"Po-pourri"

Not much to write this week. I made a quick run up to the Po to investigate the area near the dam release. Chaz had been up there over the weekend & intrigued me by what he saw. I rarely fish up in that spot. I think it's been a few years since I bothered. I know there are some real good fish in that deep water, some are actually real big. Chaz was trying to figure out how best to approach that spot in front of the dam release. He even mentioned using a float tube & anchoring himself in front! I have to admit, when he first told me that idea, I wanted to laugh. But, after spending some time up there yesterday, he may be on to something. Hooked up a few, caught a small brownie, saw a brookie with nice color follow my fly almost to my feet, but got spooked at the last minute. Not much to write home about. I should have headed to the Monocacy for some trico action, but the investigation was not a waste of time either.

Lake Erie Tribs Steelhead Report
I've been keeping my eye on some local posts in the Lake Erie area. Like the rest of us here in the Mid-Atlantic region, and certainly PA, we are in dire need of rain. According to Accu-Weather's 15 day forecast, the next time they're calling for rain in that area is Oct. 1st. After that, up until the 7th, although the temps will drop, it's sunny skies. The steelies need rain to begin making their run up into the tribs. Right now, according to the locals, the steelies are holding at the creek mouths near the Lake. The water in the tribs is way too low & clear.
While some of these guys have reported some success, it looks like things will not be picking up until that rain comes.
I am planning to head up in mid-October. I'm praying for rain & that things will be timed just right so that I can hit the tribs when there's water & fish in them. I'll be posting more steelhead reports for the PA Erie tribs in future posts. Tight lines!

Not Too Dam Bad!

Po brownie

Dam nice 'bow!

Did you ever experience "deja vu"? You know, that sneaking suspicion that you've been somewhere before, or met someone before, or had the same experience, but cannot actually recall the actual experience? Ok, ok-maybe Monday wasn't exactly a deja vu deal. Just thought it sounded like a good lead into this blog post. What was the same: Chaz & I were back up fishing in the Poconos, in the same creek, same spot as last week. And yes, those big 'bows were still in the deep plunge pool below the dam breastworks. We had modest success. We changed tactics a bit, and maybe here is where all similarities end. Plus, I actually remember being there last week...and I didn't forget the beer this time on the way up to the cabin...and at least I remembered to call Chaz to pick up creamer for the coffee. So, again, maybe not exactly deja vu. In fact, there was some big differences.

First off, as I alluded to, we changed up tactics. There was more water being let out of the dam this week, too. We used removable sink tips, with some weight added. We went with the caddis larva pattern again in both tan & olive varieties. We were thus able to get down deep. I almost immediately hooked into a real nice 'bow as I demonstrated the proper drift to Chaz. He thought I was showing off, but really, I think I might have just gotten lucky. Plus just as I was bringing this guy to net, he freed himself from the hook. But what a nice fish! And (probably to Chaz's glee), I was not able to pull another one out of that spot the rest of the morning.

Chaz has been working on his nymphing techniques & really got some nice drifts through the runs below the plunge pools & breastworks. I think we are witnessing a true nymph fisherman develop right before our eyes. Yikes! God help us! Anyway, a smaller, narrow pool adjacent to the big concrete one I was fishing is filled with gushing water from the lake through a single opening. I'd been eyeing that place up since last week. It is deep & quite capable of holding some of those big trout. Chaz had been working that spot for some time. He hooked into, but lost, a decent fish. Later, he pulled in a couple of sunnies, and then moved downstream between the concrete bridge abutments that I have mentioned in other posts. He had mentioned that something big had gone after one of the sunnies as he brought it to surface. No doubt, one of those big trout. As Chaz worked the abutment run, I changed over to a minnow streamer pattern & went to work in that narrower dam pool.

I still had the sink-tip & the split-shot on, but I shortened up the leader a bit & converted over to a 2X tippet for the streamer. I switched to a streamer because Chaz got a reaction from something big when he brought in that sunny. Those bruisers might just want some type of bait fish, which the minnow pattern imitates well. A few short tuck casts right up the gut, with quick strips to keep pace with the current turned up nothing. I quartered a tuck cast up into the current seam to get a good drift. I was not imparting any kind of retrieve here, just letting it drift deep down. Before the fly got across from me, a heavy rainbow banged that streamer hard. He put up a nice fight, & before long, a nice, hefty 'bow was in my net, thanks to Chaz, who netted him for me. The spot in which I was standing was a bit precarious: just a ledge jutting out from a retaining wall that separated the narrow pool from the big one. So, maneuverability was almost nil here. After that, we took the rest of the afternoon off, till around 4:30.

The late afternoon/early evening saw us at the junction of the Po & the Lehigh River, near Parryville. Chaz worked the Lehigh in the riffs below where the Po enters the river. I worked a pool & some short runs just upstream in the Po. I saw a few bugs coming off & thought maybe a rusty spinner might work, but first, I went with a cahill-looking pattern dry fly. It was the only thing I had to match the size (#12 or #14) bugs I had seen, even though the color was different. Plus, it really was not a match the hatch situation anyway. It could even match a tan caddis if any were around lately. I threw a few casts up into the current, got a few good drifts, and then, "Bam!" a nice 12" or 13" brown nailed it. It was the last fish either of us caught. As the light started to fade, we called it quits. After all, fly-fishers can be Eagles fans, too & the Birds were playing their arch-enemies: the hated Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football (Hey, I'm from Philly-whaddya expect??). Some baetis, sizes 22/24 were rising in the fading light, as were some tan caddis, sizes 12/14 (go figure!).

Even though we really had to work harder for the fish this week, it wasn't too "dam" bad after all!!

Pocono Report

Chaz & I hit some Pocono streams on Monday. We did well on a private section of the Tobyhanna, which we both fished back in early July (see July 29 post). Chaz hit some pocket water downstream from a dam. After a few creek chubbs & panfish, he was rewarded with a nice rainbow, who couldn't resist a dry-fly gliding through the pockets & swirling currents of this stream. It may very well be his first really nice trout on a dry, but I could be wrong. I knew he must have been fishing pretty hard, because I saw neither hide nor hair of him for several hours. I was hoping that that was a sign that he was busy catching fish! Meanwhile, I was investigating a section where we had done very well last time. It is a run between two old bridge abutments, the remaining ruins of the original dam. The water was a bit lower than it had been, as was expected, but not significantly so. Chaz had fished this section only a week or so before with his dad & said it wasn't as productive as it had been. I wondered if the fish had moved up nearer to the dam, or into the man-made plunge pool below the dam. I tied on a tandem nymph & indicator rig, getting some drifts through the run. A somewhat large creek chubb & some small panfish obliged me, but nothing more. I headed upstream & began fishing the deep concrete plunge pool below the dam, and was I immediately rewarded with a hefty rainbow. "Aha!", I thought. "So they really were in there, after all." I was able to land five nice rainbows, 2 of which were in the 16"-18" range, as well as three in the 13"-14" range. All had nice color & girth to them. A few more may have been bigger still, breaking off my tippet at the fly. So, they have a souvenir from our battle! I needed to change tactics here, though, due to the sheer depth of the pool. First off, the tandem rig & the indicator had to be dispensed with. The first fish (which nailed the tail fly) unfortunately got foul hooked on the dropper fly. Also, the indicator became a hindrance, because it prevented me from reeling in more line to land the fish, although I did actually land it. The tactic was simple: putting more weight on the leader, casting a tuck cast straight up into the current, in or below the white water, or quartering upstream into the seam, followed by a quick mend, & following the leader with the rod tip for the rest of the drift. The key here was getting that fly down deep. I experimented & found that when I did not get it down deep, I almost never got strikes, but when I did, I almost always did. Also, lifting the rod as it finished the drift was key in getting strikes, at times.

A better method would be to use a sinking line in this section, or at least a sink-tip, which I did not have with me at the time. This would have certainly ensured that the fly got down consistently to the bottom & thus, to the trout below. I believe that there were some big brownies down there, too (they were in the creek in July), but I did not catch any. Maybe one of those bruisers that broke off my fly were one of those big guys. Also, the fly of choice was a caddis larva pattern in olive or tan. Those trout slammed that fly with abandon.

Part 2 of the day began too late & ended too early, thanks to Yours Truly. We wanted to hit the Big Bushkill up near Resica Falls. I fished this stream in early May. This area is stocked in the spring & it is open to the public, but only fly-fishing is permitted here. I had some good success here & this was a challenging place to fish, as well. But, the memory is starting to fade in the Chief-man. On the way, I drove up the wrong road, with Chaz following me. I'm glad he's a patient guy, because we had to do some major backtracking before we got back to the correct road. Finally, we arrived at the stream, but the sun was sinking fast. Again, like the Toby, this stream had less water, but that was to be expected. Chaz wanted to use a nymphing/indicator rig, I was going with a rusty spinner dry-fly setup. Lots of boulders here. When you arrive in this spot, you are standing on the top of one of several large, flat boulders. From here, you can make your casts into the current below. Below in the stream, there is a flume, through which some nice, cold oxygenated water flows. Below the flume, the current flows into a wide, calm section of the stream. A large boulder juts up in the middle of the stream. This area is very deep & has tons of submerged rocks & boulders, which prevents wading. This part of the stream almost appears as a mini-lake within the stream. It is almost perfectly round here & the banks are all formed by rock. The only way to fish in this immediate area (besides fishing from the flat boulders above) is to climb down to some smaller rocks & boulders below & try to cast up into the current seam, which meanders its way down, around the big boulder in the middle. It's a bit tricky here, because you cannot wade closer & some trees behind will grab your fly if you are not cautious on your back cast. In the spring, I saw rises all throughout this area, tan caddis being the fly of choice. The stream funnels its way slowly downstream, as the large "pot-belly" shaped lake-within-a-creek gives way to the classic, mountain stream once again. Downstream, some more boulders & pocket water & some small falls.

Although we didn't land any fish, we saw a few splashy rises near an undercut in a boulder that serves as part as the stream bank across from us. That makes sense, because the water eddies around in that spot, delivering food like a revolving smorgasbord. And you have all that oxygenated water from the flume above. If I were a trout, I'd hang out there, too.

Upstream of the flume section, you have plenty of promising, boulder-strewn, classic-mountain pocket water. We ran out of light, and couldn't see the tippet anymore when we tried to tie on a new fly, so we left this spot for another day. I'm thinking that with a bit more rain, and some cooler fall temps, this spot might be worth checking out again in the near future.

The Po Revisited

Click on chart to view

My buddy Charlie (aka, "Chaz") & I were back again in the Mahoning Valley, checking out different places on the Pohopoco Creek on Labor Day. We fished a small section not far from Gilbert, PA, but didn't have too much luck. Another spot a few miles down the road seemed very promising: a good number of decent sized trout lurking in the shadows of one hole convinced us both that finally, we had found the "honey hole." These shadowy figures were put on edge a bit as Chaz did his best to slip into the water & work a drift through the hole. His position was good; he was out of sight under a tree. He had a tandem rig of a deer hair caddis with a small beadhead nymph trailer that he cast slightly upstream, trying to get a good drift. I served as spotter from above at the bridge & tried to get him to get the right presentation, as he had done for me earlier. Suddenly, Chaz noticed a posted sign, & we got out of there.

The next spot was an area near Rt. 209, right off of Pohopoco Road, that rumbles its way down along Rt. 209, on its way towards the Lehigh River. Good nymphing water, the water was at optimal temps (52 degrees), running too high & too fast, due to a dam release from Beltzville Lake. Not quite sure why. For more on this, check out "Fly Fish PA" link & look at Stream report dated September 2. I will definitely check out this spot again. The hole at the junction with the Lehigh looked pretty good, but it was midday-not a good time to wet a line. At least our research was completed.

All in all, a better day fishing than catching.