June 28, 2022 – Overcame Some Challenges, Caught Some Trout – Northampton County

Struggles, but it ended up being a decent day.  Bows never rest.  Smalls gotta eat.

Man, I talked about a rough start a few days ago, but this one was really bad.  I have wanted to hit the Lack this month, but the water temperatures were just a bit too high to make a day of it this week, and the flow was a tad high on top of that.  It looks like I won’t get there until the fall at this point.  I set the alarm for 3 AM just in case.  I figured I could fish the morning and then head back and fish the Brodhead or another creek with slightly better temps.  When I went to bed, I believe I had already bagged that plan, but then I slept terribly on top of that too.  I am just grading a ton of papers, and all that screen time and mental activity too late into the evening has messed me up.  The cat also was in and out a couple times and in a mood.  At some point, I reset the alarm for 4 AM and set my sights on a NEPA crick a lot closer.  I knew this one would be getting too warm pretty soon, as well.  It is heavily shaded and rather small this time of year, so I was sure it would be okay until at least 10 AM. I took a water temp around 10:30 AM at my second stop on the creek, and as suspected it was still only 64 degrees, so totally fine.  I still quit by 11:15 AM after a run of holdover bows and (more) small wild browns.  I caught small fish steadily all morning, but it was most definitely a challenge on several fronts.

One decent one early.  Moved a couple pigs.  Would have been a longer day w/o water

First of all, the bad sleep.  I almost didn’t want to get up, but then this was likely the last day this week I could get out, so I got up.  When I arrived, it was still pretty dark in the woods just 10 minutes after sunrise, I bet, so I tossed my 10’6 with one of Eric’s heavy buggers at a big fish hole since this rod was in the car and rigged for the Lackawanna.  Sure enough I got bounced on the first cast and did not connect.  I saw a second pig follow and refuse too.  The water was too low and too clear to get another shot with the bugger now that I’d been made below the intended targets, so I actually went back to the ‘Ru and got my 3 weight that was rigged with small bugs.  I figured I would rest this spot, take a walk down the creek and fish my way back up.  Well, I had to net my water bottle with the first wild brown of the morning.  It would have been a long hot morning without it!  I think the net lanyard must have hooked it and pulled it out.  Did I mention I was tired and not too skilled to start?  I also got a rainbow a couple casts later, but I never got to work my plan because a dude high holed me (twice) soon thereafter. 

The riffle nymph and decent for today.

I actually saw him drive by very slowly and spotted the same car in a pull-off upstream as I worked up that way later, so I know he saw me.  This happened last time I fished this creek, and it makes me want to not fish it much anymore.  Someone gets there early, but not earlier than me, and then proceeds to jump right to the only two holes in the only stretch of a long creek they know or something.  Frustrating.  When I see cars on many of these creeks, I go elsewhere, but I learned fishing etiquette from some pros, I guess, and I have a rolodex of spots too.  I bit my tongue and went around him, but he frigging jumped to another hole ahead of me after that even.  So much for giving a mook the benefit of the doubt.  He wasn’t even fishing downstream, then—just decided he’d jump ahead of me, fish a while and head upstream again.  He was standing right on top of fish swinging a streamer in low water, so even though he had dressed the part, I’ll assume he was a novice.  If you drive the roads at all these days or watch the news, you know folks is effed up right now, a lot of anger, so I did not say a word.  I figured I would not be one of those effed up folks today and ruin my own trying-enough morning.

Another young adult at least.

Tired, missed a pig, nearly lost my Nalgene, high-holed, and then taken short all before 7 AM?  Yep, I could no longer ignore nature’s call, and had no time even to hike back to the parking spot for the role of TP in my car.  I just had to drop the waders and use some broad knotweed leaves still dressed in morning dew.  Arguably better than a port-a-pot and definitely better than a Wawa with feet lingering outside the door, pressuring and impatient for their turn, but still not my favorite thing in the world.  Things could only get better right?  Not really, not yet, anyway.  As I mentioned, I had to contend with the same dude jumping into yet another big fish hole above me.  I half expected to run into this clown all day, but I guess he didn’t catch anything for all his efforts because he was gone by 8 AM, and I did not see any other fishermen at my second stop of the morning.  I was catching little browns here and there, but they were hitting short.  I bet I got half a dozen on a walts or a green caddis larva, and the rainbow, in the first shift, but it was hardly magical, and I could not buy a decent fish after the first water bottle fish, and he was only 10 or 11 inches.

Mostly bows at the second stop, even one sub-legal size.  That micro-bugger to end the day.

After a rest and a water refill, I drove to a second section of this creek that is actually stocked trout water but holds some wild fish too.  The first fish I landed here was a wild one maybe 9 inches, and I got another that size and a couple dinkers too along with the holdover bows I expected.  I caught one rainbow that was so small I was thinking it was wild, but the TU in these parts is notorious (to me) for stocking over wild fish, so maybe it was a fingerling stocker?  The poor parr-marked thing would have been beautiful if not for a missing maxillary torn off by a barbed hook.  Life is tough on this crick for everyone these days.  It’s a shame because it’s a beauty, like a baby Brodhead in some ways.  I had some fun, though, nymphing pocket water and swinging a size 16 riffle nymph under overhangs and by undercuts.  To end the morning I even fished some deep plunges with one of Eric’s micro-buggers and landed a few bows and at least one wild brown—another may have gotten off before a photo, too.  This bug has been around.  I fish bugs to lose them most times—meaning I am not shy about putting flies where they need to be to get eaten—so it is a miracle that this one has probably been around since January!  One side has no paint left on the olive bead, but it still catches.  As if to tempt fate, I even tied it on the 5.5X tippet I had been using to nymph size 16 and 18 bugs.  “ELove Flies, tied to last”?

Smallsie's not-so-good side.  Barbs, yo.

I ended up catching a good number of fish again, but a couple of the bows looked rough at this second, more pressured spot.  The residents, especially the size I wanted to catch today, are used to hiding when it gets too pressured and too warm, but these rainbows may have been caught a dozen times each by this point in their short lives outside the cement pond!  A couple took the bugger hopping in a deep plunge or on the swing, so I was not mad at them today, especially because they were over 10 inches long, and that was a distinction.  The last time I fished this watershed, I avoided the usual spots and had a lot of fun, so that may have to be my new move here.  There are fish in the pressured spots, but there is too much pressure in the pressured spots too, even on a Tuesday at 6 AM in late June.  Access is too easy, I suppose.  I do have a soft spot for it, like I do a couple other cricks in the region that have been declining since the lockdown pressure was at its peak.  I am playing the long game, hoping they rebound and people pick up different hobbies or second jobs.  Days like this are also motivation to keep exploring new water and new stretches of old water.  Days like this are just plain challenging too!  

June 24, 2022 – Maybe the Last Visit until the Fall, Maybe? – Brodhead Creek

Fog, clouds, then sun and breeze.  Many small trouts on big bugs with some bonuses.

I finally pursued my plan A from earlier this month this morning, leaving the house before 4 AM and driving in dense fog to fish the Brodhead for the final, maybe penultimate, trip for this spring/early summer.  The creek has been cold enough to fish, even while hovering around 90 CFS earlier this month, but the rain this week and the cool down raised flows and dropped temps. I may get one more window before it closes, although 90 degree temps return this weekend.  As far as flows, I like 100 CFS on the Analomink gage this time of year for getting at hard to reach spots, but even after waiting a day, I got 175 and falling this morning.  There was a bit of a stain, but decent enough visibility, and with dropping and clearing water, the fishing improved a bit by late morning from a rather decent start.  Many small caddis and midges were present, which helped the cause even if it was too pushy for risers to show.  I even landed a big fish just after 11 AM after accepting a day of dinks.

Small to average on big bugs.

I was a bit rough to start after only a few hours of sleep and unwisely choosing to leave the wading stick in the ‘Ru, but I eventually got my act together.  Fish were chewing, at least the little guys, and I eventually began to capitalize instead of hanging up or hanging in trees!  I had one decent 12 incher eat while I was still in fog and low morning sun, and I had a final fish in that 12-13 inch range to bookend the trip.  In between, there were several 6 to 10 inchers hanging in the soft edges out of the current.  I had some bumps with big bugs deep under the current too, but besides the first 12-incher, I could not seal the deal until I found the right combo of bugs—which ended up being two big ones, a size 8 jigged pheasant tail on the anchor with an extra tungsten bead, and a double-beaded gold stone on the dropper.  In 100 CFS like I wanted, it probably would have been a day of 25+ dinks on smaller bugs, based solely on the number of times I got bounced by fish that did not or could not eat the bigger bugs in heavier current.  As you can see from some pics, though, plenty of 8 and 9 inchers held onto the big pt long enough for a photo and release.  I did try to fish a single bug for a while to avoid losing some much tungsten and the tangles of heavier water, but I did not toss the bugger at all.  That choice was just based on a feeling about the water clarity and sun, plus all those bugs on the menu.  Nevertheless, with all the dinks eating, on the way home I was definitely wondering if I would have moved a few fish looking for YOY or fish fry to chomp on while the light was lower.  Hindsight, you know?

A couple decent ones and a piggy tease.

Persistence pays, however.  On most days, I don’t stop believing something extraordinary might happen, and that mindset works wonders when an opportunity finally appears.  On the walk back downstream, I could see that some holes that were marginally fishable earlier were improved by 10 AM.  I even got a couple smaller fish on the swing when I still could not wade safely into position at a few favorite spots, so they were still up and eating.  Around 11 AM, I reached the first hole where I caught a 12 incher first thing in the morning, and I worked it again with those two massive nymphs.  A good 18+ inch brown ate the pheasant tail here and put up quite a fight.  It was just a beautiful fish too.  At the time, I was sure it was wild based on colors and the vibrant blue eye spot, but looking closely at the pics, she may have been a long, long time holdover.  That said, I have caught other wild fish here that have that “German brown” look to them like this one, and she fought like a wild fish, so we can call it inconclusive.  I am not mad at her either way.  

Strong and beautiful fish during bonus round.

Mostly small wild browns, but no stocked rainbows today, so that was something positive, I guess.  Of course, I would have been pining for one or two if the browns were being dicks!  I continued to have high hopes that I might find a few more adult fish to end the day, and I did wade into a couple spots that I skipped in the morning as I waited for safer flows.  In one case, the wading did not pay off.  A favorite spot was dead, but one other run delivered on another 10-incher as well as only the second fish over 12 inches for the morning.  It was another looker and healthy fighter that ended up being my last fish of the morning.  The sun was getting hot now that the fog was gone, but a little breeze extended my fishing until about noon before I decided to call it a day.  I debated taking a walk back to one run that usually produces, especially now that flows and water clarity were converging in a positive way, but I figured the bonus window I had just experience, including a very nice little pig, was probably enough for today.  I will keep an eye on a few more NEPA cricks that I have not visited in a good while.  There may be at least one or two June trips in me before summer mode commences in earnest.

More shots of the best of the morning and b reel.

June 21, 2022 – First Day of Summer, First Taste of Summer Fishing – Northampton County Limestoner

Pretty smalls on a summer night.

For my first outing in about ten days, I took the impromptu and lazy approach.  I have been playing catch-up with work and life since I was tied up at a retreat last week, but by about noon today I was caught up for the moment, and the cloudy skies were calling me.  I am not the average fly guy who leaves the house an hour before dusk in late spring to chase a hatch, as you can probably tell from this blog.  I like the early morning this time of year (well, early morning period) nymphing with a single bug or a dry dropper in shallow riffles, hunting those fish who stayed out until sunrise.  It was a nice change of pace to be out until dark tonight and wet wading, however.  I like this creek for the peace and quiet, but the fishing has declined this year from a high point during about 2020.  It was still a nice night, as I saw at least three bucks, and even twin fawns.  The goslings are awkward, but the baby mallards are still cute.  The fish were really small, but there are a lot of them from a certain year class, so signs this creek could be better again in the future.  I caught half a dozen of them, maybe 7 or 8, but nothing was over 9 inches long.  Honestly, I pretty much tried it all.  

One of three bucks.  This one not too scared of me.

After an enjoyable and prolonged chat with a retired landowner out on his mower, just keeping the communication (and parking) open, I guess, I nymphed up a handful of fish.  When I reached the end of this stretch, I decided that I may as well grab my dry fly rod and wait and see what develops.  No risers, even when I sat and waited during the last hour of daylight, so the hatches have petered out until tricos, maybe.  I did see some midges and very small caddis, one late sulfur, and larger caddis are in the bushes, but not enough to get anything going.  It may have just been this particular night that was dead. 

One took a stimular but no risers before dark.  Rock snot is in bloom.

Bored sitting around watching for noses, I did catch one on a stimulator in a long shallow riffle.  I even tossed a black bugger and got one or two bumps right before dark.  The water was low and warm for a limestoner, and the rock snot is in bloom, so it felt like summer.  Fish had lockjaw, though.  My gut and experience tells me they are moving to those nighttime and early morning feeding windows, at the peak of the cool period each day.  I thought with cooler temps this week, they might get active, but after one or two more trips to NEPA, I think I am mentally preparing for the summer grind.  Thankfully, I have a couple pre-planned trips in July for smallies and for flukes.  If I get out again this week or next, I will have hit an even 40 trips so far for 2022, so some kind of milestone towards 90 if not 100 trips this year.

And twins....

June 10, 2022 – Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad – Northampton County Limestoner

Just a big old fish!

I had a .667 batting average this morning on pigs, including a true stud that measured about 23 inches long.  Before him I landed another fish close to 19 inches, and I eventually lost another big male fish just before today’s short streamer window closed.  This was plan B today, and it was a pretty good plan B.  I have been wanting to go to the Brodhead or the Lehigh River this month, but gages have been all over the place.  Today, the Brodhead was close to 400 CFS after recent rains, so pretty much a no go.  This time of year, 250 is fishable with caution, 100 is perfect, 400 is a lot of effort just to fish edges and only certain edges, so not worth the effort in my opinion.  I wanted a sort of last hurrah in case the weather turns soon because I am tied up with a writer’s retreat until next Saturday, and then I will have to play catch up with work after that.  In other words, I was treating today as potentially my last chance for at least 10 days.  I chose a slightly bigger stream from my choices of Lehigh Valley limestoners, and I knew it would also be high, but I was hoping it was fishable and clearing.

High flows and an early bite of big trouts.

Luckily, the visibility was quite possibly perfect for usually wary fish to eat with something close to reckless abandon.  That did not happen, but something arguably better did instead. I started out nymphing with the bugs I had on my 10’ 6” 4-weight from my last Brodhead trip, but I knew this set-up would also change over nicely to a jigged streamer with a quick change of tippet.  I got a bow on a big pheasant tail dropper with a heavy caddis anchor.  After getting no more takers for 15 minutes, I decided that even in the absence of yellow sally stoneflies, a nice and bright size 12 golden stone with two tungsten beads for extra weight might make not only a good anchor fly but also an effective attractor.  Good call, as I landed a big, acrobatic wild brown on the golden stone shortly after making the change.  He jumped twice, took a couple runs, made a fuss in the net, all the moves.  He looked familiar, too, so I was glad to see that I handled him well enough last time to catch him again many months later.  I did target this stretch of the creek in high water for a reason, of course.  Knowing the structure and cover in low water, and being acquainted with some of the residents or transients who pass through from time to time does help ones chances with finding a big fish in high water.  As I will confess again below, however, that still does not mean I don’t lose far too many bugs fishing these spots, swinging for the fences in dirty water.

A couple selfish shots today, and almost a third.

Even though I have caught about 4 fish in the last 3 years in this 500 yard stretch that were in the 18- to 20-inch range, I still landed one and had a significant battle with a second buck that I have never seen before today.  And I know there are two big hens around too!  Brown trout amaze me for this among many other reasons.  They’ve been here the entire time and refused me in the past; or they’ve had these lairs on their shortlists for years, and we just happened to be here today at the same time for once; or they moved in on some prime real estate this spring.  Or.... I lost a fish some years ago within a half mile of here that I swore was 25 inches at the time, so there are good genes or wise old pigs in the area at least part of the year.  I wish I had photos of both of the new guys, but only two of my three encounters with big trout ended in the big net today.  That hardly put a damper on the festivities, of course.

Even dirtier looking in the sun, many lost bugs, one other brown, and the bows.

I kept looking at the water and the continued cloud cover and shade and thinking that one of Eric’s big jigged buggers with a 5 mm tungsten bead was probably the way to go after even the gold stone only netted another rainbow.  Again, good call.  I believe I caught a PB for this creek, and possibly one of my brown white whales in the process.  The fish was a pig for anywhere, a stud, but especially here in a medium sized creek in a populated region on a well-stocked and well-fished crick.  He was nearly three full hand lengths, so just shy of 24 inches long.  He was older, skinnier, than the previous buck looking to replace him someday.  He was also a much smarter fighter, not a reckless one.  He was going to try to wear me out with a bulldog approach when I would not let him run.  I could see he nearly choked the bug, which I know has a mini-barb because I bought the beads and the hooks for these ones—I guess this bug is a collaboration with Eric or just a custom order!?  

1st fish of the day, chocolate water.

Speaking of smart fish, before I clipped off the bugger, I had one more pig brown on.  This too was a big male close to 20 inches.  He hit the bugger on the swing, so the hook may have been in the side of the mouth.  I find that fish are harder to keep on when they hit below me.  To make matters more challenging, I had to wade out into pushy water to reach the spot with a cast where this one ate—a bit of flat water in front of a root ball—so going after him was not easy.  I had him on for a couple jumps and one short pass below me before he took off further down the creek.  I stumbled and bumbled after him as quickly as possible, but sometime during fighting the fish and fighting the current and gravity on slippery rocks he just pulled free of the hook.  Bummer if I had not already landed two pigs today, and less of a bummer because I got him to eat, know at least one of the places he hangs out, and got to see him in shallow water a few times.  It was not one of those true mystery fish, just a photo-averse one that may get got in the near future if I plan accordingly and get lucky.

A close up of the runner up today.  Heck of a second place!

I landed a couple more rainbows on the bugger before I rigged up to nymph again.  I was prompted to switch by the sun, but also by losing two of these buggers to unseen wood.  I actually waded out for the second one and got a hold of the large branch only to have it snap and drag the bugger back down with the other half.  The water was still dirty, especially lit up by the sun by 10 AM, so I also lost a couple complete nymph combos to the debris filled water.  Rocks I can get, wood I can’t see, well… after that steady pull does not work, I am resigned to let them go.  At a favorite hole, another big fish hole for me, I worked hard for one more average wild brown on the nymphs, and another rainbow as well, before I decided my charmed morning was over and I had lost enough tungsten for one day.  I don’t mind feeding the crick when the effort is rewarded, of course, and today was worth every risky cast and drift.  I had asked for this rain a few short days ago, after all.

Ended up being the last fish of the day.  Pretty and average, and I would have taken it!

June 7, 2022 – At Least the Smalls Kept It Interesting – Northampton Limestoner

An early start meant some time alone with the small fishes.

I fished from 6 to 10 AM today, and I was alone for the first 3 hours.  I wish I could say the fishing was awesome during those three hours, that the extra effort made a difference, but it was a dinkfest.  By 9 AM I saw four more vehicles in the lot!  First of all, it was Tuesday, but second of all, this is the kind of place where if you see two cars, you should move on.  Some places like Valley or Spring can fish okay with pressure, but this creek is not Valley and certainly not Spring.  One guy I spoke to had never been here before, but the other guys looked like they were dry fly guys and were going right for the places they always go here, so they were not new to the scene.  Retirees on a nice morning, banker’s hours too, and I might be one of them someday, so I cast no aspersions.  I am just surprised when I see so many dudes on a small creek on a weekday.  A month ago, fishing was bonkers on black caddis, and no one was here because that does not usually mean dry fly action.  These guys were several hours early for mayflies, however.  At any rate, I caught at least 8 trouts, but they were all born in 2021 and 2020 from the looks of them.  For fun, I watched a 20+ for a while, just chilling, but with the water low and clear, there was no way to approach him, even if I had the right rod, and line, and long-ass tapered leader.  Even to get eaten by these smalls, I had to go to my secret weapon, the brown nothing hare’s ear in size 18, up tight to heads of riffles.  If not for a couple on an 18 ginger walts worm, I simply would have been out for a walk this morning without this basic little bug.

Small bugs, a ginger walts and a dark hares ear in size 18.  Need rain again.

June 5, 2022 – Sneaking Around on a Warm Sunday Morning – Berks County

A pretty bow, dappled light.

I have not been to this one since mid-February, I believe.  It is stocked trout water that has a fluctuating population of wild fish, currently in a downturn since Ida.  Stocked water was closed a couple weeks early this year if you recall, so I had to visit it a couple weeks earlier than I typically would have.  I did catch a fish that cold, snow melty day—one fish.  Sadly, the creek had just gone through a high point for a couple of years, so maybe a really good year class has moved through or moved on.  I almost swore it off last year, but it still holds over fish really well, and even though it is not fall stocked, I can usually find action in any season—besides midsummer.  It is pretty, easy to wade, and offers solitude most days, but I have to watch the temps.  That is why I was here today.  I had been watching the gage and seeing temperatures getting up to the low-70’s late in the day during those 90+ degree days.  A couple tribs are spring fed, so this creek can recover, and now that tree cover darkens most of the valley, it can recover very quickly overnight.  It was in the mid-60’s this morning, even following a couple days of 80+ degree highs.  Time was/is running out, however.

Still some decent wild boys in there.  Another one even ate the stimulator early in the morn.

I brought my nymphing rod, but I still had my 8’3” 3-weight rigged with a dry dropper from last weekend when I got out with Tom.  I resisted the urge to grab the long rod if only to do something different this morning.  It was a good call for the most part.  I caught a decent wild brown on one of my first casts, and it hit the big stimulator dry—one of two or three fish that rose and ate the dry today.  It was still pretty dark under the trees, so the phone stayed in my pocket for this first fish.  I did have enough light to take a pic of the second decent wild fish that took the dropper a short time later.  The rest of the wild fish were very small, and there were not that many of them.  Thankfully, some holdover browns came out to play as the morning brightened.  As I dry dropper-ed my way upstream, I picked up a half a dozen more fish.  I also had some splashy refusals on the dry from wily little wild fish before I turned back.

Bugger eaters were fun on the walk back. Mostly holdover browns on the dry dropper.

When a favorite hole only produced holdovers, and not many bugs were around, I decided to work my way through it swinging a micro-bugger, one of Eric’s.  That actually netted a couple more little wild browns and even a smallmouth or two before the real fun began.  Apparently, the holdover rainbows were not looking up this morning, but I caught a bunch of them swinging the bugger under trees and through deeper riffles and dark holes all the way back to my parking spot.  Since it was still cool and fish were still bumping a bugger even in spots I thought I had thoroughly worked, I decided to fish a while below the parking area if only to see how some holes I have not fished in several years were looking.  Well, I moved a couple more fish down there too, and I even landed two more decent bows on the bugger long after prime streamer light.  I will still keeping checking on this one periodically.  Habitat is looking rough.  However, the little fish are there from a previous year class, and there are some decent mature fish, and there are plenty of bugs to eat.  I don’t have high expectations for last year’s spawn in here, but maybe in time the creek will straighten itself out. It is still a slightly more realistic stockie experience in beautiful country, so I may be back this fall or sooner if we have a sustained cool down this summer.

Bonus reel, smallie, some crick pics.