June 16, 2021 – Like a Central PA Day in NEPA – Lackawanna River

A good fish.

The Lack is about two hours away, and I was fishing this morning by 5:45 AM, four or five fish in by 6:30 AM, so you have an idea how early my day started.  Even on a cooler day like today, that is the summer grind that has started much earlier this year.  At least there are still fishable water temps for the time being.  With a couple breaks to eat or just sit and enjoy the breezy and cool day, I fished until after 8:30 PM too.  It was not steady all day—there is that lull this time of year after 11 AM typically—but I caught enough fish to have lost count around 20 before my lunch break.  Many of the fish were solid thumpers too.  Besides the one a couple clicks over 20 inches pictured to the right here, I had two others in the 17- to 18-inch class, a few more in the 14- to 15-inch class, on down young of the year.  Too much to tell here to create a narrative with any coherent timeline, really, but I will try to break down what I remember of my awesome long day—perhaps three shifts makes sense.  I don’t think I overdid it with pics, so this shouldn’t be pages of collages....

A good start too.

My first fish was a solid 13 inch brown, and like I said, I had maybe five fish before I checked a notification on my phone at 6:30 AM.  I landed the first good fish in this early shift, a fat one at least 17, but the highlight had to be the sighting of a pig, which I may have landed later and/or tangled with in March when I was here.  The water was really low this year, so unlike previous years at this time, I had only a light pick fishing the riffles and pocket water all day, which was the plan I had before I arrived, at least through that midday lull.  I think with the drought conditions and hot weather earlier in the month and late May, instead of migrating to the oxygen-rich riffles to gorge on larva and emergers, the fish had to sink back to the holes for safety.  As a result, they seemed to be bunched up a lot like in the winter—all the year classes, with the better fish in the better fish spots and the dinks and YOY in the tailouts and wherever they could find some space.  That mixing in the same hole can’t be good for the little fellas, but it’s good for fattening up the pigs.  To whit, before 7 AM I had a big wild brown try to eat a YOY off the end of my line.  She made a couple swipes too, undeterred by my presence all dressed in drab in the lower light conditions of 7 or 7:30 AM.

Not how it was supposed to go!

I wasted no time in tying on the first streamer I could find.  Unfortunately, I could not get that fish to come back, at least for another 8 hours!  I got an average fish to eat it, and even a dink as well before switching back to the nymph.  I kept working upstream with another deep spot in mind.  I caught a pig in March here, and I usually can count on a couple good fish—today I caught nice fish on the first shift AND the third shift.  With the river so low, I knew they would have their heads right up in the plunging water, so I put on a big caddis larva and added an extra 4mm bead for weight.  I got a couple this way, but then I put that jigged streamer back on, one of Eric’s, also with the added weight, and started hopping it in the meat of the deep riffle and eddy. 

But that's more like it.

For some time now, I have been carrying one of Kenny’s 1/8 ounce hair jigs with this same potential scenario in mind, so it was not an entirely impromptu move.  It worked.  I took a nice 15 incher this way and a couple smaller fish.  I even stung my first potential beast of the day.  Hop, hop, and then a soft and heavy stop.  I thought I was snagged on wood, and eventually I was.  The pig just kept digging deeper into the unseen mess.  I did the old bass move and kept tight, just hoping he might work his way out.  I could feel head shakes and thumps, but the fight was going nowhere, confined to a couple feet.  I eventually got the streamer back without a fish, but my mind was reeling about another possible spot downstream where I might scare up another pig before the morning got too late—it was probably 9:45 AM by now.  The plan didn’t work out, but I caught more fish in this other deep hole than I ever have before.  The streamer got no love, but the caddis larva with the extra weight of two big tungsten beads did scare up some smalls and a couple average fish.

Targeting the deep bouncy stuff worked.

My first disappointment about the potential of riffles and pocket water happened after this.  I worked a shaded bank with all kinds of rhody overhang and only took one small fish.  Around 11 AM, I decided it was lunchtime, but I continued to work this pocket water for a few dinks until after 12 noon.  I was ready to eat and fill up my water bottle, even down a cold brew (the coffee kind, though the beer sounds nice now) but instead got into a long conversation with another fly guy who was just fresh air inspecting.  We picked each other’s brains about NEPA spots and compared notes on our euro-nymphing rods—he noticed that my 10’6” 4 weight was the same one he used in 3 weight—so it wasn’t until close to 1 before I sat down on the bumper of the ‘Ru and took a long (for me) rest and finally ate some lunch.

Pocket water, not so much.  Double double caddis.

For shift two, I thought to abandon the plan of working a long run of riffles, but I stuck to it with one alteration.  I drove to another spot that at least begins with some holes, and then I moved very quickly and only targeted water over 18 inches deep, only spending time at a couple decent holes.  Fish were caught, but it was slow between holes.  I also dropped at least 5 while beta testing one of Eric’s gasolina perdigons—I think this one did not have the changes in hook gap that he made on later iterations, so I had the same issue as I had earlier in the spring with this one.  When I switched bugs, I landed a few in the deeper holes.  

More deep plunge fish.

It was getting windy at times.  It had been pleasantly breezy since late morning, but I needed to make several bug changes and fish with two hands to control line belly and all that. I moved quickly through marginal spots, but I did not abandon the juiciest looking pockets.  When I saw a few tan caddis, I went to one bug for the last set of riffles in this stretch of water, the old trusty CDC pink tag fly.  It’s a bigger bug but bulky, so it was the right tool too.  The line management was better because of the bigger bead, but the fall was slower.  I hooked, fought, and landed my second fish in that 18 inch range with this bug before turning back for my second break of the day, so it was a good thing I kept trying those better pockets.  One fish made it worth it.

Not all the pocket water was a bust, however!

That was a good fish to end the day on, but I had a feeling that the evening could be great since most fish had been inactive since late morning.  There was even a chance of some late season sulfurs or other big mayflies showing in the final hours of daylight.  I debated heading home, but decided to eat and drink and sit some more after driving back to the spot where I started the morning.  What I really wanted was that cannibal pig to show up again!  It was a good call.  I landed another 10 to 12 fish, including a big old brown.  I sent a pic to Tom, and he was like, “Whoa, is that thing 23 inches?”  I don’t think so but it was over 20 by an inch or two, so his eyes are good.  After a long battle, I had a choice between getting a tape on the fish or getting a photo shoot.  I went with pics after doing a hand measure and the net estimate.  I've caught fatter fish this spring, but this was the longest this year, for sure.  By now, I was throwing Sam’s sexy walts to get deep and a size 16 caddis pupa on the dropper.  The caddis pupa, with some latex body cleaned up during the third shift, but it was Sam’s bug that fooled the pig hugging the bottom in this bouncy spot.

In retrospect, taping him might have trumped the mediocre photoshoot...

I fished the deeper seams of the hole with a bobber to give my shoulder a rest after, what? ten or twelve hours of fishing, and I couldn’t keep the smalls off that dropper.  It was clear the better fish had moved up into the prime parts of the runs, under that bouncier water, so I spent my last hour fishing another deep run upstream.  I got another solid fish on the walts here and stung a couple with a streamer to end the night.  I waited for sulfurs and saw about a dozen of them before I thought it wise to cross the creek with sufficient daylight.  Good call, as I did slip and get a wet arm while fighting what would be my last fish.  

Rise east, set west.  Long day.

Some of the rocks in this hole are like ice, so it could have been worse (or it could have been during my March trip when it was cold and the creek was pushing 250 not 75 CFS!).  I was excited that I had another pig, but this was just another one about 15 inches but with a very bad attitude.  It may have been the only bigger fish that jumped today.  A couple small fish, and one larger one, did make moves at the mayflies, but I had neither the energy nor the light to switch out leaders at this point.  I didn’t think I was going to top my day in the final 30 minutes of light, anyway, though I did toss a streamer for a while in the tailout.  No takers, so I hiked out and began the long, but not that long, drive home.  Besides the one silly day on the Brodhead this spring, this was the best day of 2021 so far.  I thought about Central PA this week, but I was glad I stayed a little closer to home.  Wow, you know?

Pretty. Low. Some B reel from the early shift.