September 26, 2026 – All Kids Fish (even through a Nor’easter) – SEPA

Glad I was under the pavilion!

I met Ken and Cathy through my involvement with the Mayfly Project Philadelphia this spring.  They were invaluable to our inaugural year, and a big reason was because they had gone through a similar process in helping to start a PA chapter of I Fish I Belong, a national non-profit organization that began in Tennessee with a former Chattanooga River Keeper.  Well, they convinced a few of us from Mayfly Philly to help out with the second year of All Kids Fish PA, what they call the PA event.  It was great to see Nicky P, Carl (and his wife Galen), Kyle, Cathy, and Ken again, but we were busy this Saturday with 30-some other volunteers teaching 25 youths to fly fish in a Nor’easter! There was not much time to chitchat, although I did meet some nice kids, parents, and other mentors of all ages.  A lot was packed into one day.  I volunteered in the morning to help at a conservation education station, so I had a full 8.5 hours out there in the wind and varying degrees of precipitation.  The kids ranged from 8 to 17, so a nice guy Steve, who works for the The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, and I saw 5 different age groups for a crash course in fish handling and other important topics.  I clowned it up to make a dry topic fun for the young kids, but the high schoolers also responded to my gentle teasing.  After the morning education sessions, like knot tying, entomology, casting, we picked up the rods and had lunch with our mentees.

Rain paused for fishing.

I was paired up with a young man named Ben, a high schooler learning automotive technology from Central Bucks.  He loves fishing, but he had never fly fished.  He did know how to tie knots, and he even put his own rod together with very little input from me.  The only little trick I showed him was fishing the fly line, not the leader, through the guides—with 16-year-old eyes, it was likely just as easy his way, but he will thank me when he turns 40, maybe?  It had rained all morning and through lunch, so I was happy to be under the picnic pavilions in the morning and not out there on the grass teaching casting.  We got lucky with a long pause in the rain when it came time to go fishing, however.  The creek had not really even colored yet, either.  Ben rushed to get to our beat, so even though he was pretty quiet, there were signs of obvious excitement.  Fish were stocked just the night before, and the kids were split into beats.  Our beat for the high school kids had at least 60 trout dumped in there, but no one landed one out of the 7 in our group!  Ben was the closest, actually.  After letting him select flies for a while, I suggested a balanced leech under a bobber, and he had a nice trout bury the bobber not long after.  He could not keep the fish tight, unfortunately!  He did manage to catch a sunfish on a weenie before we had to quit for the afternoon, so he did catch his first fish on a fly today.  Only a few fish were caught overall, and I am sure the recent dumping and the crazy weather did not help.  I actually enjoyed the morning more, but I am comfortable public speaking, especially in a classroom setting.  Standing around in a hole with some recent stockers is less exciting, but had Ben landed a few, it would have been an even more memorable day.  All the kids, even the young ones shivering in blankets early in the day, stuck it out.  Not a bad way to spend a Nor’easter.

Very serious, both of us, especially after loosing a good fish!

 

September 13, 2026 – A Pennsylvania Trophy Punctuates an Otherwise Mid Mid-September Outing – NEPA

A Pennsylvania native

An 8 AM start is late for me, but even giving the storms some additional time this morning to pass slowly west to east, I still had to contend with periods of very heavy rain during my drive.  I took my time at home and drank a leisurely coffee while hoping the weather folks had gotten it wrong.  They often do, but the radar on my phone was not lying today.  Eventually, I just had to go for it and hope my plan worked.  It was pouring so much when I was about to start the ‘Ru at 6 AM that I had to grab a rain jacket just to run from the front door to the car.  I knew if I headed due north or, worse, north and east, I was going to run into flash flood waters, but in doing my research last night and this morning, I knew that parts to the north and west of here might not take the full brunt of the storms.  I was right, maybe too right.  I was counting on at least half an inch of rain to spike the creeks in this region, but they appeared to be pretty unaffected—or so low previously that they did not register a bump.  Even though I had packed the rod for it, it was not streamer chunking conditions, even though it stayed cloudy until noon and was streamer chunking conditions somewhere in PA today.  I did catch my first fish on a black jigged bugger on the nymphing rod, but I switched to bugs when I worked an entire prime run with nothing more to show for the effort than a fallfish taking the bugger on the fall. 

A pretty good start.  Maybe I should have been here at 6:30 AM ;)

I caught some trout, like three maybe four of them, and the water temperature was 62 F, but the minnows and chubs were dominating.  I guess the water temps have just been yo-yo-ing, and that does not make the trout trust that summer is over.  This was pretty big water too, so minnows feeling this safe was not a good sign that the trouts were on the prowl.  I gave this first spot about 90 good minutes based on the early success and the potential to find a better fish in the deeper, bouncier spots, but I knew when to throw in the towel and head for a potentially cooler tributary.  It was still cloudy and drizzly when I made the 15 minute drive to the next spot.  I was secretly hoping for a long shot, that this one would have gotten a rain bump even if the water had not yet reached the bigger creek, but that was not the case.  I fished it anyway but limited my visits to three prime spots with elevation changes and some current and depth.  They were good stops, and one of them was really good.

Stop two produced some pretty brown trout.

You probably saw the big brookie that opens this post and have been wondering when I was going to get to the day’s highlight?  Well, it was a highlight for sure.  This thing was at least 10 inches long, likely half an inch longer.  She hit the black jigged bugger that had kicked off my day with a decent brown.  I actually caught a really pretty brown on the bugger in this same hole not two casts before landing this PA native.  The nature of this creek washes out the colors quite a bit and sometimes makes the browns exceptionally beautiful, but it does not always cast the brook trout in the most impressive colors.  That said, I am 100% certain that this is a wild fish, my second over 10 inches this year.  Just amazing and even more special following a rather middling morning, even for September, which itself can sometimes be pretty meh.

She got the full photoshoot as quickly as I could.

While keeping her wet and minding the late morning water temps, which may have been 65 not 62 at this hour, I gave her the full photoshoot and then let her go in a quiet spot.  She shot right for an undercut bank with plenty of energy.  This made me more hopeful that fish were feeling good here despite the noon hour approaching, but my next spot produced an average wild brown and the hole after that, one that is a proven honey hole, produced a dink and some short hits.  I knew it was time to go.  Honestly, the humidity and the gnats were getting to be a bit much.  I was in waders and a sun hoodie, so I was not all that comfortable at this point.  When the sun came out, which it was starting to do at this hour, it was downright terrible.  Sun and 90% humidity is not fun while wet wading, let alone in waders!  My fishy September rolls on, and I have a really cool event coming up in a couple weeks that I will share more about soon (think: one day Mayfly Project vibes), but I am still looking forward to actual fall.  

Yeah, one more.

September 6 and 7, 2026 – A Couple Late Summer Walks with a Fly Rod - Let’s Call them Scouting Missions – SEPA

Should have been the spot, low water or not!

September can be crueler than March for fly fisherman.  Actually, even with saltwater fishing I have always had a love/hate thing when it comes to September.  The water is often cool enough to fish, but the fish don’t always get the memo.  I did great last weekend in NEPA, and the previous in Central PA, but I struggled this weekend in SEPA trying to stay close to home.  I think that is common too.  Comparing yourself to others at this time of the year is also rough since conditions vary by region, by type of creek, by weather and water conditions.  Mountain freestoner with some rain, magic hour.  Limestoner in between tricos and the next batch of olives, maybe not so good.  A creek with some limestone influence where fish move miles each year to seek summer refuge?  Easy to jump the gun.  I try to stay off social media in general but even more so this time of year.  Like this weekend, I just try to enjoy the cooler temps with a walk in the woods with a fly rod, knowing the party will start soon, albeit in fits and starts.  Some company and, like this weekend, some wildlife sightings often make the walks more enjoyable.  Eric and I fished our spot on Sunday morning and were met with typical September low water conditions and borderline temps in certain stretches.  As a result, we struggled to find much more than chublife during our time on the water.  We covered a lot of ground and got to assess the many changes that have happened since the spring.  A lot of tree work, manmade and natural, has occurred.  One favorite stretch looks like a beaver pond, but no rodent was involved, just two trees giving way.  It is great for duck hunting this fall, which the landowner will do, but not great for the fishing—nor the stream flow below this massive, growing impoundment. 

Buglife, chublife.

We had fun and got a lot of walking in.  We also spooked an immense buck, who had bedded on the bank right next to one of our honey holes.  Eric and I were sneaking up to the spot through the brush with high hopes of actually sticking a trout when we heard what sounded like a cow jumping into the deep hole!  Not long after, a huge animal with many, many tines scrambled under a cattle fence and up the steep bank opposite us.  As an archer, this made Eric’s day, of course, but it was pretty exciting for me as well.  Last night when Eric texted him that we’d be on the creek this morning, the landowner actually asked us to avoid a stretch of crick downstream of here.  He had been seeing a couple big bucks on his trail cams.  Either this was a third one, or Eric and I met one of his dream quarry this morning.  Notch this up to things you would not see if you had chosen to stay at home today.  To that add the stick bug that landed on Eric’s rod.  As for fishing, well, I dropped one brown trout after a short battle on a jigged bugger deep in a root ball.  Otherwise, we had to be content with chubs and other wildlife to keep it interesting.

Eric trying to make it happen and better flows on a SEPA limestoner.

I packed up on Sunday night in case I had the drive to get up again, but my research that night did not leave me charged up or with any clear plans.  I slept in and took care of some Sunday stuff on a Monday before the gorgeous weather gave me enough FOMO to pack up the ‘Ru for an evening adventure.  I drove under an hour to a SEPA limestoner to poke around for a few hours, but mostly to get out and enjoy the wet wading and the bushwhacking.  I spotted an eagle, jumped another buck, and actually caught three wild trouts.  Two of them were barely legal, but one was at least 8 inches long.  A family with young kids was out swimming in the creek, so I dropped a thermometer a couple different times and found temps between 66 and 62.  They and the trout were swimming in chilly waters.  Flows were also amazing for this time of year, so the springs were charged up.  I kept expecting to raise a good fish, and I even tossed a bugger after the sun had dropped below the western ridge.  Again, the fish really didn’t get the memo that conditions were looking prime out here.

Where's Wal-buck?

When I got up to the hole where I was convinced I might find at least one decent fish, I only found one of my two dinkers there and willing to eat.  All the fish hit a drowned ant pattern on the dropper tag.  In the absence of any aquatic bugs besides size 28 midges, a terrestrial was likely the move.  I thought I saw two pale evening duns, but I saw zero rises even at magic hour, so am not sure that prospecting with a terrestrial dry would have netted any more fishes than my nymphing and bugger chunking.  I hit one more hole upstream and then fished this honey hole again with a bugger.  Nada.  I tossed the bugger in likely spots on the way back, but I had a bit of a walk to take with limited daylight, so I moved back along the bank pretty quickly—and loudly enough to spook a decent buck and a couple doe.  I even thought I saw a coyote at a distance, but they are far more ghostly than deer.  I have had a sighting here in recent years, however, so it probably was not just my eyes playing tricks in the waning light.  Again, a reason or two beyond the actual fishing to get me off the couch and into the woods while I wait for the real fall fishing to commence. 

Some actually wild browns this time ;)

Yes, March is cruel but I have found that September can be as well.  Still, it was good to get outdoors in the much cooler temps and also spend some time with young Eric before deer hunting consumes his time.  I will probably be at it again next weekend.  Some bigger NEPA creeks are getting close to what I like to see, and there is always the longer drive to Central PA on the table.  When I look at the blog, September often has fewer trips than January, so I will be grateful and take a wet September with below average temperatures.  If I keep getting out of bed, there will be more big fishes and more double-digit days ahead.  Until then, I guess I just have to enjoy the changing seasons and the walks in the woods with a fly rod.  Patience, I tell myself.  Patience.

Bonus shot