May 4, 2024 – Like Two Fat, Acrobatic Bookends to a Solid Early May Trip – Brodhead Creek

First fish of the morning, an angry hen of the brown variety.

My first wild brown of the morning was quite the fighter, a Brodhead bully for sure.  One of my last fish of the morning was also a big old hen, this one of the long-time holdover rainbow variety.  She was an angry one, beautiful and angry!  She took several jumps and long runs, even dragging a bobber along.  Every time she caught a glimpse of me with the net in hand, we had to start from scratch as she ripped line out of the reel.  In between these two fish, I landed a bunch of wild and stocked trouts, a couple decent ones, but many smalls.  Still, with no rain for a while now, and the creek not even pushing 90 CFS when normal is closer to 175 this time of year, I would call it a good outing.  Some tan caddis were around in the vegetation, but not much on the water or enough to bring many fish up.   I saw few if any mayflies on May 4^th, so something was up, or the activities were just delayed today (I quit at noon, satisfied with my day).  A couple cool days in a row after a heatwave may have had something to do with the lack of bug activity early today.  But that water temperature in the high 50s made the fish happy this morning, and they were in prime sparring condition.  Like last Friday, I really had to resort to June tactics, tightlining shallow riffles and pockets and using the low water to my advantage, wading out to hot spots and fish that I would not otherwise be able to target effectively in normal spring flows.  This big rainbow was in a spot I could not reach if flows were higher, a deep pocket behind huge boulders typically in 6 feet of moving water.

A beautiful, albeit cloudy morning.  Perfect.

I was committed to taking advantage of these low flows today, so I was up at 3:30 and on the road by 4:30 AM.  Even after a couple stops on the way, I was suited up and fishing by 6:30 AM.  I had the 10’6” 4 weight nymphing rod out for the first time in many months, and with a fresh leader and sighter, it still felt like an old friend.  My 3-weight would have made the many smalls today a bit more fun, but I was glad I had the extra muscle to handle a couple really good fish in fast water.  No need for a wading staff in 89 CFS, but the boots with felt and spikes came along just in case.  I was disappointed to see some NY plates in the lot, and I was hoping it was a hiker or other outdoor enthusiast, but the decals on the back of the Jeep gave the game away.  I did see dude down there in the creek, but he was fishing in posted water, so I hope he was a guest of the landowner, who has chosen to close down most of this former wonderland to all but scofflaws or an exclusive group of out-of-state friends.  It is sad, but the river is a long one (also a navigable one if anyone is an attorney out there and wants to take this case on, but that is a post for another time).  There are many more spots to explore and revisit.  I don’t believe I violated any laws today, but I don’t like that the legal fishing area keeps shrinking each year.  It was arguably worse in the 80s and 90s with out-of-state, mostly absentee, landowners posting nearly all the creek that was not in Stroud Township possession, so I will play the long game once again?

More browns, stocked and wild.

After landing the first good fish, there was a lull in the action for nearly an hour, so I seriously thought about taking a ride to fish deeper in the gorge—really taking advantage of the low flows, you know?  But after I put together a run of fish in a hole downstream and then caught more fish in the areas I first fished now that it was warming up, I decided to stay put.  To end the morning, I did take a longer walk up to a favorite hole that thoroughly disappointed last month on a far more challenging day—cold, windy, higher water.  I ran into another friendly dude fishing where I wanted to fish, or making his way there, at any rate, but he was happy to let me go upstream of him and target some deep plunges and pocket water.  I am glad I did.  The wild browns continued to be small, but I caught a skinny 14-inch bow on my first cast into a deep eddy, and I picked away at bows and browns through this stretch before and after I landed the hot rainbow I mentioned above.  For that fish, I had to put on a bobber to reach the other side of the creek and reach over some frigging monoliths in the water.  I have caught a few monster browns in this area, but I had several years where I tangled with at least one tank rainbow per year here too.  In other words, I could not be sure what type of freight train I had hooked until she took her first of three high jumps.

Bows, crick pics, and some very loud bachelors.

Every time this fish saw me, it took another run, and one of those runs even incorporated a little tail walking.  She was showing off.  Finally in the net, it was a colored-up rainbow that has been around for quite a while.  They are certainly not Comish fish, so I think these rainbows either come up from stocked water or escape from a tributary with private stocking, or they are primo stockers from the private clubs upstream (thanks Paul K 😉).  Whatever the case, I am never mad at them.  The big wild brown from earlier in the morning fought really well and made two jumps, but a bow that thinks she’s wild is in a different category.  Even in the net, they don’t ever stop bucking.  I discarded two blurry photos before finding one where the fish stopped moving long enough for a shot that did her justice.  Both fish were pushing 18 inches, I bet, a couple of piggy bookends to a solid morning on the water—and I beat the rain.

She'd get even angrier if you let her know she wasn't wild, I bet.