December 17, 2019 – Yep, I Was Out Standing in the Rain Again – Valley Creek

First Valley fish in over six weeks was not a bad one.

I tried to fish falling water today with a streamer, but I had to turn to the sj worm again to put any fish in the net.  I did not expect to fish this afternoon because I am working through final papers for my three classes.  Grades are due on December 19, and then I am off until mid-January, so I am motivated to get them finished.  By 11:30 AM this morning, however, I had graded all the papers submitted thus far.  I have a bunch due tonight at 11:59 PM, and Kenny is resuming work on my bathroom remodel.  I have provided some unskilled labor for the demo so far, and am on stand-by as the muscle(?).  Not needed today, I took advantage of a few free hours to fish Valley for the first time since the first day of November.  I usually give the fish there some time to spawn, and even today I waded as little as possible to avoid disturbing the eggs.  Chasing stockies again was an option, but I figured the freestoners would be even colder and even higher.  Valley was around 100 CFS and falling when I checked at 11 AM, which looked encouraging, but it kind of stayed there.  I was hoping for clearing and improving conditions, but rain continued to fall and, if the gages are correct, kept the creek around 100 CFS for the entire time I was on the water.  I certainly noticed no change in conditions or fish behavior.

Stayed dirty and just over 100 CFS

I tried a few different colors, sizes, and styles of streamer, and I also tried a few different types of water.  In the first 90 minutes on the water, I only had two half-hearted bumps, and I never saw the flash of a moving fish.  The water was cold and dirty, so I should not have been too surprised.  It was raining off and on, sometimes steadily, and the air temps hovered around 35 degrees, so neither the atmosphere nor the sun did anything to warm things up either.  I decided to look for the one for a little while, throwing a big bugger that would get deep and move some water, but to avoid the skunk I eventually rigged up a tapered leader and a couple big bugs under an indicator.

Again, with the sj worm.  Desperate times, I guess...

I used a big dark stonefly or slate drake pattern as the anchor fly and a san juan worm on the dropper to target a couple deep, slow holes, the kind of places I would midge if the water were clearer.  I was relieved to shake the skunk and really happy to land a good fish over 12 inches shortly thereafter.  I was worried my first might also be my last fish, as 3 PM was approaching quickly, but I also landed another on the sj worm a little while later.  This fish was a Valley average.  I would like to say that I had finally figured out today’s pattern, and maybe I did, but it was getting towards quitting time.  Not only that, but the prime hours of the day were also quickly passing me by.  I could feel the temperature getting colder and see the skies getting darker by the minute.  Knowing traffic at 3:30 PM in the rain would be dicey, I headed for home with a whopping two fish tally.  Not the best fishing day of the year, but I did get out for a while and notch trip 81 for 2019.  I think a warm up is coming, so while I am not going to hit 100 this year, 85 is a strong possibility?

More time for standing in the rain remaining in 2019?