Tom's Creek, Pike County, PA - Feb 2, 2013

I attended Tom Gilmore's seminar titled "Pocono Primer" at the Somerset Fly Fishing show last month. He mentioned Tom's Creek during his presentation. The nice sized wild browns, high bank scenery, and close proximately to my home made me want to immediately check this stream out. TC is a catch and release, artificial lures only creek. It's located in the Delaware National Forest near Bushkill. There is ample parking and well groomed trails that follow the creek.

I didn't expect to catch any fish (and I didn't) but I thought I'd throw a wooly bugger in some of the deeper slow pools. I took my dog so I didn't consider this a serious fishing trip as she constantly likes to chase my casts into the water I'm fishing.

Some of the things that really impressed me about this creek are:

1) There are several large deep pools. Huge boulders are throughout the stream that help form these pools.

2) Hardwoods and conifers make up the trees surrounding the creek which makes for easy casting. I fished with my 7' rod but I could easily use my 9' rod if I wanted to nymph next time I visit.

I tried spotting trout from the high banks but was unsuccessful mostly due to low light and high water conditions. I'll have to wait until the water warms a little bit to see if the trout biomass compares to the similar stream style of Devils Hole Creek. Both are somewhat remote mountain trout streams that hold wild browns or native brookies.

It was cold

Panoram where Tom's Creek enters the Delaware

 

 



Creek improvements?

Huge boulders/pools

 

Watching me fish

 

 

Did I mention it was cold?

 

Bushkill Creek - Easton PA, Jan 19, 2013

I fished the Bushkill near the town of Easton in mid January. It was a sunny day in the Pocono's but unfortunately partly cloudy in the Lehigh Valley. I fished the C&R, non stocked, section of the Bushkill. Most of my time was spent across from the Crayola building. I wanted to fish this stream due to the fact that I've heard/read that it fishes well in the winter in part from its limestone influence. Even with it being a limestone stream, its water temperature measured similarly to the Pocono freestoners I'd been fishing in January. Mid-day water temp was mid 40's. I fished a dual nymph combo without weight. I mostly used BHPT and BHHE nymphs. There was a local fisherman throwing rapalas there that morning. He provided some useful information to me. He had caught a couple of smaller browns on his rapala further upstream from where I was fishing and had one decent sized brown roll up on his lure 30 yards from where I was fishing. He said that most FF'ers have luck throwing streamers this time of the year so I took his advice. He also explained where I could access Martin's Creek since I planned to drive home the scenic route.

I caught no fish on my first trip to the Bushkill but it has a lot of potential and I think will be a stream I'll hit again soon. There's still a lot of the stream that I haven't fished yet.

On my way home, I stopped and scouted Martins Creek and fished momentarily. No fish but there is surprisingly a lot of open water in the Class A section that flows into the Delaware. There was another FF'er in the upper stretch of Martins, where it is ATW. I'll be coming back to the quaint town of Martin's Creek again soon.

Bushkill Near Crayola

City Fishing

Bushkill Panoram

Stream Side Lunch

Winter fishing in Pocono Creeks - Jan 13, 2013

I fished the MCC and BHC on Jan 13th. It was a partly cloudy day, outside air temp was in the mid 40's, and the water temp was low 40's. It was suppose to be a sunny day so I was hoping that the trout in the creeks might wake out of their winter doldrums but the sun never showed because of the presence of fog all day.

I landed one ugly bow on the MCC. Due to its damaged fins, I'd assume it was a fall stocker. It took a 18 BHPT in the DHALO section. I fished a dual nymph under an indicator all day. Nothing was rising. On my way home, I tried the BHC for less than an hour without luck. Not a great day fishing but what do you expect in January? That's why my fly gear never leaves my vehicle. There will always be that "day" in January and February that is worth trying.
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MCC snow bank

BHC mid-day fog

MCC winter bow

2012 Pocono Fly Fishing - Year In Review

2012 was a great year for fly fishing. It will be remembered by me for the fact that I was catching trout on dry flies in early spring (2-3 months sooner than a "normal" year). The early season dry fly fishing was the best I've experienced in my few years of fly fishing. The abnormal warm winter combined with the warm spring accelerated local hatches by a month in some streams. Fishing was great until about July when the warm stream temperatures likely killed off most of the trout in approved waters. Class A and other wild trout streams likely had some kill but I'm sure fared much better than streams such as the Brodhead and lower McMichael's Creeks.

I fished the Lehigh for the first time in 2012. It's a big river that easily intimidated me at first but I loved it and the fact that it is extremely difficult to access numerous areas of the river. Angler presence is minimal due to those factors. A sack lunch, mountain bike, and your fly gear can lead to an amazing day on the Lehigh!

I began to scout new trout streams that I either read about on the internet or heard from somebody else. Small mountain streams that naturally produce brown and brook trout have become a favorite of mine. The size of the trout is generally smaller, but the scenery, the solitude, and the required "stealthiness" far outweigh the fact that I seldom have my drag run on me.

I caught more trout this year than the previous year, likely due to the fact that my techniques are improving. If I had to estimate, I'd say that I fished approximately 75-100 times in 2012 and easily landed more than that many fish. I had days that I got skunked and days that I caught more than a dozen. Fishing is always hit or miss. The great thing about living in the Pocono's is that I don't have to dedicate a full day to fish. I can leave the house and fish the sulfur hatch for 30 minutes each evening and be home in time to help put my son to sleep. I experience many more fishing days when I spend less than 2 hours on the water.

I made my annual trips to Alaska and the Salmon River in NY. Alaska produced some nice grayling again and a couple of pink salmon while the SR produced some hookups with some large king's but no landings. The SR still frustrates me mostly because I haven't found that "technique" yet. It baffles me how some of the local FF'ers there can catch the kings in the mouth time after time.

I want to try steelhead fishing in either the SR or Eerie PA region in the future but I think that 2013 will mostly consist of fishing/scouting more wild streams in the Pocono's. I'm planning a central PA fishing weekend and at least one trip to the WB of the Delaware. I am still many years away, if ever,  from being bored with PA trout fishing.

June fly fishing in and around the Poconos

I haven't posted any fishing reports in over a month but I've still been fishing plenty. Streams I've been hitting the past month are Brodhead, McMichaels, Devils Hole, and Pohocopo.

Early June - The sulphur hatch was decent this year but I think it ended earlier than normal. The temperatures in most of June were great. I don't think the stream temperatures reached over 70 degrees all month long. I timed some good Slate Drake hatches on the BHC in the early-mid June timeframe. Nothing beats watching a big brown gulp a size 12 Slate Drake dun. Light cahills, small BWO's, and dark caddis were also hot flies on the Pocono creeks. I have nymphed some the past month but only maybe around 10% because the dry fly action has been great this year. I fished DHC and landed several nice wild browns, all on dry flies. I was amazed at how much insect activity was on a small mountain stream like that. I don't think fly selection is all that important on small streams that hold small wild/native trout but anything yellow on DHC was dynamite! I saw more bugs up on that stream than I do on the BHC or MCC. Large stoneflies, midges, small mayflies, etc...I even saw trout rise to the naturals. I thought most small mountain streams did not have a good insect population but I was wrong about this creek. I'm surprised that I've never pulled a trout over 10" from there with all that food around.

Late June - Current. - HEAT HEAT HEAT!!! Local freestone streams like the Tobyhanna, BHC, and MCC have had temperatures well over the 70's EVERY day the past 2 weeks. I'm sure a lot of trout have died as a result. It's suppose to cool off finally tomorrow with temperatures in the low 80's for the next week but it will probably be too little too late. We haven't received any rainfall as well during this hot stretch. I fished the BHC one morning about a week ago and the trico's were out. They began falling at around 730 am. Water temperature at 7 am was 65 degrees and by 9 am it was over 70. I fished the tailwater of the Pohocopo Creek on July 4th. Interesting to say the least as I fished in trout water that was in the 50 degree range while the outside air was in the 90's. The tailwater of the PO receives its water from Beltzville Lake and the depth by the dam is over 100 feet deep so the water stays cool. There were tons of fish in this section on the PO and they were surfacing regularly. Unfortunately for me, they were taking tiny midges (26-28) and I didn't have anything small than a 22 but still a great scouting and fishing experience. I'll no doubt be back there again this summer.

Brodhead Creek - May 19 2012

I fished the Brodhead this morning from 7-9. I missed 3 and landed 1 brown on a BH yellow stonefly nymph. The water clarity is pretty normal now and flows are just a little above normal. There wasn't much insect activity other than some caddis and midges. I didn't see any trout surface. The water temperature was only mid 50's though due to last night's low temperatures so the trout will probably start surfacing around mid day today. Below is a pic of the numerous shucks on the bank. They are very large in size (10?) so I'm guessing the are yellow stones. Hope to make it out again tonight!

Sulphurs and March Browns on Brodhead Creek

I caught my first Sulphur and March Brown hatches this year. It seems to be a little early from previous years.

May 8 - It rained most of the day but it wasn't a heavy rain. I fished the BHC from 415-530. As soon as I hit the creek, I saw birds hovering over the water so I knew I timed a hatch. I expected BWO's due to the overcast and rainy day but there were large (10-12) March Browns hatching. I matched the hatch with a dry and caught 5 browns.

May 9 - I fished the evening hatch from 7-840. There were sulphurs regularly coming off at 8. There weren't as many rises based on the number of insects out. This was most likely due to the cloudy water from yesterdays day long rain. I landed 2 browns and missed a couple of others. The water level is up but it will probably be clear again by tomorrow.