February 8 and 9, 2023 – On the Board for the Month, Mostly Thanks to the Bugger – A Couple SEPA Freestoners

Signs of winter ending before it even began.

Since access to stocked trout streams, even those with wild fish in them, closes on February 19 this year to allow for stocking, I have been trying to target some of those spots during this latest warm spell.  For years, the date was March 1 when access to streams that the PFBC stocked was locked, but things changed during the pandemic.  It’s hard to say what the new normal will be.  For example, there used to be two opening days, remember?  Anyway, I took two casual, late day trips this week and had some success.  I also saw eagles, mink, deer, and even a rare daytime owl.  I had a big old stonefly land on my hand too.  If they are anything like mayflies, the first brood is usually on the larger side.  Only the big old chubs were on them yesterday in Berks County—they even popped my indicator while I was midging a deep, slow tailout—but the trout will start seeing them when numbers increase, I am sure.  They crawl out of the water, so it can definitely improve nymphing chances this month if nothing else.

The bugger saved the afternoon.

On Wednesday afternoon, I snuck over to a very local freestoner.  I had the bright idea to throw my 8-foot 3 weight with a dry dropper, hoping that some fish might begin rising later in the day.  There were midges of a couple sizes but not much more.  I turned one big fish on midges under a bobber in a deep hole, but in order to get bit again I had to go mobile and toss one of Eric’s small, jigged sculpins.  I moved two big bows that did not commit until I finally landed the pig male pictured above.  He was quite the handful on the rod I brought, especially in a deep, rocky run, but he did pose for a couple pics eventually.  These are fall stocked fish, and their numbers seemed diminished, but a fresh crop should be dumped in soon enough.  It was a walk in the woods with some cooperative trout mixed in, and it inspired me to give Thursday a go.

Nymphed up a few, including uber chubs.

From noon to about 4 PM on Thursday, I visited a stretch of stocked crick that has fluctuating wild reproduction.  The population has been in decline since a lot of habitat was destroyed by recent major storms—I believe it was the Silver Fox who noted that these small creeks are not used to weathering 100 year storms every three years now.  The smart wild fish can move up into a few tributaries and regroup, at least I hope they can, but I have not had a huge amount of success in a few years here.  The presence of holdovers has been even less likely over the last two years—just little holding water, I gather, and warmer because it is now shallower and silted in many spots.  I still like that it offers solitude and shelter from the wind in the winter.  I almost bagged the one access, however, because two other dudes were suiting up.  I am glad I circled back and engaged them in conversation, however, because we ended up having different directions in mind, anyway.  After a slow start, I did nymph up two or three average wild browns that were up in the riffles (well, on the soft seams, as it is winter still) actively eating nymphs.  When I fished the back of the run in two deeper holes, I had the aforementioned uber chubs not only pop the bobber but also bury it after eating the walts on the anchor position.  Man, I was hoping at least one of these was a trout the way they dug for bottom.  One was nearly 12 inches, I bet, and wide.  I took a pic of a second slugger that was a good, fat 10 inches after I landed at least four of these things.  On a slow day it was fun.

A chunk on the jigged sculpin.

It stayed cloudy and continued to warm into the low 60’s, and I had already caught fish, so I decided to go for the gusto for the remainder of this walk.  I clipped off the nymphs, added a length of 4X, and tied on Eric’s streamer that produced on Wednesday.  It was a good call, as I landed a very solid 14-inch wild fish after making this change.  I made a few good decisions this afternoon.  First off, where I caught this nicer fish was a lair in which I lost a 20-inch fish a few years ago.  Before that day, I had never counted on seeing a truly big fish in this marginal crick.  But I noted the undercut where he was intent on going that day.  I kept him out of there, but I lost him when he wrapped around a random stick buried in sand—since the storms, this place is loaded with sand and debris.  Today, I added a tungsten bead to the proceedings, then I let the bugger swing under there and started stripping.  A big old flash of body showed.  The second cast, I saw what was likely the same 14-inch class fish follow it out.  I ran out of depth before he could commit—more sandy shelf in front of the hole.  On the third cast, he ate it on the swing under the bank.  I then remembered why I like to throw streamers with a 5 or 6 weight!  I had to give my 3 weight nymphing rod a workout keeping this healthy fish out of the mess with the current pushing right into the bank. 

Bonus shots and the other bugger eater.

He was just a beautiful male fish with gorgeous colors.  I guess he had been hanging close to all that wood and those dark roots because the other wild fish I caught today were pale and silvery from the sandy and scoured bottom now found in much of the creek.  After the release, I had decided that one last longer wade in some deeper water was now worth the effort, especially because this dude was willing to chase in these cold water temperatures.  When I got close to the head of this long pool, I had another decent fish nip the back of the bugger.  He followed a second time but didn’t like something about it.  I guessed the extra tungsten bead, so I took the time to remove the extra weight.  After resting this fish and working up through the remainder of the head, I went back and let the now lighter streamer swing past the cover from where this fish charged.  He ate it this time, and I even managed a nice strip set on a mono rig!  That was really it for the rest of the afternoon, though I did land two more chubs on the streamer and moved another decent trout near the parking spot.  I am glad I stayed and changed things up, too.  I made some good decisions that paid some dividends.  I have a couple more of these stocked spots to check off the list before February 20, and the forecast looks mild next week.

Pretty afternoon and even some decent remaining habitat.