April 19, 2025 – As Spring Begins to Settle, Another Good Morning – NEPA

Last one of the day was the best one.

Still targeting bigger creeks and rivers as a way to maximize the opportunity lower water this time of year affords, I hit the river this morning at sunrise.  I had a bit of a walk to a favorite stretch where I was hoping to find grannom caddis in the numbers I encountered them a bit south a week ago.  Instead, it appeared to be small, like size 18, brown caddis hatching in the highest numbers.  Only a couple fish seemed to care, including one pig way across the river, low for April but still flowing over 700 CFS.  This fish was so big and splashy that I began to think he was targeting chubs rising to the caddis or midges, not the flies themselves.  Despite being at a good level, wading was relatively easy for a creek notoriously hard to wade, and the visibility was good. Still, I was not going to reach this fish.  There were plenty of others, including a couple very nice wild browns.  In three feet of pocket water, I could see my manly hookset turn a few of the fish, which was an advantage—it is nice to know you have good fish early in the game sometimes.  One 16+ inch fish was sitting in a pocket on the other side of the river over a fast riffle, so seeing him turn helped me formulate an endgame very early in the game.  I had to do a good downstream stumble, but I was able to do so proactively!

Another beauty.  And another.

I had a few average fish in the first hour, mostly in a deeper eddy adjacent to the main run, but fish eventually moved up into the faster water to eat.  A couple of them were definitely holdover stocked browns, but the majority appeared wild or too long in the river to show definitive stocker traits during a quick net, photograph, and release examination.  No bows or brookies, so the stocking brigade whizzed on by this spot or the fish have not moved much yet.  I was glad to leave this eddy, a notorious bug eater, since it appears some wood that was deposited a couple years ago is still there.  I like to fish this spot more when they are up off the bottom and will come out of the nonsense to eat a swinging bug or bugger.  Not today, so more of my tungsten deposited down there than I like.  It’s easier to deal with when catching fish, however.  The trout did move up as the morning progressed, but they were not spread out in the current.  Instead, they were using depressions and slicker, protected spots to avoid working too hard.  That probably explains why the risers were next to none, and I saw no emerger-chasing or porpoising fish either.  I don’t think these little caddis swim quite as well as grannoms.  I tried to make the most of all the bug life, even swinging soft hackles through the hole and down into the tailout.  I had even carried a dry fly rod, which stayed stashed in the bushes all morning.  The two best trout actually took a sulfur nymph on the dropper tag, so maybe those nymphs are moving around on the bottom fixing for their debut in the coming weeks.  

Crick pics and net pics

I encountered no other anglers on a warm Saturday, so I had chosen my spot or my timing well.  The liveries are not in full operation yet, either.  I saw a pair of buses loaded with bicycles on my way home, and I was greeted by one flotilla of kayaks accompanied by a guide in a raft.  It was warm.  The water was cold, so I was dressed for early spring, but I could feel the hot breath coming up the river once in a while.  Folks were on the rail trail in shorts when I decided to quit around noon.  I debated hitting one more spot, but my last fish at this first hole was just about a daymaker, pushing past 18 inches, and I don’t like to get greedy.  Had noses started breaking the surface hitting caddis or some Henricksons or something, I may have indulged them for a couple more hours.  In full sun at the parking lot, it was clear that 80 degrees was on its way, so that helped make my decision final.  I was due for a good day, and I was lucky enough to get one.  It feels like it’s about to get going in earnest at any minute.  I may have to burn a “sickday” this week, or at least a morning. 

Some bonus wild and a stocked trout, all pretty fish.