Little Darby Creek Del Co. 5-12-2010

[Van_Cleaver]

Work got called due to AM rain; gear in truck, so shhhh!! Water high and pretty cloudy at 8, but lower and only tinged by lunch time. 50 degrees and little bug activity; it was cloudy and chilly; air was in low fifties. Started at Sawmill Park and took a handful out of the first couple pools, hooking and losing a submarine rainbow, which appeared to be 20 plus in. Decided to explore, and fished up through Skunk Hollow Park. The stream is tight there, but very scenic. Mostly glides and riffles, with some pockets, and small pools here and there. Every spot I stopped seemed to produce a trout or two, but it wasn't nearly as easy as fishing below from a technical point of view. Lots of overhanging branches, and close quarters made my 7" rod a good choice. Fishing it when the water was high was another smart move, though the real reason was I thought the water would clear faster than the bigger streams, and it did. Caught a mix of smallish fish, though the farthest pool from my truck produced two fish that appeared to be holdovers, a brown, and a beautiful rainbow. Note to self: find that camera. (I thought it was in my truck!) Also mixed in where three brookies; a pleasant surprise. I might try it when the water is down, to warm up for my Potter Co. birthday trip in the beginning of June.

 

[mute]

You didnt happen to be wearing a blue hat were you?

You always do very well there. I always have a hard time getting a drag free drift at the one very big pool to the right of the bridge. The one the palomino is lurking in.


I probably ended up with 8 or 9 fish within a few hours. Nothing too big though. Only a brookie and rainbow probably 14 and chunky.

What kind of patterns were you getting alot of your fish on today?

 

[Van_Cleaver]

Yeah, that was me in the Blue Slate Run hat. I didn't mean to be anti-social, but there wasn't a single guy out all morning, and then three fly fishers and a couple bait guys in minutes. Got kind of spoiled up above, fishing alone and all. I didn't get a fish out of that top pool the first time around, but when I came back down a few hrs later, I took three, the largest a brookie that looked just like your picture. I rolled a couple clunkers, as well. I'm fishing the same old flies, BH caddis pupa, and an ant dropper. On the top pool the key is to get just the right amount of weight, (the usual) and a bouyant strike indicator and well greased line helps as well. Where you in the top pool, or did you arrive in the Red van?

 

[mute]

No problem. That was me who came down and was just fly fishing off the bank. I wasnt in the mood to get all wadered up. I started at the top pool first when you were there. I also got most of my hits on bh caddis in white sz 16. I picked up alot of the smaller state fish in the tail end of that pool. I dont get many hits in the middle deep section on the far side. Where most of the fish i seen were rising. Im guessing most of the big boys are down there too. I dont think im getting deep enough with my flies. Because i couldnt get any hits on a few different colored zebra patterns and a copper john. Which just seemed odd.

But like i said theres alot of current coming in there. Slower on the bank access side, then faster in the middle and slower on the other side. I always get major drag. And fishing from the bank probably doesnt help me out.