February 2, 2024 – A Bonus Afternoon of Fishing with a Small Stream PB – Berks County

A beauty buck

While technically my second fish of the afternoon—I did stick the requisite creek chub first—my first trout today was a beauty.  I had a sick day today to take care of some (more) dermatology issues, but when I arrived at the office, the doctor suggested that we postpone the slated excision for a more efficient Mohs procedure, my second in as many years.  I had to shave my upper lip for the first time in over a decade!  I wimped out of seeing my entire face, so I am currently rocking an Amish look.  I think getting a better view of the area they had biopsied convinced him to go a less hit-or-miss route than cutting, stitching, sending it out, and then running the risk of having to cut again.  Fun times.  I only share this because it is related to a fishing life—not to mention landscaping and laboring my way through at least two college degrees.  Dudes on PAFF unable to or afraid to fish in the winter (I think many of them don’t fish period!) were dissing dudes in buffs and hoodies as hipster Gen Z flat-brimmers—the requisite hat of the Howler Bros set—but I had to remind them that those who fish a lot, especially those who fish bodies of water larger than brook trout bluelines with canopies so heavy one needs at least amber lenses to see your dry fly, get a lot of sun by the time they are my age.  I am 75% Irish and 25% Polish too, so melanin is in short supply.  I have been rocking a hood when I am in the open for a couple years now and, granted, I look cool enough to steal Amidea Daniel from her younger and much more successful husband, but I am not wearing it to look cool.  Same with the buff: my first Mohs procedure was on my (red)neck.  I remember the dermatologist calling over his assistant to show her the effects of sun damage, so there’s that bit of notoriety too.

Not a bad follow up to fish # 1.  That free GD jigged bugger.

Since the procedure was postponed, and I already had the day off from work, I had the afternoon to fish.  There was some rain in the night, and with the saturated ground, a bit of a spike in flows even from a light rain.  It was cloudy and stayed cloudy or variable all day, as the creek collage probably shows, so a good streamer day on a small creek.  That was confirmed when I arrived at this stocked freestoner with wild reproduction.  The flows and visibility were not only good; they were optimal.  I had an olive George Daniel bugger on from my last Valley trips, and I did not feel like black was needed today.  I never took it off except to retie once after rescuing it from a submerged limb.  The bugger culled out most of the chubs, and most of the little trouts fell off before I even had to wet my hand, so the 10 to 12 browns I did land in the ensuing 3 hours were all rather decent small stream fish.  As the pictures show, I had two other fish over 12 inches, fish for which I still may have taken the gloves off.  If you know this creek, you know that’s a pretty darn good showing even without the little piggie that started my day on the water.

Another above average hen for good measure.

I started fishing about 12:45 and ended around 4:30 PM, and I found fish early in my walk, so I did not cover the entire productive stretch of this creek.  That is a good thing, as it leaves a new starting point if I return before “the third Monday of February.”  You see, this is a stocked crick and since the pandemic and the sunsetting of the two opening days model, the last day to fish approved trout waters has moved from February 28 (or 29 like this leap year!) to the 18^th of the month.  That does not sound like much, but the end of this month can be magic time with early black stoneflies and even olives starting to pop.  The irony is that many of these creeks will not see fresh stockies until the end of March and sometimes early April, but rolling access dates would be like herding cats, I am sure.  All the rain has made the bigger creeks in NEPA that I have been wanting to fish still right on the cusp of fishable.  I am rolling the dice that late next week I should be able to give one a shot.  Until then, I am grateful for the good flows in the trickles like this and may hit a small to medium creek on Sunday. 

Some crick pics, some averages, and my garden agrees with Phil.

Besides one cold stretch, this has been yet another mild winter, and the groundhog says an early spring.  I have not seen robins yet, but there are crocuses pushing up in my beds, so old Phil may be right this year.  As a result of the mild, I have not found fish acting like it’s winter, bunched up in holes.  The better fishes today were near holes, but they were up and active on the current breaks and drop-offs of riffles.  Maybe sitting a bit closer to the softer edges of current, but not shying away from it, either.  The best fish of the day and the one close to 14 inches I caught 15 minutes later fought like crazy to get back into undercuts and into trouble.  I definitely underestimated both of them, perhaps accustomed to how fish fight in water temps likely 5 degrees or more colder than they were today.  The best fish was over 16 for sure.  When I tortured the Silver Fox with a photo, he asked if it was 18, and my gut said less.  Let’s say 16+, then, and my first good fish of 2024, especially from a creek this size.

Full sized bonus shot of big papa.