Today was the first time out for this season, I fished from noon until sunset in areas above and below access 3. Sadly I brought nothing to net but got tied into a pig, I got a good look at him before he put the hurt on my fly and straightened the hook. That one would easily fall in the 20-22" range. I lost another that would have been a nice pound and a half, plus I spied two others but couldn't get either of them on a hook. Not many people out, no surface action to speak of though there was a slow & steady hatch of midges that picked up a just towards the end of the day. There was an odd salmon fly here and there and an insignificant hatch of a couple of different brownish mayflies (@ size 12-14) and some pale white ones (@ size 18ish). They were on the water most of the day and picked up a bit towards the end of the day, but even at peak there wasn't a huge amount of bugs to get the fish excited. The fish I hooked or saw fit the profile that a few have written about, deeper water, near cover, and right next to the "chow-line". Both of the ones that I hooked were in slots that looked good but I struggled to get a good drift through them. After a number of attempts the rig finally got through OK and sure enough both fish hit when the flies started to lift at the end of the drift. It seems that the big guys are willing to hit the small flies, but not if they have to swim anywhere to get them. I'd wager that those of you who consistently produce on this creek really have the holes nailed and know how to get teeny nymphs drifting through right in front of the noses of the fish. I tried a number of flies, usually a #16-18 caddis with an #18-24 midge dropper (zebra, WD40, various standard midge patterns & colors, the fish hit on a #20 zebra midge and #22 red midge pattern) with split shot to taste.
Any other time I've been to the creek the flows were up around 800CFS so it was a lot of fun to finally explore the stretches that give this place it's reputation.
I made it yesterday early for a couple of hours and tried a spot where I caught a nice 19 incher on Tuesday. There had been some spawners a few weeks ago, so I tried a yellow microspawn egg pattern. I hooked a nice big one the first drift and he broke off my flies when I tried to land him. I retied my flies and same scenario, big fish on, big fish off, this time my tippet had broken well above the flies. It occurred to me that my habit of leaving the same tippet on for numerous fishing outings may have caused my problem. I tied on fresh tippet (5X) and then managed to land a couple in the 15-16 inch range. Bouyed by my newfound insight, I headed back over this am around 7, thinking to have better success with my fresh tippet. Unfortunately, the fish had other ideas. Either they have moved on or still have sore lips from yesterday. I tried a variety of flies with no strikes and am guessing they might have moved. In any event, the creek was very uncrowded both mornings which was nice.
I didn't have my camera Tuesday, but remembered it Saturday. As you can tell, I haven't quite got the hang of holding a fish in one hand while taking a picture with the other, but here is the front half at least.
Bueatiful fish Phil....I made it out today from about 7 a.m to about 2 p.m and didnt have any action, didn't see a single fish, also didnt see anyone else fishing. Kept it pretty basic today, tried a few different hares ears's, a few pheasant tails, and a red midge. There was very little insect activity. As far as tippets go, a fresh one goes on at least every trip for me and sometimes a few new ones thourghout the day, Leaders and tippets are like my pet peive man, they gotta be perfect everytime.
I definitely learned my lesson regarding fresh tippet. I tend to leave it on until it gets too short and then add another piece. And if a particularly fly is hot, I may not even change the fly for a while, leaving the same piece of tippet on the leader. As I think back, I have lost a few large fish to breaks, while the smaller ones are never a problem. And since the big fish are usually few and far between I didn't put it together until yesterday.
As to the fishing, I was just fortunate to find a spot with some fish this week. I went through many of my usual favorite places and didn't see a thing. I get to the creek at least once a week, but usually for no more than a couple of hours at a time. I definitely get my share of skunks if not more, today being a prime example.
I also made it out to the creek on St. Patrick's day. I got there a little later than normal, because I had a meeting in the morning after working all night. I didn't get there until about noon and to leave by 3:30PM. My brother-in-law went with me today. I was hoping to get him into some fish, but the creek had other plans. He did hook one but nothing to net. I landed 2, one being 18". I LDRed many others, including one about 20". I hooked him right before I landed the 18"er. Most of the fish were hooked on a #16 Tan Fox Poopah. Only one fish took the #20 midge. There were some good hatches today. There were some smaller caddis, about #16 coming off of the water the whole time I was there. Later, about 2PM, there was good hatch of small mayflies.
There were a few people out there bait fishing. I told them it was illegal and they acted surprised, saying they knew it was catch-and-release but didn't know you couldn't fish with bait. They did change over to spinners with barbless hooks, but I'm not so sure they didn't switch back after I left. Later, I saw a guy hauling a 20" fish back to his car on a stringer. When I approached him, he said that he had tried to revive it but couldn't. He did seem sincere. I talked to him for a little bit about it and got to thinking. How many of you would keep the fish if you were HONESTLY unable to revive it? Do you break the law and keep the fish or release it anyway, knowing it's going to die? The law says release it and let the birds and otters eat it, but I can see how that could be tough decision. To many, it's wasted meat.
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"Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught."
I would be a little suspicious of a guy who couldn't revive a fish, but happened to have stringer with him just in case of emergencies. It was good that you at least informed these people of the regulations JT. We often see posts during "bait" season of people by the bridge with buckets full of trout, well beyond the five limit. Hopefully Greg's initiative with the DFG will lead to better protection for the creek. We're lucky that all of the big trout don't get dragged out of the creek during the summer.
As to keeping the fish, as tempting as it might be to keep a fish that couldn't be revived, I would not do so. For people who like to keep fish, it would be very easy to happen to kill the fish while landing it. I believe that the game wardens would consider this poaching whatever the circumstances. Just my two cents.
The river does seem to see it's share of yahoos. I ran into one guy that I though was just out for a sunny picnic with his wife. A half hour later I saw him with what looked like a bobber and a spinning rod, but he seemed to quickly give up pretty quickly. The brush and rocks were more than he could handle. I ran into another kid that was attempting to float the river with some kind of bb gun. The boat was half sunk and he was looking pretty cold when he pulled out after asking me how much farther he had to go.
Other rivers with special regs have signs posted along the river, not just at the entrance. Those are hard to overlook because they really stand out, perhaps one of the improvements could be to post and maintain some signs at regular intervals along the river. For the ignorant and the ill of intent those signs have the same initial impact of a "No trespassing under penalty of buckshot in your ***" signs.
I agree with Phil, catch and release means catch and release, dead or alive. It may seem like a waste but the issue needs to remain black and white, no flimsy excuses. Also, it's the responsibility of anyone who is out there fishing at this time of year (and any other time of year) to know the regulations. Candidly, I've done things in the past that I darned know I shouldn't have and when I got caught I tried the "sincerity out", sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The truth is the pressure is only going to get harder on this creek, I'd hate to be looking back from some time in the future thinking that these were the good old days when the water was clear, the banks were free of trash, and there were large populations of fat, self-sustaining trout.
Yeah I'd be pretty skeptical if a guy just happened to have a stringer in his vest...We need a warden to patrol the creek. I know a few places where the warden is out there all day patroling, checking licenses and stamps, and flies to make sure they're smashed down. I wish more of our rivers and streams had wardens that take their job as serious as those guys do.
I ran into a guy and his son bait fishing the last time I was out. After expaining the regs the guy had the guts to tell me power bait was an artifical lure. It would have been fun to hear him try that one on the warden.
The guy did have a tackle box, so the fact that he had a stringer wasn't that out of the ordinary. It is clearly against the law to keep the fish, so I think (hope) that most people would release the fish. Let's say the fish was caught in the summer. Would you release the dying fish then? I think that one of the problems is that people don't know how to revive the fish after they land them. Another problem is that most people out there throwing spinners are using treble hooks. These things are bad news. I hope we can get the regs changed with respect to them.
I know that the DFG is under-staffed, but do you think they would consider "deputizing" people who were willing to help? I understand that could be dangerous, but do you think they would consider something like that? I'd imagine that they most likely wouldn't because of the safety issue. You'd have to be pretty crazy to do it.
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"Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught."
I have also noticed quite a few baitfishers on the creek lately. I think we should post signs on the creek with the regulations. Some people probably just see other people fishing and think it is OK to fish with bait. Some of the people know the rules and blatantly disregard them. You should use caution with these people. Use your best judgment when confronting some of bad guys. My theory is that these are the same people that don't like flyfishers, and may be some of the people that will break into your car just for fun or revenge. I have tried calling fish and game, but they don't seem to like patrolling the creek. They have an office at Grizzly Island which is only about 30 minutes away, but I have only seem fish and game two times in the last five years.
Both Windknots and Otter have brought up the idea of signs. This is definitely needed. They should be posted at every access including all of the pullouts along the highway. Would we need some kind of permit to post the signs? Should they be posted on wooden posts that we install, or is it okay to post them on trees?
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"Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught."
One of the problems for the DFG is that opposite sides of the creek are in different districts.The Yolo side is part of the North Central Region headquartered in Rancho Cordova and the Solano side is in the Bay Delta Region.Maybe we could advocate for one district to have jurisdiction over the creek?
