February 27, 2020 – Gimme Shelter (Reprise) – Valley Creek

Mmm... chocolaty.  

I fish on weekdays a lot, but like any weekend warrior, I also must fish when I can fish.  To that end, I have logged a few trips early in this young year that were not on the best fishing days, even though the preceding days were probably cash money!  I had a busy week and couldn’t fish on a couple warm, calm, even rainy days, but I was able to get out and fish the high water on Valley today.  I left early for a winter morning, so I was fishing by 8:30 AM.  Hopes were high, despite signs it might be tough fishing.  The flows were around 100 CFS and falling, but I was also dealing with cold front conditions.  The high pressure had the fish acting a bit off.  The wind was blowing at least 25 MPH at times, too.  In the first 90 minutes, I had nothing but rolling fish, and not many, and most of them were small.  I was 1 for 5 in the first two hours, landing one 9 incher on a bugger.  I am used to batting 500 with a streamer, but this was a lot tougher than that.  In a prime hole where I know a good one often frequents, I had my first solid grab, but I did not get the hooks in the fish.  That was the moment when tossing a big bugger for a long time with nothing to show for it was destined to pay off on a more charmed day.  Not today.  It certainly felt good and then felt disappointing when my strip set hooked nothing but muddy water.  Shortly thereafter, I rolled a 12 or 13 incher on the surface, but that fish never came back either.

Big meal for average fish.

Even though flows were dropping, the creek seemed to stay turbid for longer than usual today, and leaf litter and other debris was blowing into the creek.  I figured I had lived by the streamer and died by the streamer long enough, so I took a page from Sunday’s book and cut back my streamer leader, added a tippet ring and some 4X, and set out to catch a few fish before I had to quit and go teach in the evening.  It was tough, but I managed a couple little guys on a pink SJ worm on the dropper while mining a deep hole with a bobber.  I also picked up a couple others tightlining two high percentage pockets with a bigger jig fly.  The best fish was all of 11 inches and skinny, but she had beautiful dark colors from hanging near wood.  I was most happy that I landed a decent Valley fish with my sighter-less leader on a 9 foot rod, like back in the "old days"!

Long, skinny, pretty.

More disappointment as I started my hike back to the ‘Ru: I watched a handful of fish start rising at different spots along the way.  It took all my willpower to keep walking.  I had to be online at 2 PM for a conference and then drive to the city for an evening class, so I couldn’t make my life too difficult.  The water where I fished earlier in the morning looked a more productive color too, but I had to be content with the fishing conditions I had been given in my short window.  Had that good, heavy grab resulted in a big fish, this would have been a different post, of course, a post about how I made all the right moves.  It is good to have these tough, humbling days to puzzle out.  I caught a half a dozen fish on trip 17 or 18 of the young season, and I wasn’t late for any of my obligations, so I can live with that.