September 7, 2022 – Huge Spike of Rain Came and Went but the Stain Remained -Northampton County Limestoner

A pig for today, a bugger eater too.

If there was a good timing for a streamer window after this long-awaited deluge, I personally did not get the timing right.  I saw Valley spiked at around 1000 CFS, and it had been under 15 CFS (!) for a month, but it was still too high at 200 CFS when I checked yesterday afternoon.  It was the first day of school for the boy, anyway, so I was just curious not really entertaining the option of heading out.  Flooding rain this time of year can also make the water temperatures go up not down, so that was another reason to wait it out a day.  I figured I could have good nymphing today, especially if the lighter rain continued over the night as forecasted, but those bands did not really roll back in until this afternoon when I was driving home.  I guess this also means I might have good nymphing tomorrow morning too, but I have a couple things to take care of, so I am not sure if I will get out.  I did, however, give it a go today on a creek without a gage.  I was hoping it was still up a bit more since this one has been really low, but that was not the case.  After the month we’ve had, I was not mad at the stain in the water, which even allowed me to pick up a few on a small, jigged bugger after I grew tired of the one- and two-year-olds eating my small bugs in pocket water.  I ran into one other guy who said it was a dinkfest for him and, with the exception of one or two fish, that was pretty much what I had as well.  Still, it was a fun three hours on a creek I have not fished since maybe June.  And all those dinks are a good sign for the future.

Not high but stained, a lot of smalls and YOY (not pictured!).

I drove the boy and a buddy to school this morning, so I was up early, but I did not have the energy or desire to pack up for fishing until after my second cup of coffee around 9:30 AM.  I knew the water would be cool, and the clouds and drizzle would help my cause.  I did not see any notable bug activity, but I may have been late for any remaining trico action or, more likely, the rainy weather put that waning hatch off for a couple days.  For the first 30 minutes, I fished some good water with a size 16 frenchie and a dark perdigon on the dropper, and surprisingly I had maybe two tentative bumps.  It took that long to realize that the other fly guy was ahead of me!  The brush and grass had not been cut back in months here, the light was low, and he was in a camo hoodie, so I did not see him when I looked around before starting my morning, and the only car in the lot appeared to belong to an elderly woman out for a stroll—or so I thought.  No biggie, but at least it made me feel better about not even getting bounced.  They were all small fish, and many YOY, but this other guy divulged that fish were eating the first time through.  Even this fella here who fished “used water” for 30 years from the back of a bass boat is not that good on a pressured SEPA limestoner!  After I apologized for not seeing him, dude and I chatted a bit more and figured out a workable plan.  He was almost done his morning, so I gave him space and took a longer walk upstream to fish some pocket water he had not intended to fish today.  I did return to this first stretch before going home today, and my best fish and couple other average fish took the micro-bugger even in brighter conditions and after two guys had fished through—thank goodness for some stain, you know!?

A couple other young adults.

Actually, the best fish of the day, maybe a hair over 12 inches but thick and healthy, came from a reliable spot in this first stretch.  It is just nondescript and perhaps difficult enough to discourage many fishermen from trying it.  As a result, I would say I land a decent fish from this lair at least 75 percent of the time.  After the dink fest, I needed this one, so I made a special trip back to this little spot just before quitting time.  Before that, I worked some favorite holes for a steady pick of YOY, smalls, and even a couple sunfish in a (sometimes) big fish eddy.  I did pick up at least one 8 incher and another pushing 11 in the pocket water, but it was hardly on fire.  Not one fish ate the perdigon, which I should have swapped for a reliable walts or something, but since the hot spot frenchie in both gold and purple were doing the trick, I just soldiered on with the perdigon doing little more than providing the right weight for the small bugs on 6X tippet to get down but not buried in the moss and algae.  Because the stain persisted, my last move was to put on one of Eric’s jigged micro-buggers on 4X and go back and fish a few deeper spots on my walk back to the potential honey hole.  I hooked an average or two on the bugger, and moved a handful of smalls, so even though it was close to noon by now, I kept the faith.  Not a huge fish by any means, but the secret spot did pay off when my only respectable fish of the day clobbered the bugger on the fall.  I figured that was about as good as it was going to get today, and it was not like I was there at prime time, stain or no stain, so I headed for home a little after releasing this one.  If not Thursday, then Friday—I feel like I have to take advantage of the residual rain and these cooler temps at least once more this week.