March 15 and 17, 2024 – Two Mornings of Small Stream Sneaking with Very Different Outcomes - SEPA

A bunch of quality small stream fish.  Eric's best and the best of the morning.

I had the morning again on Friday, March 15, but unfortunately only the early morning.  Olives bring the fish to life on Valley and other creeks, but usually not until well after 10 AM.  I was leaving at 10 AM.  I am glad I went out for a walk, but fishing was pretty terrible, resulting in only a few YOY, one flying into the air behind me I was so shocked by the hit.  Despite the spring and summer feels, the fish on Valley and even a couple Lehigh Valley creeks remain in winter mode and/or focused solely on those BWOs.  That can’t last for too long if my trip with Eric to our little freestone oasis on Sunday is any indication.  The caddis in size 18 were out in full force.  Shake the last papery leaves holding on to a birch tree, and there were even more bugs in the air.  We did not catch dozens, but we caught some quality fish in quality numbers for this creek.  Eric had the fish of the day, one far closer to 15 than 14 by hand measure, but we each had one that was at least 14 inches and a few others over 12, probably only one dink and she was 7 or 8 inches not 4.  For this small Class A creek in SEPA, one that is not a food-rich limestoner either, that is exceptional by my estimation.  Eric and I both had to rank this visit high on the growing list of excellent visits to this spot.

A great start!

The fish were fat, healthy, and angry in the cold water.  We had a blast watching a few of the better fish, including Eric’s second fish of the morning, jump and run all over the creek.  Flows were up but clear, so pretty perfect for this time of year.  Riffles and pockets were disappointing, as was one of our honey holes, but fish were actively taking our nymphs in the wintering holes, and some of the deeper cut holes overperformed too—including a pair of really nice fish back to back in a hole that was once the swimming hole of Eric’s youth!  I mentioned the caddis, which started showing around 10 AM, but midges were present right away, so we started with small perdigons and thread body bugs before retooling for the caddis.  We both got a couple to eat size 18 blowtorches and buggier soft hackles on the dropper tag, including my solid, far-wandering, holdover rainbow, but the simple, natural bomb walts was really what they wanted as the morning progressed.

Another of Eric's good fishes, and he did let me catch a few nice ones too!

Eric had stopped at my house on Saturday morning to have me take a look at what he’d been tying and also to help put together a working box for Sunday.  We hooked him up with my most simple mono rig too, just 30 feet of 12 lb. Trilene XT Extra Tough in green attached to his sighter, which had seen better days—hunting and not fishing will do that to a leader, you know.  I had to take a ride to the fly shop later that day to send my Simms waders out for repair, anyway, so I picked up some new sighter and some tungsten shrimp bodies for his vice too, just for fun, maybe more weight on small buggers or some bomb-bomb walts and caddis larva?  Anyway, the knots tied with my aging eyes held, and he got his first good, sustained exposure to the joys of the mono rig.  He is a quick study and a very good fisherman, as I know I have mentioned, so I was not surprised.  For me it just added to the pleasure of the day, probably not unlike me catching fish on bugs that Eric ties, just a little vicarious extra bonus.

Left, the typical average. Right, today's average!  Below, the bow + another good brown.

We generally enjoy each other’s successes, which is why we make good fishing partners, but today was probably even sweeter because we both had a lot of success.  Eric’s beauty fish landed toward the noon hour bested the previous quality fishes, but there were so many quality fish to share throughout the day that it just accentuated what an exceptional late winter morning we were having.  We even stuck one more in pocket water on the way out, perhaps a preview of what is possible in another month or so.  We also ran into the landowner who granted Eric permission to fish here several years ago.  He was out riding on the big tractor, but we got to share a brief word over diesel noise if only to, as Eric put it, “make sure we are good for yet another year” on this often-magical creek.  Keeping with the theme, Eric even collected a fresh shed on our walk into the morning’s first spot, which is another clear sign that the other wildlife here has continued to survive if not thrive for yet another year.

A shed, skunk cabbage bulbs, caddis, a mitch, signs of spring abound.