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| What I expected... |
I began my morning at sunrise slowly nymphing my way
through pocket water on a small limestoner that is pretty low right now. I was moving slowly but there were few
targets to cast to with the creek so low.
I fished here a couple weeks ago and landed some smalls, but I dropped
three in a row that were better fish, which made me want to return in spite of
the low flows. I also looked at my own
blog from this time last year, and saw that the fish here were eating pretty
well early in the mornings last year. I
was nymphing the last time I visited with a size 18 perdigon, maybe even 20,
and under some overhanging braches that shade this riffle, so it was not
unexpected to lose one, but three? I had
small bugs on again today, a size 18 bomb walts on the anchor and an electric caddis
in 20 on the dropper, but this dropper had a mini-barb just to help hold them. It was a quiet start this morning, with nary
a bump for a good 400 yards of pocket water.
When I approached a favorite hole, I really took my time to avoid
sending any wakes or mud moving upstream and ruining my chances. The second cast in the sweet spot of this
spot paused, and I set the hook on a beast.
The light was low, but I am pretty sure it was my old friend Karen the
white sucker. At least I hope so. It certainly looked and acted like a sucker
from my vantage point, but trout are a bit lazier in the summer too. Karen got one run in before it was over.
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| What I got... |
That was my only excitement for an hour, so things weren’t
looking good. I had notched a handful of
very small fish by this hour on my last visit.
It was not over yet, however. The
spot I wanted to target, where I lost those three good fish, has a long flat of
rather deep water for this creek on the in-water approach. With the riparian buffer intact, in the water
is the only way to approach. I had to
sneak again, but try as I might I could not avoid spooking a few nicer fish in
the 12 inch range and one much nicer. It
was early enough and cloudy enough that some fish were out from the night, I
figured. Even on a day with dirtier and
higher water, success here often depends on fish moving out of cover and into
the riffles to feed actively. I did not
plan to tread through here catching fish on a short line and some nymphs,
especially today. I actually thought I
was ready. After losing Karen, I had
tied a cicada to my dropper tag so I could dry dropper this flat just in
case. No takers, just spookers, but
thankfully I did not spook all the fish in the hole as I made my way to the
head. I had a little redemption after
rerigging to nymph a single bomb walts in the very head of the riffle that
begins this run and hole. A beauty fish
with great colors over 14 inches long took the small bug and thankfully allowed
me to keep him in the hole and above me and, more importantly, I kept my long
rod out of the trees. Awesome fish for
August in low water, so I was content.
Sometimes getting up at 4 AM to fish a few hours and head home can become
a grind, but then sometimes the effort is worth it.
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| ...and got! |
I picked up another smaller brown here in the same
riffle, but I did not expect many. I
figured the first one set the tone in low water. I had a better chance of trying again on the
way back down in case another fish, maybe one I had spooked earlier, decided it
was time to move up to the breakfast buffet ahead of a trico spinner fall. No other caddis or midge activity today, so
that was probably my only chance of fish coming out of hiding for a while. No one wanted to commit to a big old terrestrial,
at least not with me pushing a wake through the holes, so I kept the walts on
and continued to more pocket water. I
picked up two more small fish, I believe, before I tagged another good
fish. This one was at least 12 inches
and equally cute. I called this fish (to
myself, of course). It seemed too likely
that at this hour a good fish was not hiding behind a midstream boulder with
water flowing over the top of it and a riffle behind. The fish had its nose right in the whitewater
and took the nymph a second after it landed.
No acrobatics for either nicer fish today, but this one tried to range
downstream on a couple runs that I was able to turn towards softer water. I called another spot that restored my humility
to the proper level. No one home for the
rest of the run until a plunge pool at the end of this section. I had one bump, and then a few minutes later
I hooked what I thought was a big trout.
It just kept digging and at first was nearly impossible to lead and move
under the heavier water. What other fish
does that sound like? Smallmouth? Nope.
Mr. Gill! This thing was a huge
panfish. My net is not small, and you
can see how much of the bottom basket this pig fills. I caught a few here last time, and they were
my sign to call it quits. It was early
though, and I had a dry fly rod with a cicada tied on in the back of the ‘Ru,
so I planned the next move.
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| Bookends with notes and errata? |
I hit a little traffic driving to another creek in the
region that is on my way home. This is
the same creek Eric and I fished on Sunday.
By the time I arrived, I probably had 30 minutes before the morning bite died off. I took one solid rainbow on
the cicada in pocket water. Holding the
line high over a midstream back eddy, I saw the fish rise up once and decide
no. On the next cast, either he had
second thoughts about refusing or a dumber buddy grabbed the big dry. Seeing the fish eat from close by, aided by
the bouncier water between me and the sweet spot, was pretty cool. I spied the pool where I encountered a big
brown on Sunday, and unlike the weekend, there were no splashy rises today. I blind casted under a few overhanging limbs
on the far side of the creek and coaxed one smaller wild brown to take a the tiny beaded electric caddis pupa on the dropper. I had one
other wild brown try to take the cicada as I gave it some motion, but in the end he
refused even the dropper. A sunfish choked the big meal, of course. After sneaking
up on a small pod of small fish dimpling for midges or maybe spent tricos from way upstream,
I switched to a small emerger and missed one of the trout before landing
another sunfish. Bookended by panfish,
it was time to go.
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A couple refusals and rolls, one on the cicada, another on the dropper. Still fun.
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