May 29, 2026 – Where Brian and I Pick through the Small Fish and Eventually Find a Few Day-Makers – NEPA

A couple studs.

I met Brian at about 6:30 AM on Friday.  He has off every other Friday this summer, so we had this one penciled in since the last time we met up in this same area earlier in the month.  Today we returned to a creek we fished together last June.  Early that morning, I miffed the landing on a pair of really solid wild browns, but Brian did not squander his chances.  I was just happy fishing a new creek and seeing the potential, totally content to be Brian’s personal photographer.  We ended today about 2 PM fishing some of that same water, and it did not disappoint.  Today, Brian got to be the photographer.  I landed a trophy native brook trout AND our only really good wild brown several hours and nearly zero calories into our long day.  Brian had our only rainbow and a run of like 5 fish in 6 casts on this stretch of the creek too.  It was a solid ending to a good day, but it was not without its challenges, mostly with finding adult fish.  That said, I will take a day when the biggest challenge is too many cooperative two-year old trout.  That is late spring fishing on a healthy creek for you.  We must have caught 50 trout between us, but 30 of them were likely born last March and the previous year.  These were strong year classes, and it bodes well for future fishing here.

Had to work for the adults, but a good one and some solid ones eventually cooperated.

After meeting at our fish spot and suiting up, Brian and I took a little walk into some beautiful water.  It was a pretty cold, so we were both grateful for the aerobic activity to start the morning.  We spooked a few deer while bushwhacking into the first stretch of riffle and run.  The little fish were all over Brian from the start.  I bet he had 8-10 fish in the first hour, all on a small blowtorch on the dropper.  This is what produced the last time we were out, so he had taken time to tie some up for today.  I started with a bugger and had a few soft grabs that resulted in fish.  The water was really cold after the rain had worked its way through the system.  Brian dropped a thermometer late in the afternoon, and it was 58 F, so I can imagine it may have been at least two, maybe three, clicks below that at 7 AM.  This creek has a heavy canopy, so the bright sun was not reaching the water for most of the day.  None of my fish took the bugs with authority, the drift just stopped, so you had to be ready for anything a little different.  I resorted to something I often do in winter and early spring: I give a short wrist-snap hookset when I know my bugs are in the sweet spot.  As my boy Sam (still) says, "Hooksets are free…"

That #16 blowtorch accounted for 80% of the fish on this gorgeous crick.

My fish were bigger, though certainly not big, but I was getting jealous of all the action Brian was having, so when I lost Eric’s black bunny leech to a stubborn, woody snag, I rerigged to nymph myself.  Most of the fish were eating a blowtorch on the dropper tag, which does a good job of imitating emerging caddis, and small dark sedges were plentiful.  I started getting into numbers too.  We moved quickly through some good water and found pockets of fish in the prime spots, but a good fish was probably 11 inches during this first round of fishing.  Brian had a plan.  We did not have to move the cars during a brief break to refill our waters and have a snack.  We just had to walk upstream this time to a couple really good holes we fished last year.  In a hole where Brian caught a big old brookie last year, he landed our first brown over 12 inches, and I followed up with fatty that was about an inch shorter.  Things were looking up. I got walloped for the first time all day, so much so that the fish took my dropper tag, and I caught a 7-inch brook trout, but the honey hole on this stretch was a disappointment.  Last June, Brian landed a couple of good wild browns here, but we did not even get so much as a hit today.

Reach for that far seam, mitch!  A decent one that cooperated early.

Brian had one more move in mind, a hail mary round or a redemption round.  After 1 PM, we took a drive to the place were a dull hook on one of Eric’s buggers that I had loved too much without treating to a hook hone cost me a couple mid-teens fish.   We slid into some deep water at the end of a long run.  We had to hug the bank to avoid filling our waders!  Pollen was fierce, and I almost threw up from a coughing jag as we used the riparian rhodies to keep us from slipping into the deep.  I had flashbacks of Joe and I trying to get around and then through a fallen sycamore last year, which oddly enough, made me think I needed to return to that creek on Sunday!  It was in this deep end of the run where I landed a brook trout that was probably the biggest one I have caught in decades.  Brian thought it was 12 inches.  I am always conservative with fish, but even I conceded that it was at least 11.  It looked like a mature male.  It was fat like most of the wild browns in this creek.  A trophy native.

A trophy native during the hail mary/redemption round.

As the water got skinnier, I found a few more wild browns.  I offered Brian the lead spot after I landed a couple, but he wanted me to fish this run out.  He may have been hoping that I get a little redemption from my previous visit!  I did not let him down.  In the sweet spot in the run, where I knew a good fish had to be if it was hungry and active, a solid hen ate my little blowtorch and just stayed put, dogging.  I knew it was a good fish even before she made a move and showed her long body to me.  I started backing down the bank when she started dogging again, so I was in position the first time I had a chance to get a net under her.  After a long day of hunting for a big fish to add to our collection of smalls and averages, I was not messing around with this one.  Brian was also ready with his net, but I waved him off.  Because he was right there, I got the photoshoot and the fist bump from my “guide.”  I am sure he was happy I got a good one from his crick.  I certainly was.  We should have quit after that, but I had to fish out the run.  I did hook a few more small fish, but we knew we weren’t going to top this brown today.  We are still due for a bonkers trip to this creek, and I don’t need much convincing that it will happen.  A good day with a good dude on a good crick that I am slowly starting to figure out.

Bonus shot.  I had to give her the "hand with fish" treatment too.