May 11, 2024 – The Attack of the Hungry Rainbows – Northampton County

A lot of rainbows...

Man, I caught a mess of trouts today.  A very conservative estimate would be 35, but I fished close to 7 hours, I bet, so that would only be five fish per hour.  The creek was definitely way more productive than that at times, so let’s say a conservative 40 fish.  The only problem was that this is a Class A wild brown trout creek, but the bows accounted for sixty percent of that 40 fish count.  I could not keep them off the bugs.  I caught a bow double after 1 PM, even after I got so happy skewing towards wild browns for a few hours after 11 AM when caddis and a couple sulfurs started to appear.  It was a chilly, foggy, and rather bugless start, so I should have been content to catch so many eager bows, but I only had one brown in the first two hours of fishing.  And when I thought I finally hooked a lazy pig in a prime hole around 9 AM, it ended up being a lazy sucker instead!   I have not fished this creek since February, and I don’t think I have fished this section so close to stocking season before, but it was eye-opening to witness just how many stocked fish remained in the creek. 

Alas, it was not a big lazy brown.  On the mouth, though, so fair play!

The creek was a bit low for this time of year, but it had a nice stain from the light but sustained rain on Friday.  Besides one dude arriving early as well, I saw no one else fishing.  This is definitely a small creek and one with a high gradient and lots of pocket water, so not a great place to fish with bait, spinners, or plugs (although I saw all three just out of reach in overhanging trees).   As the weather warms and the fish push even deeper into the riffles, it is definitely a great place for a single tungsten nymph, maybe a dry dropper rig on a long rod to hold the line off the water.  Many of the bows they stocked were small too, so not really table fare even if you did manage to catch a couple with gear.  

A particularly juicy looking spot that did not disaapoint.

I decided around 10 AM to take a walk away and try to escape the attack of the hungry rainbows.  It worked out eventually, but I still caught 6 rainbows in maybe 8 casts before finally sticking a decent wild brown in a hole that I last explored this winter.  I did find one rainbow in this hole in February, but I also found wild browns and expected to find a lot more than I did on a warm spring day like today.  I stuck with it, and found a few lovely and leaping wild fish here, but not the one I was hoping to find when I first found this hole last year...

Finally a good run of browns in cool little spots like log jams

As I mentioned above, from around 11 to 1 the bugs did shake off the chill and get active.  That, of course, brought the wild fish to life, and I had a blast catching fish in little pockets and even log jams.  For those, I had to swing bugs underneath and from upstream.  I still caught rainbows in these spots, mind you, but at least I was catching browns at a steady clip too.  Fishing was so good for those two hours that I even fished through some water where I only caught bows early in the morning and now found a couple browns, at least.  Because the gear fisherman—one of only two I saw all day on a lovely Saturday—was heading upstream, I let a good chunk of prime water go first thing this morning.  No sign of this guy or any other fishermen around 1 PM, so I decided to work through this water.  The hot bug was a gasolina perdigon, even though I tried to tempt them with many other combinations, even a bigger sulfur nymph that only got rainbow love.  For a while, a chartreuse hot spot frenchie also had the magic, and in the much-welcomed shaded spots, a frenchie with a purple hot spot.  I had to take a soft hackle dropper off because bows were loving it, and catching rainbows on the dropper tag is not fun: a sure recipe for tangles.

What's more tragic?  The deer's demise or stocking over Class A wild population?

All good things must end, so while I did catch a few more wild browns between 1 and 2 PM, certainly more than during the early shift, the bows made a resurgence.  It was the double, one on the perdigon and one on a pink beaded pheasant tail, that was the sign to call it a day.  My first double of the year, but I was now motivated to find one more wild brown to end on.  I did find an exceptionally pretty one and then one a bit bigger, so I turned back towards the ‘Ru without fishing a couple more prime spots upstream.  I knew if I got into the bows again, I would be kicking myself for not leaving when I had the chance!  A glutton for punishment, I did stop at a reliable plunge on the walk back, but I caught a rainbow and then snagged up.  Time to go, yo!  I am only half-serious about hating on all the rainbows, but it was a bit disappointing and definitely ridiculous there for a while.  In retrospect, the rainbows did make that 7 to 9 AM window more than just casting practice, and for that I am thankful.  I just hope most of them are gone before my next visit this late spring or early summer 😜

A sure sign to call it a day, but I had to end on a pretty wild fish.