August 10, 2024 – With All the Rain, I Had to Give It a Try for a Couple Hours – Northampton County

Fishable for sure, maybe a hair warm.

I was packed up for Friday morning if I saw something too good to pass up on the gages, but the only game in town seemed to be Valley.  I guess I was too tired or unmotivated by what I saw because I rolled over and went back to sleep. Valley has to be perfect for me these days to get me motivated, especially this time of year.  It is a crick whose temps spike in the rain too.  Still, there are always regrets about not getting up!  While sitting through a few Friday meetings and phone calls, I vowed to get out at least once, maybe twice, this weekend to take advantage of the falling water and cooler overnight temperatures.  I had to meet the boy and couple of his friends in our garage on Saturday morning to give them a crash course in surf fishing for summer flounder—who am I kidding, fluke!  I had a feeling they would be dealing with 4–5-foot seas post Debby, and I was not wrong, but I did not want to discourage three teens from fishing.  I cut the lawn, which I had not cut in a while since I was away on that bass fishing mini-vacation last week, and it had been a wet week, all the while noticing that it was not all that hot out.  Why not an evening trip, just a couple hours to see what flows were like on a couple cricks without gages, I thought?  It took until 5 PM for me to commit to the plan fully, but I was fishing by 6 PM at a spot less than an hour from home (well, maybe an hour today with Saturday shopping traffic).  The creek looked high but clearing, and I thought about a streamer, but I decided to nymph a dark bug on the anchor and a pink worm on the dropper tag instead.  With all the runoff, the water was mid-60 degrees at this hour, so I was not convinced that fish would be happy enough to chase a bugger.  I was not wrong.  The fish were a little dickish despite the great looking conditions.

Not too shabby.

About an hour into my two hour wet wade, I got a call from the boy saying the surf was rough and asking about what should they do now.  Go out back, I said.  Find a sea wall or a dock on the bay and catch some spot, croakers, blues, sand sharks, whatever.  Instead, I think they decided to try again on Sunday morning before they had to meet the rest of their friend group at another beach town for a day on the boardwalk and the sand.  Like my wife, whose calls and texts almost always precede a run of fish, I guess he too is good luck because I started hooking some dinks not long after.  I caught three little browns on the worm before I finally hooked a nicer fish.  This one was worth the ride and the effort, a good fish in the 14-inch range that fought well.  This better one took a perdigon on the anchor not the worm, but I did break off another good fish on the worm not long after.   That was about it.  Just before dark, I switched to a bugger and had a nip and a couple follows from small fish that I could see pursue and turn away.  Sometimes this time of year, one decent fish is enough to justify the trip.  And I didn’t even have to get up at 3:30 AM!  That is Sunday’s plan, of course….