August 31, 2023 – A Full Six Hours of Memorable Fishing in August – A Couple Northampton County Cricks

A very handsome fish.

I was slotted to take one more boat ride with Ward today.  As is too often the case with offshore dates booked well in advance, the weather had other plans for us.  The fact that it had been blowing close to 30 knots for days took the guess work out this time, at least.  We knew by Tuesday that this trip was not happening.  The upside of the unsettled weather this week was that much further inshore, we were experiencing an end-of-August cool down, with some precipitation even mixed in.  Today was nearing the culmination of a long cool pattern.  In fact, it was cold front conditions this morning in Northampton County: windy, clear blue skies, leaves falling from the sycamores, certainly not wet wading weather.  Instead of fish being eager to eat at first light and not long after, they took their time warming up today.  I took a water temperature at 10 AM, and it was 58 degrees.  That is pretty awesome, but also a shock to cold-blooded creatures, I suppose, especially considering that it got even colder overnight.  The rest of the animal kingdom was plenty active early, which made up for the slow fishing start.  Within the first hour, I saw a mink, a water snake wrestling a crick chub to the death in real-time, another water snake leaping (well-dropping) from sunning himself on a bridge abutment, a bigger trout trying to eat a small one from my line, a merganser on the hunt, dude tossing a spinner and smoking a butt not 10 feet from me and from the bank no less.  It was so fall-like that I even finished my first round at 10:30 AM and took a 20-minute ride to another stop to spend lunchtime with plenty of cooperative fish, like close to 20 fish in the last 90 minutes of fishing.  I did not quit fishing until 1 PM on August 31, so it was a unique day.  And fish, at least the holdover bows, were biting still at that time; I was just running out of water on this second creek.  Oh, and there was even a pig wild brown at the first stop of the morning, just for good measure.

My mink friend and some more wild browns at spot one.

Along with the brown close to 20 inches at this first creek, I believe I landed two bows that were spared photographs, and four more average wild browns.  A pair that were born a couple years ago managed to fall off and/or fall through the net, and one average fish leaped off the line in pocket water, but almost all the action was after 9 AM.  One or two fish to show for three hours on the water is hardly killing it, so I am glad the other wildlife kept me entertained until the trout warmed up.  Fishing was tough early, but got much better at midday, which is not unheard of but far from the norm at this time of the year.  In the cold water, they were barely hitting.  I even had to put a bobber on to catch one in a deep run, just allowing a single small bug to meander through the competing currents.  The big fish took a single size 14 hot spot frenchie on a tightline in a swirling bucket of water under a plunge, and with few exceptions, fish were still tight to whitewater all day.  That is fun fishing, but also a sign that they don’t trust this cool down to last.  An even mix of holdover bows and small, small stream wild browns at my second stop, but it was silly fishing in terms of pure action.

Some bonus shots.

I usually head for home by 10 AM this time of year, but I had the day off, and the air and water temperatures were fantastic for this time of year.  As I noted, fishing had gotten even better, but the wind was a chore, so I had a much smaller and more sheltered creek in mind.  It is only another 20-25 minutes north of this creek, so I ate my breakfast and drank an iced coffee on the ride instead of having a leisurely pack up for home at the ‘Ru.  If not for the wind, I may have poked around more sections of the first creek, but I also had a particular hole in mind at the second creek.  I shared a story about losing a huge wild fish on this second creek earlier this summer.  I guess I wanted another shot at him in addition to a more sheltered and relaxing place to finish out my morning.  As it turns out, I think I caught three rainbows near this fish’s spot, so I think they spoiled my chances for a shot at redemption, what with all the jumping and splashing they do…

Action packed at spot two.

The water temperature was only 61 degrees at 11-something AM on this second creek.  It was much lower than I expected, but I did watch some smalls rising at the first hole I hiked down to, so I had not missed the active window.  I had to fish tight to whitewater and shady runs and undercuts to begin fooling fish—plus a little downsizing to a single size 16 frenchie and some 6X.  That one change brought the numbers.  I had four small wild browns come from the first deep plunge, but then I had to pick away between defined holes.  The slower deep spots were dominated by the holdover rainbows, and they looked pretty good and fought well.  It was in one such deep undercut hole that a bow shot out and tried to eat my 6-inch wild brown from the line.  Or maybe he wanted the same fly because I likely caught that rainbow on the next cast, tossing the single bug tight to cover.  A couple fish were in shallower pockets, actively eating, but most followed that early pattern of hanging close to cover and a reliable oxygen source.  I stayed out long enough that I was beginning to swamp my waders with the sun beginning to light up much of the creek.  I caught fish right until I decided to turn back downstream, and the water was plenty cold, but it just felt like the browns were pretty much done around the noon hour.  This was bonus time and fish-filled bonus time at that, so I was totally fine with calling it good at 1 PM.  Sometimes, when a saltwater trip gets cancelled, the plan B feels like a consolation prize, but since I had plenty of time to prepare and excellent August conditions, this one felt like a legit win.  I have plans on Saturday with the boy, and Sunday looks like the end of this cool reprieve, but I may have one more small window this long weekend.  Stay tuned?

An even mix of browns and holdover bows and plenty of fish after lunch.