January 26 and 28, 2024 – I Finally Got on the Board for 2024/Very Dirty Water Even Near the Source – Valley Creek

First fish of 2024 deserves the full-sized photo.

Before the deep freeze earlier this month, there were definitely several fishable days that in retrospect I wish I had taken advantage of, but I was being picky about wanting to fish a bigger creek or river, I believe.  It has been a wet winter with many flooding storms, and the bigger creeks and rivers take much longer to flush out the extra volume.  I fished nothing but small cricks in December as a result.  Anyway, I was happy to have some winter temperatures and even snow, but it was late January before I even noticed that the month had nearly slipped by.  I had the morning today, so I took advantage of warm temperatures and good flows to catch a dozen trout before lunchtime.  Fish were chewing pretty well for mid-winter, but I could not find any bigger fish.  Since I was throwing a jigged bugger, I did cull out the really tiny fish and caught many young adults, so I really can’t complain.  I have not fished Valley in many months, so it’s not like I was dialed in enough to have a killer day in stained water.  Half my old honey holes were full of trees or gravel so, again, I can’t really complain about my morning.  It was good to get out and to be back.  I may have to get out again on Sunday now that I have broken the seal.  I will have to see what a ¼ inch of rain does to the already saturated ground, of course.

A lot of wood in the water.

Valley was dirty, and I threw black to start, but I did get an equal number of fish on an olive bug too.  The black bug was one of Eric’s with a pink bead, but it is bushy, so even on Valley in 75 CFS, I added another tungsten bead to get it down.  The olive was actually from the vice of another PA fly fishing luminary, one George Daniel.  I won a copy of his latest book from a drawing on PAFF, and as part of the deal, George sent a Fulling Mill box with about 18 of his flies.  It was done with a bit of love too, as it was definitely a winter selection of nymphs: perdigons, stones, and a few of his jigged buggers.  Eric will be doing some recon on them, but I can tell you the one philosophy in play is a decent sized profile without the bulk.  In other words, they look buggy, but they are not dense and sink fast.  As for the book, I am working on it.  Having read Dynamic Nymphing back in the day, I can say that his journey with euro techniques mirrors my own enough that much of the book should ring true for anglers with some miles on them.  Not sure it’s a book for newbies.

George signed the fly box not the book.  Eric's bug with one important mod ;)

I actually caught my first couple of fish of the year in a Valley trib because it was running clearer and closer to optimum streamer color.  If I’d been able to find a few more here, I may not have spent as much time on the main crick, which was a bit more challenging.  I caught fish, but I caught fish that were actively feeding away from the wintering holes, which were murky.  I did not even move a bigger fish, even fishing Eric’s bug close enough to cover enough times to leave it deep in a submerged log.  I had other black bugs with me, of course, but I wanted to give the GD bugger a shot too.  I stayed out until just shy of noon, so I was out close to 4 hours, which was sufficient to scratch an itch.  I saw no other living things besides the fish, a few red squirrels, and an apparently half blind fox.  I have not seen many red squirrels in SEPA of late, so that was cool, and I had to say something to the fox before he noticed I was there, so intent on the scent he was.  I know that feeling well.  Sat looks nice, but I have plans with family.  I may get wet again on Sunday if we don’t get too much rain.  That looks like the only way I can get a two trip January in this year.  

An even number ate the GD jigged bugger too.

Lazy, I guess, but I only saw two or three visitors to the site since I posted on January 26, so I will add that I did poke around a few spots close to the headwaters of Valley late morning of Sunday, January 28.  I can only say that storm chasing has gotten a lot more difficult of late.  Using the internal metrics I have used for years to estimate how upstream of the Turnpike gage would be in terms of flow and turbidity, I took a gamble and lost.  I think I made about four casts, so carrying the fly rod was just an excuse to get dressed and walk in the woods today.   The creek was in its banks with the TP gage only spiking in the low 200s, but the color even above Ecology Park was ugly.  There's a lot of zeitgeist around brook trout, and a lot of misplaced hate on invasive browns these days, but we should count ourselves lucky in much of the state, and especially in SEPA, that these little brown salmon-trout invaders from Europe are so damn resilient.  I certainly have nothing but respect for them.

Did I mention how ugly the color was?

I hope this year is a fluke with the rains and flooding problems, but I feel like I have been saying that for far too long!  I have not looked closely at the 10-day forecast, but it appears the cold is returning.  If all of this water were snow, I guess the creeks would have a better chance of slowly flushing themselves out.  At least getting out today and seeing a couple spots first-hand adds some new data points for future storm chasing with a streamer?  I guess I am trying to find a bright side to all this? 

It's the alien color of the runoff that bothers me more than the flows themselves.