February 17, 2020 – Changed It Up for a Couple Hours – Valley Creek

Nice day for humans and small trout.

I am sticking to my theory that spring is at least two weeks ahead of schedule.   If I am correct, we ought to see crocuses and other early flowers any day now.  Along with midges, the blue winged olives are getting trout to notice, and some of the bugs are not tiny winter bugs but a spring size brood.  Early black stoneflies are probably happening somewhere too (maybe Wednesday, I hope).  Today was not a great weather day for olives, but some were still moving about in the upper reaches of Valley.  Today was a great weather day for humans, however, and a day off for many, so I joined the forest bathers midday for a couple hours of sneaking around with a dry dropper.  There were plenty of young families and dog walkers out, but I was the only fisherman, which was nice because water was low and clear, and the sun was high.

A trophy for today.

For the first time in a while, I grabbed my 8’ 3 wt. rod in the garage and rigged up with a parachute (for my old eyes) BWO with a size 18 zebra midge dropped below it a couple feet.  I only hooked two uber dinks on the dry, but I landed a bunch more on the zebra midge dropper and later a perdigon—which accounted for the two “largest” fish.  If I counted everything from 6 inches up to 11 inches, I would guess I landed 10 fish in a couple hours, but I also turned, hooked, jumped a bunch of really, really small fish too.  That is one of the hazards of fishing small bugs and fishing headwaters.  It was a fun challenge, though.  As I mentioned, the water was low and clear, the creek only 5 feet wide in spots, and the lack of foliage and high sun meant a lot crouching and kneeling.  Even then, I spooked plenty of fish just telegraphing my approach along soggy banks.  What I didn’t spook, some dogs off lease probably scared before I got there.

Lots of little ones on the midge.

I took a good walk when I arrived to put some distance between me and the other visitors to the park.  The woods were still wet with run-off, but the water was crystal clear, so it was easy to spot trout and suckers spooking.  To minimize that a bit, I bushwhacked away from the worn paths above places where I wanted to sneak in and fish.  That seemed to work out, and I didn’t break a rod or lose a net or anything too inconvenient besides the usual fly caught in vines or hat knocked askew.  For the next couple of hours, I had a steady pick of fish or misses.  As I started noticing more bugs, including the olives, I also noticed a couple larger fish suspending up in the back of deeper holes and runs, likely looking for emergers.  Quarters were tight, so I miffed the hookset on one decent fish that looked at least 12 inches long.  You would think that with a size 16 dry as an indicator that a take would be pretty easy to detect, but a couple times I just saw fish turn or a flash of mouth.  That was the case here, I should have reacted to the fish not the dry because I was a half a second too late.  Thankfully, I barely moved the fish, and he didn’t spook. 

Pretty, small fish.

I stepped back and allowed the hole to clear a little while I lengthened my dropper and added a slightly heavier perdigon to replace the zebra midge.  I was not positive that this fish would hit again, but I thought I saw a couple other respectable ones hovering off the bottom too.  After selectively (even responsibly) pruning one ill-placed branch, I lobbed another cast into the same run and finally hooked a respectable fish.  Stripping madly and minding the overhead branches, I was even treated to two or three leaps.  The fish was skinny but a good 11 inches long, so I was happy to see her.  With the exception of one other, about 8 inches and a tad plumper, I finished out the afternoon with more micro trout, but it was a short, fun outing on a nice afternoon close to home.  I may venture a little farther away on Wednesday before cold returns.