Well ... kind of.
Fishing conditions up in God's Country have been less than ideal since the middle of November. But as 2018 was coming to a close, the weather gods took some pity on us and offered a couple of days of decent (which in the high lonesome means temps in the mid to upper 30s) weather, at least conditions where your rod guides don't freeze up.
An impending trip to Chicago prevented me from attending Capt. Dipaola's bacchanalian New Years Eve party in Bethany Beach. Instead, on the last day of 2018, Bob (aka "The Trout Whisperer") and I lit out for a few hours on Oswayo Creek, a Class A wild trout stream about 20 minutes from the West branch Tavern. Despite all the recent rain, water conditions were excellent; good flows, temps in the low 40s, about as good as it's going to get for late-December.
We worked the stream for a good three hours, alternating between fishy-looking spots, mostly undercut banks, spots where you'd think a wild Brown would be hanging out. We swung a variety of streamers, which you'd think would have brought some fish to the net. Unfortunately, while we covered a good deal of the stream, we failed to move a single trout.
By the afternoon the forecast rain started, but we were geared up and decided to try another stream. About two miles upstream from where we fished is the Oswayo fish hatchery. Behind the hatchery Oswayo Creek takes on the look of a mountain Brookie stream; small water with pockets and undercut banks.
It was easy getting around this water, the Hemlock canopy kept the underbrush to a minimum. Casting still proved to be challenging due to tight conditions. But small stream fishing can be really rewarding and equally frustrating. I came upon a little pool about half the size of a bathtub. Unfortunately, fallen trees obscured most of the hole; a perfect place for a trout lie, but also a tough place to properly place a fly. Nevertheless, I managed to flip a black (Mary tied) Woolly Bugger, to the top of the pool, only to freeze when I saw a big blob of orange come up and felt the slight tug on the rod. For me that was extent of my action. The Trout Whisperer, however, demonstrated his highly honed skills by landing a nice 7 inch native Brookie.
Not long after Bob's victory the rain started to get irritating, so with the skunk off we decided to end 2018 on a good note, but also looked to kicking off 2019 by hitting another stretch of water. On New Year's Day we drove down to fish the East Fork of the Sinnemahoning, a tributary of Sinnemahoning Creek, which itself is a 15 mile tributary to the West Branch Susquehannah. Several other streams, some of them Class A, also empty into the Sinnemahoning. Our decision to hit the East Fork was driven by a good dose of rain New Year's Eve. We figured that the larger streams would be blown out, but the upper tribs would be fishable. Again, our hunch proved right. The put-and -take section of the East Fork was in great shape.
The East Fork is your typical PA freestone stream, offering riffles, runs, nice pools, undercut banks, and again a Hemlock canopy that made for easy access. We only fished for a couple of hours, and hit some really trouty-looking spots, but aside from one bump on a black Woolly Bugger swung under an overhanging tree, we were not rewarded for our efforts.
Two days of fishing and only one fish might not seem like a good return on the investment of time. But given that we were able to get out at all made the time worthwhile. Conditions this weekend are forecast to be in the upper thirties and dry. While I'm stuck in Chicago, my hunch is that Bob will be heading back to the bathtub pool on the Upper Oswayo to flip a Bugger to the orange blob. Not a bad way to kick off 2019.
Tight Lines,
Mikey D. Fishing
