November 23, 2016 – Oh, If I Had a Kayak on My Back Instead of 20 lbs. of Plugs...

The morning stats.  Too old for this crap....

I hit the outgoing tide in the dark on Wednesday, tossing big wood at the 3 AM flood tide until the sun came up.  There was no surf action to speak of, and even out on the bar in crystal clear and calm water, I saw no signs of life until after sunrise.  Sometimes, you can even smell bunker when they are nearby (I swear, you can!) but all my senses were tuned and found nothing alive in the dark but a foul-hooked northern stargazer and the silhouettes of a couple dolphins or porpoises.  About an hour before daylight, I switched to a smaller SP minnow, but I was starting to see that with all the beach replenishment and nary a wave (plus at least a week of NW winds) there was no soft structure on an old favorite stretch of beach.  Even being mostly out of the game for a couple years, my instincts are okay, though.  In the dark, I drew boot lines with my heal at what looked like promising spots, and even though no one was home in the dark, at false dawn on my walk back down the beach, I could see that I had marked some minor cuts and points in the mostly uniform bar.  I am glad people’s houses might be saved after the next super storm, but dammit, I want my rocks and cuts and sloughs back!  Even bait guys are walking waist deep out on the bars to launch bunker chunks to water deep enough to sustain life when no blitz is present or the tide is not at its peak.

Just half a football field too far, even belly deep on the bar!

Speaking of blitzes, at sunrise, a huge blitz materialized almost out of nowhere.  Hundreds of gulls and gannets were having at a big school of peanuts.  At one point, they looked like they may come close enough to reach with a pencil popper or even a snag hook (I had it all in my heavy-ass plug bag), but they ended up splitting in two and heading northeast and south, staying at least 50 yards too far to reach.  I am always considering a kayak before I get too old and cautious for a beach launch in late November, but a kayak only would have helped today if I was dragging it with me all morning.  My boy Dolf wants to get out on a boat, and I might be game, as two weeks in a row, I saw schools of migrating bass just out of reach.  This does not mean I won’t be back on Friday (and Monday) after resting the elbow and the legs for a day or two!

November 13, 2016 – First Casts in the Atlantic this Fall

Blue skies, clear water, NW wind (so no surf) but good to be out there for a while.

I had a “boys’ weekend” in Bradley Beach this weekend, mostly a drinking excursion in Asbury Park with some old friends who, like me, are now just getting old.  Dave said we have been doing this annual get-away for 13 years (minus Sandy), which is quite a run! Seeing the tides and the forecast (and the agenda), I was not planning on any serious fishing.  I packed a two-piece plugging rod and my bag, however, in the event I was up early (or late) one of the days.  Some years we go hard on Friday night, and by Saturday we are all in bed by 10 PM. Well, 5 AM came and went without me stirring, but I did take a stroll and jump around a couple rock piles for an hour late in the morning on Sunday.  I saw well over a hundred boats tearing them up about a half a mile offshore.  Birds and bait were everywhere.  

A few too many.

Tom described the number of boats he saw off the coast on Saturday, and as a fisherman who rarely gets to Monmouth County (especially after what the beach replenishment has done to Deal!), I was doubtful until I saw them all for myself.  If the bait schools were as big as the armada of boats, then there is plenty of bait heading south.  The water was clear, the tide was low, and I was waderless, not to mention a little dehydrated, but it was good to swim some plugs for a while before driving home.  I did some whale watching, as well.  A couple came completely out of the water, putting on a show for me and the dog walkers.  One particular jetty had a bait ball swimming around the tip, but nothing was harassing them but my Smack-It.  I was happy to see that the fall run is happening.  Now I just have to find the time to get my butt in gear.

November 9, 2016 – Poking around SEPA for a Bit on the Day After...

Despite the low water, and likely warmer water temps this summer, last year's crew seems to have made it.

I had a little time in the morning to fish before an 11 AM meeting.  I was up a lot checking election results, so I was in no rush to get to work either.  This is not a “Deep Thoughts” post, but let’s just say the morning was rough for everyone in the house.  I was trying to comfort Tami and the boy, as if I had it figured out (I don’t), but deep inside I was also wondering how I was going to comfort my students on the day after the election.  At both of my jobs, I work with groups of students, and most of them are students of color, the vast majority black and Hispanic, from 17 year olds to adult students in their 50s and 60s.  All of them would be upset, and they would be lining up to talk to me like I knew something, like I could help them figure it all out.  I needed a mental break from it all to feel what I was going to feel and then get on with life.  Fishing helps, although passing so many Trump signs on my way west, even seeing some batty lady dancing on her lawn asking cars to honk for joy, did get to me a bit.

It was raining all morning, but it barely moved the water level.  I put my thermometer in the water to take a water temp, and it’s still there sitting on the bottom reading about 50, I bet.  I will need to get another one of those…  I caught dozens of chubs, which means this creek in the Oley Valley probably got warm this year.  It was still very low.  The good news is that I did land two little 7 inch browns, so the yearlings did survive the summer.  In the first deep hole I fished, I lost the only decent fish of the day.  I was not on my mental A game, so I missed a couple, but I was glad to get out for a bit and walk and fish before returning to the real world on Wednesday afternoon.  As expected, I had an office full of young people with a lot of questions I couldn’t answer and a lot of fears.  At least I could be an old bearded white guy who listens to them and helps them keep defying expectations.

November 5, 2016 – A Fall Morning in the Lehigh Valley

After a frosty morning, the sun was appreciated, even if it put the fish down far too quickly.

I have not had a spare weekday to take off, not even a morning, since the last time I fished in October.  I picked up another class, so I am teaching two now in addition to my normal 9 to 5 day.  We also stopped using aftercare for the boy, so Tami and I are platooning on bus pick-ups and drop-offs.  It has not been bad, but it has cut into my fishing for sure!  I keep waiting for a sign to head east to the beach, and I am actually rigged up and ready (maybe Monday), but I have not had the energy to fish the night bite or get up at 2 AM to make the morning drive.  I needed to fish this morning, however, so I decided to head less than an hour north and give the fall trout a shot.  If nothing else, it would be a morning out in the woods in some beautiful weather.

See what I mean?  A chilly start!  

I arrived right before sunrise at a new stretch of a creek I have only fished once or twice before.  Parking was easy, and I had mapped out another access point in case the first area was dead.  It was only 37 degrees at dawn, but it was crisp and beautiful.  The first round of the leaf fall has slowed, and those trees still holding on were full of vibrant yellow.  I didn’t take a water temperature reading, but it was cold, about as cold as the air, no doubt.  

A dark and lovely right before sunrise.

I moved my first wild brown on my second cast, and after a handful more casts, I landed my first of the morning.  He was dark from all the decomposing leaves in the stream but still rather lovely, even in the low pre-dawn light.  He jumped a couple times before I let him go, which was a great way to start the morning.  I wish it had continued like that, but as the sun got higher, I could see how low the creek was.  Cold, clear, and low water on a cold, high pressure, sunny day does not usually equal an awesome fishing trip.

On the suspending Dynamic Lures HD Trout.  It stayed out of the leaves more than the Rapalas.

A little further upstream, under a picture perfect overhanging tree, I hooked my second of three trout.  All of them hit a Dynamic Lures HD minnow in black.  A CD 1 tended to pick up too much debris, as the bottom was blanketed with vegetation and fallen leaves. I walked quickly trying to cover ground and find deeper holes, or at least braided water to cover my approach, but I eventually ran into some posted signs and turned back.  I picked up one more little brown on the way back to car, and as a bonus, I tossed the plug in a small mill pond across from one section of the creek, and I picked up a little bass too.  Why not, right?  I think it was a public pond?

Why not?

I decided to take a ride to another access point and give the fly rod a go for an hour or so.  I saw one pair of trout on a redd and one riser in a flat pool, and I left both alone.  Instead, I targeted a couple riffles and eddies that would have been decent spots in higher water.  I did not get a hit in any of the nymph-friendly pockets, so I even tested my patience going slow and low in a different flat pool.  I missed one half-hearted strike, probably because it was time for my tired body to go home.  I’ll say it was a chub in case it was actually a missed opportunity on a nice brown (I spooked one in this hole on the way back down to the Subaru that was probably 15 inches!) After taking a nice walk to explore further upstream, I turned back and called it a morning.  I do like this weather, but it’s going to be a long winter if the creeks stay this low and I can’t continue to chase trout!  Hell, I will take snow if it raises the gages a bit.  I grow tired of complaining about low water.

October 17 and 18, 2016 – A Couple Short Trips Close to Home – SEPA

Fall colors on Valley Creek

In the time between any significant rain and the start of the fall run in the surf, I snuck in two trips this week with the fly rod.  Yesterday, I had a doctor’s appointment that ran long, so by the time I got home, it was after 12 noon, and I hadn’t even eaten yet.  What’s a guy to do on an unseasonably warm day?  Go to work?  Nah, I worked too hard over the last two weeks.  Instead, I decided to sneak around Valley Creek with some midges.  

The water temp was barely 60 degrees but the air was pushing 80 by the time I reached the creek.  The fall “leaf hatch” was in full swing, although even more so when I hit Ridley Creek FFO for a while today.  I learned from my mistake of wearing waders yesterday, and wet wade today, so at least I was cool on a hot day.  I was sweating it out at Valley even in the shade!  Today, Ridley Creek was crowded for a Tuesday.  I saw at least 8 different guys in about 2 hours of fishing.  Unlike Valley, whose flows are okay for this time of year, Ridley was a bit low for my liking (and full of leaves).  

Another Valley wild brown.  He liked the big streamer!

I worked hard on Monday for 3 eight inch trout, a chub, and the rare Valley Creek green sunfish, but I did stick a decent one of 11 inches with a big streamer, which was the highlight of the day.  I was home for bus stop pick up after about 90 minutes on the water, so I was happy.  Today, at Ridley, I wet wade, and I was much more comfortable, but the fish were all dumped in a couple spots, all of which had dudes standing in them and all of which I tried to avoid for the first hour.  I was rewarded with finicky sunfish and chubs away from the crowds, even in spots that usually get stocked.  Before I left for home, however, I spent about 45 minutes in the honey hole to catch two stocked bows on a midge, just to avoid the skunk.  I probably won’t be back to Ridley until the spring or a good rain spreads the fish out.  My surf stuff is all ready to go, including a new Commando Surfcasting plug bag (!), so I may begin making the long drives this weekend or the next.

September 25, 2016 – Back in Waders – A Chilly NEPA Drought Tour

A lot of chilly, ankle-deep water.

I scouted a couple creeks and ended up fishing a large Pocono freestoner today with little to show for it.  I got a nice walk in the cool, breezy weather, at least.  This morning’s air was 46 degrees at sunrise, so I appreciated the walking.  Today was the first time I have worn waders since late May, I believe, and I needed them.  Thankfully, there were no leaks.  The water temperature around 7:30 AM was below 60 degrees, but the creek was the lowest I have seen it in a while (and there have been bad years in recent memory).  Herons and raptors have probably had a field day over the last few weeks!  

Dark and lovely on the Dynamic Lures HD minnow.

I worked roughly a mile of water, I bet, just walking and looking for deep pockets and some flow.  I found very little.  I missed a fish under a small plunge early in the morning when I was still trying to shake off a bad night’s sleep, the car ride, and the chills.  It took another hour to land one, and then another 45 minutes to land another.  Browns are not stocked here, usually, but the brown pictured above was so dark, perhaps from hiding in dark crevices, that I questioned whether it was a stockie.  The second fish looked wilder, but was also colored differently than the usual fish I catch here.  I tried to enjoy just being out, as the work week had been stressful.  I would have liked to have caught a few more fish, but I did make the most of a perfect early fall day and thought only of fishing for a solid 4 hours today…  Mental health day, indeed.

September 20, 2016 – A Little Rain, But Not Enough – One for Three in Bucks and Northampton Counties

Skinny and clear at creek #1

Despite Montgomery County creeks getting a spike on the gauges on Monday, the evening did not pan out with additional rain, as I had hoped.  Also, this too-brief rain event seemed to affect less of SEPA than I had expected.  Still, I woke up and did some work at home this morning, encouraged that the clouds were sticking around.  Despite the dry streets outside my window, I was still trying to psych myself up to take a fishing trip today.  In the end, I did not find the conditions I was hoping for (I should have played hookie yesterday!) but I did manage to catch a handful of respectable fish, and I had far more refusals than I care to count.  In low water, on wild trout streams, even seeing some aggressive fish at two creeks before connecting with the hooks at a third creek was a good enough sign that, despite some battle scars, this dreadful summer wasn’t too rough on the residents.  Perhaps the fall won't be so bad after all?

My first stop of the morning was a Bucks County limestoner that I have found to be hit or miss, but usually miss.  I have gained access to two sections of the mostly posted creek, but neither one is consistent.  In May of 2015, I caught two very big trout here on the fly rod, and I have had success on smaller fish a couple times, but this year, I have not seen much life on the creek.  I spent about an hour here, mostly walking and tossing a Rapala CD 1, and I only had one refusal by a 10 inch brown who was hiding in the weeds in a deep hole.  The water was low, but it was a healthy 65 degrees when I left at 11:30 AM.  Even with Monday’s rain, though, it was clear already.  I may rest this creek or find more access closer to the headwaters.

No 20 inch monsters today.

My second stop was another small limestoner in Northampton County.  When I was here a few weeks ago, I moved a bunch of fish and caught a huge wild brown.  Since it was on the way to the third creek I had in mind, I figured I would target two holes where I saw a number of fish last time.  I did not climb all the way up to the hole where the big brown lives, mostly because I didn’t want to knock on doors to gain access, and I also didn’t want to bushwhack in from above.  Well, this mission failed too. The water flow was better here, and also cold, but it was not stained like I had hoped.   These fish, especially the larger ones, are not easily duped in high sun and clear water. Like last time, I had several follows and refusals, and I missed the hookset on one decent fish who did finally commit.  He did not take the plug until it reached the tailout, however, and I could see him hit before I could feel him hit.  All I got for my troubles was a plug flying 10 yards behind me and a spooked pool!

Finally at creek #3!  Outside of the mouth still count??

My last stop finally paid off, thank goodness!   Since it is a larger stream than the trickles I started the morning fishing, it was a bit stained still and flows were good.  Even at 3 PM, the temperature of the water was in the high 60s, and fish hit with gusto when I could find good summer holding water.  It didn’t take long to catch a smaller wild brown.  I was tossing a larger Rapala CD 5 with my 7 foot ultralight, not the shorter rod I threw earlier in the day.  This combo also has Nanofil spooled on it, which seemed to give me the millisecond I needed for a faster hookset due to low or zero stretch.  Even then, I got a couple on the outside of the mouth!  

A good healthy rainbow

I ended up catching 5 decent trout here, most in fast, oxygenated pocket water.  The two rainbows were angry and healthy.  One of the wild browns, which was a good 13 inches long, looked like he had had a narrow escape from a blue heron or a hawk, but he fought well and scooted back to his lair in good shape. 

Bow # 2

I would have kept fishing, but I needed to get the boy at school by 5 PM, so I called it a day around 4 and headed for home.  Not the day I was hoping for, and I had to log some mileage, in the car and on foot, but I avoided the skunk with some quality fish.  I was drenched in sweat, had gone through all my water, and was covered in little green burrs from all the vegetation, but I was happy to get in a fishing day. Come on rain and cool temperatures! This summer has gone on far too long.

Some battle scars, but strong and healthy.