April 26, 2019 – Just Wet Enough Today to Make All of Us Happy – Valley Creek

Not great light for fish photos today, but at least the valley is getting verdant.

With wet weather overnight and into the morning, I took a gamble that the Park would be pretty empty this morning, and I was right.  Even on a Friday, it is unusual to have Valley Creek to oneself in late April.  The creek barely came up with only a quarter of an inch of precipitation and only a brief shower to show for all the clouds during the four hours I spent on the water.  I had rain gear on, but I only needed it for an hour, and I was pretty darn hot by 2 PM when I called it quits.  There was a slight stain and good flows, but the star of the day was the cloudy weather and the bugs, which made the fish and, in turn, me very happy.  The olives are very small, almost midge size, but the fish were also reacting to the start of the caddis hatches.  I caught a mess of fish, probably 20 or more, and they took both olives and caddis nymph imitations, nearly in equal measure.  The only risers I saw were in the usual spot in the Park, sipping midges, but the other rises occurring all day seemed to come exclusively from fish in riffles chasing emergers.  I was set up to Euro-nymph, so I did not re-rig to try the dry, but I did swing the bugs in a few spots.  Tightlining in the riffles was working so well that I did not persist with the swing, however. 

Olives, caddis, and Valley averages with some better ones too.

I humble-bragged earlier this week that I hoped I hadn’t forgotten how to catch wild fish, and that did not seem to be a problem today.  I texted with Tom H. for a minute and just straight-up bragged that half of the first 10 fish I had caught thus far were over 10 inches, but as the day wore on, and karma dictates, the Valley average came out to play with more frequency.  Still, I caught about 6 out of 20 or more fish that were in that 10 to 11 inch range.  I kept hoping to find a really good one, but I did not.  The closest I got was miffing on one about 12 inches, turning him in the tailout of a deep hole that often holds a better fish or two.  The water temps are prime, so the fish are strong and willful to the end, putting up fun battles in shallow water.  I would have liked to have had my new 10 foot 3 weight in my hand, but the rod is so popular, I think Orvis is having trouble meeting demand!  It is on its way, so next week, maybe.  In the meantime, my light 9 footer got a good workout.

Half of my first 10 fish of the morning were decent fish of 10 to 11 inches, and I lost one about 12.

Like I mentioned above, by 2PM I was getting hot, so I walked back to the car with my rain jacket tied around my waist like some bon vivant.  A tornado watch was displaying on my phone on the ride home, in the sunshine again, but as I write this we are without power at home, so it was not without merit, apparently.  I am not sure how much rain is going to fall or if it will mess up the weekend or even in to Monday, but I will keep an eye on the weather and the stream gages.  Sadly, the creek down the street was supposed to get stocked this afternoon, and I kicked around the idea of fishing with the boy on Saturday, but maybe the flows will be okay by Sunday?  Even though flows never came up, today was just wet enough to keep most fisherman away, bugs feeling frisky, and trout feeling hungry, so although a Valley piggie still eludes me so far this season, I was pleased with my call today.

Not great light with the drizzle and dreary conditions, but some pretty (albeit blurry) wild browns.