April 7, 2016 – An Unproductive Hour on the Wissahickon Creek

Burning someone's spot with the bench in the background?

Eric and I got out on Sunday night in some cold, windy weather, and we didn’t do well, each only landing one fish before we quit after an hour of fishing.  I thought maybe it was the high pressure, both from people and barometric, but it appears that there are not many fish in the Wissy in Montgomery County.  I took another walk today and managed two sunnies and one bow on a jigged pheasant tail. The weather was unstable again today, but don't think that's the problem. The creek looks like it had a rough winter, with mud and sand piled up everywhere.  I really only saw a couple fish besides the one I caught.   One was a big palamino in a shallow hole, the others darted out from a shallow spot I waded through under a bridge.  Until it rains, I think I will limit my local fishing to the Philly stretch next week.  I am not a fan of the Pennypack, but maybe Stony will fish better too.  I like the convenience of walking down the street and catching a couple before work, but I do not like the looks of my local stretch this year….

I did see a goose fight club, a loud one, and I almost stepped on a big snapping turtle, so there was some adventure close to home.  Maybe this bruiser got a hold of all the trout in the shallow muddy water....

Eating all my fish?

April 2-3, 2016 - Deep Thoughts... Opening Day Observations

That's me and my hat on the right.  John Gierach eat your heart out.

Invariably this time of year, someone asks the question on a fishing discussion board, usually someone honestly excited that trout season is opening after a long winter:  Who’s going out Opening Day?  

The answers are so predictable and run the gamut from self-aggrandizing to snobbery to genuine excitement: I don’t chase pelletheads!  I am going to catch some and use them for cut bait.  I will be there as I am every year because it’s a tradition with my dad or buddies or kid.  I will be there for tradition but I would rather be a) striper fishing, b) catfishing, c) bass fishing, etc.  I am bringing my kids because that’s how I started.  I will go to see the zoo, but I won’t fish until next week when I will clean the place out with a) my fly rod, b) a lure no else knows how to fish, c) corn, minnows, etc.  I will have my limit by 8:45 AM and be sleeping off a hangover in the truck.  And so on….

First of 2016, my Opening Day, January 7th.

Because I trout fish all year long, I no longer have an opening day, per se, though I do mark the first fish of the new year, usually.  As a kid who slept in my dad’s pickup cap all night in the Bell’s Mill parking lot the evening before Opening Day (try doing that now!) I have to wonder what time, enlightened science, “enlightened science,” social media, changes to stocking procedures, and propaganda from both sides have done (don’t get me started with the GoPro!).  I am 47 years old later this month, so despite the number of posts I have made to a discussion board or forum, I am no newbie.  Here’s what’s happening from my point of view:  

A lot of fly guys hate bait chuckers because they leave trash behind, bait guys trying to catch dinner hate fly guys for tossing them back (and not even taking them out of the water anymore), and spinner guys who have run-ins with fly guys on Class A creeks are made to feel like intruders.  They both hate Powerbaiters.  I don’t bait fish, but I don’t fish exclusively in one way or another, either.  I still like a spinning rod, and I treat the stream and the fish with the same respect I do when I fish with a fly rod. On a day where a guy who fishes exclusively with a fly rod (or wouldn’t cheat and throw “meat” at them) would be home because the stream is too high and muddy, I am catching trout that are usually ghosts, seldom scene and less often caught.  If you fish for wild fish with a plug or spinner, you get less than a second to set the hook.  I rarely have more than 1/3 of a treble hook in the fish’s mouth, and many get a long distance release after a short battle.  To me, if a 5 foot spinning rod and a trout magnet is the right tool for a tiny mountain trickle, then what’s the different between a jig with one hook and a nymph with one hook besides the fisherman’s preference?  I am willing to bet fish mortality with a trout magnet is on par with the fly, and I don’t tie a dropper to a trout magnet, so there is no chance of hooking a fin or eye ball with the trailing dropper fly either…

I have an ATW/trout stream literally 500 feet from my house.  It is stocked.  It is 4 miles from Philadelphia, and it is one of the reasons why I moved to this neighborhood.  If I don’t fish it, I am an idiot.  I do fish it, and I make it as challenging or fun for myself as I can.  When the water temp gets close to 70 degrees, I stop fishing it.  Sometimes I just walk it, and I think about fishing.

The boy having fun on my local ATW.  Although, if he breaks the tip of my St Croix, I am garnishing his allowance......

Like most fisherman, I started with bait as a kid, then moved to the fly rod, then spent 5 years throwing spinners until they got too easy or too limiting, then I spent 5 years or more throwing plugs until they got too predictable or limiting, then I picked up the fly rod again after an absence.  And now I rotate between artificials on the spinning rod and flies on the fly rod.  Surf and stream.  Boat and bank.  Wild and stocked.  Near and far.  This is the same reason there are guys who only dry fly fish or only throw plugs in the surf. My buddy Jeff and I, even at 12, were sort of pissed that the Inquirer photographer caught us not in our waders in the creek, but instead acting like kids on the bridge.  We were finished fishing for real and just waiting for my dad to catch up to us before heading for home.  It’s the fisherman’s choice of how to fish legally, as I said above, and it's his or her own internal rules and self-imposed limitations on how it should be done.  I know where trout live because I fished for them a long time before I used a fly rod to fish for them.  I try not to judge, and we really shouldn’t if we all want the resource to remain.  Honestly, the offenders, the polluters, the yahoos, all disappear by May 1 (most after the first week or two), and there are still fish in the ATWs convenient for a short hour long excursion near home before and/or after work.  My buddy Eric and I caught fish last night within sight of our neighbors’ houses, for example.  There are never going to be wild trout in the mighty Wissahickon, but I am glad I have a creek near my house where I can have some convenient fun, and my kid can experience a bit of what I did growing up.  I don’t even have to drive to it, so is that environmentally friendly and evolved or what?

Things have changed in other ways too, and I know it’s hard not to judge others and their methods.  Many young bucks don’t want to trick wily trout; they want to hold up a 30 lb flathead or striped bass that they caught on cut bait, as if putting a rod in a forked stick is some great accomplishment.  Fishing or angling to me is paramount most days but not all the time.  How one catches a fish does matter, sometimes, even if it brings about harsh judgments from the different camps.  There are guys who sneak after skittish carp with a fly rod and there are guys who bait a hole for two days and then show up with the same bait, just to hold up a 20 lb carp on social media.  I don’t get it.  Standing on third thinking you hit a triple, as I have heard Reverend Al Sharpton say.  I don’t get it, but I don’t let it provoke resentment in me either.  Fishing a private section of Spruce Creek and holding up trophies like they were tough to catch.  Fishing exclusively with a guide and thinking you had an equal share in the success of the day.  Chumming.  I think the process and the journey do matter, sometimes.  But, I don’t hate either.  And sometimes I just like to catch fish.  I have fished with a guide.  I have chunked for tuna, chummed grass shrimp for weakfish, soaked bunker for bass, soaked chicken livers for channel cats.  I may have even caught trout on Velveeta cheese and bluegills on hot dog.  I have fished a long time and did not arrive to the sport fully formed.  All those experiences are formative.  Not everyone evolves completely.  Kenny and I will still yell at my old man when he doesn’t think and tosses a butt in the water in Canada.  He does think most of the time though, and he’s a self-proclaimed retired ditch digger from Olney with a high school education, and it’s because he has wanted to evolve.  And sometimes he just wants to catch fish.

My younger brother and I below the "Trust" before there was a "Trust."

I like when I hear stories about fly fishermen gently educating the ignorant or, better yet, uninformed.  Honestly, I do.  To get all indignant does no one any good.  Here’s an analogy I come back to from time to time.  It’s based on a real experience.  As a college administrator who works primarily with freshmen, I have had male students roasted by female faculty for their uninformed, ignorant misogyny and/or sexism.  But is it fair to demonize an 18 year, working class kid because he doesn’t yet have an informed sexual politics or wasn’t aware that his paper was revealing him as a woman hater?  Isn’t an 18 year still in his formative years and could still learn about equality from a strong woman?  Do we really expect the average LAX bro to show up as a freshman and be a feminist?  If someone is new to fishing and chucks Powerbait on a bobber is treating him like the enemy going to get him to respect your point of view and the resource?  Do you make future fly fishermen by making everyone think the fly fishermen are intolerant?

Wild, stocked, holdover, green weenie, any less fun?

The snobbery extends to wild fish verses stocked fish, too.  Pelletheads, is a favorite disparaging remark thrown around.  The debate has gone on forever.  People like to think stocked fish are stupid and wild fish are smart.  Stocked trout are easy to catch, and wild fish are hard.  I found a story in the Philadelphia Inquirer from 1991 that shows how the bias starts.  Here is the link:  Stocked Thugs Looking for Handouts.  The basic premise is that hatchery trout are bullies who chase wild fish out, which may be true, but I have also found that browns and rainbows prefer different water and there are plenty of ATWs that have been found to carry a Class A population of wild browns despite the thugs from the West Coast and the European Union relatives they left behind.  Also, stocked trout will eat out of your hand, basically.  That was a good one.  Mistaking how fish act in a hatchery for how they act after a short time in the wild is bad science, and promoting the observation as book is also irresponsible.  Also notable, Valley Creek stocking ceased due to the health risks of the water, not any high minded ideals.

If native trout are so hard to catch, why do brook trout sometimes hit my indicator as hard as they take my nymph?  I have switched to a dry fly many, many times after being prompted by a wild or native trout hungry for pink plastic or orange foam.  If wild trout are so hard to catch why can a spinner fisherman like PA Angler contributor Frank Nale regularly catch over 100 wild browns in a day?  Are fly guys aware that there is a community of spinner fishermen who “tie” their own lures too, that haunt the same remote, wild trout streams they do, usually in higher water than the fly guys would fish with dry flies?  A quick perusal through a community like HuntingPA.com’s trout and salmon forum will reveal many fishermen catching wild browns like they were sunnies at the local pond.  Here is one trip from this year, already, his first of many, I am sure: Trout/Salmon Forum on HuntingPA.com

I guess the point of my ramble is, Can’t we all just get along?  Can’t we all learn a little something?  If I get my news and opinions solely from PAFlyfish or MSNBC am I any better than my neighbor who watches Fox News and thinks all fly fishermen are rich snobs?  Ignorance happens on both sides, and progress stalls when the Other becomes unworthy of empathy.  Granted, there are always going to be a-holes on both sides of the aisle, and there's always going to be politics in science, but those in the middle, those capable of deeper thoughts, need to work together so my grandkids can catch trout down the street from my house.

Yes, my son and I were out on Opening Day with my childhood friend Jeff and his kids trying to keep a tradition going.

March 29, 2016 – Some Valley Creek Success on a Windy, Bluebird Day

Sneaking around paid off on a sunny, windy, chilly day.

I made yesterday’s Plan B into today’s Plan A and got out for about three hours before work this morning in the upper reaches of Valley.  The water clarity was good, maybe slightly stained but nothing like the larger creeks I crossed.  The air temperature was only about 46 when I started fishing, but the water temperature was a good 51 degrees in the sun.  

A lot of obstacles, but the hunt is part of the fun.

I did not see much bug life until about 1 PM when I was heading back to the Subaru, but at least a couple fish were rising at that time for olives.  The only other fisherman I saw said he got one decent fish to take a midge dry in a flat pool.  The wind was pretty strong by mid-morning, and it was having its way with my 3 wt line by the time I quit.  For me, nymphing in small, braided pockets close to cover was my ticket to 8 nice wild browns.

The last 3 fish of the day shot out from the roots to attack a sj worm.

I had early success with an 18 pheasant tail under a scud pattern, pulling three healthy little browns from under roots and down trees on the dropper.  The creek is, at best, only about 10 to 12 feet wide where I was, and the wind was kicking up at inopportune times, so every missed strike or freed snag had the potential for tree work.  Even though I landed at least 4 trout fishing this way, I got tired of pulling two flies and a tiny indicator out of overhanging limbs, bankside vegetation and my own waders and clothing.  I eventually simplified to a single mayfly nymph, and I ended the day catching at least 3 fat fish on a san juan worm, which, in my book, is not cheating on Valley Creek ;)

This one is eating well!

I saw a bunch of fish in the flat water, but many of them were unapproachable from the bank.  Walking in the water and sending a not so subtle wake at them was also not an option.  I had a lot of fun hunting though.  This kind of fishing involves some stealth, a lot of kneeling and using trees to hide, not to mention being aware of one’s shadow, especially on a cloudless day.  I am glad I decided to keep my plans to fish today, as it’s going down to 28 degrees tonight.  I hope the temps bounce back for Saturday’s Opening Day festivities.  I owe the boy a good day, so I don’t have to spring for lunch again.

A good fish on one of my last casts of the day.

March 28, 2016 – A Few Productive Stolen Hours on the Ridley Creek FFO

A very good looking stocked brown.

Even though I had to work today, anticipating a morning fishing trip on Tuesday (weather permitting) I threw my waders, boots, 4 weight, and pack in the Subaru today, just so I was ready.  As luck would have it, what was supposed to be an all-day professional development meeting knocked off at about 1:30 PM instead of 4:30 PM.  Can you blame me for taking a short ride to Ridley Creek’s Fly Fishing Only section, tucking my khakis into my "business socks," and suiting up to give it a go for a couple hours?

The creek was pretty muddy when I arrived, but it was fishable, especially with a streamer, so I rigged up a short leader and a tungsten muddler minnow.  I figured if the fish didn’t cooperate here, I could fish Valley Creek near the headwaters, which were probably pretty clear even before noon today.  I had a trout chase the streamer to the surface on my second or third cast, so I was encouraged.  I let the next cast swing closer to the bottom before slowly stripping it back and, bam, first fish of the afternoon.

A couple on the streamer and at least one miss, too.

I picked up one more on the streamer and lost another, and then I decided to try my luck nymphing slow and low in a few holes I knew downstream.  With the visibility next to nothing, I figured a dark fly would be the ticket, but I had little luck with a stonefly or a mayfly nymph, so I went in the completely opposite direction and tied on a bright tungsten beadhead green weenie.  It wasn’t long before I started getting into fish with the weenie.   The first that I caught with this fly, the one that opens this post, was a very pretty stockie, maybe a holdover from last year based on the good fins and good colors. 

Green weenie caught his eye in the muddy flow.

For whatever reason, I stopped taking pictures of fish—all stocked browns, anyway—after the first few, so it looks like they all hit a green weenie, but I had success on a variety of nymphs as the afternoon progressed and the water started clearing up a little bit (but not much!).  

All weenie shots...

I think I counted 10 trout in the roughly 3 hours I was on the water, and they hit the muddler, the weenie, a dark pheasant tail, a tungsten mayfly nymph, and even a jigged pt in the last very deep hole I targeted before quitting to go get the boy at school.   The wind began picking up around 4 PM too, and it was howling pretty strongly by 5 PM when I arrived at the school.  Tonight, it feels like the cold front is here, so I don’t know what I will do tomorrow morning.  I am grateful I got out this afternoon and had success, whatever happens.

March 26, 2016 – Mentored Youth Day: Right Day, Wrong County—Good Times, Anyway!

A dumb dad and a good sport (who is still a wise guy).

Well, I swore I read that the PFBC was stocking the Wissy in my neck of the woods before Mentored Youth Day, but no fish are being dumped until March 31.  Three generations of the family—the boy, Pop, and I—should have known when we had the creek to ourselves, with the exception of one other father/son team who had it wrong too.  I was trying to maximize convenience, so we started fishing about 500 yards from my house.  Once I realized the mistake, I knew if I took the ride down to the City where they did stock, I would have lost my son’s interest (and he had a play date with a bud at noon), so we took water temps, practiced casting, and basically had a nice walk in the woods on a crisp and sunny March morning.  If I actually brought bait, we may have landed a sucker or two, but hindsight is 20/20.  The boy was happy to be out with Dad and Pop, and he got a McDonald’s lunch and a lot of snacks out of me.  Ward and I are going to try it again with his girls on Opening Day, so let me know if I have the dates wrong…..  It is next week, right?  Yikes!

March 16, 2016 – East Branch Brandywine Creek DHALO on the Fly

A beauty on the conehead muddler.

I drove about 40 minutes west this morning to the East Branch of the Brandywine.  I have never fished the creek before, but I have been visiting a bunch of new creeks that are less than an hour from my house.  I landed about 10 trout, and only this one fish was anything remarkable, however.  I threw my 9 foot 5 wt today for something different, and it did make slinging a heavy streamer much easier.  But at this point in the season I have such a nymphing touch with my 4 wt set-up that I missed a few fish when I switched to nymphing around noon.  I got the hang of it with the bigger rod eventually, though.  It’s funny how the rod you use most of the time ends up feeling like an extension of your own arm.

No one else fishing, so first I took a walk

I arrived at the lower end of the special regulations stretch around 8:45 AM, and there were only joggers and dog walkers for the first hour.  By the time I left around 2 PM, I had run into about 4 other fisherman, two fly guys and a couple guys with spinners.  The creek was still a bit muddy in the deeper, slower sections, but the faster riffles were clearing up.   As the day progressed, the water got better and, subsequently, so did the fishing.  Not knowing the creek at all, I took a long walk when I first arrived.  With no one else fishing yet, there was no pressure to stake out a spot.

The lower end did not look all the fishy.  It had some deep slow holes and a few down trees and exposed roots.  The banks were muddy and wet from the rain, and plenty of sand was piled up from run-off.  I am sure when the water is clearer and fish are active on the surface that the long flats in between the upper and lower sections can be productive.  I actually caught quite few trout on the way back through this lower section while walking to my parking spot—and I also hooked a dozen or more chubs…  

My walk did reveal some nicer looking runs and rocky outcroppings, so I dropped into the creek and decided to swing a streamer downstream on my way back to some promising looking holes I scouted on the way upstream.

First fish of the day, swinging a streamer.

It didn’t take long to get a rainbow to hit the black and olive conehead muddler, and I moved a couple others before I hooked another one.  Some of the fish were tight against the banks or at the first drop off, probably because the rain yesterday had pushed them up, but also because a lot of the creek is on the shallow side, so overhanging limbs, roots, and ledges afford them protection not found out in the current, especially in lower flows, I assume.

Fish # 2

At the bottom of a rocky slide in a small pocket, I finally hooked into a big trout on the streamer.  He accounted well for himself, and I was glad I brought the net with me to help land him.  He was a healthy hookjawed 17 inches and arguably worth the trip.  I was now happy that I rigged up the 5 wt for some streamer fishing!

There were some black stoneflies coming off the water sporadically, and I saw one fish rise to one.  There were also a couple BWOs and midges.  When I switched to the nymph in a long deep stretch, I had success with a mayfly beadhead and a baetis emerger dropper.  The chubs tore the beadhead up, but I got a fair share of trout on it too.  An equal number took the BWO emerger, and some of the ones I missed while “relearning” my 9’ 5 wt no doubt took the size 18 emerger and spit it out before I could react.  In an effort to show them something different, I ended the day having success, including a decent, lightly colored brown, with a caddis nymph too.  I probably hooked 15 and landed 10.  I caught far too many chubs, a couple quite large, but it was a pretty good day despite the muddy water.  And I thought I was fishing a Keystone Select Creek all morning...  Oops.  At least I got one fish that would have qualified!

The only brown, a pale one who took a caddis pupa.

March 9, 2016 – A Lot of Driving, Walking, and Casting but not much Catching in NEPA

No fish to hand, so I had plenty of time to use my phone's camera timer.....

I wasn’t sure what to do with my day off today.  I only had to drop the boy off at the bus, and then get him around 5:30 PM after Library Club.  That is a good chunk of fishing time. I could hit another FFO or DHALO within 30 minutes of me, but I have had two 20+ fish days with stocked fish, so I was hoping to do something different.  I could also walk into a wild trout stream and have some fun with little browns and brookies.  I had too many choices on this 80 degree day in March!  I finally made a game day decision to do some exploring. 

I have been hearing about a new section of one of my favorite creeks that has recently been opened to the public.  The surrounding land used to be a resort, long deserted, and the creek there runs cold and fast, like one long riffle this time of year (well, most of the year in fact).  It is now a nature preserve, in theory, though the old resort buildings still stand, a window busted out here and there.  It is currently more of a golf course gone wild with a nice view to a nearly pristine piece of water.  I have heard that the PFBC has a stake in the stretch, but it is not sure what to do with it yet.  There are wild browns throughout the creek, but this stretch doesn’t seem to be good brown trout water, per se.  It is, however, great rainbow water.

I think some rainbow fingerlings would find a nice home here.

I am not sure what the future holds for this section of the creek, but downstream a ways, the fish commission stocks rainbow fingerlings, and that seems like a good plan.  I saw one monstrous fish rise, and I broke off a nice one on a midge, but I don’t think the creek is loaded with a Class A population of wild browns, unless they are all hiding by the banks.  There was plenty of bug life rising all day, from midges to mayflies to stoneflies, but I only saw the one big trout rise to the hatches.  I am glad I saw the creek, and I will return again before I write it off, but today was heavy on driving, walking, and casting, not so much on catching.  At least it was a beautiful day to be on a beautiful piece of water, albeit a piece of water in transition.