June 30, 2023 – A Rather Decent Late-Summer Morning (Except It’s Only Early Summer, Dig?) – Northampton County Limestoner

Worth getting out of bed finally!

I fished the very early shift today, likely an hour before the trico chasers were finishing their first or second cups of coffee.  I only encountered three guys even when I was quitting around 8:30 AM, and they didn’t want any parts of me besides a quick hello either, which I appreciated.  The swarm was still doing its dance, but there were some fish taking duns and/or emergers, and a heron was resting in a roost over a prime spot for the eventual spinner fall.  I had the wrong tool by that time of the morning, anyway, and I bet my 7X tippet is growing moss if I could even find it in my pack.  That said, I did have a good morning nymphing, landing a total of 11 trouts, I believe.  I even landed a nice 15-inch class wild fish dead-drifting a size 12 jigged bugger before 6:30 AM—which explains the blurry (or smokey) shots of this beautiful fish.  I was fishing a new reel for the first time, so I got to see how the drag performed on day one, which was nice.  My very first fish of the morning was a rainbow, and I landed at least six of them, which has been more common in this stretch for whatever reason.  I even saw a golden that has been in the same hole in a supposedly unstocked stretch of Class A water since March.  He didn’t want what I was throwing, or I would have harvested him for Eric’s smoker (or the local racoons depending on my mood).  I even caught a stocked brown, which is just stupid management in, again, a Class A wild trout stream.  I did not let it ruin my morning, and I was happy for the steady action, even if fish were fussy-hitting like it was August not June.

My share of bows, but a stocked brown is uncalled for in these parts.

There was still a stain from the rains, but the creek was near normal flows for the time being, and it felt cool.  I could not take a water temperature reading because I was wet wading this morning for the first time this year, and I forgot that my stream thermometer was in a pocket in my waders.  I think there is another in my pack somewhere, but I knew I was quitting before 9 AM, so I didn’t worry too much about it. Fish acted fine when released, even or especially the bows—I will admit that I expected to have to piss a lot more than I did, so it could not have been all THAT cold.

More holdovers, some quite lovely, and an average wild fish for the morning.

If this had been a morning during one of those late summer windows, I would have been very happy with my three hours on the water, and I was pleased to land some fish, even a nice one.  But if I look back at this blog, I could easily find many late June trips that were fantastic, so in retrospect I know I had already lowered my expectations for today and this season as a whole.  I am just surprised I got out!  Since at least Monday following the weekend storms, I have packed the ‘Ru three times in case I got inspired in the wee hours, but I either rolled over and enjoyed the extra sleep or saw something on the gages that I did not like.  Being even a little informed about summer trout fishing can be a burden at times.  But I can still vividly recall past moments standing over big wild fish in Julys of yore waiting until they could strongly swim away post release.  Yes, they hit a streamer and fought well, but even water over 65 F for big fish seems to take more of a toll.  It ain’t easy being trout-woke sometimes.