October 4, 2020 – Well, We Saw It in All Four Seasons Now – SEPA Blueline

Looking like fall.  A lot sneaking for some small but beautiful fishes.

Eric and I took our first fall trip to our little wild trout hideaway.  A handful of tree stands out there now that archery is in season, so Sunday is probably the only call for the foreseeable future.  That is fine since Sundays have seemed to work for both of our busy schedules anyway.  Eric was loaded up with a lot of new ties, mostly small in anticipation of the winter, but it was not a day to cycle through patterns.  We each caught a few small fish, and we spooked a couple slightly better ones even being as quiet and stealthy as we chose to be (no crawling today, though it may have worked).  As I expected the water was low and clear, and the fish were spooky as a result.  There were also some alterations made by the 100-year storm, but in the grand scheme of things, this creek fared very well.  There was the expected sand and gravel moved everywhere, and changes to the where the current flowed, some new trees downed and disappeared, in some cases, but most of our hot spots will be back with a little more rain and some recharged springs.   There were no new hot spots, however, so while the water was high during the storms, it did not scour out much in our favorite stretches to create any new deep wintering spots.

On the board early, but approaching from some distance was necessary.

I was throwing a small CDC jig with and even smaller dropper, a bright little pt variation with some CDC fibers for a tail.  All but one took this little dropper.  At least two of my fish were hooked at some distance, too.  I could tell right away that this was not going to be a day to get up on a hole and nymph with a tight line.   I was making longer casts and using the sighter leader as an indicator.  It was a dry dropper day, in all likelihood, but we both arrived with our long whips to nymph because Eric thought flows would be better than they were.  I should have known that a mostly-freestoner would be low, but now we both know better what to expect in the fall.  We did see some large adult caddis above the water, and many small caddis in the vegetation on the banks.  The little pt dropper probably worked because while turning rocks, we saw dozens of small mayfly nymphs, likely olives.  All the bugs were good signs of what could be on a better day.  A warmer morning with more flow and/or stain to cover our approach, and caddis could work.  A cold dreary day to spark a hatch of BWOs, and game on.  Today, well, we took what we could get.  Once the sun was up, that meant pulling fish from bouncier pocket water that covered our presence.

A widowmaker up there... for now.

At our two favorite bend pools, a few of the only places where fish will likely winter, Eric lost a decent one; and when it was my turn, I never had a chance without spooking a dozen fish in clear water, mostly since we had to approach from the side not below.  Even creeping, I had to hope that one aggressive or stupid one would break from the pack and eat my first cast.  Nope.  The good news is that a bunch of fish up to twelve inches were schooled up in the deepest holes, so they did survive the floods and are waiting for a better day to eat, a day when they feel more secure.  Hopefully, we can time a Sunday trip around one of these better days in the not too distant future.  Not an easy task with small freestoners, however.  I spend a lot of the winter targeting limestoners and tailwaters that are less prone to drastic changes due to air temps.  There is only one other similar stream to this one that I target, and it is hit or miss in the fall and early winter, though really fun in late winter and early spring when the stoneflies and olives get active again.  Nice days seem to be the call, as the warmth wakes them up, but then you have to deal with sun and shadows, so it can be tough either way.

A little pt, many BWO nymphs present.

I am on the board for October after a surprisingly decent September, and Eric and I have seen our secret spot in another season and got to do some post-storm reconnaissance.  It was just a great autumn morning to be in the woods, regardless of the spooky fish.  A couple of the more mature ones we caught early were changing colors already, so another future treat will be walking with or without a fly rod later this fall to see where the redds are located.  I have few ideas of where they may set up to spawn here, but these small creeks are a puzzle on that front too.  For all I know, these fish move quite a distance or sneak up tributaries to take care of business.  Part of the fun of learning a new creek is trying to find out.  In other words, we will be back.