July 27, 2022 – Another Small Window, Nearly a Handful of Trouts, a Lot of "Virtue Signaling" Out There – Little Lehigh Creek

Wild bow, stocking brown over Class A brown trout, the early shift was productive-ish.

Looking back over this blog, I am beginning to think that I am triggered or at least irked on some level by the Little Lehigh??  I have been convinced for some time that a lot of the talk on discussion boards and other social media platforms about minding the water temps when fishing for trout in the summer is mostly virtue signaling, at least for half of the guys out there and a notable percentage of them devoted dry fly guys, too.  For example, I watched a YouTube video of a Pennsylvania guy that I know knows better.  He was fishing the Tully trico and caddis hatches, and that creek has not been in safe fishing range in my humble opinion for quite a few weeks (especially nowhere near the limestone tributaries, where he was).  He was also not keeping stockers for the table—which is another popular virtue signaling angle: if you are fishing in higher temps, you ought to be keeping them, and we all probably know one guy tops who actually does that, even on DHALOs.  Not that I think this local YouTube guy is that guy at all, quite the opposite in all likelihood, down to earth salt of the earth type, but the same guys out smoking pipes in tweed on the Little Lehigh Heritage Section waiting for trico spinners to fall are probably the same guys most likely to roast a newbie about fish handling or even water temps.  Some of them are there early, sure, but like today, sometimes those spinners don’t fall until 11 or noon when the water is steadily warming.  I regularly see guys showing up at 11 AM when I am undressed and having a snack in the car ready to start my drive home.  Many of the fishing vehicles I saw in the lot this morning at 6 were still there when I was heading back to the lot, and the swarm of tricos I had in front of me was still hovering 12 or 15 feet above the creek.  That spinner fall could have happened even later today because of the cooler start.

Best one, tiny bugs, likely stocked though.

Today was a legitimate July window on this creek, as the water temp on the gauge was 62 degrees when I arrived this morning.  I fished 5:45 to 9:45 AM and then quit, partially because I was wet wading and did not have my thermometer, which is in my waders, and partially because I dropped my potential fifth fish, and the short-distance release sent my perdigon and 6X tippet into the tree above me.   Pack it up!  Fishing was hardly on fire, or I was hardly on fire, having been out of the game a few weeks, and it being hot as heck for a week prior to yesterday.  Conditions warranted my A game, but I did not bring that from home.  The water was low, really low, and I was nymphing small bugs on 6X, so technical fishing too.  A size 18 perdigon accounted for two, and an equally small walts took another.  I think the fourth one took a size 20 caddis on the dropper tag, and so did the fifth fish that got away right before the net job. Not that I wanted to land them, but I had some YOY come off in really protected little spots.  They are too small for a size 20 right now, but come fall they will be a necessary nuisance!  It was good to see them.  I dropped enough deep thoughts already today, but you may notice the verbiage on the PFBC sign about this being both stocked and a Class A.  I still find that a strange practice, especially when I frequently see stocked browns in this stretch.  Today, I either landed a wild rainbow or one stocked as a fingerling, likely the former not the latter, so this place continues to be such a thriving contradiction.  There are still at least 6 goldens eating tricos each afternoon in 70 degree water if you want a meal!  Oh, but you can’t keep them in the Heritage stretch!  Come early, or at least tell your friends you were there before false dawn and quit a few minutes after sunrise.  Definitely triggered....

July 21 and 22, 2022 – The Boy Quickly Becomes a Finesse Bass Fisherman – Susquehanna River

Boy's best on Thursday night.

For our second father-son fishing adventure this month, the boy and I did a split trip with Chris Gorsuch of Reel River Adventures on his jet sled up on the North Branch of the Susky.  Because Chris is a friend of young Kenny and Stan (of Fitt Premium Lures fame), who fish with him at least once a month throughout the year, and I have fished with Chris several times, I knew the boy would have a great couple of days and receive some valuable instruction along the way.  Chris did not disappoint, as usual.  There are a lot worse things to be doing during these dog days of summer, and Chris has it set so we all work smarter (and cooler) not harder.  A few years back, Kenny and I suffered through a full-day in August, and I am sure others had done so too (not to mention the captain himself) so not long after that Chris began doing these split trips as the summer heat becomes too much.  

Endless Mountains, bald eagles, early morning and late evening beauty.

Basically, he booked us an air-conditioned RV in the campground right on the river for Thursday night—he was even kind enough to start the a/c before we arrived, which definitely made packing in and going to sleep later a lot more pleasant!  We arrived after 5 PM and fished the evening bite, and then we woke at 5 AM and fished the remainder of the 8-hour trip in the morning.  In this heat, it made for a comfortable and really productive mid-summer fishing trip.  We clocked over 70 bass up to 17 inches in those 8 hours, plus the boy landed a PB smallie and even reeled in a huge channel cat as our final fish on Friday.

A sunset, a boat ride, many ned fish.

Frigging Google Maps navigation!  I have been reminding myself to download Waze on my phone for far too long.  The ride up was uneventful until we got within about 15 miles of the campground and launch, then Google told us to take a left, an algorithm shortcut, no doubt, which took us into some Deliverance type territory….  Thankfully, the boy has not yet seen the film, so he had no images of Ned Beatty in tighty whiteys as we stopped near an early 19^th C cemetery on the top of a mountain ridge to have a long-overdue piss break.  For the last 8 miles of our trip, we travelled an unimproved mountain road surface through a ghost town, I believe.  We did arrive safely and had a good fishing night on Thursday, where the boy learned to fish a ned rig and landed his best smalljaw, a fish about 16 inches.  Within 45 minutes, he had the technique down and was matching Dad fish for fish, maybe even beating me on the dink count!  He has the right patient temperament for this finesse fishing and really stuck with each cast’s potential for a fish.  Me, I am always looking for the next target, especially drifting on a river, but that patience pays this time of year.

Dubs on Thursday night

At one point, the boy had a pig on and thought he was snagged.  Chris took the rod to snap the line and try to get the lead back, and it started moving!  The fish jumped off after that, of course. The boy also had another fish on after Chris freed a snag, which prompted me to see if jerking the jigs would elicit more strikes, but the pattern was not so simple.  Slow and steady fishing on the bottom netted the majority of fish on a productive evening.  We rolled into the ramp before 9 PM and then took a ride to the closest Dandy, the only thing open at that hour, to scavenge some food for late dinner and early breakfast.  Because of our detour and a later than expected start on Thursday, we did not follow our previously discussed plan-ahead model.  We had plenty of snacks and drinks, but after this short ride on Thursday night, we also had a convenience store dinner and breakfast for an early rise on Friday.  Chris launched the boat before 6 AM on Friday morning, and surprisingly the boy got right up with our alarm set for 5 AM, so after an iced coffee, a quick yogurt and bagel breakfast, and a sit down at the clean and conveniently-located bathhouse across the field from our trailer, we were ready for day two of our fishing trip to begin.

A couple more chunks.

I wanted a few on topwater this morning, so I had my own rod rigged with a classic Heddon Baby Torpedo in baby bass pattern.  YOY are feeding on bugs every evening and morning this time of year, so I am sure big mama and papa are eating YOY!  Chris said the early morning had been slow the last couple of days, and it was, but we did get some fish on neds in the first hour.  I also got my wish and had a solid 17 inch bass eat my topwater in a perfect back eddy.  It was the best fish of the trip thus far, and would ultimately be our best of both days, so I was willing the thing to stay on for both me and Chris as it jumped three times in a row with the bait in his mouth.  No repeats of when I dropped a crankbait fish in the twenties earlier this year with Chris and Kenny, thank god!  We tried to get the boy on one with the whopper plopper, but the topwater bite did not really turn on.  I think I got a couple more and a very brave or really hungry ‘gill on top before I turned back to neds and swims.  I am not a soft plastic swimmer devotee, but I know they work, so I stuck with it enough to land maybe 5 on it today.  The rest for Lukas and me both came on the crayfish-colored neds.  Chris even photographed a bass with a crawdaddy in its throat for his FB page if you care to look!  

My topwater fish early Friday morning.

I slept very little on Thursday night, but it was actually the boy who was looking tired on Friday.  It was warm even by 8:30 AM, so that no doubt contributed.  He eventually woke up and carried his weight until we topped 40 fish for the morning, and he was given “permission” to sit it out and rest.  Besides the 17 on top, we both landed a couple other decent fish and a lot of well-fed averages and smalls.  It was even hotter by 11 AM, and the boy was sitting out, but Chris stopped at one last riffle where I notched a couple more and Chris even took some casts.  One of his Fitt swimbaits got grabbed by a huge fish.  Chris urged the boy to get up and take the rod, and it took him a minute to agree to land this pig.  We did not think bass, and a musky would have jumped by now, so we had no clue what Chris had hooked.  Eventually, we saw a flash of channel cat in the current.  It was a Boga-worthy fish that the boy got to enjoy fighting.  It may have been the biggest fish he has ever messed with, so it was worth putting down his phone, for sure!  That was a great note on which to end the two-day excursion.  If the goal of these trips this summer was to give him a good shot at steady action and some nice fish, not to mention establishing some annual traditions before he gets too old for his dad, then I definitely met that goal.  I think we need to get an instructional half-day with Sam and a fly rod going for the future, maybe even on a private stretch of water, but I am just going to enjoy having an excited young fishing partner for the time being.

A couple of that cat, another of my best fish, boy with his good one.

July14, 2022 – The Boy Is High Hook on His First Fluke Charter – Atlantic County, NJ

The boy and a keeper fluke.

I joined the Ward team for our annual fluke charter this week.  We were blown out on Tuesday, the originally scheduled day, and the usual boat that goes offshore to the Old Grounds and such was booked the rest of the week, maybe summer, so we jumped on an impromptu slot this morning out of Atlantic City.  This was a bay and inlet trip, so no monster fluke in 100 feet of water on heavy bucktails, but it was probably a better baptism for the boy, anyway. The A-Bomb is a nice 24 foot Angler center console with plenty of room for 4 or 5 to fish, and we had 3 adults and a couple teens, so it worked out well.  We got 6 keepers and a few that were close to that slot size, along with some shorts, sharks, and robins, even some coral with a baby blue claw inside to which Ward’s niece took a shine.  She even brought home some coral.  We were covered up just in case, but thankfully Brigantine’s infamous green biting residents were not too bad, especially with a land-ish breeze.  For an hour, it was hot as heck with zero wind, but a breeze eventually provided some relief after lunch.  For a make-up trip, I think Ward and I agreed that it was a fun day on the water.

A good, low-key day with Team Ward.

Just six hours and close to the dock, so a little different than the more macho trips of the past, but it was still a good time with a good, friendly Captain Mike, so we may use him again for bass.  It is pretty convenient to use that Farley public marina, too.  There was a big game offshore tournament in progress, with a big tuna tail in the sink at the cleaning station to prove it, and we still found some free parking at the other end of the marina.  The boy did well, catching two keepers and four more shorts, and he definitely lost another keeper contender on the way up. Everyone else tried to carry his or her weight and put a little meat in the box, and we did end up with some fish for the table and a small fish fry for the Wards as they finish out their vacation this week and next.  The water was a bit cold on the flood tide, and fish were not chewing all that well, but the outgoing did produce enough to keep us happy. Next stop for the boy and me is an overnight/split trip on the Susky with Chris Gorsuch next week.  It should be hot but also a blast.  Chris does split trips this time of year to beat the heat a little, so we will fish next Thursday evening, and then “rough it” and sleep in a climate controlled RV for the night, and then head out Friday morning for a half-day on the water.  I am hoping the boy gets into a nice smalljaw or 12, and I get a couple to blow up on some topwater.  

July 10, 2022 – Two (Nearly) Lost Soles on a Fishless Country (G)amble – SEPA Blueline

Needed Shoe Goo?  Hey guys, it's Eric doing the "Wooly Bugged walk-off...."

Eric and I made plans based on iffy, overly optimistic weather forecasting for today.  It stayed cool and dry, as expected, but the rain on Saturday we were hoping might prime the creek hardly registered.  Nevertheless, we stuck with the plan and arrived around 5:15 AM to our little spot.  It was looking low and clear, but we assumed we could find something on a dry dropper.  I was even so bold as to begin by throwing a small conehead bunny leech before sunrise, and that actually netted the two biggest (non-game)fish to put a bend in the rod.  After those two 7-inch fallfish, which are not a great sign of water temps, it was downhill from there.  Actually, it was downhill before that.  I recently found an old pair of Orvis felt sole wading boots in my deceased father’s shed that I thought might fit the boy in a year (or less).  They also fit me really well as wet wading boots.  The minute they got wet this morning, however, the glue that held the sole to the boot—the entire sole, not just the felt—started coming off.  As we traipsed through the wet fields, I began hearing a sound like I was walking in flip flops, which was my first clue that something was amiss.  Eric had an extra boot lace in his pack, so I tied up my left boot, and then I had a brainstorm about using one of my gravel guards to hold even more surface in place.  Neoprene did not make for bad traction either, but then the right foot starting coming off!  I used the other gravel guard on that foot until we passed by the parking spot again and found some rope in Eric’s vehicle.  No duct tape or anything semi-permanent in there, but the rope actually allowed me to finish out the really unproductive following couple of hours on the water. 

Pretty, low, yo.

It was beautiful out, and the water seemed cool, but my thermometer was in my waders in the garage, so we quit before 10 AM in order to make sure we didn’t do any damage.  Honestly, there was little danger of stressing a trout today because I think we saw maybe seven of them!  We had at least three roll over and refuse a stimulator, maybe leader shy in the gin clarity, and two others were maybe too small to get the bug.  Not a one decided to take a dropper, which may indicate that bug life has fizzled for the season.  I did see a small swarm of tricos, however, but they were not in an area of the creek with any depth or holding water this time of year.  We had a bang-up day around this time in July of 2020, and we even snuck one in last August following a cool rainy period.  Good flows are as important as water temps on a small crick.  Today, it was #chublife, and even they were being spooky.  I snuck up on two decent trout in a deep, clear hole just before we quit and delivered what I thought was a good cast, but they both scattered at the sight of a size 16 dropper drifting by!  That said, it was just one of those mornings, and I had little confidence that even a 22 zebra midge would get eaten.  Instead, we would have been taking even more minnows and chubs off the hook.  We will be back in the fall, and it was good to get out with a mitch on a really great morning to be outside.  My old man had a laugh up there somewhere, too.  Man, that window I talked about on Friday closed right quick, yo!  Fluke this week, and smallmouth next (weather-permitting, of course).

July 8, 2022 – A July Window, Many Holdovers, and One Good Fish – Northampton County Limestoner

Sometimes just one (with an overbite).

I think the general consensus had been that most creeks were done for trout until the fall, but I know that the very early morning shift on spring creeks and spring-influenced creeks can be productive on the right days.  Today was one of those days.  No tricos today (but I did speak to a dude who saw a few this week) but small caddis larva, walts, and perdigons to mimic the size 16-20 caddis still around will do the trick.  Honestly, holdover bows—who are healthy and mean and rather fetching right now—are far more opportunistic.  To wit, I caught three on a micro-bugger right after sunrise, and a few more took a single pink tag fly in pocket water too—think in terms of even bouncier water than browns may be hanging this time of year, and you will find them.  I did land a few wild fish, however, and right in the stocked trout water.  A 9- and a 12-incher took my dropper tag fly, an 18 soft hackle, early in the morning, and another 10-incher and one a hair over 16 took a perdigon in pocket water right before quitting time around 11:30 AM.  This good fish was right in one of the most loved sections of the creek for gear guys chasing stockies but in big fish holding water not easy to fish effectively without something like a quick-sinking perdigon.

Fetching and cooperative.

Normally, about 10 AM or earlier is quitting time this month, but the moderate-to-cooler air temps this week and the clouds this morning extended that window a bit longer.  That and rain are supposed to continue this weekend, so Eric and I are hoping to hit our spot on Sunday before sunrise.  Today, I was also fishing below a major spring that feeds this creek, so that kept the water temps in the low-60s this morning, even at 11 AM.  One bigger rainbow got stressed out a bit, but a pause holding him in the current for 20 seconds, and he was off with a full head of steam.  After that, I did not try to hold them long, which benefitted us both.  Bows don’t have an off button like the smarter or lazier wild browns, who almost seem to enjoy mugging for the camera.  If you look at their eyes in photos sometimes, they seem to be checking you out too.  I do wonder if these magazine and social media shots of western rainbows come at a cost.  To get a good photoshoot of a bow that is magazine worthy must certainly take some “overhandling,” or at least a kung-fu grip no?  Anyway, I have no problem dumping the bows right out of the net if they don’t want to quit.  I think RR likes to look at them, though, so I did take a couple pics of cooperative ones ;)

More cooperative in the net sometimes.  Some crick pics.

As I noted, I started out tossing a micro-bugger to start, probably because that is what I had on this rig from my last trip, and it was early and cloudy out.  Eventually, I stopped getting swipes or bumps in the seasonally-normal and clear flows, so I rigged up a couple caddis imitations in two sizes to nymph a run of pocket water.  I would have been content to land the fat holdover bows that cooperated within the first 90 minutes of fishing, but I also landed the first two wild browns, including the 12-incher that I dropped trying to get a shot of his good side—by this time of year, some of the fish have been loved, and this poor guy had some gill plate damage.  This area of the crick has information signs about how to tell a wild fish from a stocker, and for good reason.  Not that they are going for powerbait, but the wild browns do like a Rapala or a spinner, of course.  Even the nice fish I landed later looked to have a pronounced overbite from some lip damage in his formative years.  I had to check the fin to know that he was actually a he, in fact.  

Not all bows: a couple more shots of the good fish, smallsie, a holdover brown too.

A random holdover brown appeared, along with a the steady pick of bows, some pushing that 15-16 inch mark and putting on a show in the cool water temps.  Nothing measured up to the fish I quit the day on, however.  This wild brown took the small bug in a deep bucket beside a plunge.  I knew from the heavy head shakes what it was right away, and I was profoundly grateful to the fish gods for giving me a good one after several days off the water.  He eventually started doing what bigger browns do, including a run downstream with me chasing through boulder-strewn and bouncy pocket water.  I knew he had a tiny perdigon in his top jaw that could come out at any time, but I guess I was ready when he hit and got a good hookset because he stayed on long enough for a net job.  After a couple pics in the net and one before the release, he hung in the shallows for a minute catching his breath and then moseyed off.  I took that as my cue to do the same.  It was still cool, especially wet wading, but there was no reason to be a glutton this morning.  Sometimes one good one is quite enough.

Pocket water window and maybe one more this weekend?