May 12, 2017 – It’s Alive, ALIVE! – Wissahickon Creek

A different kind of gold today...

It was too nice not to fish yesterday, but by the time I had that realization, it was already after lunchtime.  I had to do some prep work for two courses I begin teaching next week, and I had to run some errands around town, but the day was still young enough to make something happen.  To make the most of the short window, I loaded up, wader-ed up in the garage, and for something different grabbed my 8’3” 3 weight rod.  Guess where I headed?  Yep, I went to the Wissy again… Sorry...

Frankenfish.  Probably 18 inches and took a size 20 midge.

There are plenty of fish left down there, including the Frankenfish I caught to end the afternoon.  I have seen this fish in the same hole for a few weeks now, but today he was actually moving in the current, taking nymphs or whatever else the relatively meager bug life in the Wissy could offer for a late lunch.  Before landing this 18 inch, hook jawed thing, which the autofocus on my phone’s camera had a hell of a time with, mind you, I did catch at least a dozen other fish in the three holes I targeted between 1 PM and 3 PM.  The water is still plenty cold, and fish were actively taking a zebra midge or a copper john in the riffles and deep, braided pools.

Only a few browns, and all small ones.  Pretty though.

The water was too clear to find much more than sunfish in the deeper, quieter pools, so at least the trout have learned to take cover from the eagles, hawks, and herons.  Disappointingly, in this stretch I guess it is not late enough in the spring for the trout to move up into some of the out of the way pockets and hiding places where I found them further downstream last week.  With a Nor’easter on the way, they may have no choice soon, so I am hopeful that more fun fishing close to home will continue next week, perhaps even after I return from Canada following Memorial Day week.

Rainbows too liked the midday midge meal.

The 3 weight felt really short, too short to nymph the way I wanted to, but it did the trick for making some of the small fish left behind by those who eat the Wissy trout a bit more fun to tangle with.  Some of the recent stockies, based on having next to nothing in the pectoral fin department, were only 8 to 10 inches, not much of a meal, but they are still fun to fool and fight well.  I guess the awkward feeling of the 8 footer is a good thing; it means the 10 footer has etched itself into my muscle memory (which Bill Nye Science Guy would remind me is just, well, memory).  

Too nice not to fish today.

The creek in the gorge is still pretty, and the experience is often unique to an urban/suburban park environs.  I saw a school van loading up with teens with fly rods, so a cool teacher is taking his students into the park for some fly fishing lessons  I am disappointed, as an educator myself, that I did get to talk to them before they pulled away.  Also, with Forbidden Drive above the creek, I had a small audience stop to watch me land Frankenfish on a 3 weight with 5X tippet.  They said I did nice work, and I thought to myself, Work?  What’s that?  Oh, it’s that thing where I have to submit some final grades at 11 PM tonight after I rest up from such a hard day on the stream.  Life is good.

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