TU stickers and other obvious signs of fishing gear were in the lot when
the mugger rolled up later in the morning.
I was in my bonus round by now, just enjoying the cooler change in the
weather that was working its way through, so I encouraged him to jump in ahead
of me or fish where he wanted. I was
ready to enjoy the walk back through the woods.
 |
| More fishies |
The sun gave me another break, peeking behind the clouds
again, and I could still see a few bugs around, plus some very small fish
rising in another flat hole, so I decided to fish that deep run that
disappointed earlier in the morning. I dropped one close to the bank after a
couple head shakes, so the next cast got a little too close to the overhanging
vegetation and hung up. I didn’t want to
blow up the hole since I actually had some action on my first cast or two, so I
broke the bugs off to go get after I fished the rest of the run. Good call.
Not only did I remember to go back and get my bugs, including that hot
Duracell that did so well in the morning and other mornings this summer, but I
also landed the best fish of the day here.
I decided to fish one size12 frenchie in the deepest darkest pockets,
and I did, but this pretty fish came out of 6 inches of water, of course. I like to fish one bug in this kind of water,
and when flows are less I will go as small as a single size 16 frenchie or
jig. Today, the size 12, even on 6X did
the trick and did not hang up on the bottom, staying in the strike zone long
enough to get eaten.
 |
And more fishies
|
This fish put up a good battle in heavy water. I took a couple pics in the net, like the one
that opens this post, just in case out of the net went poorly, and got a couple
shots in my hand before he dove for freedom.
What a great fish to end on, you know?
I checked my phone and it was after 11 AM. The sun was burning off the clouds again, but
the breeze picked up too. It was just a
good morning to take a deep breath and say, ahhh. It sounds like at least a day of fall preview
weather on Saturday, but my last experience with a cold front and fish this
month went as expected, so I will be sleeping in. My last order of business was to cross the
creek and go retrieve my bugs. I got them
both without falling in or losing everything, too. I left my pack and rod on the other side,
which was probably smart, although I had to re-cross and go back for them now,
so not a flawlessly executed plan. After
retrieving my stuff, I took the final walk back to the parking spot and avoided
the temptation of fishing that pocket water lingering in the back of my
mind. I had only stuck two fish and
dropped one in the final hour on the water, so I rationalized that it would be
a lot of work for little reward. It had already
been a pretty great morning. This is not
a creek that easily gives up double-digits, so with gratitude I just made the relatively
short drive home.
 |
| One more of bonus fish |
No comments:
Post a Comment