December 10, 2018 – Slowly Easing Back into the Wild Fish – Valley Creek

First fish, all parred-up, came quickly this afternoon.

I took an encouraging trip over a month ago to a section of Valley Creek that was the victim of a chlorine spill and fish kill.  On that visit, I caught a few decent fish, as well as a few very small young of the year.  However, I ran out of time before I got too close to the tributary that was directly affected, so I planned to return and check things out this winter, preferably after I was comfortable that the spawn was over and the water was clear enough to avoid inadvertently walking on any vacated redds.  I guess I have grown tired of stockies pretty quickly because I just couldn’t bring myself to it today.  Even though I had only a couple hours to fish and wanted to stay close to home, I just needed a break from sluggish rainbows.  It is not entirely their fault.  It has been colder than normal, so the idea of some limestone influence also had an allure above and beyond the promise of wild fish.  I decided to do more scouting than fishing, target only a few high-percentage winter holes, and just enjoy the walk on a mild (very) late autumn day.

The afternoon light gets credit for this one.

I quickly landed a pretty 6 or 7 incher in the first spot I visited, and I saw him spook a handful more that were grouping up for the winter in this deep, clear hole.  There was one redd near the tailout of this pool, and I counted about 5 more on the afternoon before I stopped keeping track and started fishing in earnest.  At the next deep hole, I targeted two nicer fish for a period of time before I spooked them by catching their 8 inch cousin, who was simply stunning in the bright sun.  Another favorite winter hole came up empty, but there was some new debris in the middle and fish could have been socked in tight to this cover on a bright sunny day.  A couple other holes produced only one or two little fish, but they showed enough evidence of life in them to lessen my concerns.  Some days, Valley is just tough, so there was no reason to believe that these holes wouldn’t produce on another day.

Certainly not a sluggish, muted rainbow fresh from the cement runs.

No real good fish landed today, but I did land at least 6 that ranged from 6 to 9 inches.  More encouraging, I landed two YOY that were under 3 inches long.  They did not take the nymphs on which I caught the majority of my fish today, a size 16 pheasant tail and an orange caddis grub (which may have looked like spawn too).  At one point, I saw midges in flight and even a couple rises in a flat pool, so I retied with a duo of size 20 zebra midge and rainbow warrior under a small Palsa pinch on indicator.  The two little ones ate the midges, and I hope they continue to feast on the real ones all winter.  These two came from the confluence pool where the tributary that suffered the spill meets the main branch of the creek, so that was a good sign.  Many suckers and juvenile trout were schooled up in this pool too.  Again, like last visit, I ran out of time and did not fish up the tributary, but I am confident that a winter trip on the right day will be fruitful up there too.  Pretty trout on a pretty little creek on a picturesque December afternoon.  Not bad.

Nothing over 9 inches long, but they made up for it in beauty.