December 31, 2023 – One Last Trip for the Year/Small Stream Sneaking in Good Flows – Berks County

Some pretty fish to end the year.

Well, it was not my most prolific year, but I was starting to figure out how to fish with a new job by this fall, so I think next year will be far better.  I get generous PTO and can flex the days I work from home, but I have not had to worry about scheduling time off in order to fish in close to 7 years!  I will get better at that too.  I can already see that I need to put some days in for prime times in 2024, like that November striped bass run and caddis time in May.  All said, however, I cannot complain about getting out for 65 days this year!  I know some guys would die to have that kind of time on the water.  As I may have mentioned, I embraced the weekends more and still had success—it also provided a new variable to figure with stream selection.  I fished some new streams and even attended a warmwater fishing meet-up this year with the PAFF crew.  Speaking of which, I was the lucky winner of a drawing on PAFF for the latest George Daniel book, a new Fulling Mill box to add to my collection, and George is going to mail me a dozen flies too!  It is unclear if these are just going to be some of George’s signature nymphs from Fulling Mill or from his own vice, but either way they will get used—I am talking to you GD’s Chewy Caddis….

A little freestoner in winter, even black stoneflies...

Trip 65 of 2023 was a thoroughly enjoyable one.  I arrived at first light on this small limestone influenced freestoner.  I wanted to make sure I was the first car in the parking lot because the Plan B and C when I go to this creek and find other fishermen are B: another short stretch that is only a couple hours of fishing on a good day, or C: a good 20-minute ride further west to a stocked crick that has some wild fish that I mess with post-spawn many winters.  There were some fishermen out after me, but I was the first to work through both Plan A and Plan B today, so I was charmed or rewarded for my pre-dawn winter drive or both.  I did not find any fish over 10 or 11 inches, but I caught a bunch of them, like 20 or more in under 4 hours of fishing, hiking, and the short commute to the second stretch after I had exhausted the first.  They were chewing too, not stuck to the bottom.  I started out in the low light, aided by the persisting cloud cover, tossing a small jigged sculpin on 6X and the mono rig.  I caught a bunch of short fish and a few YOY but could not raise a larger trout out of a known wintering hole.  It was just really deep and really cold down there today, I suppose.  I even drop-shotted, refusing to believe no one was down there.  Surprisingly, it was at the tailout of this deep hole where I noticed small black stoneflies crawling on the rocks.

Pocket water and small bugs at the first stretch.

Stones don’t emerge, they crawl out, so it does not always mean rising fish or even fish getting excited about nymphs that lose their grip and start tumbling in the current.  I also don’t typically encounter them until near the end of January, but that is another story.  Seeing them did prompt me to tie on small black and olive bugs to match the hatch and up my chances once the bugger window started closing.  That was a good move on this first stretch, and I caught probably 6 more trout on what I can only call a bomb black zebra midge that was the size of the adult stoneflies.  An olive perdigon got a little love too, I believe.  There is another honey hole at the end of this stretch, and it is not posted, but it is one of those right in someone’s backyard.  A couple of the houses were busy with kids and visitors, so I did the cordial thing and decided to save this honey hole for another day, probably a weekday now that all the vegetation is gone.  Instead, I chose to take a ride to the other stretch I had in mind as my Plan B.  I can often fish them both in one day, but it was a Sunday and a holiday, so I was not expecting much just in case.  Luckily, I was the first visitor to this stretch today, too, and it was well worth the stop.

A few "better" fish at the second stretch and on a big bug.

I not only got another hour of fishing in, but I also had a really productive hour and, finally, a majority of the fish were adults in the 8-to-11-inch range.  It is more limestoney and spring creeky in this stretch, so I fished a single buggy hare’s ear that could double as a scud—or just a juicy meal not to be missed.  Go big or go small in the winter is a motto I live by.  Small worked, but big had worked too, and there was deeper water in this stretch, so a bug that would get down but fall slowly seemed like the right call.  The wild browns responded well.  I even missed two that hit shortly after the bug landed, so they were off the bottom here too.  I got 5 or 6 that were stacked up behind a deep drop off and near an undercut bank.  I even had one chase my premature lift and recast, so I may have found more willing fish here if I had chosen to rest the spot and come back.  I was content as it was, so I never did come back.  Anyway, another dude was working his way up there after I had reached the end of this stretch and was walking back to the ‘Ru. 

Now Rosenbauer approved?

A little before noon I decided Plan C could wait for 2024, especially since this last creek in the region on my list this morning has been more affected by storm damage than most creeks.  As a result, wild fish populations have been disappointing this past year or two.  My right leg felt awfully wet too!  Mitches were hating on my leak solution a few years ago, and now it’s Tom Rosenbauer approved, so probably all the rage!  Here’s hoping you and yours have a healthy and happy new year.  Thank you for reading and commenting.  Honestly, for the last two years, and especially in light of my career change this year, I have considered sunsetting this format.  I do get something personally out of taking the time to record my trips, and that is why this all started anyway—sort of a more public fishing journal to track my own reentry into fly fishing after a long hiatus.  I am still on the fence about how to continue to post and to avoid the ‘gram as a lazier way to stay connected to fishing buddies.  We shall see.  Change can be good.  On that note, and continuing to evolve, I put together a new 9’ 9 weight outfit that will definitely ride along in Jeff’s beach buggy this spring.  And I plan to do more dry fly and warmwater fishing this year, having come out the end of several years of “mastering” the nymphing game and then the mono rig.  I hear that change can be good.  I hope George's book does not suck me back in?

Last bonus shots of 2023.