December 17, 2018 – From Streamer to Midge with the Same Decent Results – Valley Creek

Winter fishing, I guess: midges or streamer, and not much in between.

The rain over the weekend was not as excessive as forecasted in SEPA, but there was enough to spike the creeks twice, a big one late Saturday night and a smaller one later on Sunday afternoon.  Not surprising, Valley was back down again when I arrived about 10:30 AM this morning, but there was still enough of a stain to make me walk back to the Subaru and exchange my nymphing rod for my little 8 foot 3 weight that was rigged with a small olive and black bugger with a tungsten head.  With the breeze, it was colder than I thought, anyway, so the backtracking also allowed me to layer-up with a soft shell.  

Did not move any big ones, but had action on the bugger.

Once I started swinging the streamer, I did not move any big fish, but I landed three and got maybe 3 more to eat that came off, before I abandoned the streamer for a different tactic.  The water was clearing up quickly, plus I ran into another fly guy doing the same thing—me moving down and he up—so after about an hour of throwing the bugger, I rigged up to fish a pair of midges under an indicator.  Technically, I had a size 18 tag fly with a smaller pheasant tail, a true midge, tied off the eye as a dropper.  All but one fish took the larger tag fly, but they would not take a size 14 or 16 when I tried to tightline a few deep runs that were still rather stained.  As I was nearing the end of my short fishing day, a few fish were taking emerging midges and maybe tiny olives, judging by how I saw a few fish suspended up in the water column in one highly-pressured hole. 

Started out cloudy with stained water, but it was clearing quickly.

The fish I landed today, maybe 9 of them in total, ranged from 6 to 10 inches, with the largest actually taking the tag fly not a streamer.  They were acrobatic and fun, however, even at that size, and the 3 weight rod helped too.  I worked on a pair of larger fish, a couple of the aforementioned suspenders, but I could not get them to take the midge or even a soft hackle emerger, even on the swing.  These fish have a lot of spectators on any given day, so I was not all that surprised.  I may get one if they start rising this winter or if I better time the next rain storm, though!  It did not help that their little friends would also eat more willingly.  I pulled two rambunctious 7 inchers out of this same hole while targeting the two better ones.

Midges under a small Air-lock indicator worked on the majority and helped in the wind.

The effects of the cold front stayed at bay until about 1 PM before the wind picked up and the clouds and sun started fighting it out.  I was glad for the indicator for the most part, though they can skate a bit in the wind.  Still, it was better than trying to euro-nymph with size 18 bugs in these conditions—and I think I mentioned that the fish were having no parts of larger bugs once the midges started emerging.  I fished an area of the creek that I don’t often fish, so it was interesting to see the changes that all this year’s wet weather has made to the creek.  Some are good, I think.  A few holes were made deeper and, once the sand gets scoured out, perhaps after a few more storms, they may become productive winter and early spring spots.  A few new trees were in the creek too, and these are good cover for the YOY (and the large fish too).

A decent one still colored up post-spawn.

By 1:45 PM, I debated another move, perhaps downstream to the Park, but then I did a tally in my head and told myself not to get greedy.  Besides, the window for a big fish had closed quickly once the streamer conditions cleared up and the sun came out, and at times by 3 PM in the winter, the bite shuts off, anyway.  I decided to get a head start on any afternoon traffic and head for home, grateful that I can tussle with a few feisty wild fish so close to home, some days on a moment’s notice.  And, hey, I hit 76 trips this year now, and I have a few more penciled in before Christmas!