Tuesday, October 29, 2024

October 19 and 29, 2024 – A Short Surf Attempt and a 6-Hour Drive for 6 Hours of Fishing but Well Worth It – Monmouth County and Central PA

An early start in the mountains of Central Pennsylvania.

This no rain thing is depressing.  At least the bass are starting to migrate into Jersey and will hit the beaches consistently when the winds and water temps get right.  For the time being, looking for a quick getaway on a weekend morning has been nearly impossible.  I did make a few casts on the evening of October 19th when I was in Asbury Park for a weekend of drinking and socializing, but kids were swimming earlier that afternoon, so my confidence was not high even though the surf looked very sexy.  The following weekend found me looking at gauges and nixing plan after plan, deciding instead to wait until this week to play hooky and fish a destination crick without the crowds.  This destination crick had been holding its flows better than most, but it was still very low.  Still, Penns Crick is almost always a memorable and productive trip, so I made the 3-hour drive in the dark to arrive before sunrise to 35-degree air temperatures but eventually cooperative wild trouts.  Despite my once-common practice for which this blog got its original title, for the first time in quite a long time, I used a true sick day to fish, and I regret nothing.  Remember the math is only bad if the fishing is bad.  Three hours there to fish six to drive three home?  Yep, and I caught over 15 wild trout in so-called “technical” but lovely conditions. 

I gave it a shot at least.
Technical is guide speak for low and clear, basically.  For me that just means small tippet, small bugs, stealthy wading in pocket water, and very careful casts in what deep holes I can find.  It also means fishing early for the advantage of low light.  In the mountains of Central PA, depending on where you fish, that low light could last until 11 AM this time of year, and I was fortunate to find a really good stretch of pocket water right as the warmup and the last of the shade converged with a sparse hatch of small caddis and midges.  I caught maybe 5 small fish, including a double (so 6), on small bugs under a small bobber before the magic two-hour window.  It was cold to start, a few clicks above freezing, so the slow start was not unexpected.  During that perfect two-hour window, however, I landed a couple good fish in pocket water, a handful of 12-13 inchers, and more smalls.  I even found one of the rainbows that the locals put in and had my second double of the year too.  I eventually settled on a single olive perdigon and fished upstream.  Most of the better fish ate when I was well below them fishing a long 5X leader—another “technical” approach I use. 

A good fish in "technical" conditions.

A couple of the females looked misshapen and hollow enough to have been post-spawn, but I saw no evidence of redds.  I recall Sam, who knows this spot well and even gave me some boots on the ground intel the evening before, saying that he believes most of the fish here use the tributaries because they have better gravel substrate in them.  Sam was guiding (again) today, so we have yet to find time to fish together this year!  I can confirm that even in the low water, I noted nothing that looked like good spawning habitat.  When I fished around one nice island and expected to see redds, there was nothing but large rubble fanning out behind.  There were some fish in all the deeper riffles and pockets in the riffles, one pushing over mid-teens and a few over 12 inches.  That handful alone made it worth the long ride.

More fishes.  Post spawn hen below?  Doub life.

When I reached the end of the island, it was close to noon, so I decided to walk back to the lot and take a break.  My day had started before 2 AM when I got up to piss an hour before the 3 AM alarm, so I was running on caffeine and freedom.  On the walk back I did watch a couple pods of average fish dimpling for olives or midges, so I debated walking back up after the break and fishing the same stretch again in warmer (but far brighter and breezier) conditions.  Instead, I decided to test my memory and navigation skills to find another unposted stretch of water where I have had some memorable visits with Sam.  Access to this stretch is in flux with some purple paint upstream and what appears, judging from all the trampled grass and riparian plants, to be a thriving Airbnb downstream, but I found the riffle and bend pool.  Water was low and clear, so after nymphing the head and some pockets without a touch, I even fished with a New Zealand indicator for 30 minutes in the deeper water near the tailout.  Not a touch.  I spooked one fish out from under a rock as I made a crossing to fish the opposite bank—a novelty crossing since it would have been impossible on most days.  I was hoping that I might scare one up in a deeper run along that far bank and away from the pressure, but that productive morning window had likely closed for a few hours.

Even lower at the second spot I managed to relocate.

With the breeze kicking up and some increased clouds, I was hoping for some bug life to save the second shift, but I resisted heading back to the first spot.  It would have been a lot of effort if the fish down there were acting the same way as their cousins upstream.  I accepted that the productive window had closed and decided to get a jump on any Harrisburg rush hour traffic.  The boys, especially Sandy Dunkin, are chomping at the bit for some surf fishing.  Pete already had success with the snag and drop fleet in North Jersey, so if I head out this weekend it may be in search of striped bass from the sand.  I would rather be here in these mountains, however!  The drive up took me over the depressingly low Juniata and Susquehanna rivers, but the drive home had me winding through the heights of the Bald Eagle State Forest.  I have done this drive while snow was falling on the peaks in January.  Today’s drive was equally enjoyable with the remaining fall colors, and probably a lot safer.

Bonus shots.  Another angle of the best fish of the morning.




2 comments:

  1. I don't remember it being so dry. Driving back from OBX we saw lots of small pines that looked dead. Hey, weather is one of those things ya just can't control! At least you picked at them!

    RR

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    Replies
    1. Def done until we get a couple inches of rain, RR! Surf is starting to pop. Not only the big girls but over-slots and slots in there now!

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