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| So much for 80 and sunny. |
At my last checkup in March, I complained about a bit of
arthritis pain in my left knee. After an
examination of both knees, my rather stoic GP said, “A little clicky on the left
one… You have 40-year-old knees.” Today
was my 57th birthday, so I guess I can live with that diagnosis. Where did I chose to take my aging knees on
this day? A gentle spring creek? A local stockie hole with a bench nearby? Nope.
The Lehigh River in the gorge.
And I felt really good too. Since
the new year, when I noticed my metabolism changing, I started walking and
hiking again. I was the same weight
since the pandemic until I wasn’t last year.
My last job was stressful, and everyone there including me stress-ate during breaks. This new job is far less stressful, and it
affords me long walks at lunch in Center City and along the banks of the Schuylkill
River on nice days. Plus, I get to fish a lot more. Yesterday was the
first day I really noticed the aerobic payoff of those walks. I never
took the folding wading staff off my belt, I made three or four descents and
return climbs along the river, I covered some water, and I caught a mess of nice
fish on a frigid morning. The true test is always the day after, but after my Brodhead climbing earlier in the month, I felt good the next day, so I am expecting the same tomorrow. I have also learned to hydrate as I get older.
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| My first fish on my second cast. Low water but still pretty sexy out there. |
I arrived around 6:30 AM, knowing I had a good walk to my
first spot. As I drove into the gorge, I
was seeing snow in the fields and in the trees.
When I parked near the river, there was snow covering the rhododendrons
and some of the trees sprouting young leaves.
I even got caught in a few brief sleet showers throughout the day. It was cold, and the water temperature at 11
AM was barely over 45 F. It did not stop
the fish from eating. My first fish, on
my second cast, was a beautiful example of a high teens wild North American brown fish. Even in lower flows for this early in the
spring (the drought is coming for NEPA next) this fish would not quit. None of them would today, actually. I guess 46 degrees is good for their stamina! River fish are rarely pushovers, anyway. The LR is a tough place to grow up and a
tough place to survive multiple years if you happen to hold over a couple
seasons. I fish a 10’ 6” 4 weight when I
nymph water like the LR, Brodhead, Lackawanna, and Penns, and I am always glad for the
extra muscle. By the end of the day, I was more worried about arthritis in my elbow than my knees from all the extended-armed side pressure application needed to turn a few upstream against their wills 😉
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| More crick pics on a cold, windy, gray day full of cooperative fish like fish #2 of the morning! |
Not long after my first good fish, I landed another in the high teens. Along with many family and friends, Larry had texted me with birthday wishes. He almost joined me this morning but bailed the night before because of the weather and the responsibilities at home he had this week ahead of a camping trip. He was regretting his decision not to come this morning! The success continued at a steady pace for at least four hours before a pause around 11 AM. Before I took a walk back to the 'Ru and had a short break on the bumper, I probably had a dozen fish landed, and many were over 12 inches. I was happy to see two dinks in the mix, however. There is ongoing debate about whether or not browns spawn in the river, or just the tributaries, or just look pretty after holding over for many years. I think it's all of the above based on the variety of patterns, but I have caught more and more fish in recent years that are too pretty and too small to have been stockers. And then there are fish like the one pictured below that are 1) male and 2) way to cute too be holdover fish.
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| A beauty male no matter his country of origin. |
I had a chat with an older gent and his wife while I drank an iced coffee and ate a PBJ, and then I refilled my water bottle for a shorter round two. This 57 year old mitch has to stay more hydrated than a 40 year old one, even if my knees are not that old. This could be another reason (besides old prostates) why so many zipped waders are sold these days! I planned to fish until about 2 PM so that I could hang with my wife on my birthday (and beat rush hour traffic home). The third spot I slid down into can be awesome at times, but today it was slower than the first two spots. It could have been the time of day, of course, but the presence of some mayfly duns on the water should have gotten a little something going. I dredged a fallguy out of a deep hole before I changed things up after seeing what looked to be Blue Quills. It was cold, so I did not take my hat off to catch a specimen, nor did I mess around taking off my fingerless gloves to catch one as it sailed on by. Nothing rose to the duns, but I did catch three more smaller trout, including one that had to be a 2-year-old, by swinging my nymphs. All three took a size 16 pheasant tail on the dropper tag.
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| More fun, healthy fish. |
I was hoping for some variety, maybe more on the swing, and I took my time and watched for risers for much longer than I usually do. With the water temps so cold, there was no guarantee that dry fly fishing was going to happen even if I hung out until 3 or 4 PM just waiting. After a second much smaller fallfish took the bugs on the swing, I stuck with the plan and started hiking back just before 2 PM, and I was actually changed and on the road home before 2:30 PM. This was supposed to be my first trip on the river to get the kinks out and see how a few spots fared this winter, but it became a banner day. Come to think of it, my first visit to the Brodhead was also more than a first trip kind of day. I have landed some nice fish so far this odd spring! It is a little scary that I am fishing places I typically fish six weeks from now, but I am trying not to dwell on that too much. Maybe it will rain in May? I will let you know if I wake up with charley horses in both hamstrings after talking about how good I feel....
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| Big natives noticed the mayflies before the trouts. Time to go home. |
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