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| Not too shabby, all things considered. |
October has
been interesting. My son was in the emergency
room for a couple days—out in Central PA, not anywhere near home—so I had just
attended Family Weekend, then drove back out to the hospital the following
week, and then he came home for fall break.
It was good to see him, of course, under any circumstances, but he is an
18-year-old with a lot of friends, so we barely got to hang out over fall break
before I had to drive him back again. I
actually drove him back to school with two new college friends that live in the
area, and that was fun, but on the solo drive back home, I was rear-ended about
90 minutes from home. There were three
other cars involved, a chain reaction caused by a young dude in a pickup truck who
hit me. No one was hurt, including the driver
at fault, but the ‘Ru is a goner, a total loss.
Not that I want a car payment again, but at least I am physically fine
and no one else was in the car with me.
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| Low, clear, windy, and leafy = fall. |
The accident was
out in Berks County on a rural state road, and I had to drive out there today, clean
out the car, and release the vehicle so that dude’s insurance company could pick
it up. The accident happened last Tuesday
night, so by Friday they had accepted fault and given me a rental (a BWM X1, so
really roughing it; I almost felt like I should tuck in my shirt and
temporarily install a stocker locker with some Yeti stickers). I had to bail on my camping trip with the
boys at Poe Valley, which sucked, but not as bad as the fishing they
experienced, apparently. I also had to
delay my start date at a new job by a day, but they were cool with everything,
which is a good sign about the culture there.
I was not surprised, but I was grateful.
I had completed my responsibilities at the tow yard by 10 AM, and the
small SUV fit my 10-foot rod, so what’s a guy to do with a day off work for which
he will likely get reimbursed in the settlement?
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| A few average fish along with the dinks and chub life. |
I stopped by
the “world famous” Tully early in my drive back, but I am not a fan, nor a fan
of chasing fresh stockers when there are other wild fish to chase before the
spawn. It’s the Tully, so of course
there were some dudes out, even on a Monday—I still don’t know why this stocked
fishery is still a destination crick in SEPA, but I am glad it draws fishermen
away from other creeks I do like to fish.
I was curious if the rain overnight had impacted the creeks in the
region at all. I was hoping for more
rain, but the forecast had been changed half a dozen times. The Tully looked on the low side of normal,
but it’s a tailwater, so a release may have happened recently too. At any rate, I convinced myself that rain had
happened, and I would fish another much smaller creek that has a lot more
natural reproduction.
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| A pretty autumn day. |
Upon arrival, I
accepted that the creek I chose was low, clear, and a recent victim of “leaf
hatches,” which the drizzle and impending wind would certainly make worse
today. Nevertheless, I decided I was
fishing it. As I was suiting up at the
BWM and feeling self-conscious about it, another fly guy arrived, but we
discussed our intentions. After trying two
or three honey holes en route, I gave him and myself some space. As a result of the longer walk, I got to
explore more of the creek than I normally would, and I may have even seen a bit
of water I had never seen, let alone fished, before. The fishing itself was just meh with the
challenging conditions. I spooked some hiding
fish and/or drove a few from the tailout into the heads of runs despite being
stealthy as possible. Riffles and deep holes,
just like my last outing. Deep holes meant
a lot of chubs in a freestoner that gets warm each summer, and I even caught
minnows. Once in a while, though, I
encountered a wild trout suspended up and looking for emerging bugs in the swirling
and drowned leaf litter. The best fish
came from the head of a pool in a riffle not 8 inches deep, and I missed a few
other short, sharp hits in this type of cover.
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| Chublife represent.... |
I was tossing a
caddis larva anchor fly with a soft hackle/tag fly on the dropper. While the minnows loved this size 18 emerger-looking presentation, so did half a dozen wild trout. I caught fallfish, creek chubs, minnows, a
small smallmouth bass, YOY, two year old dinks, and at least a couple decent
small stream browns. Drizzle had given
way to cold front winds up to 30 MPH, so the low water was only the beginning
of the day’s challenges. Half a dozen trout,
midday in wind and sun, especially in low water? I was making lemonade. And instead of being anxious about starting a
new job in the morning, I got plenty of fresh air and exercise to help me sleep
like a young mitch all night. The
accident stuff has not been resolved.
The pay out will determine next steps, of course, but I think the plan
is to let my wife buy something new. She
is driving an Impreza that was mine briefly and did the job. It is all-wheel drive, a hatchback, even fits
a 10’ one-piece surf rod inside. I do recall seeing 40 MPG on the display during a few trips to Central PA, which does not hurt either. The Ru
is dead, long live the Ru!?!?
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| Leaf hatch with little brownie. |
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