Summer doldrums and lack of interest

[TimMurphy]

I hate the heat and try to mix it up, though it’s much better with the right company🙂. Nockamixon earlier today with my 19yo:
View attachment 1641253076
We’ll be going night fishing later this evening.

She has spinning and bait casting gear but never showed interest in fly fishing until this summer (she hasn’t picked up a rod yet - trying to schedule some casting lessons this week so she can start off properly rather than pick up my bad habits).

Later in August we’ll find some cold water in the Poconos for fly fishing, but next weekend will be rigs and jigs for tog at Barnegat bay. After that I’ll probably send her back to college with a fly rod or three 🙂.

Dear kms,

What I wouldn't do for two solid weeks in the wayback machine. We used to go down to Barnegat Bay with three 72-quart coolers full of beer and rent a Garvey with an 8-horse motor. We get 3 quart baskets of killies to tow around and a couple pounds of squid, We'd then re-fill the coolers with sea bass and flounder by emptying them one beer at a time.

The good old days! 😉

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂

 

[PennKev]

How do others deal with the summer doldrums and/or a loss of interest?

I fish for smallmouth.
With spinning gear.
But I'm not so dedicated that I MUST go.

There is nothing noble about fishing when you don't want to or when you know that it will suck. All, it does is lead to burn out. If you want to tie flies, tie flies. If you want to soak in the pool and then take a nap in a lawn chair, do that.

Don't get into the mindset that you are a fisherman and therefore you must go fishing. Fishing when you don't want to won't make you a better angler. You won't miss anything if you skip fishing on days you know it will suck. If non-trout species don't excite you, do something else.

 

[TimMurphy]

I fish for smallmouth.
With spinning gear.
But I'm not so dedicated that I MUST go.

There is nothing noble about fishing when you don't want to or when you know that it will suck. All, it does is lead to burn out. If you want to tie flies, tie flies. If you want to soak in the pool and then take a nap in a lawn chair, do that.

Don't get into the mindset that you are a fisherman and therefore you must go fishing. Fishing when you don't want to won't make you a better angler. You won't miss anything if you skip fishing on days you know it will suck. If non-trout species don't excite you, do something else.

Dear PennKev,

That's a great way to put things into perspective.

Thank you,

Tim Murphy 🙂

P.S. I use baitcasters too!

 

[Bamboozle]

Yes.

Why?

1. Complex currents due to weed beds in stream make it difficult to get drag free drifts.
2. Very wary trout that see lots of pressure due to the stream's reputation
3. Soft mud around banks that can swallow you up to your knees
4. High foliage around banks along with tree lined banks in many spots make casting difficult
5. Soft stream bottom makes wading virtually impossible, making a bank approach the only option
6. Lack of consistent hatches to bring the fish to the surface
7. Weed beds throughout most of the stream most of the year make nymphing a challenge

Fishing the Letort is to fun as Rosie O'Donnell is to pretty.

I love fishing it, but that's me...

I find it much more relaxing than the run & gun style most folks seem to enjoy and maybe that's why I like it so much...

I like trout fishing measured in inches, not yards, beats or miles. I've literally spent an entire day covering no more than 50 yards of the stream. I know the stream intimately, especially from Letort Park and up through Trego's and how patience is only trumped by presentation so if I stick it out, I'll be rewarded.

With the exception of one spot where you can wade easily for about 20 yards, I've only fished it from the bank since the first time I went there, so it seems as natural to me as wading in a freestoner.

I also LOVE that so many people hate it!! 😉

The only thing I hate about it is all of the bank mud upstream from Vince's Meadow that wasn't there 20+ years ago. However I know plenty of other stretches that aren't much changed from way back when.

Big Springs on the other hand is too crowded and too manicured in the last 30 years. I liked it better when catching fish below the Ditch was a challange and you had the Ditch to sooth your frazzled nerves.

 

[wildtrout2]

I love fishing it, but that's me...

I find it much more relaxing than the run & gun style most folks seem to enjoy and maybe that's why I like it so much...

I like trout fishing measured in inches, not yards beats or miles. I've literally spent an entire day covering no more than 50 yards of the stream. I know the stream intimately, especially from Letort Park and up through Trego's and how patience is only trumped by presentation so if I stick it out, I'll be rewarded.

With the exception of one spot where you can wade easily for about 20 yards, I've only fished it from the bank since the first time I went there, so it seems as natural to me as wading in a freestoner.

I also LOVE that so many people hate it!! 😉

The only thing I hate about it is all of the bank mud upstream from Vince's Meadow that wasn't there 20+ years ago. However I know plenty of other stretches that aren't much changed from way back when.

Big Springs on the other hand is too crowded and too manicured in the last 30 years. I liked it better when catching fish below the Ditch was a challange and you had the Ditch to sooth your frazzled nerves.

What's been your best day on the Letort, numbers wise? What is your biggest brown there? It is strictly browns, isn't it?

 

[Bamboozle]

What's been your best day on the Letort, numbers wise? What is your biggest brown there? It is strictly browns, isn't it?

Biggest fish, about 24" and lots between 15 & 18 inches.

I also caught what I was positive were a stocked rainbow and stocked brookie, most likely from the Letort Park fishing rodeo AND a wild brown from the same 10-15 foot stretch of the stream.

I had no clue the rainbow & brookie were in the same spot, but I put in a GOOD three hours in that one stretch fishing methodically and caught all three in that span of time.

Most fish, maybe 15. I had some great evenings on Sulphurs and afternoons on BWO's.

I also haven't been skunked there since the late 1980's/early 1990's, even on a couple of visits of only an hour or two, but usually I don't dilly dally at spots where I never caught a fish.

 

[wildtrout2]

Biggest fish, about 24" and lots between 15 & 18 inches.

I also caught what I was positive were a stocked rainbow and stocked brookie, most likely from the Letort Park fishing rodeo AND a wild brown from the same 10-15 foot stretch of the stream.

I had no clue the rainbow & brookie were in the same spot, but I put in a GOOD three hours in that one stretch fishing methodically and caught all three in that span of time.

Most fish, maybe 15. I had some great evenings on Sulphurs and afternoons on BWO's.

I also haven't been skunked there since the late 1980's/early 1990's, even on a couple of visits of only an hour or two, but usually I don't dilly dally at spots where I never caught a fish.

You obviously know that stream well.

 

[wbranch]

I haven't had any interest to fish since I got back from the Missouri on late June.

 

[JimNovo]

I haven't had any interest to fish since I got back from the Missouri on late June.

So I can hang out at your place on the WB???
🤣

 

[Cougarbaby]

Can we all just STAR TREK beam me up Scotty to our favorite time and place

 

[wildtrout2]

Can we all just STAR TREK beam me up Scotty to our favorite time and place

Oh, if it were only that simple.

 

[poopdeck]

So as I said in the other thread, try different scenery. In the summer I switch to flounder and hit the salt at least once a week. Unlike most here, I tired of trout fishing when I was still a teenager and began to expand my angling horizons. I fish for anything and everything and would never limit myself to only a fly rod or only one species. This winter I’m gearing up for knee replacement surgery and pompano fishing from the surf in Florida with spinning gear. Never surf fished Florida before and I’ve never caught a Pompano before but I plan on catching them Feb through March as I rehab my new knee. If I stayed with trout only I would have given up fishing before reaching 30. Variety is the spice of life.

 

[sarce]

Dunno if you have a dog, but if not, maybe this will resonate with someone else reading this. I have a small dog that I'll take with me only in the dead of summer once or twice a year. She doesn't like to swim so dry weather where she can rock hop the whole outing is ideal for her. In other words I take her when it's so far from ideal conditions that I am not really expecting to catch much. It's one of the few times that I actually do put my fishing second to just enjoying the outdoors. The fishing surprised me today and I brought over a dozen little brookies to hand. 80 degree air temp at the elevation I was at with a breeze, and water in the low to mid 60s. Perfect way to beat the heat and get a little fishing in and the dog is sleeping well tonight.

 

[Bamboozle]

You obviously know that stream well.

I have been fishing it for a really long time...

 

[Bamboozle]

Is the Letort really as difficult to fish as many folks portray it to be?

I'm not saying you would enjoy the fishing there compared to the smaller wild trout streams you prefer, but if you can sit in a tree stand for hours at a time; waiting & watching for the opportunity to release an arrow towards a deer...

In my mind (and I have never hunted in my life), you should easily be able to have the patience to WAIT for a fish to present an opportunity instead of trying to create the opportunity by "fishing."

In other words, what is your success rate with deer sitting in a stand waiting, versus walking around in the woods and hoping?

IMHO - Having that patience is the key to success at the Letort.

 

[nymphingmaniac]

all you cry babies. Target bass. 7 years ago I only fished for trout and yeah, maybe a little uneven in enthusiasm as I was fishing from 4:30-7AM. Now, with bass in my rotation, no loss in enthusiasm.

 

[jifigz]

all you cry babies. Target bass. 7 years ago I only fished for trout and yeah, maybe a little uneven in enthusiasm as I was fishing from 4:30-7AM. Now, with bass in my rotation, no loss in enthusiasm.

I've done lots of fly fishing for bass, and I've done lots of fly fishing for trout, and if I'm in the mood for one in particular, doing the other one doesn't really satisfy me.

Sometimes, I just get in the mood to do a particular type of fishing, and that's the type of fishing I'll pursue, even if it comes with the worse conditions.

 

[wildtrout2]

I'm not saying you would enjoy the fishing there compared to the smaller wild trout streams you prefer, but if you can sit in a tree stand for hours at a time; waiting & watching for the opportunity to release an arrow towards a deer...

In my mind (and I have never hunted in my life), you should easily be able to have the patience to WAIT for a fish to present an opportunity instead of trying to create the opportunity by "fishing."

That's a good point you bring up, because during the pre-rut/rut, I'll do dark to dark hunts, which are almost 12 hour sits. Not for the restless. 😉

 

[hooker-of-men]

I hit a small stream this morning that I've never fished in summer before: 60 degrees! For the first time ever, I popped two (small) fish on the dry and the dropper. Double rainbow.

Unfortunately, no double bagger photo, as the hopper fish popped off as I was trying to get them both in the net. Pretty fun, though!

Only a high of 80 today... Trending in the right direction.

 

[jifigz]

I hit a small stream this morning that I've never fished in summer before: 60 degrees! For the first time ever, I popped two (small) fish on the dry and the dropper. Double rainbow.

Unfortunately, no double bagger photo, as the hopper fish popped off as I was trying to get them both in the net. Pretty fun, though!

Only a high of 80 today... Trending in the right direction.

Are these wild bows, or are these stockie bows? I have a feeling you're going to say stockie....