July 9, 2015 – A Few Oley Valley Wild Browns - Just a Few

I didn't give this staging too much thought, honestly!  It was taken during a bathroom break, I swear...

I have had such a good trout season staying relatively close to home this year, that I guess I am not ready to quit and head to the shore to chase fluke and weakfish.  Anticipating a dead day at work, I decided to take a “sick day” and fish this morning in the Oley Valley area of Berks County, which has a few streams with some limestone influence to keep them cool, in theory.   Like Northampton and Lehigh Counties, I can get to the area in an hour or less, which is convenient for short weekday trips.  I ended up spending most of my time this morning in the headwaters of the Manatawny, mainly because it had more water to fish.

I have had some good days on the Manny, the last being a day in December of 2014 when I had a blast catching little wild browns stacked up in a couple wintering holes.  Today was a tougher day than I expected, and the main creek was not all that cool, considering I had temps of just 70 in the Wissahickon in Philadelphia last week.  I took temp readings in three different areas as I fished and never found water cooler than about 67 degrees near the surface.  The creeks were still stained, and the only fish that would come up for a dry were creek chubs and dace.  Because the fishing was tough, I ended up fishing way too long, until nearly 12:30 PM in 85 degree heat, trying to crack the code.  I have no problem heading for the showers on an easy day, but I tend to stay too long on the tougher ones.  I guess I will never learn.

Sure is bucolic around these parts.

The area is beautiful, with covered bridges and grazing cattle and lush green hills, so it was an enjoyable morning despite the mediocre fishing.  I ended up bringing only 2 fish to hand, both wild browns about 10 inches long.  I also dropped a decent fish at my feet fumbling for my phone to snap a picture.  I am 99.9% sure he was a wild brown, as well, maybe 12 inches.  I also lost a fish on a black conehead bugger before I could bring him to hand (And I was carrying a net too!  Oh, well, just one of those mornings), and I missed one on a hopper under a tree when I had few places to go for a hook set.  That was it for the morning, unless I count half a dozen chubs that took the dropper under the dry and big rock bass that took the bugger and had me thinking that I had a solid trout on the line because he was deep under an overhanging tree by an undercut bank.  I spooked two other fish hanging in the tailouts of a couple pools, but the fish I caught were deep and hidden in cover.  The first fish of the morning came as I floated a prince nymph deep under a tree, feeding line with the aid of a very small Palsa pinch-on indicator, and none of the other catches were any easier, really.

Not very colorful this time of year, but pretty nonetheless.

I was able to explore a new section of the watershed (on a weekday, no less) and saw some potentially nice spots for the spring or fall, but with water nearing 70 degrees at midday, the fish were hiding themselves well this morning.  I did move a few when I switched to the bugger, which was encouraging, but I would have liked for them to commit.  The one fish (and the rock bass) I did catch on the streamer took it on a slow pulsing swing in a deep hole.  It’s possible that the wild population fluctuates quite a bit in this area too, but it’s worth more trips in the future just based on the scenery, solitude, and relatively proximity to home.  And I can always sneak down to the stocked section in the spring to salvage the days like today when the wild ones have lock jaw....

Another pale wild one..

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