September 20, 2017 – A Fall Preview in 85 Degree Weather – NEPA Freestoner

With bigger mayflies around like cahills and isonychia, the fish took a big tungsten frenchie.

It wasn’t the best day to go trout fishing, sunny and 80-something, and I didn’t even leave the house until after 9 AM, but I managed to tussle with a couple decent fish this afternoon in beautiful surroundings.   Valley Creek got a little overnight spike of water, but I just couldn’t bring myself to sneaking around on my knees again this summer.  Plus, I had from 9 AM to 4 PM open between bus stop duties for the boy, which meant I could take a little ride and at least scout and explore.  I did a similar trip last week in Northampton County and found low water and no bugs, so beside a brief battle with an unseen fish well hidden under a tree, last week’s trip was a lot of walking, not much casting, and the first skunk in a while.  I did find a couple new spots, though, so there is always that.  September has never been a memorable fishing month for me, but my low expectations today meant I enjoyed my time out, did not rush there or back, and worked on restoring my farmer’s tan to its spring peak (I forgot sunscreen).  I even did some work while sitting in the shade streamside in my home away from home office (The new course management program we use for classes has a mobile app, which is potentially dangerous).

Last week I took a skunk after losing one under here....

Today was also a day of low water, plus warm and sunny weather, but there were bugs this time, so I was confident that I could find at least a couple.  No risers and no steady hatches, but there were sparse caddis and what I have heard called chalk cahills around.  I actually sat and watched a few beautiful flats, looking for the odd midday riser, but nothing developed in the time I fished from about 10:30 to 1:30 PM.  The leaf hatch is starting on windy days, and I hooked a couple dandy maple leaves on the swing. Granted, catalpa leaves put up the best fight...  I took a water temperature at 2 PM as I was leaving the creek bed for the rest of the short hike back to the car, and I got 67 in a shallow spot, so that was not ideal either, especially for chasing evening risers should that idea strike me next week, but the riffles were cold enough for a couple holdover rainbows and a lovely wild brown to fight well, even go airborne a couple times.

Nowhere to wade usually, but in low water, it is possible.

The gages on the creek were low, but over the many years I have fished here, I actually tend to target a spot or two on this creek in low water because, otherwise, it is next to impossible to wade.  The spot today is in a deep gorge with deep water often right up to the rocky banks.  Today, I was able to wade waist deep in calmer waters to reach runs on the other side of the creek, and I was also able to use a couple huge midstream boulders to hide behind.  I scored two of the fish I actually brought to the net while highsticking from behind one such slab of rock.  Of course, I then had to try to keep them both out from under the other side of it, but that was fun too.  I have to repair a small nick in my fly line because the other fish I hooked definitely headed for cover quickly, and I ended up snagged after a brief, long distance release.

A fat holdover rainbow of about 14 inches and change.

The brown was a real beauty of a fish and the bow I landed was at least 14 inches and fat.  It was hot, so the camera lens on my phone was fogging, which meant I had to wipe it with my sweaty buff, so don’t get your eyes checked if the otherwise clear fish pics appear a little fuzzy.  If they look fine on your end, then it’s my allergies affecting my eyesight!  

The back of my "trout blind" provided some cover.

When the warm breeze kicked up and leaves began to fall, it felt like autumn was still on its way, but my swampy legs and the salt stains on my t-shirt from dried sweat told a different story.  Let’s call it a preview day.  We need rain again pretty badly, but I will take cooler temperatures first.  Weather permitting, I have tentative plans for Friday, but tomorrow the boy is off from school, so who knows where we will end up?

September 6, 2017 - A Quick One in between the Rains – SEPA

The best of the afternoon took an Air Lock indicator before settling on a purple pt.

The forecast today called for a 100 percent chance of heavy rain, but at 1 PM after working at home for a few hours, I noticed it had done little more than drizzle.  Apparently, some showers did hit overnight, because the gage at Valley showed a short blip.  I took a chance that the creek would still be stained, and I put on a rain jacket hoping it would color up more once the forecasted rain got started.  Yes, I left the house hoping to get rained on!

Plenty of visibility still, but better than gin clear.

The water in the park was pretty low (normal) when I arrived, though a bit off-color, but the rains never arrived to help advance my cause.  I fished about 90 minutes and managed a handful of fish on a purple pheasant tail on a j-hook.  I also turned a couple other small fish in the riffles in a few spots. 

I had to do a lot of sneaking, and I even popped on a small indicator to make a long cast to a deep flat pool with the added cover of a downed tree.  A better fish came up, popped the indicator and then took the anchor fly.  Go figure: My best fish of the afternoon was a novelty catch.  I also caught one swinging the soft hackle under some hairy structure—lost a couple flies that way too, of course.  The fish was also a better fish, though, and this time I actually caught him without any fun and games, so maybe he was worth a few bucks in tungsten???

I was supposed to get the boy at the bus stop by 4:15 PM, so I quickly ran out of time, but I was happy to tangle with a few fish and have the place to myself for a couple hours.  I got a walk in, too, hoofing back in a hurry to beat the traffic home.  Perhaps the heavy rain promised will arrive tonight.  If so, I will be ready again.  I left a lot of the better water for a better day, one with more advantageous conditions.  I have to teach tomorrow evening, but I put in plenty of prep time this evening, so I am sure I can spare a couple hours if the signs look positive on Thursday.

Worth sacrificing a fly or two?  Perhaps.

Not shy about a size 12 nymph.  I expect big things of this guy some day....

September 4, 2017 – "The End of Labor is to Gain Leisure" – SEPA

A twelve incher from a creek barely twelve feet wide is not a bad way to ease back into the fall.

I took another relatively short trip to the Lehigh Valley on Labor Day morning, this time to suburban Bethlehem to target wild browns on the Monocacy Trophy Trout section.  It’s been a couple years since I fished the Illick’s Mill section up to the conservation area, but today I decided to try some new waters above Gertrude Fox that would usually be pretty skinny this time of year.  The flows in the Lehigh Valley have been great, just a bit higher than normal, and the Monocacy, like the Little Lehigh earlier this weekend, was stained enough to hide an upstream approach with the nymph but clean enough to allow for effective nymphing.   I got out early, suited up, and hiked down the railroad, figuring I would work my way back up to the parking spot and then fish upstream further if I had the time and energy.  I landed about 7 fish in under 4 hours, not bad at all for new waters, so I did not feel the need to keep pushing as I again reached my parking spot.  No need to work too hard on this day of all days.

The days of the dams are numbered.

The trend of pulling down dams has continued here too, I eventually learned.  I guess it will be a good thing in the long run, and today it didn’t seem to affect my fishing, but it is weird to have a landmark in mind and find, instead, no dam and only the abandoned caution signs about swimming and wading.  At any rate, I started out at sunrise tossing a black bugger and got a couple takers on the swing before switching over to a Czech nymphing set up with a jigged pheasant tail as the anchor.  I really didn’t need a dropper, as all the fish I caught took the anchor fly as I led it through riffles and runs.  Most took a soft hackle pt, except for one that took a copper john that I put on as a lighter alternative to tungsten in a shallower stretch of water.  

A perfect place to drop a jigged pheasant tail, and a couple fish responded.

I tangled with no “trophies,” but I did catch some feisty fish in the 11 to 12 inch range, which was just fine on a small creek on my 9 foot 4 weight.  As I stalked through shady backyards, it felt like I was hunting on a tiny mountain creek, even though the highway noise and lawnmower exhaust and barking dogs were only a hedgerow away at times.  I know the limestoners of the Lehigh Valley are not what they once were, and development keeps on developing, but I still admire the quality fishing opportunities so close to civilization that are still available in a region that is under an hour drive from home.  

A couple decent fish in the 10 or 11 inch range, too.

The water temperature was in the high 50s in the shade, which is not surprising after a chain of cool nights.  I knocked a few caddis out of the trees and bushes, but only saw a handful in flight.  Midges were prevalent, but I guess the water was too stained for risers.  That was fine by me, as I got to fish in a way I really enjoy—a nymph on a short, tight line in braided water and small pockets.  

Pale and lovely

With an average depth of maybe 12 inches through much of the stretch, fish were holding right in current or in pockets behind midstream obstructions.  They all fought well, with a couple leapers in the mix. Unlike the last couple of outings, I landed no 3 or 4 inchers (don’t know if that is good news?) so all the fish were over 8 inches and uniquely pretty to this creek.

I quit around 10:30 AM as the heat started to increase and the neighborhoods came alive.  I was home and cleaned up by noon, ready for a farewell afternoon at the swim club, complete with dance contests and beer dives.  Summer is over.  The boy starts school tomorrow.  Tami is driving again.  I am starting to teach three new courses, beginning on Tuesday night.  The irony is that I will regain much of my leisure time.  I may have to spend some nights teaching and grading, but I will be chasing fish with greater frequency during the day.  Aristotle was the first to say work hard and play hard, basically.  Perhaps this is related to all the years doing seasonal rentals at the beach, but Labor Day usually has a melancholy air.  I think I spent this one well, however, and I look forward to the fall.

Someone's backyard, you know?

September 2, 2017 – Out There with the In Crowd – Little Lehigh Heritage Section

The Heritage Section on a fall-like morning.

Don’t ask me why I decided to fish on a Saturday on a holiday weekend in, of all places, the Heritage stretch of the Little Lehigh, but that is I what I did today.  It has been years since I fished this section; in fact, the fish hatchery dam was still in place the last time I visited, so it had to be 2012 or 2013 (?).  I guess if I had been writing this blog then, I would know for sure (I also write this thing for selfish, practical reasons too!).

This beautiful brownie took the olive scud dropper.

I was organizing a new shipment of flies yesterday, just playing and organizing, you see, so I was ready to go if I got the urge and the opportunity this weekend, but I had no set plans in place.  I suppose that is why I just pointed the Subaru towards Lehigh County, got off an exit, and fished this morning.  Though it was crowded with runners and walkers, and I ran into about 7 other fly fisherman, all keeping their distance except for a quick chat, it was not a bad call, actually, as I tangled with 5 decent fish and a few other dinks.  This year’s parr were active here like they were at Valley; I even landed two on a size 12 jigged pheasant tail, so they were hungry AND brave.

First of the day.  Jigged pt took most of them.

I caught my first rainbow right at sunrise, right in front of the hatchery building, in a deep run, tightline nymphing, so that became the plan: highstick the riffles and runs and work my way down to the good stretch of pocket water below the Heritage shop.  My biggest fish, a rainbow just over 14 inches, took the pheasant tail in a pocket under an overhanging bush and fought very well.  I landed a couple wild dinks and one brown about 8 inches before I got to the area had in mind.  Of course, there were a couple other fisherman in the vicinity who had worked it or were working up to it, but I did manage to sneak in without messing anyone up and take a decent wild brown that fought well in the braided pocket water. 

The best of the morning, pushing 15 inches and hot.

The water was plenty cold, and the air temp was in the 50’s when I arrived, so fish were in good shape and fishermen were happy with the hint of fall in the air—me included.  The water above Fish Hatchery Road was definitely changed with the dam removal, but I hope winter storms and such continue to scour and re-create some more runs and holes.  Midges were active, and caddis were in the trees and bushes, but I only witnessed one bow who looked to be actively midging, and he was staying subsurface in a flat run that I didn’t have the patience to fish (correctly, at least).  I fished from about 6:30 to 10:30 AM and called it an enjoyable morning.  Even though I would have encountered fewer people in the National Park at Valley today, I wager, this particular stretch of the Little Lehigh, while a mere shadow of what it once was, is still a unique spot and a nice place for a good walk on a cool day.

Can you guess where the better fish was?

August 23, 2017 – Precious and (a) Few… - SEPA

Fun with filters: a doe and her two fawns in painterly fashion.

After celebrating the boy’s tenth birthday and then taking a mini-vacation to a waterpark resort early in the week—not to mention (or belabor) my continued role as nurse, therapist, errand boy, entertainment, and so on for my temporarily ACL-hobbled wife—I needed a quiet moment or two this week.  After climbing stairs, at times carrying a tube (or two) for the boy and his buddy Thomas who tagged along to the waterpark, waiting in lines, eating poorly, packing and unpacking, doing laundry, catching up on work, I did not sleep well last night.  I was up at 4:30 AM and, knowing it had stormed in the wee hours, I wishfully opened the laptop and checked the USGS site, just in case….  Imagine my joy, then, when it appeared that nearby Valley Creek had just crested after a flush of stained rainwater!

Had to give up on the midge...

While everyone but the cat slept in, I decided to stay up, suit up to wet wade, and grab a couple fly rods from the garage.  I had one rigged up to fish a streamer, which I did the last time I fished Valley with a degree of success, but I also wanted to nymph and try out a new reel that I paired with my 3 weight rod, so I just brought both, thinking I would make a decision when I saw the creek in person.  Well, the gauge is pretty far downstream from where I decided to target, so the creek upstream was stained but certainly fishable, maybe even dry fly fishable by later in the morning?  I stopped at a bridge and peered over as I neared the stretch I wanted to fish and, as a result, decided to start nymphing and watch for early risers. As I pulled into a parking spot just before sunrise, I was greeted by a doe and her two fawns.  Nearly tame, as many Valley Creek deer are, for better or for worse, they didn’t get alarmed while I rigged up at the Subaru.  The flash of tail only came after I took a second low-light photo of the trio.  Babes were everywhere this morning!  While I caught some Valley-respectable browns, I also had to abandon the zebra midge as a dropper because the parr—more like fry—were big enough to eat with gusto.

Big enough to give a good tug on the 3 weight and damn pretty too.

I must have caught five of them that were minnow-sized and beautiful, and others popped off the barbless or probably just let go of larger nymphs.  A size 5 Rapala may have been like cheating today!  Strangely, though, the streamer was the only fly that got zero love this morning, believe it or not.  In roughly 4 hours of walking and fishing, I had at least 10, maybe 12, Valley-respectable fish at least three different ways, but nothing hit the streamer.  Early, I had one on a foam beetle and missed a couple others, and then I tied a dropper to the dry, and had the aforementioned parr-fest on the zebra midge.  I also caught a handful nymphing with a caddis emerger, a pheasant tail, even a brassie—highsticking runs and pockets and alongside roots, using the indicator around some down timber—before turning back to the parking spot and fishing my way back downstream while swinging a size 18 olive wet fly.

Wild trout at least three ways.

The wet scored the biggest fish, which freed himself before a photo-op, and it also scored maybe 3 others before I quit around 11 AM.  I am sure many of the pops and nudges I got on the swing that did not connect were also from my little friends who emerged from the stream bed this year!  I didn’t take a water temperature, but the fish were plenty active and sporty in the cool morning conditions.  On my 3 weight, a few of the fish pulled hard and required some thought to turn away from downed trees and other obstructions while not hanging my rod tip in water-laden late summer branches.  In other words, it was a fun, productive morning, just the thing I needed after a vacation and before three days of teaching and grading.

Everything but the streamer this morning

I still have a 7 weight to break in on some smallmouth or, at this rate, ravenous fall trout, but the semester is beginning and my wife is still not driving (though swimming, yes, and walking without crutches quite a bit!) so while I hope it won’t be another two weeks before I set the hook on another fish, it is possible.  My wife knows I need this “me time,” though, and she both humors my obsession and supports my mental health—it was she who encouraged me to stay out longer this morning, in fact—so who knows what the next couple of weeks holds.  Until then, I have photos of beautiful wild browns (and deer) and their offspring to hold me over.

August 9, 2017 – Just Ignoring the Tricos, Really? - Northampton County Limestoner

Tricos in flight (click to enlarge).

I finally got out fishing again!  It has been a while, but we are beginning to see the beginning of the end for my wife’s ACL recovery.  We are on to physical therapy and getting strong enough and quick enough with the right leg to drive.  This goal is still a month away, maybe, but things are getting better each day, especially her mental state.  Being cooped up for so long is not Tami’s style at all. Knowing my mental state was in question, too, she gave me a green light this week to get out.  The issue with being so busy is that I had no time to plan or change gears, and I also wanted to be nearby, so I just picked a relatively close limestoner, hoping the cooler nights and rains would give me something to bend the rod.  Mission accomplished, but it was not easy.  It was a perfect morning, almost fall-like, so the walk and the fresh air did me wonders.  The fishing was a little worse than expected, honestly, but not terrible for a short trip in August.

Close but not there yet: Still too stained for dry fly fishing.

When I arrived a little before 6 AM, the creek looked great from afar, within its banks and only mildly stained in the shallows.  The deeper holes were pretty opaque brown, however.  As I hope you can see from the collage above, the tricos were out in force for a couple hours, but nothing but a few chubs and/or small trout in the clearer shallows were taking notice.  I was hoping some dark caddis or other bugs would come off later in the morning, so after watching for rises for a long period of time, I decided to rig up to nymph some pockets and pools and return later to the hole to see if it cleared more.  Before leaving home in the morning, I strongly considered tossing my new toy, a 9 foot 7 weight, with a big streamer, but I was expecting that after a full day of rest that the creek would have cleared enough for dry fly action.  Oh, well…  

A holdover bow in good colors and translucent fins.

The water temperature that I took was 60, but I didn’t take my time with it or take multiple readings, so it is very likely that the creek was a bit warmer than that, which could account for the slow fishing.  At 60, the fish should have been very active, but they were not.  The air was 58 or 59 when I started, so instead of waiting for the thermometer to lower from the air temperature, I probably should have been waiting for it to rise from sitting in high 50s all night.  Again, oh, well…  It took going down deep with shot and an indicator to dredge up two hold over rainbows.  I also missed one half-hearted bump while swinging a wet fly under some overhanging trees that I couldn’t fish effectively with anything else.  I quit by about 11 AM after taking a little walk back to the car, happy that I had some success in less than prime conditions.  The streamer rod should get some action after the next rain storm, however.  If the rivers keep dropping, I feel smallmouth in my future too!