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| A little thin but perfect otherwise |
Playing the longer game following this substantial rain worked
out well today. Because this creek had
been so low all summer, all the remnants of Ian only left it with normal flows
by this morning, but that was probably better.
I did not have a streamer day in clearing water and higher sun, though I
did catch a couple early and lose a better one on the jigged bugger. Instead, it became a bonkers nymphing day,
especially in the late morning when larger October caddis even joined the party
with the size 18 to 20 cased caddis lining every rock. I landed seven fish in a row in quick
succession on the perdigon dropper tag to end my trip, but it was a steady pick
with many multi fish holes throughout my walk—and one short drive to another section. Once the sun was up and I noticed so many
hooks coming back with caddis larva stuck to them, I switched to a 16 bomb walts
on the anchor and, later, an 18 perdigon on the dropper, and I notched both numbers
and size. I dropped one over 14 on the
bugger, but I landed a 15 and one that I said to myself was a skinny 17 while on
the water, but he looks somewhat longer as I examine the photos. Perhaps the slenderness of the fish had something to do
with it. Dude had the potential biology
to be a future stud, especially with a few big meals and continued cool temps
and good flows.
 |
| The walts turned on the catch rate |
This creek has no gage, so I was unsure how much rain it
received. A nearby creek on the other side
of the hills was showing slightly higher than normal flows, and that was my only
predictor. I arrived before sunrise, so
it was also hard to tell how stained or not the creek was. I began fishing before 7 AM tossing one of
Eric’s big jigged buggers with a smaller bunny leech on a dropper about 24
inches up the line. I lost the first
fish, and it looked like a decent one. I
think it took the smaller black dropper, so maybe the angle of the hookset was
not optimal. I kept another smaller fish
on the little leech a few casts later, go figure. As the sun got up, I saw it was nymphing
water today, certainly not bugger water.
The first chance I got to step out of the creek, I exchanged my 10’6”
4-weight for my 3 weight nymphing rod. Now
rigged with a walts and a caddis pupa on the dropper, I had a lot more confidence. It was certainly not a bad start with the
bugger, but I started picking up loads of smalls and average wild browns once
the nymphing began. Nothing touched the
dropper to begin, but the walts was getting eaten in every good-looking
spot. Recently, I have not had as much
luck in this pressured section, and I was high-holed the last time I was here,
but luck was on my side today. I have
had some memorable days here, mostly because of multiple big trout, but it was
nice to see so many fish from a couple year classes this morning. Numbers of wild browns were even arguably better
in the second section I fished, a state stocked section, but an emergence of
two sizes of caddis may have coaxed a few out that are usually in hiding. I think I only landed four rainbows today, a
couple really nice ones in the mix, but I bet I landed 30 wild browns in five
hours.
 |
| A couple more shots of the best of the morning |
It was still early when the best fish took the walts at the
head of a riffle in about two feet of water.
The water temps were perfect, so all the fish, including an early
rainbow, fought well above their weight class today. In other words, I had no clue how big this
fish was until I saw him and his impressive face. As I said above, I was thinking skinny 17 as
I photographed and let him go, but I am thinking he was a bit longer than
that. Two hand lengths for me, thumb to
pinky, is 16 inches. No matter, it was a
nice fish, and I was not done after that either. Before I got to the end of the line for this
section, I also took another good brown out of a deep, bouncy pocket on the
single walts. And in a preview of things
to come at my next stop of the morning, I also had a nice holdover bow and half a
dozen more average wild browns take an olive perdigon on the dropper. I was beginning to see October caddis in the
bankside vegetation from the previous day’s hatches, so I was hopeful that they
would emerge again today. A couple small
fish had already shown themselves eating what appeared to be much smaller
emergers, so I believe those much smaller caddis that were littering my hooks
all day like grannoms at peak grannom season were also beginning to become items on the menu.
 |
| Another decent fish |
Before getting in the car and making a move, I fished below
my parking spot in a couple former honey holes, but I could not fool another
big fish, only more average fish and smalls.
I was hoping that more larger adults were getting wanderlust before the
spawn, and I considered fishing way downstream to test my hunch, but I am glad
I made the move upstream that I did. I
also had this second section all to myself, which was a pleasant surprise on
such a perfect weather day. It was cool,
sunny, and dry, but there was nary a dog walker out. The only encounter I had was with a buck who
was hoping to cross the stream below me but thought better of it. I captured him standing in the creek almost
by accident in one of the crick pics. Water
was getting skinnier here already, so I bagged my other fuzzy plan to go even further
upstream for a third stop. I was expecting
a few holdover bows here, maybe a couple small browns, but I did not have to consider
leaving because I landed an additional 10 or more wild fish at this second
stop. Basically, there was no need for a third stop, which will
have to wait until my next visit.
 |
| More bows and browns |
Patiently letting the small bugs on 5.5X tippet get deep, I
finished with a great run of decent wild browns and even another bigger
rainbow. They all fought just as well as
their cousins downstream too. The bow
would not quit, but one memorable brown that was all of 11 inches fought like I
had finally hooked that third good fish of the day. Nope. Another
wide-bodied male all of 10 inches long was also mistaken for a larger fish for
about fifteen seconds. Both popped the
perdigon as it drifted beside, or perhaps under a rocky shelf, and both tried
their best to get back under there and off my line. The fish were eating so well in the emergence
of bugs, however, that even with an 18 barbless hook, nothing got away during
my final flurry of fish.
 |
| Another 10 fish to end, including a run of 7 in a row on the perdigon. |
It was still comfortable enough to fish around 12:30 PM
when I was on the fence about making a move, but I decided to head for home
instead of exploring another spot. I don’t
like to push things after I have such a great morning, anyway. I have been known to catch a 20 and go home. No 20 today, but there was not much to
complain about either. It was great to
see so many healthy fish, and I hope this year’s spawn keeps things going. The creek is in good shape compared to other
creeks in the region that were more affected by storms. The skinny stud is likely a sign that the
water had gotten low and warm this summer, but he made it, and there are many
places along this watershed to ride out the tough times. I took a slow stroll back to the ‘Ru, just enjoying
the perfect weather, and I even took the scenic route home, following the river
and with the windows down. Yeah, it was
a good day.
 |
| Remains (begrudgingly) one of my favorites still. Days like this help. |
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