Otter, I remember you mentioned something about the white parasites with big legs that attach themselves to the trout. That was a couple of years ago on the old site. Did you ever find out what they were? Does anyone else know anything about them? They are on a lot of fish. Are they harmful?
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"Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught."
I never did figure out what they were, but I haven't seen them for a while. I went back and checked the old site, and no one said anything about them. I hit the creek with the float tube today, as I figured there would be a lot of people on the creek today with the nice weather. I am happy to report there are a ton of fish above access 1 in the slower water. I had a hit on every cast. The problem was they weren't hitting very hard. I did manage to land 7 fish in a couple of hours. I have to blame a lot of that on a bent hook. I kept losing fish and finally figured out that one of big fish bent my hook out. I had a ton of fun though.
Thanks for the heads up at access one. I had thought that the further downstream you were the less likely to catch anything this time of year. It seems from the bridge down to perhaps access three seemed the best fishing for me. Then again I am also not the best on the river by any stretch of reasoning.
I will hit access one next week. Were you using dries at this site?
I was actually fishing above access 1 in a float tube, but access 1 is the best place on the creek to fish with dries lately. I hope no one gets mad at me for posting this, but I am not the one that let the cat out of the bag. The fish will hit BWOs in the morning, and caddis most of the day. In the afternoon use a spent mayfly like a black or rusty spinner size 20 in the film. Huge mayflies and caddis are also on the creek right now, so don't be afraid to tie on big caddis and mayfly nymphs.
I'll have to agree with you, Otter the hits have been super soft lately. Every once in a while a fish will slam the fly but most seem to nibble on it. I've been using a small yarn indicator lately to be able to detect the subtle strikes. I make them out of white polypropylene yarn and tying thread. I can make them any size I want. The ones that I'm using now will barely support my split shot, so they're pretty sensitive to soft takes.
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"Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught."
The captain just reported a similar response about the subtle hits. Yesterday I had to go back out in the float tube, since it was so much fun. Got to the creek around 4 and it was windy. The fishing was slow, until the wind died down around 5. The fish were all up where the skinny part of the creek drops into the wide section below the guide hole. The fish were hitting the fox pupa a lot more than the micro mayfly dropper. The fish seem to be hitting the bigger flies with more authority than the little flies. One technique for those quick subtle hits that worked really well was a long slow downstream sweep as the indicator dropped. It seems there is so much insect activity that the fish don't need to hit aggressively.
So, Otter, when you say "above access 1" in a float tube, do you mean right above the far end of the parking lot, on that long stretch of slow water? I have seen some huge fish in the lower end of that (hooked a couple of really big ones that I was too eager to land). I have thought about fishing that in a float tube, but never seen anyone do it. Seems like it could be a lot of fun.
The area I have fished is above the upper parking lot. If you have seen the big fish at the top of that riffle during spawning season I believe those are the same fish that hang out in the slower water above the riffle. The fish are spread out now in the low flows, but the fish will hang out by the weed beds in the higher flows. Now is a good time to check out where the weed beds are. The fish are in about six feet of water right now and are hitting size 20 micro mayflies and size 16 fox poohpahs. Good luck if you decide to check it out. This has been a good Otter hole over the last few years, but I usually fish during the week anyways!
Thanks, that is very helpful. I have seen some awesome fish there, and the first time I fished Putah, and before I realized how big some of the fish are, I hooked a 25 inch fish on the far side of that riffle (right under a bush, one of those "prime spots). It would have been just one of those "shaggy fish" stories, except just as I hooked it, two of my friends came around the corner and saw it: their jaws dropped.
