May 31, 2021 – Yay, Rain! Boo, Cold! Yay, Fish! - Northampton County Limestoner

A few decent nymph fish in the mix and a lovely morning to be out.

Instead of running out at the first sight of rain in some time, I took the old bull approach and waited a couple days.  I can’t say that I caught more as a result of my patience, but I caught fish.  My stream selection was spot on, at least, as this creek remained stained and about 10 CFS higher than normal.  That allowed me to sneak through pocket water without disturbing them too much, and I probably picked up 20 fish, mostly smalls and averages, between 6:30 AM and when I quit at noon.  The fish, they don’t love these big swings in temperatures/weather patterns, even if the pattern swings the way I want it to, as was the case this weekend towards cool (albeit 20 degrees cooler).  To go from mid-60’s to mid-50’s in water temps (more extreme in air temps) so quickly, that had them feeling a little off, I bet.  To that end, early in the morning I definitely chinned and even tail hooked a couple fish—often a sign they are feeling a little standoffish.  Things improved as it warmed up.

Round one, the green walts was high hook, along with the 18 riffle nymph.

Eventually, in my first walk, I put together a catch of over a dozen fish, and at least one over 12 inches, picking apart pockets and tucking small caddis larva and midge patterns under overhanging cover.  A couple of my favorite spots, a couple of them bigger fish spots, proved empty for me this morning, which was a little disappointing.  I also ran into one other pleasant fly guy, so we may have hopscotched each other without knowing.  He also caught some fish but was having a tougher time than me (the early bird old bull was me in this case).  There has been more pressure here from gear guys too as of late, so maybe the deep holes had been targeted by the young bulls in the rain this weekend.  Or the better fish might have just been feeling a little off, as I already speculated.  Smalls gotta eat; larger fish have the luxury of skipping a meal once in a while.

Pink blowtorch after I noticed a few caddis on the water.

After talking to dude around 10:30 AM, I was about to walk back and call it a morning, but I started seeing a smattering of caddis at the hole I fished before turning back.  I had some more smalls take a single pink tag fly, and even in the sun, I could see a stain remained in any water over a foot deep.  I decided to sneak that single pink tag fly through the pocket water I fished first thing in the morning, and I put together another decent run of small to average fish, maybe 6 or 7 more to add to the slowly and steadily growing total.  I even ended the morning with one more 12-13 inch fish to provide a bookend to the proceedings.  With the algae in full bloom on rocks, it is always a challenge to find the right sink rate on this creek.  I was changing flies all morning and still picking off gunk, but this final round was more enjoyable on that front.  I should have counted on fish looking up at a slower falling bug earlier in the morning perhaps, but with no bugs showing, it is not always that easy to call.

Some more of the better ones.

It felt great to fish until almost noon on the last day of the month!  For 20 some years, this used to be the start of my week in Canada, so I thought of the old man.  It’s funny how NBA playoffs and other random things that coincide with that trip bring back the memories!  Maybe I should catch a bass this week in his honor.  May has been so hot that I have been fishing like it is July, anyway—out at sunrise, done by 10:30 AM.  The heat returns this week, and I am a little busy with work and class, but I also see some rain late in the week, so who knows.  June is supposed to continue to be dry with above average temps, so this was an awesome little reprieve for which I was grateful. Perhaps my old bull approach will pay off as this shot of rain also makes its way through the larger creeks in NEPA?  I was actually considering a ride out to Central PA next week until I saw all the hot weather and no rain in the forecast.  Here’s hoping all the predictions about droughts and record highs this summer are wrong…