March 30, 2021 – Went for Broke and Landed One of Two Good Ones – Lackawanna River

I'll show my face with this one!

Having grown bored of Northampton County limestoners, and impatient for Opening Day and access to more creeks and sections of creeks, I took the two-hour drive to NEPA today to fish the Lack.  Two rain events, residual snow melt, and apparently a recent release from the Stillwater impoundment too, all had me second-guessing my decision on Tuesday night.  But the gages were dropping steadily all day yesterday (and Tuesday) so when I checked again at 3 AM Tuesday morning, I had a gut feeling it would be sporty but fishable.  I have not fished the river at this time of year, which is one of the other reasons I wanted to go now in March, but I have a lot of experience with bigger freestoners in spring high water, even winter high water.  I was going to fish big stones unless a hatch happened, and I was looking for a few nice fish, maybe one big one, not a double-digit day.  To give the river even more time to calm down, I decided to spend a couple hours fishing a new section at the upper end of the Class A section.  It was 29 degrees to start, and even in a knit hat, buff, and fingerless gloves, I needed a walk to get warm enough to brave the cold currents in new water. 

Started out in new water.  Thanks, beaver, for all the cover (and snags) in the water!

The river is pretty urban and suburban its entire length, but this section looked even more loved.  Not the trash and weird discarded junk like the lower half, but more silting and straight channeled spots.  High, most of it looked pretty uniform, but I was happy to land two decent fish over 14 inches out of the same isolated juicy spot.  I only caught four fish all day and lost a monstrous fifth one, but I pretty much called my shots on each one.  In water this high, it’s often not rocket science, granted, but they were not pushed up against banks.  It wasn’t that kind of high.  In fact, if the water was warmer, it was the kind of flow where active fish could have been in all the slightly softer seams.  No, today they had their noses in the heads of plunges and runs, sheltering in place under and adjacent to current.  These first two fish hit right at the lip of a riffle washing over a totally submerged log or boulder, which eventually ate my bugs too, so probably wood.  Both fish took a caddis larva on the dropper.  When I started getting warmer and saw that I had spent two hours here, I decided to climb out and take a ride to another spot downstream.  Multitasking, I missed the turn for this other new spot, but I saw I was close to a favorite access point anyway, so I just headed that way.  It is always easier to fish high water in familiar territory anyway.

A couple chunky fish at the new stretch while the water dropped and it warmed up.

With my wading staff for extra insurance, I was able to cross the river at over 430 CFS (normal for this early in spring is still a hefty 380 or so but 200 or less is nice, you know?) to get the right approach on a couple favorite holes.  The water had visibility at least 18 inches deep, but it was deceptively pushy, so besides that crossing and back (twice, actually) it was not a day to head out too deep.  Even though I kept a heavy size 10 jigged pheasant tail or a stonefly with close to 4 mm tungsten beads on the point all day, because little stoneflies and some olives were present, even some dark caddis in one spot, I had a small quill body dropper with a black bead on higher in the water column too.  The best fish I landed today ate that size 16 nymph.  I could see he had the dropper, and I was in a deep hole with minimal places to eff me over, so I let him fight to insure a clean landing.  The fish was not 20, but it was a thick one about 19 inches and just gorgeous.  This is what I drove for, so I was landing this fish!  My best fish of 2021 so far, I even took the patented self-fish to document the occasion before letting him swim back to the depths.

Had to take a classic wet hand with fish shot too.

I landed another fish and had one completely take the dropper in another hole downriver, my only one left of this particular bug, but I worked hard for a couple hours after that without even a bounce.  Most of the water I fished was really moving, so I did not call out but one or two spots that did not produce.  Wading was off the table in places, so in order to get into one favorite hole, I had to creep through a backyard or two and talk to a dude at the grill, but even that spot did not pan out.  After another break, instead of heading home, I decide to go for it and chunk a streamer for the last hour or so.  By now it was in the 60’s and the water had continued to drop and warm, so it was not a total long shot by any means.  I did my original crossing for the second time and tried to see if the hole where I landed the good fish this morning had another.  Nope.  But another spot downstream where I have landed a few really nice fish, that one did not disappoint—well, let me think about that.

Some pics of a sporty, early spring river.

I had been fishing some of Eric’s flies all day, and I wanted to get one on his grinchy streamer creation.  Well, I did get one, but the fight did not end with me slipping the net under my second piggie of the day.  I casted upstream and stack-mended to get the bug deep since I had no follows in this hole using the traditional streamer methods.  As the line got parallel to me, I used the downstream bend in the line to give the bugger some action, and I had a soft grab.  When I set the hook, I almost thought I was snagged, which is the sign of a big fish (or a sucker who’s been flanked or finned).  It was a good fish and acted like a big wild brown.  I never saw the fish beyond one deep flash of gold, but it was heavy.  With a 6 weight and 2X, I brought the fight to him and kept him in closer and out of the heaviest current.  Just when I was hoping to catch a glimpse, the streamer just pulled free.  That rarely happens to me, especially after I had already fought the fish.  Jump a fish and get the bugger back?  Sure, that happens a lot.  But not just pull free.  I had no clue why it happened, but since I had one good fish on the day, I didn’t sweat it too much (a little of course, but no adrenaline dry heaves).  I was ready to cast aspersions at Eric’s bugger.  I was asking why I didn’t throw Sam’s roberdeau, which has not failed me yet on big trout.  But later today, Wednesday when I am writing this, I was in the garage and looked at Eric’s bug.  It was nobody’s fault but mine!  I had pinched the barb down on the big size 4 hook.  I remembered tossing the same one at Valley, and at our little hideaway spot, and I had done that so I didn’t hurt the many small fish taking the bugger that day.  And the thanks I get for taking care of the little ones is that an alpha just pulls free.  I definitely did not fight this fish like I had a barbless hook.  Side pressure, angles to throw him off, muscle to keep him out of boulders, the works.  Nobody’s fault but mine, but I was too tired to have bad dreams, and I did already have a self-fish with another good fish from earlier in the day, so mission accomplished even if it could have been even better.

Bugs, sunset(ting), requisite Lack Christmas ornament among the flotsam pic.