May 16, 2026 – A Challenging Morning Followed by an Afternoon Flurry of Fast Action in Coal Country – NEPA

Brian in the spot.

I met Brian in Coal Country just after 7 AM this morning.  We had high expectations with good flows, and we quickly got into a few fish at our first spot, but we had to work for them for a couple of hours in between a decent start and a strong finish.  I landed three browns at the first hole, including one in the 14-inch range, but Brian lost one a lot bigger.  He will be replaying that failed fight for a couple days!  He did nothing wrong from my vantage point nearby.  The fish just came up to the surface and shook the barbless bugs.  We had high hopes after such a strong start, but the rest of this stretch of river did not really pay off.  The runs and riffles he showed me were really sexy looking, and there were many midges and some caddis showing, but the fish were dickish until after 10 AM when we fished a different spot with better visibility.  All the fish I caught in the first two hours or more barely stopped the bugs in the drift.  I probably felt none of the hits, just reacted to any slow down or pause in the drift.  The first spot was below a confluence and the water coming from one of the creeks was dirtier, which might explain why the fish were picky and pecky.  Even with a black bugger, Brian had more short strikes than committals.  I stuck to nymphing a heavy bug on the point and a CDC soft hackle in size 16 on the dropper.  That small dropper was a day-saver for me.  I landed a lot of fish on the fly, and Brian landed a number on the one I shared with him when he returned to nymphing.

A good start with 2 decent fish before it got challenging.

We made a move after a couple of hours at the first spot, and it was clear right away that the water conditions at the second spot were much improved.  Brian was now nourished with some grease from the BK in town, and I even had a few hash browns to top off my early morning PBJ and coffee.  We were ready to make stuff happen, dammit.  There were still good flows and a slight stain as we slid into this new spot, but the visibility was like fishing a green limestoner not a dirty freestoner after a rain.  That difference, and maybe a very quick warming of the air and water after a start in the 40s, may have made the difference at this second stretch of river.  We did not get into any real big fish, nor did Brian get any redemption for the big fish he lost, but we landed numbers.  I started fishing really shallow as the caddis presence increased, and like the CDC blowtorch on the dropper, that move helped changed our fortunes too. 

A venue change and some "wild" bows woke us up.

Don’t get me wrong, at this time of year, I will try shallow riffles everywhere, and I did at the first spot, but the attempts were finally rewarded in the late morning session. Typically, when caddis are active, at least some of the fish, and sometimes the better ones, will move up into prime, shallow feeding lies.  Just a small, slightly deeper bowl in a riffle or the lip below a small plunge will do just fine for fish of all sizes when emerging bugs and nymphs in the water column make it worth moving out of the holes and deeper runs. Ironically, a bigger stocker rainbow and then a mess of rainbows that were stocked as fingerings, bright and beautiful as a result, and nearly wild in behavior, gave us our confidence back.  After a flurry of the pretty and acrobatic, diploid bows eating in water from 8 to 12 inches deep, we were ready when wild browns eventually began eating in the same places.  We had to cover some ground to avoid wide and shallow spots, but that will happen on bigger creeks.  Brian knows his creek, and fish were present in numbers if not size in all his little honey holes and even some deeper cut spots that shared some of the same features as the honey holes.  I love pocket water fishing, so I was having a blast and had to remind myself out loud to step back after a run of fish to let my guide Brian also have some fun.  As I would be, he was just happy to see a buddy having success on his home creek, which was showing well finally.  

Some primo bows and a strong finish with wild browns.

Had Brian landed the first good fish, or we had found another in our travels, it may have been a very different day.  The run of many small to average fish would have been the icing on the cake, not the cake itself.  Either way, it was a fun way to end the morning.  It was breezy and clear-skied.  The sun was hot, even after losing a layer between spots, so we quit around 12:30 PM.  We hugged the shaded side of the RR tracks for as long as we could, but without the breeze, it would have been a swampy walk back.  I know a heat wave is coming, but it looks like it is only a few days, followed by storms.  I may need to meet Joe on the Lehigh or take Larry up there or both next week after the heat breaks.  Monday, the boy and I will be chasing smalljaws on the Susquehanna in 90-degree weather.  Hopefully, the bass are chewing and we can stay hydrated!  A rather fishy May marches on, mitches.

Rustbelt beauty?  Trout live in beautiful places AND uglier places with cold water ;)