Finally got out fishing early Saturday evening for the first time since my Adirondack trip in early June. I fished a personal favorite spot of mine well downstream of the gorge. You know in an area where some of you guys here don't think the Lehigh is cold enough for trout to holdover year round. A light mixed bag of bugs were hatching but mostly it seemed to be sulphur-looking mayflies and a few bigger bugs I figured were a mix of slate drakes. Later some golden stoneflies started to appear to aly their eggs.
I decided to start prospecting with a Slate drake emerger fished dry, an excellent producer in the past. It took a while to see any action but I finally saw a riser to target. A few casts later and the fish struck, I could see it was a brown trout. I only managed to sting him for a second with the hook. I took a few more casts and moved on a bit. I finally saw another riser and it appeared he was taking the "sulphurs" so I swtiched to a #14 parachute sulphur. It probably took at least 10 drifts before he finally took my offering. A decent fight but soon I landed the 13" stocked brown. I quickly released the feisty trout and worked my way up to another run.
Action was a tad slow and dinner was calling so I figured I'd put in a few more casts hoping to catch another fish or two before heading home. I left my floatant in the truck so was doing my best to keep the flies afloat each cast. I noticed some of the bigger mayflies looked lighter in color than the typical slate drakes so I figured what the heck & put on a March brown comparadun emerger to try to match the bug closer. At the end of the drift I was getting ready to make another cast and the fly was skipping along the surface when a good fish hit it hard. The fish bulldogged and made several good runs up and down stream, taking line against the drag. Twice I thought it was tired out and I tried to net it only to have it peel line off on another run. I could see it was a rainbow, a nice one at that! I finally got the trout to the net, yup rainbow and all of 17" and thick. It was a beautiful, healthy fish with nice long pectoral fins and looked quite a bit like steelhead. For the first time in a long while I was very, very tempted to take the fish home for dinner. I wanted to get a picture but the fish was not cooperating at all and I was getting worried I'd drop my phone and as the fish slipped from grasp I just decided to let it go.
Not a long outing but gosh it sure felt good to be back on a trout stream on such a beautiful September evening.
I decided to start prospecting with a Slate drake emerger fished dry, an excellent producer in the past. It took a while to see any action but I finally saw a riser to target. A few casts later and the fish struck, I could see it was a brown trout. I only managed to sting him for a second with the hook. I took a few more casts and moved on a bit. I finally saw another riser and it appeared he was taking the "sulphurs" so I swtiched to a #14 parachute sulphur. It probably took at least 10 drifts before he finally took my offering. A decent fight but soon I landed the 13" stocked brown. I quickly released the feisty trout and worked my way up to another run.
Action was a tad slow and dinner was calling so I figured I'd put in a few more casts hoping to catch another fish or two before heading home. I left my floatant in the truck so was doing my best to keep the flies afloat each cast. I noticed some of the bigger mayflies looked lighter in color than the typical slate drakes so I figured what the heck & put on a March brown comparadun emerger to try to match the bug closer. At the end of the drift I was getting ready to make another cast and the fly was skipping along the surface when a good fish hit it hard. The fish bulldogged and made several good runs up and down stream, taking line against the drag. Twice I thought it was tired out and I tried to net it only to have it peel line off on another run. I could see it was a rainbow, a nice one at that! I finally got the trout to the net, yup rainbow and all of 17" and thick. It was a beautiful, healthy fish with nice long pectoral fins and looked quite a bit like steelhead. For the first time in a long while I was very, very tempted to take the fish home for dinner. I wanted to get a picture but the fish was not cooperating at all and I was getting worried I'd drop my phone and as the fish slipped from grasp I just decided to let it go.
Not a long outing but gosh it sure felt good to be back on a trout stream on such a beautiful September evening.
