October 28, 2020 – Not a Much of Anything but a Good Morning Anyway – Northampton County Limestoner

Nice one after a slow start.

Three fish in four hours, but one was over 15 inches and a stud and another was a novelty holdover tiger from who knows where.  I also landed a decent second wild brown after seeing some pre-rut flexing by a couple bucks, so it was not a bad morning.  It sounds like rain is coming, real rain this time.  It has been gray and drizzling for days, it seems, and I got rained on for a while this morning, but the creeks remain low.  I have been busy with work and my class, but I knew I was caught up enough to sneak out today.  The gages did not make my decision easy.  Where to go when nothing looks too promising?  I just headed for the Lehigh Valley in the morning and landed on the closest of my limestone favorites.  I had plans to hit a second one a little farther along the line, but my first fish of the morning, after nearly a fishless hour, was a gorgeous wild brown.  He was starting to color up for the fall, too.  After a nice battle including a couple in-close jumps on a short line, I was happy to take the 45 minute ride and stand in the chilly, damp conditions for an hour.  I did not expect much, so I was really happy to see this fella.  Like the other fish I landed today, he ate one of Eric’s caddis larva with a bit of squirrel collar and a hot spot.

Leafy, big old buck, caddis larva nearly on the bottom.

The woods were really yellow even in the gray skies, a sign of late fall on this creek.  As you can see from the photos, the water is full of leaves.  Not yellow, per se, but sycamores in particular fight well in current, especially if you get them by the stem and they get to spinning.  Another sign of fall was an encounter with two bucks.  As I made my way slowly through some pocket water trying my best not spook too many fish in low water, I saw a smaller buck cross the creek in front of me.  I dug for my phone to take a pic when he paused to look and listen, but he was quickly gone.  The reason for his departure was likely because he was being trailed by a much larger buck that had now begun his crossing.  I don’t think he was more than 6 points, maybe 8, but his chest and shoulders were massive, a big deer.  When I sent a pic to Eric, he confirmed my suspicion that with the rut coming this was likely a mild territorial dispute—like, keep moving there, youngster.  No signs of “rutting” fish yet, few signs of fish period.  I didn’t expect much, as I said, but I wasn’t willing to accept just one fish on such a gray, fishy-looking morning.

A cool novelty for fish #2.

Much of the pocket water that I love to fish was low and clear, so I stayed close to the bank and made longer casts than normal.  I had even taken the time to add another two feet of tippet after the sighter.  When I finally set the hook on another decent fish, I could tell right away it was not a brown.  I was thinking brookie?  Nope, it was a tiger of about 12 inches.  Based on the good fins but some regrowth on the tail, I would venture holdover that took a trip during the summer and decided to stick around.  I have caught a couple brookies in this stretch too, and a handful of rainbows, over the years, so I know they get in here despite it not being stocked in the Class A section.  One thing I have learned is that stockies get around.  He was cool looking and in great shape, even fought well, so I was happy for another fish and a novelty at that.  

Quit on three?

I was running out of productive water, so I was still kicking around the idea of heading to the second creek, but I had no confidence that fishing would be any better there.  I also knew the second creek was even lower, so I would have one or two spots to prospect at best.  Luckily, before I ran out of pocket water, I hooked another wild brown about 10 inches long.  This one was not as colored up as the larger male, but it probably fought better than the tiger if I am being honest.  Was three fish enough to quit on?  It was about 10:30 AM and still misty and raining.  No bugs in the air, no fish showing even in the dry fly water.  Was the fifteen minute drive to creek number two worth it for thirty or forty minutes of fishing if I was lucky? 

Some b roll

In the end, I decided to save the second spot for another short morning trip next week or something.   When I chose to call it a morning, it was about 11 AM.  Still early, I was able to pick up half a dozen fresh bagels on the ride home—the everything bagels so fresh from the oven that I was instructed to keep the bag open to let out the steam—and I put a no grading policy in effect at home, opting for a day off to rest the eyes from papers and computer monitors.  I have a streamer or two ready if Friday is not a blowout.  You know how these things have gone.  They say one inch of rain and it’s a tenth.  They are saying one to three for this one, so that is quite a range….

 

October 21, 2020 – More Bows but Made the Most of Low Water Woes – Brodhead Creek

Low for here, but finally some water!

I took a ride to one of my home away from home creeks this morning.  The water is low, but this is a big creek, so sometimes it is nice to see it this way.  For one, the low water reveals the structure that is often buried beneath four feet of rolling water.  And the second benefit is the ability to wade around without fear of bathing and personal injury.  In the upper reaches, the creek is sadly low, but I fished below the major tributaries today, hoping to get access to some pre-spawn browns.  The water tends to warm all summer down this end, so the spawn is a ways off, I think.  Not much bug life either, at least today.  It stayed cloudy and foggy until well after 12:30 PM when I headed for home, so maybe the sun would have sparked a few more caddis.  I did catch a mess of holdover rainbows, some on a big size 12 tungsten pheasant tail (larger mayfly or stonefly nymph hopes) but most on the size 16 CDC red tag fly on the dropper.  That does indicate that some of those caddies do emerge from time to time! 

Some bows early in bouncy water with small bugs.

I didn’t arrive until around 8 AM, having taken my time this morning.  The first hour has not been great this month with few exceptions, plus the first spot I wanted to visit is in a deep gorge that often stays cold and dark for longer.  Cold?  Hah.  In just one layer of insulation under a t-shirt, I was a fogging my glasses and swamping my ass by the time I made a creek crossing and waded down to a favorite set of riffle, run, riffle, run.  I was wading waist deep and cooling off in no time, however.  A couple smaller holdover rainbows cooperated in the first half-hour.  They were still in summer mode, or seeking cover in broken water, hanging right in the dark spots in the riffles.  I ended up getting only 5 fish in the first two hours or more of fishing, and they were all average rainbows.  Pretty, with white tipped translucent fins and deepening hues, but spring holdovers nonetheless.  I saw one little wild brown show himself chasing a caddis, and I got him to take a swipe behind a midstream boulder, but that was the only sign of these browns I was supposedly trying to target.  Waiting for a change of some kind—a hatch, the sun to burn off the fog—I fished a deep hole with a big stonefly and a worm on the dropper under a bobber for twenty more minutes with disappointing results.

Pretty holdovers in pocket water.

After fishing this too good to be barren run a second time and only landing one more bow, I had a decision to make.  I could take a humid hike down into the still bigger water and try to rouse something and/or take a skunk, or I could work up to a major trib and see what had gathered there during the warm months for thermal refuge.  I made the second choice, and it did mean numbers, though no brown trout.  On the way, I found myself at a spot that my old man (and Ward and others) spent a lot of time fishing until his passing last year.  It was an unintended bittersweet moment as I near the one year anniversary of his death.  I tried to catch a fish here for old time’s sake, but he never was much of a guide, more of a sport along to benefit from all my previous hard work scouting.  I took a picture to send to Wardman and kept moving to the tributary.  As I fished a couple side holes on the way up, I could see that another dude was fishing in the general area, but by the time I arrived he had moved well upstream.  I am thinking he did not fish this spot, or he was fishing without hooks!  Either way, it was fortunate for me.

The rare male rainbow?  One of two today.

In a deep run below a small plunge, in a place that is not often wadable, I found the motherlode of holdover rainbows, including a couple gorgeous males.  If you notice, the vast majority of stockies are female—one reason perhaps that more wild bows are not present in PA creeks?  It is kind of a novelty to find a pointy-headed and wide male, and I landed a couple of them in the final hour of the trip, along with at least 8 more rainbows of various average sizes.  The first couple pounced on the big fly as it swung down, but the majority took the smaller dropper, which I noticed at home was destroyed by these hungry things.  I figured 15 fish was worth all the driving, and I had some work to do at home, so I called it good around 12:40 and hiked out.

A couple ate the big fly.  This one chooses the supersized meal often it seems.

I had to strip off the layers for the ride home, but it was good to work up a little sweat on the Mighty-ish Brodhead.  It was so hard not to grab my streamer rod and head downstream, but when I checked with Tami, she had a request from the store on my ride home, so that helped me decide to call it for good despite the ever-present what if? that happens to me on this creek.  So many spots and so little time, and so many good times with my dad and my old friends, you know?  I will be back before they actually do start spawning in December, I promise, maybe even with a streamer if we get any rain!

Pic I sent to Wardman.  Tailout of our old hot spot with Joe!

October 19, 2020 – Still Limping Along in Low Water – Northampton County Limestoner

A promising start.

I had no set plans for today, but I was up early to use the bathroom around 4:30 AM, and by the time I got the cat to settle down from actually having a friend awake at that hour, it was clear I was not going to fall back to sleep quickly.  I worked a lot over the weekend and was caught up on grading for the time being, so I had half a day to kill, but I had no motivation to plan anything on Sunday.  Fall streams are often low, but most of the streams within an hour of home are significantly lower than normal right now.  I am just tired of the work it takes to put together a decent catch in these conditions, I guess.  That does not mean I didn’t get up and pack up to go somewhere this morning, however, and I did get a good handful between 7:30 and 11:30 AM, even if I had to settle for some holdover rainbows on the old san juan worm!

Low even for fall, worms and bows, a perdigon brown.

After watching the news about morning fog and clouds (though no rain in the 5-Day, of course) I decided to try the largest of my four or five go-to Lehigh Valley limestone creeks.  The last time I fished this particular one, I landed only two fish, but one was a pig wild brown.  I had another stretch or two in mind as I headed up this morning.  Thinking about that big fish, and anticipating low water, however, I grabbed my 10 foot 4 weight that I had rigged up with a mono rig, 6X tippet, and two really small bugs.  Water was low and clear, as expected, but I thought I made the right call and that it might actually get good today when I landed a decent wild brown on a perdigon on my third cast.  I worked the remaining pocket water and a favorite deep, braided hole without a bump, though.  Besides this one early fish, the only other highlight was pulling two good tungsten bugs out of the trees.  The water was low enough that I could wade in places that are typically over waist deep, so I went prospecting when I saw something shiny.

White-tipped and pretty holdover rainbows to end the morning.

It was early, so I decided to throw a hail mary at a certain waterfall where I knew there would be deep water.  I went from being a little hot and overdressed to a bit chilly as I sat in the spray behind the falls.  All the sudden my mono rig choice was not optimal, of course, but this was not the first time I had chunked a bobber and a worm on the old 20 lab Maxima—actually, I had 20, tapered to 15, taper to 12, so casting was not impossible by any means.  I almost didn’t trust my eyes when I saw the indicator pause the first time, but it was surely a hit.  I wasn’t as slow the second time I put a cast back in the same seam, and I landed my second fish of the morning.  It was probably now 10 AM, and this was a holdover rainbow all of 11 inches, but he fought well and his fins were tipped with white and his colors were great.  I will take it, I thought.  Working the slower seams of the deeper run behind the waterfall, I managed to pick up 3 more nice rainbows, all solid holdover fish in great shape and happy in the cold water.  

Two of them were plumper holdovers.

I tried to work back and forth across the face of the dam to see if I could put together a stronger showing, but in the end all four rainbows came from the same run, two on each side.  Even in this deep water, they knew the only chance for a meal they didn’t have to hunt down was to wait off to the side of the strongest current coming over the dam.  There was still a lot of debris and a couple tree-sized limbs down there, so when I broke off eventually, I just called it a day.  In the end, I was glad I stayed up and made the relatively short drive.  I told myself on the ride home that I might target a larger NEPA creek on Wednesday.  I just have to find the motivation to plan and pack on Tuesday!

Worth staying up this morning?

October 13 and 14, 2020 – Not Much Rain but Enough to Get Me Out of Bed… Twice! – Northampton County Limestoner

Look, Ma!  No stain!

The timing of this most recent storm was not great for me since it occurred mostly during the day on Monday when I was working, and the positive effects were all but gone by the time I could get out fishing on Tuesday morning.  I was hopeful for more precipitation, but I kind of knew when I went to bed on Monday night that the gages would be back to normal on Tuesday.  No matter, any bit helps, and with a little stain and some bug life, it ended up being a pretty decent morning.  I landed probably 8, and if I count a couple dinks, perhaps even10 fish, including a solid 14-incher and another over 12 inches during roughly four hours on the water.  One dude was arriving as I was going, probably hoping for some risers.  I did see a few taking midges, but the caddis were still just swarming in the trees as I headed for home.  Other than one women out for her morning walk, I had the place to myself.

Took an hour, but got some decent ones once they started eating.

It started out slow.  I am still in the mode where I show up at first light, but it often takes another hour for the fish to wake up these days.  It is still nice to be there at sunrise, even if I can’t see the sun because it is still drizzling and cloudy.  Only one fish gave away his location early, and I did not fool him the first time, but I think I landed him in the same spot two hours after he first showed.  I fished one of Eric’s caddis larva on the point until I lost it, though I did land my first fish on it, and then I fished a frenchie for a while with one of his green midges on the dropper, until I eventually settled on a red tag fly and a small pt dropper to fish through some pocket water toward morning’s end.  I got at least one on everything I threw, though only YOY on the midge, even though the adult bugs that were present were mostly small, small caddis and midges.  The fish were acting a little cold fronty, hitting lightly and not hanging on long early in the day, but the breeze only kicked up slightly and Wednesday was supposed to be warm eventually, so the barometer was not so bad in the end, I guess.  The best two fish came after 9 AM, both in pocket water, and I had a few other decent 9 to 10 inchers still in the heavier water, which I am fine with, of course.

One in the 14 inch range and more decent averages.

Because I knew fish lived there even if they were loath to wake up early, I worked through a favorite stretch twice before taking a longer walk to fish another stretch of pocket water.  It was a good call, as I landed four fish, including a pretty 12+ inch fish, during the second approach.  The second run of pocket water has been iffy since probably June, but it produced the best of the day today, a gorgeous and wide fish that was at least 14 inches.  I also landed a few more decent fish in this stretch before I ran into frog water.  It was here that I watched a couple solid 12 inchers midging, but I could not be convinced to cut off the nymphs and take a shot.  It was after 11 AM, and they were not moving with any regularity, so I decided that I should get home and finish some work for my class this evening.  

Maybe 10 fish, so not bad.

Speaking of cold fronts and fish taking their time getting up, this morning was when the high pressure really delivered the goods.  I did not see any frost, but it was in the mid-40s when I arrived at another Northampton County creek that sometimes holds the water after a rain for a bit longer—though not today.  I guess most of the rain on Monday was to the south or just really isolated?  This one was tough!  It was cold when I arrived so I took a walk to scout out a hole I have not fished in a few years.  The last time I was down there, another dude was fishing it when I arrived.  No one there today, but I passed a depressing sight upstream that does not bode well for this hole’s future.  I hope all the trees were sick, but it looked more like a someone wanted water views and grass right to the edge of the water.  Makes me sad, and I wonder how this happens on the banks of “exceptional quality” creeks, but money talks, I guess, or it’s easier to do the deed and then pay the fines later?  Anyway, it was a sad sight.  Fishing was not good either.  I landed a total of three young of the year on my size 16 dropper.  I had a few hits that were short and sharp but did not hold on.  That happens at times when they really don’t want to eat—cold morning, barometer wonky.  When two of my favorite holes were dead and low, I held out hope for a deep plunge at the high end of this stretch.  On the walk up there, I noticed a truck where I never see anyone parked, and sure enough another fly guy was in there. 

Hope it wasn't just for a creek view!

I fished the pocket water 300 yards downstream from him instead, and landed an uber dink, but he did not last long up there.  Things were tough for everyone, apparently.  We chatted as he was making his way back to his parking spot, and he said he had nada from the spot.  I am rarely deterred no matter how fishy looking a mitch looks, so I still waded up and gave it a shot.  I had two of those sharp short hits that did not connect, so I reached into my bag of tricks and pulled out an ugly fly.  Playing dirty pool with the double beaded san juan, I actually caught a good 13 inch fish.  Just to keep the bad luck alive, I did not manage to net the thing for a photo, however!  The hit was so light, so maybe I just barely had him because he came off as I was dragging him to the net.  I even think the fly had a barb!  It was just one of those mornings.

Low and cold, some YOY, and "cheating" to get one good fish...

I was encouraged by the hits and finally a good fish at this spot, so before heading for home I tried my two hot spots that had at least some water in them.  Nothing doing, and in the high sun, low water, and the leaf hatch brought on by the breeze, I was not expecting much no matter how hopeful and quiet my approach to the hole.  We still need rain, and I hear it may come at the end of the week.  Unfortunately, I have a busy week ahead, but I hope I can sneak out and take advantage.  October has not been awesome so far, but we are only half way through.  I also get a lot less busy after Halloween when I go from having five classes to having only three, so I trust that more trips are coming.  I was planning to go to IBSP with a couple mooks on Saturday, but I am not sure the timing of the storm swell and the warm ocean temps are going to make that worthwhile.  Again, plenty of time left in 2020, so I may just get another good night's sleep this week!

October 4, 2020 – Well, We Saw It in All Four Seasons Now – SEPA Blueline

Looking like fall.  A lot sneaking for some small but beautiful fishes.

Eric and I took our first fall trip to our little wild trout hideaway.  A handful of tree stands out there now that archery is in season, so Sunday is probably the only call for the foreseeable future.  That is fine since Sundays have seemed to work for both of our busy schedules anyway.  Eric was loaded up with a lot of new ties, mostly small in anticipation of the winter, but it was not a day to cycle through patterns.  We each caught a few small fish, and we spooked a couple slightly better ones even being as quiet and stealthy as we chose to be (no crawling today, though it may have worked).  As I expected the water was low and clear, and the fish were spooky as a result.  There were also some alterations made by the 100-year storm, but in the grand scheme of things, this creek fared very well.  There was the expected sand and gravel moved everywhere, and changes to the where the current flowed, some new trees downed and disappeared, in some cases, but most of our hot spots will be back with a little more rain and some recharged springs.   There were no new hot spots, however, so while the water was high during the storms, it did not scour out much in our favorite stretches to create any new deep wintering spots.

On the board early, but approaching from some distance was necessary.

I was throwing a small CDC jig with and even smaller dropper, a bright little pt variation with some CDC fibers for a tail.  All but one took this little dropper.  At least two of my fish were hooked at some distance, too.  I could tell right away that this was not going to be a day to get up on a hole and nymph with a tight line.   I was making longer casts and using the sighter leader as an indicator.  It was a dry dropper day, in all likelihood, but we both arrived with our long whips to nymph because Eric thought flows would be better than they were.  I should have known that a mostly-freestoner would be low, but now we both know better what to expect in the fall.  We did see some large adult caddis above the water, and many small caddis in the vegetation on the banks.  The little pt dropper probably worked because while turning rocks, we saw dozens of small mayfly nymphs, likely olives.  All the bugs were good signs of what could be on a better day.  A warmer morning with more flow and/or stain to cover our approach, and caddis could work.  A cold dreary day to spark a hatch of BWOs, and game on.  Today, well, we took what we could get.  Once the sun was up, that meant pulling fish from bouncier pocket water that covered our presence.

A widowmaker up there... for now.

At our two favorite bend pools, a few of the only places where fish will likely winter, Eric lost a decent one; and when it was my turn, I never had a chance without spooking a dozen fish in clear water, mostly since we had to approach from the side not below.  Even creeping, I had to hope that one aggressive or stupid one would break from the pack and eat my first cast.  Nope.  The good news is that a bunch of fish up to twelve inches were schooled up in the deepest holes, so they did survive the floods and are waiting for a better day to eat, a day when they feel more secure.  Hopefully, we can time a Sunday trip around one of these better days in the not too distant future.  Not an easy task with small freestoners, however.  I spend a lot of the winter targeting limestoners and tailwaters that are less prone to drastic changes due to air temps.  There is only one other similar stream to this one that I target, and it is hit or miss in the fall and early winter, though really fun in late winter and early spring when the stoneflies and olives get active again.  Nice days seem to be the call, as the warmth wakes them up, but then you have to deal with sun and shadows, so it can be tough either way.

A little pt, many BWO nymphs present.

I am on the board for October after a surprisingly decent September, and Eric and I have seen our secret spot in another season and got to do some post-storm reconnaissance.  It was just a great autumn morning to be in the woods, regardless of the spooky fish.  A couple of the more mature ones we caught early were changing colors already, so another future treat will be walking with or without a fly rod later this fall to see where the redds are located.  I have few ideas of where they may set up to spawn here, but these small creeks are a puzzle on that front too.  For all I know, these fish move quite a distance or sneak up tributaries to take care of business.  Part of the fun of learning a new creek is trying to find out.  In other words, we will be back.