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.