This past weekend I managed to get out on the river twice. The first, on Saturday, was a quick, half-hour trip down to the local creek. It was also my first trip to Skunksville in quite a long while. It was a tough lesson to learn, but I now understand that the fish in my local creek aren’t quite as dumb as I once imagined. I can’t decide if I’m happy about that or not.
On Sunday, ninja and I met up at the Little Lehigh outside of Allentown. Sunday was supposed to be a picture-perfect day around these parts and we decided that was as good of a reason as any to get out there.
Since the wife was off on her own adventures for the day, I took Chloe along with me. She did fairly well, though she would whine if she felt she was being ignored for too long. And that got frustrating after a bit. Still, all-in-all she was her pleasant, cheerful self and performed her mascot duties well.
Mike and I did well too. We started out on a surprisingly empty bank at around 9 am. The Lehigh can get pretty packed and seeing as the day called for temps in the sixties, I was sure the place would be somewhat of a mob scene. It wasn’t, at least not at the beginning. The crowds would grow over the course of the day, but the chilly morning kept things mostly quiet at first.
We fished off the wall to start, ninja hooking up almost right away with a decent fish on a TCTK (aka “dime”). I flailed and frustrated myself by deciding to try other patterns. None worked. Duh.
Sensing the need for a change in scenery along with a change in flies, we walked around to the other bank (wading is prohibited in this stretch). Casting from that side and having switched over to the tiny midge patterns that I know work, I finally caught a few fish. It felt nice to wash that skunk off.
Having brought a few fish to net, Mike and I set about try to trick trout with a surface fly. By mid-morning a number of fish were actively feeding off the surface. We took turns casting and changing flies. Nothing worked. At least, nothing worked well. I threw every small bug and emerger pattern in my box at them without so much as a wink. The only action came from a take on Mike’s large caddis, which was really being used as an indicator at that point.
It was just one of those days for dry flies I guess. You see them sipping tiny midges and the only thing they take from your line is a size 16 caddis. It just goes to show you: Sometimes trout are weird.
On Sunday, ninja and I met up at the Little Lehigh outside of Allentown. Sunday was supposed to be a picture-perfect day around these parts and we decided that was as good of a reason as any to get out there.
Since the wife was off on her own adventures for the day, I took Chloe along with me. She did fairly well, though she would whine if she felt she was being ignored for too long. And that got frustrating after a bit. Still, all-in-all she was her pleasant, cheerful self and performed her mascot duties well.
Mike and I did well too. We started out on a surprisingly empty bank at around 9 am. The Lehigh can get pretty packed and seeing as the day called for temps in the sixties, I was sure the place would be somewhat of a mob scene. It wasn’t, at least not at the beginning. The crowds would grow over the course of the day, but the chilly morning kept things mostly quiet at first.
We fished off the wall to start, ninja hooking up almost right away with a decent fish on a TCTK (aka “dime”). I flailed and frustrated myself by deciding to try other patterns. None worked. Duh.
Sensing the need for a change in scenery along with a change in flies, we walked around to the other bank (wading is prohibited in this stretch). Casting from that side and having switched over to the tiny midge patterns that I know work, I finally caught a few fish. It felt nice to wash that skunk off.
Having brought a few fish to net, Mike and I set about try to trick trout with a surface fly. By mid-morning a number of fish were actively feeding off the surface. We took turns casting and changing flies. Nothing worked. At least, nothing worked well. I threw every small bug and emerger pattern in my box at them without so much as a wink. The only action came from a take on Mike’s large caddis, which was really being used as an indicator at that point.
It was just one of those days for dry flies I guess. You see them sipping tiny midges and the only thing they take from your line is a size 16 caddis. It just goes to show you: Sometimes trout are weird.
Labels: dimes, little lehigh, mascot
Did you try a griffith's gnat? Thats my go to fly when they are eating midges.
I did not have any.
I will next time.