Week of August 24th 2025: Cooler Temps
Week of August 24th: Cooler Temps
Whisps of autumn blew in a month early. Leaves falling and cool overnight temperatures brought out the thinnest of underlayers to keep the chill off anglers who ventured out before the sun was over the trees. New Jersey streams are really hurting for water after the bump from Erin came and went as quickly as the clouds.
The Pennsylvania streams are not faring much better as far as flows go, but the promise of overcast skies and cool water weighed out on the morning Erin brought the clouds and rain. Even after an exceedingly early start I was late to the pool I was hoping to fish. The anglers’ lot was empty and the hike to the well known pool was lonely, but an eagle was already watching the pool before I got there. My tramping through the woods must have made the beautiful bird wary of my approach. Before I could reach the bank he took wing for one more pass before flying downstream to alight on another tree; majestic and likely to put down the fish I was hoping to see.
The fish, apparently, were unaware of my approach and the eagle and the first rose before my fly line was through the guides. Several more broke the mirror surface of the pool making my painfully slow, inch by inch crawl far enough in for a cast even more tedious but at least their ripples covered the ones I could not help but make. My only hope now it that whatever they were eating would look like my micro-olives.
I don’t remember, which isn’t saying much, hearing the term “micro-olive” before this season and learned of the term one week too late after the “tiny-sulphurs” were the fly-du-jour earlier in August on the West Branch. Finicky finicky… but the tiny flies were working for folks this summer in the Catskills while the fourteen foot long 7x leaders over crosscurrents drove me mad. Luckily these PA fish were more cooperative.
With grey sky overhead and water moving imperceptibly the takes became apparent after a rise or the slightest movement of the line. I think the first, a seven inch brown, came on the third cast and, at first, I didn’t have to wait long between fish. The olives were not in the air but seemed to by amassing just below the surface. I found several trout reacting to a subtle pull upstream, giving the olive emerger a bit of life. There were some longer stretches of time when I thought it was over and tried a small Adams and also some ants cast under the Evergreen trees that lined the rock wall along the pool. Several sunnies and a chubb expressed interest in the red, not the black, ants I picked up from the shop. I was about to pack it in as a steady mist began descending between stronger gusts of wind when the trout began again a little closer to the tailout of the pool.
Feeling that the rain would hold off enough for me to work down towards where the eagle was, I retied the WD40 and, once again, cast downstream, doing my best to imagine where my fly was likely to be and checking each rise to see if trout had found it too. A few more came to the net before the best fish showed up and I took leave of the pool as quietly as I entered.
It felt like fall and soon it will be. Make the most of the rest of the summer!
See you out there, Roy B.