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!