January 29, 2025 – Between Impending Snow Melt and Red Flag Warnings, I Got on the Board for the New Year (Finally) – Berks County

First of 2025 with not much January to spare. 

I should not have been too surprised that the creeks I drove over on the way to this limestone-influenced one were pretty much locked in ice.  It has been a cold start to the new year.  I have totally regretted waiting for better days to come when I’d passed on some decent weather days very early in the month of January.  But it is what it is.  As you can tell from the photos, this creek was also pretty hard throughout most of its length, so I made the most of a couple holes I knew would be open due to nearby springs and hoped for the best.  I needed a day off, a drive, and a walk in the woods even if the fishing was terrible.  I have been very busy on the weekends with the boy’s college decisions for the fall looming (and all the invasive paperwork and documentation that the fancier of the these contenders require).  I am also teaching a young mitch to drive.  Oh, and I have been deep in a job hunt with a couple interviews and way too many applications.  I am playing the long game on one very promising position—not because I have a choice, but because the hiring process for college faculty takes ages!  It would be worth it in the long run, I hope.  We live in uncertain times as far as enrollment is concerned, not to mention funding and loans for students and so on.  No less certain than my current industry, however.

Stop, collaborate, and listen?  Bonus points for the bad reference ;)

The drought continues despite the snow still on the ground.  The creeks are very low, which only helps with the icing up.  I don’t see the Skuke much from the train as I commute to work, but folks like Young Kenny tell me that it too is iced up.  The days are getting long and incrementally milder, so it won’t be hard water forever.  When my first spot of the morning was a bust since it was open but far too shallow for fish to get brave on a sunny day, I worked my way quickly to the second spot I had in mind.  This is a deep hole, very deep, so fishing can be a puzzle if they are not ready to chase a heavy bugger or come off the bottom to investigate an emerging olive or early stonefly—they were not ready for either, though I did see a couple small BWOs even in the cold, clear conditions.  Wind gusts to 50 MPH were expected by late morning, along with 50 degree air temps, an interesting combination.  Basically, I was racing the snow melt that would drop the frigid water temps some more and a front that would put the fish down and/or make fishing with small bugs and a bobber impractical to next to impossible.  Before all that intersected around 11 AM with some gusts to 30 MPH or more, I caught two wild browns, dropped one, and had three other quick hits.  Not great, but I got on the board before January blew away.  More time on the water in February for sure.

Tough out there for youngling, but they gotta eat.