New here, not really new to fishing Puta(h) Creek, but I haven't fished the creek since the early 1990's. Mostly been heading to Idaho, Wyoming, Montana to fish, but just retired so I want to re-visit the Creek and other local waters.
It's my recollection that this is spawning season, at least until late Feb or early March. I was wondering if there is any way to avoid spawners and still get in some C&R around Puta(h) Creek.
My other recollection is that like just about everywhere in the West, midges are the fly of choice this time of year.
Nice to find a discussion group focusing on the Creek. Funny, the last time I fished Puta(h), the WWW was barely a glint in a geek's eye.
Welcome, midges are good to use year round on the creek along with small mayflies and general attractor patterns. I wouldn't waste your time fishing the creek until March. There are a lot of places you could fish right now and avoid the spawning areas. There is a small percentage of fish in these runs this time of year due to the spawn so it can be a lot of work for small results. There are better fisheries to check out this time of year. IE. Yuba, Feather, American River.