April 26, 2017 – A Tough, Even Humbling, One on the Brodhead Creek

Nymphing the pocket water.

I met up late (my fault, though an overturned catering truck on the highway contributed) this morning with Kev, who is a Long Island guy who also calls the Brodhead home.  Messaging through PAFlyfish, we learned that we have both been coming to the creek, albeit from different directions, for a long time.  He’s a young bull, so I have been fishing the creek longer, but he learned this creek from one of the best guides in the area, who is now a fishing buddy of his, so I think his learning curve was a lot shorter!  The pictures don’t lie; he has tangled with some big fish in NEPA creeks.  We were hoping today would be one of those days, but it never panned out.

One on the caddis pupa.

The Brodhead is the kind of creek that makes you earn it, sometimes.  Today was one of those days.  We were both expecting that a decent rainfall would spike the creek—or another nearby creek—and bring out the big wild browns, but the rain looked like it barely touched NEPA based on the flows.  Let's call it a rain-fail (get it?).  There was some color, but as Kev noted, it’s the same color that has been there for a few weeks now.   I only had about 4 (which turned into 5) hours to fish, basically at midday, but I had higher expectations, and I am sure he did too.  I was able to nymph up 4 stocked rainbows from a couple small deep pockets on a green caddis pupae or a sexy walt’s worm, and I broke off a decent fish in a deep plunge pool.  He made an immediate move to fast whitewater, so he could have been 12 inches and he could have been huge, but I never saw him, just felt the bend in the rod and the pop as he turned downstream and took my dropper fly with him.

There was not a lot of bug activity (besides enough bankside gnats to make a meal out of if I tried to talk too long or mouth-breathed) but a couple fish were chasing emergers.  I saw Kev land one on a golden stone just below a favorite run, and by the time I caught up with him, he was watching risers dimple a flat deep pool.  He let them torture him for a while, rising for a minute then disappearing and repeating the same deal over and over.  I tried upstream of him in a contentious stretch of creek.  Is it private, is it open?  I have fished it for a long time, but the owner across the creek just started landscaping and posting recently.  Coming within an inch of my chest wader’s limit I managed to slip above on the far side of the creek, avoiding his property (not possible in higher water, that is for sure!). I targeted a small group of fish that were probably taking caddis emergers based on the splashy takes.  It was humbling to see 4 nice fish rising in front of me and not being able to figure them out.  Partially, I must admit I was rushing, knowing I had fished at least 30 minutes past when I should have left for home, but the other part is that they were smart, selective wild fish in a difficult creek and had surpassed my particular set of skills for the day.  I took one more stocked rainbow on a caddis pupa while a couple good browns refused to take any of my swung wet offerings.  I even handed them a big old streamer for a couple casts as a last ditch effort before I tip-toed through deep water back down to where Kev was fishing.  He broke off one of the risers, he said, but was having similar lack of success—and patiently waiting on me, no doubt, wondering if I was leaving the boy at the bus stop....

Just perfect water, but no wild browns today.

Hopefully, next time I fish with Kev, we will have a better day.  He returned after a break to catch a few before dark, and he sent me a pic of a nice brown.  He deserved it after accommodating my crazy timeline today (and a little mishap involving an expensive rod and a puppy?). I am tempted to head back tomorrow, at least to another section of the creek, since I can actually leave early in the morning on Thursday.  It’s a love/hate thing with this creek, which I may have mentioned a half a dozen times before.  It is certainly one of the reasons I keep taking the long drives back.

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