April 2, 2017 – A Productive and Surprisingly Solitary Evening – Wissahickon Creek

High, stained water on a beautiful night

With the heavy rains on Friday, I did not get out on Opening Day, which was April 1^st.  It was also my anniversary on Saturday—10 years!  Yes, we got married on April Fool’s Day, and that makes my wife a keeper, for sure.  We all went to a flea market in Philly on Sunday morning, and then got some lunch, but around 4:30 PM, I decided to take a short trip to the Wissy and see what was happening.  The water was still high and stained in the city, and because it was so nice out, the park was filled with people, but I actually saw only about 8 other fishermen all evening, and the holes I targeted had no visitors but me: not too shabby for day two of the season.

All 9 to 11 inch bows in the first stop.

The faster runs had better visibility, so I started high stick nymphing with a tandem rig of a pheasant tail and a hare’s ear in the faster runs.  Once I got the right combination of weight to get the rig down where the fish were hunkered, it didn’t take long to dredge up 6 or 7 cookie cutter rainbows.  It was fun, despite the fish all being small, and a couple fought well for 11 inchers.  

The only brown hit in the dark on my 8th or 9th  last cast...

After a mild day of 60+ degrees, it got surprisingly chilly and dark pretty quickly.  I was in the gorge, so the sun disappeared fast, and it didn’t take long to cool off.  Before it got too dark, I rigged up with the streamer and walked up to a hole that was closer to the path I would need to hike out.  There were a few guys in this spot when I arrived, but as the sun went down, no one was there.  I finished the night hooking a couple more on a black bugger and landing my only brown of the night, just before it got too dark to fish.  Grateful that I have such a convenient fishing spot where, even on a spring weekend, I can find a little solitude and some willing fish, I enjoyed a walk in the dark woods back to my vehicle and called it a night.

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