September 2, 2020 – September Starts Much the Way August Ended – A Couple Northampton County Cricks

Pretty, low

More recon today, I guess, but I was hoping that the periods of rain and gray conditions might spark a little something with an old flame.  I have not fished the first creek I visited today since January of this year.  I can’t tell you why I didn’t fish it this spring, except that it has not been great the last few times, so I don’t feel the old pull.  When I wrote about it in January, I mentioned that I had to dig back until December of 2018 for priors.  It used to be a favorite—and it has been cyclical over the years so it may be a favorite again—but some new posted land and a lot more stocked rainbows showing up in the Class A waters have contributed to its decline in my little black book.  I also encountered worm chuckers and all kinds of New Jersey readers of Keystone Fly Fishing during the decline—no offense meant to Jersey (I am married to a Jersey girl) but out of state plates indicated to me that this one was headed the challenging way of other Lehigh Valley destinations with cold water.  I think it will be back, however, especially when it loses favor again.  Its name has not been dropped in a YouTube video to date.

More bows

The dude who posted some of my favorite spots had plans to make a business out of renting his house and allowing private access to the creek.  It was never that kind of destination, I am afraid, and I knew it would not hold up to too much pressure.  I also know that it is nothing special without a little rain or a hatch.  But even on tough days, the little wild browns used to fill in the gaps, not these skinny bows that got pushed down by storms.  A glimmer of hope: I spooked a wild brown pushing 20 inches when I was quitting an old favorite hole and crossing the creek to head to destination number two.  Before that, I thoroughly worked some pocket water and two or three high percentage holes for three holdover rainbows.  The storms did some damage, but most of it was on the roads and embankments.  A PENNDOT crew starting closing the road and making a lot of noise by 8:30 AM.  In talking to one of the dudes around 9 AM, I learned that I would not be able to drive to another nearby stretch I had intended to fish without a long detour, so I decided try to two former honey holes one last time and then take a relatively short drive to assess another creek in the area.

Cold but mud all over the place

The Silver Fox and I fished this second creek in August, and it was a mess where we fished.  More rainbows, too, that day, though I did catch one average wild brown.  Well, the two other access points that I visited today may have been worse—not littered with trash and debris like the section we fished last time but more altered in the streambed. All that sand from ball fields, gravel from lots, mud from meadows was deposited in the stream.  A bunch of parking lots were closed for repair and some bridges that were closed last time were still cordoned off.  This time, however, crews were actively engaged in making emergency repairs to them.  I was able to access and fish within a pair of township parks, and flows were not terrible.  I just did not have the time to wander around looking for the new deep water. I went as far as to park myself under a waterfall for 30 minutes and drown a green weenie under a bobber, just to try and avoid a skunk on creek number two.  The skunk here, unfortunately, was unavoidable today.  The true irony is that I got rained on most of the morning, and yet I never saw the water rise even an inch or ever stain.  It was just an unsteady drizzle, the kind of promising rains that fizzled out at the end of August.  New month, same old tease for now.  And my old flame is a dog?