December 13, 2024 – I Picked a Heck of a Day to Reintroduce Myself to the Post-Spawn Wild Trouts – Northampton County

Back to the trouts.

With the exception of a lightning strike blitz, I think the fat lady has sung on the fall run.  Participation is low, so reports are slim, but it sounds like the fish followed the bait way off the coast.  There is no biomass of rats to liven up December, so I probably made my last trip last week.  It was a disappointing year for me with many skunks.  Blitz chasing can be like that if you are not close enough to be there every day.  I really wanted to get the boy on a mess of slots and shorts before it was all over, but the small fish are just not there.  I believe the science that stocks are low.  The Chesapeake is in a tailspin, and even the Hudson River stock has been way off for a couple years in a row.  I also think that the beach replenishment and the resurgence of bunker has combined to change the fish’s routes and habits.  I heard dudes blaming seals and whales, also quite prevalent this year, but I am not buying it.  Dolf and I talked about going today, and Jeff wants to go this weekend, but I decided instead to refocus on the post-spawn trouts after about a six-week absence.  It was a frigid day for late fall.  Air temps never got above 35 degrees and there was even a NW breeze to contend with midday.  I had low expectations, but I was confident that I could find at least one fish to make the ride worth it.  It may have been the perfect day to get the kinks out because they were not going to make it easy on me.  I arrived around 11 AM and had one hit before 2 PM.  From 2 to 3:30 PM when the sun was less intense on the water and the air (and water) temperatures may have hit their daily peak, I missed one and landed two.  I would call that success for a day like today!

Charged springs, good flows, bluebird skies, finally a late afternoon bite.

I started out dead drifting a micro-bugger in some deep holes, but think I was operating like it was winter because it felt like winter.  I eventually started fishing like it was late fall and fish could still be spread out anywhere after the spawn.  I saw some silted over redds where I always see them on this creek.  I know what to look for on any creek and how to avoid redds, but it does help to have intimate knowledge of a crick and where the fish spawn every year.  The only change I saw was more redds under overhangs, which was probably a smart instinctual thing in the ultra-low water this fall.  The significance of the last rainfall could not be overstated!  The springs were pumping water, flows were solid, and there was even a stain.  Were it warmer and cloudier, I may have wanted to strip and swing a streamer in these flows.  The fish that did hit and eat, took a single size 16 pink tag fly, so not even on the bottom but close.  I missed one on a single 18 perdigon too, but that fish was tucked up under broken water near a root ball.  I saw 10 bugs all afternoon, and nothing was active on the calm surface of the wintering pools.  I may have to get after them again this weekend.  I also have off on the upcoming rainy Monday, so that streamer thing might happen after all.

Didn't know if it was going to happen until this little girl decided to cooperate.