March 23, 2022 – A Beating with No Witnesses – Brodhead Creek

Moving a bit but not unfishable by any means.

I took my first recon trip of the spring to the mighty Brodhead this morning.  Expectations were low, but not as low as they should have been.  I often jump the gun, but I don’t like to do the same things every year, I guess.  If not new streams, then I often try old streams at different seasons, and so forth.  Plus, I had most of the day to fish because I had planned to be on the Susky with Kenny today, so staying local just seemed a waste.  I drove past at least three creeks that would have been warmer and possibly a bit more productive, but the gages looked so fishable on the bigger creek that I had to try.  I did not leave the house until after 8:30 AM, so I probably was on the water from 10 to 2.  The flows were up but clear and certainly below typical early spring flows.  More importantly, the water was cold, having dropped over the last couple of days because of cold overnight temperatures.  Freestoners will do that, and even more drastically than creeks with some limestone influence.  The plan was to poke around a section I have not fished since the fall to see how the winter treated it, and if it was dead I would head over to the McMichael’s Keystone Select for a while.  Since it was cold and breezy, I had a usually popular spot to myself, so I just fished the entire stretch thoroughly for a thorough beat down.  The water looked great, and by 1 PM there were midges and small olives, but the fish may have been anticipating the front coming through or the drastic weather changes because they would not cooperate, not even a holdover bow. 

A streamer looking day if not so chilly.

The presence of a few bugs made me change from tossing a big bugger deep and slow to nymphs under a bobber around midday.  Even that change, and all the weight needed to get even stoneflies to the bottom, resulted in one or two half-hearted bumps that I did not connect with.  I even revisited a couple ringer winter holes and really worked to get in the strike zone, but that  just resulted in a few good snags.  I always find it easier to feed the creek tungsten when I get a little something for the effort, but with only one or two hits, I switched back to the bugger again before I quit the scene.  I even lost one of those streamers, so I was getting down to the uncooperative and lockjawed residents, I am sure.  Not the first and not the last challenging visit, or even skunk, from my home away from home crick.  I should have chased stockies, of course, but there is no growth in sure things….