Peace & Quiet in the New Year

I happened to have the first work day of the new year off.  A warm-up and some rain had the local Ohio tributaries blown and the forecast was calling for another rapid cool down.  I had a narrow window of opportunity to find some good water on a really nice day.  I decided to head east and hit 12 Mile and Walnut Creeks in PA.

When I arrived at 12 Mile Creek, I was surprised to find the stream conditions were already past prime.  The water was gin clear already, but there were fish in the system.  And better yet, there was no one else on the creek.  I rigged up with a green Crystal Meth Sucker Spawn dropper and a green Nuke Egg trailer.  The fish seemed to like it.  I hooked-up with steelhead on the first 4 drifts. 

I fished 12 Mile Creek until lunch time and then headed back to the truck for a sandwich.  What a morning.  I had landed in the neighborhood of 12 steelhead.  It was wonderful to have the creek to myself on a cool clear winter's morning.  I decided to cruise on over to Walnut Creek after lunch.

Walnut Creek had only a few fisherman.  The water was perfect.  The flow was up and the water was jade green. 

The fast flowing lower holes had several fisherman around them, so I decided to move on up.  I went to an area called Manchester Hole.  If you've ever fished the Nut, you know Manchester Hole is always loaded with fisherman.  As luck would have it, it was completely void of fisherman. 

I made a few drifts in Manchester Hole and another gentleman walked in to cast, so I decided to move on up, to my "honey hole" in the chutes.  I drifted through several areas of the chutes and hit my favorite hole, but had no dunks.  I looked back down at Manchester Hole and the young man that had walked in earlier was landing one fish after another.   I decided to mosey on back down to Manchester to get the story.

The young man's name was Paul.  He was a local fellow.  It was obvious Paul has been fly fishing for a while.  Paul was a courteous fellow to fish with.  He was sharing with me how he was drifting through the hole and what he was using.  We fished the hole together for a few minutes and Paul decided to move on up to see what was going on in the chutes.  I continued to fish Manchester and landed a couple of small skippers.  I decided to move on back to my favorite spot when out of nowhere about 5 other guys showed up.

After fishing the chutes for a little longer, I decided to walk down and see if the lower creek cleared out any.  After making a few drifts, Paul found his way down stream and we began yakking and sharing a section of stream again.  I have to say, it's nice to meet someone on the stream that you can share an area with and just immediately be in sync with how to drift the area at the same time with no problems.

As were were drifting that small section, I hooked into something big.  It ran me up and down the stream for a minute or so and never surfaced.  It was staying down and not showing itself.  And, if I have not already mentioned it, the fish was big.  I finally got a glimpse of his tail and at the same time Paul was able to see the fish from the other side of the stream.  We both agreed, this was going to be a nice fish.  Then the fish came close to the surface again and I could see it's back.  Now here's where it gets strange.  I could see the white streamer and the egg trailer that I had been drifting...and neither of them were in the fish.  What the heck?  Somehow, I had hooked into a line that the fish had broken off from another fisherman.  Amazingly, I kept that fish on for quite a while, but then in quick turn he was gone.  I have no idea what it was or how big it was, but I can't say I have ever experience that on the stream before.

No long after that, Paul hooked up with a nice fresh steelhead.  The fish ran him around for awhile and I thought it must be a pretty big fish.  It was a typical PA steelhead, but being a fresh fish...it was really energized.  Paul landed the fish and I snapped a couple of quick pics.

We decided to call it a day not long after that.  On the way out Paul shared a picture on his phone with me of a 35" 16lb steelhead he had caught earlier in the season.  What a fish.  Admittedly, I felt a little silly taking a picture of the fish we just let go after seeing that beast.

It was a great day to be out.  I caught plenty of fish, found some peace and quiet, and met a new friend.  It does not get any better than that.  And, Paul, it was a pleasure sharing the creek with you.  I look forward to fishing with you again in the future.