April 18, 2022 – Made on My First Short Wissy Trip of the Year – Wissahickon Creek

Nice flows and color.

It started out cold this morning after a chilly day on Easter too, but I had some time to fish before 3 or 4 PM.  Had it been warmer and not near freezing to start, I may have gotten out earlier and gone somewhere more adventurous, especially because another round of heavy rain was set to arrive and blow out the creeks, but I had to settle for a couple hours midday.  I have not fished the Wissahickon since last fall maybe.  With the park across the street devastated by Ida and the stalled work to repair the damage making things worse, Eric and I have not even fished right down the street.  I decided to skip the really local spots and instead head to a few favorite holes in the City.  Totally oblivious that it was Easter Monday and a holiday for some, and totally unaware that the annual tournament had happened or was happening (?) on the Wissahickon, I was sort of shocked with how many dudes were out on a weekday, and not even a nice weekday—it was cold, breezy, and even drizzly.  I learned later that there were some primo club-stocked fish added to what the Commish had already stocked, including a couple brookies, a silvery brown, a red-band bow, and what appeared to be either a spotted striped bass or hen rainbow trout that ate a Nerf football for breakfast….

A prize winner was missed during the tourney?

I started out fishing a jigged bugger because the flows were great, and I landed at least three that way, including the two brook trout that made me begin to realize that something was up.  I had a good hole to myself, but one dude stopped when he saw me catch a couple, and then a couple fly guys also walked in below, so I retied and tried to nymph some pocket water away from the most obvious spots.  The rain will often spread the fish out, but time and rising water temps usually have the most impact, so I only found one bow in the pocket water and missed or turned a couple panfish or really small smalljaws, no doubt feeling sluggish in the cold water.  I ran into a father and son at a bridge, and I landed one below them before giving the kid a couple pointers and letting him have at a likely pod of fish under there.  I am not sure the fish would even be chasing a spinner very far in the current conditions, however, so I doubt I helped even a little with my brief suggestions.

Stockies mas fina

I wanted maybe a couple more fish before I had to quit, and rain was starting to fall periodically, so time was running out on at least two fronts.  I had two more spots in mind, and one of them had four dudes in it, so I went upstream to the next.  That had two fly guys on the other side of the creek, so I just headed to the top of the run to fish the seam on my side of the creek, figuring I might get a couple more to end the afternoon.  I did land maybe four more before quitting, including the pig rainbow in the twenties and probably close to seven or eight pounds!  It fought really well too, not like the typical brood stock pigs that just roll when hooked.  I got spotted too.  One of the dudes across the creek was Matt of Fishy Intentions (check out his website and YouTube videos).  He contacted me through this blog or the Paflyfish forum a while ago, so he recognized me.  Not the first time this has happened on a creek, and it even happened in the fly shop one day, so I guess I either have to shave my beard or reinstate the no face-shots on the blog.  Since I have not seen my face for much of my middle age (I don’t think my son has seen me clean shaven in 14 years), it is a pretty easy decision!  Matt and his buddy caught some fish and filled me in on the reasons for the nicer fish and the larger crowds.  I guess I stepped in it today.  I was just hoping to find a few holdovers to pass the time, but it ended up being a little more interesting than expected.