October 28, 2023 – Lured by the Chance at a Big October Fish – Monmouth County

Even the headboats were out there  And did I mention a full moon too?

Well, Jeff and I notched our first skunk of the fall, but it was a trip pregnant with potential, not an early scouting trip or something.  There was definitely a shot at a fish or two in the 20-to-30-pound class if things went well.  The conditions were pretty right with early morning and late afternoon flood tides, the water was clean, the wind was out of the West (well SW, but not S, at least), some bait was in the wash, and, oh yeah, hundreds of boats were a few cast lengths off the beach floating in the middle of football fields of flopping, larger peanut bunker, not dinks but those tweener bunker.  We fished before sunrise with big dark-colored shads and even big old wood darters, and then with the sun coming up we tossed a pencil and other topwater, even my long-flying THex peanut bunker spoon, but not one clown on the beach, not us or the other 50 jamokes out there with us, landed a fish during the morning window.  Maybe they got them at the next tide, but Jeff and I only had a few hours in the early morning to give it a shot.  This is early for me, but it has been years since I have been involved in a blitz of fish that were over 15 years old—most have been slot keepers and shorts before last year’s bunker bonanza.  I hope things are lining up well.  I know some dude’s falls have been made already.  I just hope Jeff gets into one of those memorable 40+ inchers this year!  Full disclosure: I wouldn’t mind one either since my last 30-pound surf bass predates this blog by several years!  Today was not that day, but we had a real chance, so a worthwhile pre-dawn drive for the smell of bunker and skunk on the tongue.

October 21, 2023 – Not the Flows I Was Expecting but My Expectations Were Pretty Low Anyway – Berks County

A few adults, one maybe a holdover.

The forecast was for two blustery days this weekend, with Sunday being the sunnier of the two, so I decided to fish Saturday morning.  I have not been to this small creek in many months, and there is no gauge to judge flows, so I was hoping that a little rain would spike it a bit.  No doing.  It was windy enough to bring a lot of colorful leaves down, but the flow was low and clear.  I drove through some drizzle in the predawn hours, and roads were wet, but the rain made no noticeable impact.  One good thing is that I did beat the onset of the low moving off and the high moving in, so the winds stayed relatively calm for a couple hours, at least.  I can toss heavier bugs like a jigged bugger in the wind and not feel the effects too much, but a little more flow and fewer leaves makes that work around more manageable.  Instead, I used light tippet and small bugs and just timed my casts around gusts.  A light mono rig does help limit how much havoc the wind can do with a traditional fly line, but fishing was still challenging and with few rewards.  There was a good spawn last winter because YOY were all over the small bugs.  Besides one or two fish that came off—more on that below—I don’t think I landed a net-worthy fish until after 10 AM, and even those fish were 9-10-inchers not counting the fallfish king.

Leaf peeping and small stream sneaking.

I mostly had the place to myself and only turned back when I ran into a dude in waders, his kid, and their dog towards the end of my usual beat here. Honestly, I was still hoping this stretch they were in was going to turn it all around for me, but I used their presence to turn back and fish a couple holes that were unproductive early and explore a couple new spots.  I did catch one decent wild brown at one of those places I revisited.  Fish were hitting very light in the high pressure, and probably spooked a bit by the weather commotion, so before that I had only lost one decent fish, landed another, and landed a massive fallfish.  I almost thought holdover rainbow when I first turned this fish and then thought smallmouth until I saw all the silver of his wide body.  A big old native!  That was fun after a morning of many dinks, including several species of minnow in the 3-to-5-inch range.  The presence of all the chubs speaks to the marginal nature of this creek, and yet I did catch what might have been a longtime holdover brown, not to mention two very recent year classes of small wild browns, and representation from others, so there are cool stretches where fish can ride out the summer, as well as some deeper holes to ride out the winter.

Chad?  Kevin?

After a break at my car, with the wind steadier, I decided to try a stretch a short drive downstream where I might toss a dry dropper.  I did catch a few YOY and minnows on the dry, and the pretty but likely holdover brown on the dropper.  I guess I was having so much fun punching casts through the wind with my 7’ 5 weight combo that I worked a lot of water for a few chubs and YOY.   I did find a new hole or two—places that would be holes with more flow to be more precise—but they might get warm too because I even landed a couple sunfish to add to the variety of fishes I caught today.  My expectations were low, and this was in part an exploration trip to see how an old favorite did this summer, but a couple more adult fish would have been nice.  The creek is okay, just a little sandy in spots.  That was probably not helped by some makeshift dams that were constructed by overzealous youth or, go forbid, the township trying to create more holding water and bank fishing opportunities for the spring stockies.  I am talking here about hours of placing stones across twelve feet of creek, so they were committed at least.  The new holes did remove a few prior hot spots, so I considered breeching the dams.  I could not be certain about what this would do to the creek, so I just left them alone (for now).

I hope the birds did better.  Some bonus shots.

October 15, 2023 – Another Literal Sick Day Fishing – Northampton County

Getting colored up already.

Still nursing a cold, I did what any sane person would do and set the alarm for 5 AM for a fishing trip.  I have done this many times.  Rest is one thing, but how can fresh air and fishing be bad for your health, right?  The only downside is that I am not always on my A game.  Case in point, unlike Friday when I left without appropriate attire or enough food, water, and coffee to keep going, I packed well today—the stuff inside the house, at least.  The thing is, I usually pack rods and waders the night before, so on autopilot I left the house this morning with my water and snacks and warm clothes, but I got a good thirty minutes into my drive before realizing I did not see fly rods bouncing in my peripheral vision.  No waders or flies either, so handlining tippet or knotweed tenkara were also out of the question.  When I got back home, the sun was rising and the breeze was picking up, so I almost went back to sleep.  Instead, I had a civilized sit-down in the powder room instead of a Wawa or the bushes, made a quick breakfast sandwich, and then jumped back on the road, choosing the turnpike this time to keep it fresh.  Ain’t nothing gonna break-a my stride, not even my own mistakes!  I am glad I kept going despite the illness-induced senior moment because I ended up catching a mess of colored-up small stream fish on a beautiful morning, even explored another stretch of the creek and had success there.  Who doesn’t like a new spot or two, especially one without any fishermen present on a late weekend morning?

Many pretty trout in the bouncy stuff eating caddis.

This is a little creek with a lot of current, so I love to fish small bugs on a mono-rig in the pocket water, often just a single bug when I can figure out what they want.  The pocket water plan worked out well early, but like Friday most of the fish were up off the bottom ready to eat an emerging caddis not the anchor fly.  I had the pinky pt on the dropper to start, and it got no love in the absence of mayflies.  But the CDC size 16 blowtorch was definitely worth the switch, as there were caddis in the air and in the vegetation.  As the sun got higher, the fish went deeper or deeper into the whitewater in some cases.  With the exception of a new hole I fished, holes in general were disappointing.  I did target two or three risers giving themselves away in bankside eddies, and they all ate a single, buggy nymph the minute it hit the water near them.  In those moments, I often say I should go back to ‘Ru and get the short rod with the floating line and the dry tied on, but I really wanted to try and catch a better fish or two.  To that end, I did toss a jigged bugger in the deeper spots, but that only accounted for one of two rainbows and another average size brown.

Many ate the dropper tag, a couple on a bugger, crick pics.

The last time I was here, the browns were more challenging after 10 AM, but the bows kept eating.  Today, I must have caught browns to rainbows 25 to 2, so the presence of active caddis had the residents tuned in and turned on.  When the hatch died out, I switched to a single frenchie on 5.5X and continued to catch fish letting the little fly get a bit deeper.  It was breezy around midday, so the leaves started going.  I thought about calling it a day when that weather started, but because it was so nice out otherwise, I decided to stay in the streambed and hike up to some water I had scouted by car and Google maps but had never fished.  The creek gets more and more industrial, and it was easier to stay in the stream through a mostly shallow and channelized riffle of some 400 yards.  I could eventually see the change in elevation and, in the distance, the plunge I had seen before but had not fished.  It was not pretty, but the water was deep and clear.  An underground tunnel was spilling water from an unnamed trib or just a storm channel, the hole backed up to an abandoned manufacturing business or something, and a retaining wall held back the city streets.  But there were at least six more trout in the plunge there!

Pre-spawn colors and another bow left over.

In fact, the best wild brown, perhaps two of the best wild browns by a hair, and even the second rainbow of the day came out of this hole.  I am thinking the tunnel trib was a cold-water supply that allowed these fish to summer in style.  Downstream of this section, there is definitely a small spring or seep where I have measured a couple degree difference in water temperature in the early summer—and tangled with a 20-inch unicorn enjoying the cool temps, a pig I have not moved since or who has since moved...  I fished a single size 16 thread frenchie under a very small indicator here since it was noon and windy and the hole quite deep.  Letting that little bug just fall through the moderate current was really effective.  I landed half a dozen fish and had a couple additional short pops before deciding I was good for the day.  Again, not the prettiest hole, but culverts do tend to dig themselves a deep depression during high water, and if the water coming from underground there is cold, this is a keeper spot.  Maybe that piggy finds his way here post spawn too?!  Compared to Friday, I was feeling closer to whole today, so I may have actually landed a good fish had I been given the chance.  As you can see, the fishes are getting some color, so the spawn is not that far off—in the freestone cricks at least. A good day after an odd start, but mostly just a good day.

Some b reel of pretty wild trouts.

October 13, 2023 – Prepped for a Forty-Five Minute Drive, Ended Up in NEPA – Lackawanna County

Only bad travel math if the day sucks!

I had an annoying cold and sinus thing for most of the week—still do, to be honest.  Negative on the Covid, so I went to the office on Wednesday and powered through Thursday at home, but I guess I hit a wall by today.  When I saw that I was lucky enough to have no meetings on my calendar and two appointments cancelled, I knew it was time for a PTO day.  Since I was hardly one hundred percent, the plan was just to hit a creek in the morning for a few hours after dropping the boy and his buddy off at school.  I did not pack nearly enough water or food, especially for a guy whose nose had been running since Sunday, and I was not dressed for the high-40’s I encountered at 9:30 AM in Lackawanna County, but that is where I ended up.  It’s only bad math when it’s a bad day, I guess?  I drove four hours round trip, and only fished about 4.5 hours before I ran out of the juice, but I think it was worth the effort.  I don’t know if I was having brain fog or thinking more clearly, but I do know that the gauges in NEPA looked far better than those closer to home.  And so, despite a chilly, breezy, leafy, start and bright sun and clear water as the morning progressed, I had some success.

A good start in the chilly air.

In a favorite hole still shaded and chilly and full of swirling leaves, I had a good start, so I knew some things could happen today.  Of the first half a dozen wild browns, five of them were small to average fish, but I did stick one nicer one in the 14-inch range.  The flows were good, and leafy, as I mentioned, so I found success with a heavy anchor fly under a bobber.  The anchor cut through the leaves quickly and got my dropper, a #16 CDC blowtorch, in the strike zone.  There were caddis in the streamside vegetation, so I had confidence that this fly would work.  There were a few small caddis active over the water around 11 AM, and even a few olives a bit later despite the bluebird day, so I did change the dropper to a #18 pink bead pheasant tail later while working pocket water.  That bug accounted for a handful of fish too, including the best one of the day, a healthy 18-inch fish active in 18 inches of pocket water.  Before concentrating on picking pockets, mostly along a shade line while looking for fish avoiding the sun but eating those emerging bugs, I even stuck a few on a deep-sinking black bugger.  Those fish came from a very deep hole where I have tangled with and landed multiple big trouts.  Today, the best bugger eater was 11 or 12 inches, and I had one a tad bigger charge the bug not commit, but it was a nice, action-packed break in the nymphing.  Dammit if I did not spook a pig that was sitting in a little dark depression in the tailout of this hole as I made my crossing to begin nymping pockets!  I guess I should have dry-droppered the back of this spot when I saw some small fish suspended up waiting for emergers, but with the wind and the leaves and the mono rig, well, today was not the day.

I have had better photography days.

Broke out pinky when some olives joined the low-key caddis party.

I had fun in the pocket water, but I knew I was missing more fish than I normally would.  I was with it enough to make some good adjustments, like adding more weight to the anchor to get the bugs deeper in that high sun and the aforementioned switch to something a bit more BWO when I saw evidence of them, but I certainly missed a handful of short sharp takes.  Even with those misses, I landed over a dozen trout on a bluebird day during a leaf hatch, and two of them were solid fish, so I could not complain.  This creek rarely lets me down, and it was a beautiful day to be out—even the drive was uneventful following a big Thursday night of sports viewing that must have kept the traffic low.  Everyone else in the region who had taken a lovely October Friday off had done so to sleep off a hangover not to tangle with some wild trout, it seems.  After a stop for more water and caffeine to make the ride home less onerous, I made tracks back to SEPA.  As beneficial mentally as physically, this was a good PTO day to burn.  Rain Saturday, so I hope I have the ability to do something equally good with Sunday this weekend.

Even a few on a bugger.  A couple crick pics.  The first fish of the morning.

October 1, 2023 – Barely Avoided the Skunk as Seasons and Other Things Change – Northampton County

Leaves but no aquatic bugs in the spider web.  Sexy water devoid of life, at least this morning

After making a second stop further upstream in some Class A water, I was able to catch four fish this morning (two of them rainbows, but that is a subject for another blog post), but I first spent about three fishless hours going for the one in some marginal water downstream.  I think I did the same thing last month, where I may have prematurely visited a section of another creek that holds some seasonal piggies.  In both cases, the water temperatures were fine, and some very small bug life eventually showed after 10 AM, but the early shift was not good.  I did not even see a fish this morning and can say that I did not even get a hit, not even from a bass or fallfish, while nymphing my way back upstream.  This first stretch I fished closer to the confluence with the river is not stocked by the Commish, but I know the community puts some in because I have tangled with some thick club stocked rainbows that wanted to pull the rod out of my arms as recently as this spring.  I don’t think they make it through the summer, or at least I have not caught them in the fall.  Instead, this is some water where more migratory browns might pass through.  There are a few holes upstream of this stretch, now posted up really well, where these larger fish would spend some time each year—some might have even made a longer-term home.  I have tried a couple times in the past with limited results to intercept their travels since I no longer have access to a place I once unoriginally but affectionately called "Big Fish Hole."

Eleventh-hour salvage job on the caddis larva in pocket water.

I tossed a jigged bugger in some great water, but I found just as many runs and former holes filled with trees and/or filled with rubble.  Man, this stretch gets some flood damage!  What I did not expect was the degree of flood damage I found later in the morning in the Class A section.  With my tail between my legs and just trying to catch a couple before taking the ride home, I parked at an old favorite spot.  It took me a minute to realize that a deep hole was gone, completely filled with rolled stones, with the channel running along the opposite bank.  Upstream, another tree in a deep hole, which I had encountered three or four times downstream already.  This entire region is becoming one giant fulfillment center for our Amazon addiction, so I should not be surprised that it floods like crazy after each substantial rain.  It still hurts, however, especially when I look back at photos of multi-piggy days of yore in some of these spots.  Eventually, I found one stretch of pocket water where four small-to-average fish ate a bottom rolling caddis larva.  With air temps inching towards 80 degrees and my own lawn and my mother’s to cut with the boy, I decided four fish was better than none on a day when none had felt like a real possibility.