I got off of work at 8 AM on Saturday after working all night, so I figured a long drive was not a good idea. Since Putah is so close, I headed over there. It was super-crowded. It was a beautiful day, though. The flows were still stable, and the sun was shining. There were quite a few bugs emerging and in the air--mostly caddis. I've never seen so many species of caddis hatch at the same time. They ranged from about #10-20 in size. Colors varied as well. Some were olive with gray wings, while others had gray bodies and wings. Some had light tan bodies and wings. Others had darker brown wings and bodies. I even saw one with an almost black body and brown wings. I saw quite a few mayfly spinners, and as usual there were tons of midges along the banks.
I landed a little over 10 fish. The biggest were 15", 17", and a pair of 18"ers. I landed a couple on #20 midge pupae, a couple on a #16 olive caddis pupa, a couple on a #16 tan Fox Poopah, and a couple more on a #18 tan Micromay. I hooked many others, landing probably one-third of them. Most of the takes were on the Fox Poopah and the Micromay.
I expected to see tons of people dragging fish out on stringers. I did see quite a few people with a bunch of hatchery fish and one guy with 2 fish: one about 23" and another about 20". It made me sick to see those fish on a stringer. It's a good thing that most people that fish with bait and hardware don't have that kind of luck.
__________________
"Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught."
Wow JT, that's a great day on any stream in CA, let alone one so nearby and one where you had to fight for access with all the baitslingers. Good Job!
I went out for a couple of hours before dark last pm--did Nada. A couple bait fishermen were in the spot I wanted to fish. It takes a little getting used to seeing trout yarded up onto the bank and wacked on the head when all I have seen in the last few months is flyshermen fondling trout gently as they put them back. The nightcrawler tubs and beer cans littering the streamside were a bit of a bummer too.
Hi JT I'm new to this board and Fly Fishing in general. Since I've been following the board now for a few weeks your name always comes up and gives some very helpfull information. Were you nymphing with those fly's?? Or were throwing a dry with those as your dropper?? Can you also direct me as to good part's of the creek to fish?? Any help would be appreciated.
I just about always fish with a nymph and indicator set up on Putah. I use the smallest indicator that I can get way with to support the weight of my flies and split shot. Lately, I've been using yarn. I used foam for a while because of their sensitivity, but the yarn ones hit the water like a feather--super soft. You can spook fish with big indicators and the smaller ones help to detect subtle strikes. The takes have been pretty obvious lately, though, with the higher flows.
There are rare occasions when I'll break out the dry/dropper set up. Last Thursday this set up caught about 20 fish. On Saturday this set up accounted for only 1 fish. I had 2 rods with me on both days:5 wt and 3 wt. The 5 wt was rigged up for fishing deep with nymphs, and the 3 wt was waiting for dry fly action. There was only one opportunity on Saturday to throw the dry which resulted in one fish.
If you want to catch fish right now, the bridge area is producing. You'll be fighting for spots with bait fishermen, but there are a lot of hatchery fish waiting to caught. Another area is access #5. They have recently stocked Lake Solano, so some of the fish should be moving upstream. You should be able to find willing fish in both areas. Hatchery are not the prettiest fish nor the hardest fighting, but they are fun to learn on. They also help to keep you from getting skunked.
__________________
"Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught."
I am still trying to get back up there, maybe this week. I moved to San Anselmo in Marin-home to several big stocked lakes and it's been wide open the last few days with mid sized albeit very, very, very dumb hatchery trout.
It would appear that they remove the brains of these little lake tubbies at birth-I mean whoever heard of a natural taking a mini-marshmellow?
These guys gobble them up like PEZ, meanwhile I am throwing all manner of dries at them...anyone got a white 'mello pattern?
Any day you can get a few of those guys on the surface is a good day though.
Mmmmmmmmm yummmy.
