September 26, 2020 – A Little Better Morning Walk with a Fly Rod – Northampton County Limestoner

Double digits at least today

No lasting substantive change in the weather, so I still had guarded expectations this morning, but a hint of rain and a lot more clouds helped today creep slowly up the fishing charts. Uninspired, I bagged it and rolled over on Friday.  It was a busy week, and I needed to fish, but sleep sounded better at the time.  Today, I willed myself to the coffee, and it was worth it in the end.  I fished mostly small bugs on 6X and did a lot of sneaking around and slow wading to avoid pushing a wake through the few remaining deep holes.  A pink tag fly took a couple, and so did a frenchie with a chartreuse hot spot, both size 16.  The first hour of fishing from about 7 AM to 8 AM was dead, so I learned something potentially useful about the slowly changing habits of the fall trout at my local hot spots, but I picked up around 10 fish from 8 to 11 AM before I headed for home.  Most were smaller fish, though not true dinks, but a couple of them were about 12 inches, one maybe more, which is still fun on a small creek.  I had the place to myself on a Saturday morning, which was a bonus too. 

Friggin' Chad loves low water

I had about 20 seconds of real excitement in the lower light hours when I winged a big old white sucker.  I think I am calling him Chad.  He should have a name.  I have hooked and/or landed this fish a half a dozen times or more.  Why?  Because the darn thing must jockey for this prime soft seam with a big brown or two on the regular.  I always fish this pocket whenever I fish this creek because I have hooked, landed, or lost a few great browns and even a massive bow one time.  And then there are the times when I’ve hooked this beast somewhere.  Sometimes it’s the mouth and I land him, and sometimes it’s a brief tussle that breaks me off, and sometimes—like today—it’s a pectoral fin and I still end up landing him.  Gotta respect his choice of lair, at least.  He rarely shows when the water is up and bouncier, but Chad dominates in these conditions.  We didn’t totally mess up the spot because I did land one 9 incher before I moved on, but I made a note to try this spot again before heading home, especially now that Chad had had his morning constitutional.

A few shots of this one: Grateful for the real-size fish, I guess.

Thankfully, things improved after that.  Persistence in a tough little plunge pool paid off and after taking a couple smaller fish I was able to drag a solid 12-12+ out of there—the pretty one that opens this post and is also pictured above.  This is another spot where, when conditions are right, I have landed fish to 16 inches, so I was excited when this one stood his ground for a beat or two before taking a run.  Even though in the end not big, I was still happy to see a good fish come to the net in these low clear water conditions.  After watching a few fish spook in a deep flat spot as I walked the bank as quietly as I could, I worked through some shallow pocket water and landed one more 8 incher on a single frenchie.  I was holding out hope that the last plunge pool on this stretch would give me some numbers and/or size, but as I approached slowly I was not all that hopeful.  The water was lower than when Eric and I fished this creek a couple weeks ago and much clearer.  I usually don’t have to sneak up to this one or watch my wading too much, but I did take precautions this morning.  It paid off because I landed two decent fish and another average one before I disturbed the hole too much.  Rested it and tried the weenie, but nada.

Only one pic of this one but still grateful!

I tried two spots on the walk back downstream, the first the plunge where I landed the best of the morning, but I did not even get a bump, even with one heavier bug that I was certain was in the strike zone for at least a foot or two each drift, the second Chad’s hole where I was hoping to land a bonus fish on which to end my morning walk.  Well, no small stream pig would come out to play this morning, but as I inched my way up to the head of the run, I did land one more pretty and pretty respectable small stream fish.  It was still cloudy and comfortable, but I was at a loss for where to fish at this hour on a weekend that would be productive and not occupied, so I tried one last deeper riffle and called it good.  In this current lull I am experiencing/projecting/imagining, I will take a double digit day and a couple double digit fish.

Starting to color up?