So - I went out to the creek Friday hoping to hook up with a few fellow 'posters' but I saw no one. In a way, that was nice, because part of the appeal of fly fishing to me is the solitude it affords me. Having said that, I am looking forward to fishing with other posters.
I hit the water above access three around 7:30 AM and it was sort of cold, and WINDY WINDY WINDY. Man, if that wind didn't make for some tough fishing. I nymphed the pocket water for a while and had a few nice hookups including a fatty that spit the hook as it jumped - i'd say he was 16-17 inches. Most fish were hooked on a #20 PT. That is the goto fly right now what with the great bwo hatches.
As I moved up above #3, I found several two fly rigs in the trees. I love that. I get to see what other folks are using, and it makes me feel better about losing my own rigs in the trees - I think I find as many as I lose, so it's not such a loss. I have to say the most common flies I find are small pheasant tails, small red midges, and variants on caddis poopahs. The flies I found Friday were no exception.
So, with the brutal wind, I decided to pull out my sink tip line and tie on a streamer. I fished that back down to my car above #3 with no luck - which surprised me. I got off the water there around 9:30 and decided to head up above the bridge, to fish up to the dam. I've never been up there, so I thought I'd give it a try, and the water always looked good for streamers.
So, I headed up to the little island right where the creek comes in and landed 5 or 6 planters in about 30 minutes pulling a green flash bugger.
I moved up from there all the way to the dam, but the water was so dirty and filled with crap that I was cleaning my streamer every 5 seconds. Plus with the wind, I wasn't able to roll cast far enough to cover much water in the confined area near the dam.
I moved back down to about half way between the dam and the bridge to a nice section of water and landed 10-15 more planters in the next hour or so. Pretty consistent action on the flash buggers and a black woolly bugger. I took the noon-4:00 time frame to get some grub and do some work, and hit the water again (access 5) around 4:30. Pulled the streamer in some deeper holes and hooked some larger fish - to about 15 inches - but I think they were planter hold overs b/c they just didn't fight like putah bows. Around 6:00 the mayflies started going off, and I switched to a pt / caddis double nymph rig and got quite a few takes on the pt. Nothing of size. Around 7:30 - toward dark, the mayflies were REALLY going off, strongest hatch I've seen in recent memory, so that even in the wind, the fish were rising consistently - even up by the split - which I haven't seen all year. Mostly small fish rising, though. I got a few grabs on an emerger - and hooked a fatty in some shallow water on a small PT that I was tightlining. He was a lightning bolt, though, and as soon as I got tension on him, he shot down into a deeper pool, jumped once (more like he 'flew' once) and was gone. Damn I was pissed. Only really nice fish I had a chance of landing all day. But I fooled him, which is the hard part. I love the way the putah bows jump and sometimes skip across the water. Sometimes they jump straight up, but as often they come out of the water at a 10-15 degree angle and go three feet before they hit the water again. Very exciting!
At dark I tied on a small bwo and although I couldn't see it, I hooked several smallish fish on it. there were some larger fish rising as I walked back to my car, but with the wind I just couldn't get my flies in front of them.
For you folks looking for success on putah, get some green/black wooly buggers and throw em as far across and down stream as you can (20-45 degrees), give a few upstream mends to let em sink and follow the line with your rod as the bugger swings across. Let it sit there in the current right downstream from you for five-ten seconds, moving your rod a bid from side to side to swim it. Strip the line back to you in 6 inch to 1 foot increments, fast, and slow, or alternating fast and slow... each strip, let the bugger fall back in the current - sort of pausing, then make your next strip. Takes are agressive and unmistakable. Most often fish hook themselves. If you feel a take but the fish missed it, don't freak out and jerk your rod back - just keep stripping - sometimes they'll hit it again.
Guaranteed results for planters. If you don't have a sinking link, tie the bugger on with a surgeon's loop, and put a few ABs above the knot. It'll be harder to cast, but the net results will be the same.
Good luck.
JL
PS - there are grapes growing wild on the backside of the split against the near bank. They taste great and are perfectly ripe. I think they're putah - pinot noir!
Great report JL. I've been using an olive flash bugger on the creek for a couple of years now with great success, especially in the summer with planters. I use a Teeny T-130 sinktip on my 5 wt. One question about your technique. I find that if I let the streamer rest too long at the end of the swing or feed out line to get it down, it often gets hooked on the bottom on the retrieve. This is especially true as the flows drop in the fall. I tend to keep stripping to avoid this. Do you run into this difficulty at all?
Nice report Jl. I hate the wind ! I'll take rain or even snow over wind ! I caught alot of fish this weekend on #18 p.t's. I fished sat. and sun. and caught alot of fish By casting striaght out or even slightly downstream and swinging it across on a tight line with no indicator, Always letting it hang at the end of the drift and giving it a twitch or two. Also got fish on a red san juan worm, and copper johns Size #18 in both red and black, One on a #16 prince.
I think we missed each other at #3. I saw and heard (sounded like some frustration) someone while I was getting set-up at around 9 a.m. I didn't want to crowd another angler so I dropped into the water through the burned out area near the parking lot. I didn't have such good luck at #3. I faired better at #5 with an #18 PT. I also ran into ChemDoc and met ConcordBob at #5.
I tried pulling a Krystal Bugger at #5 using an intermediate sink tip. I couldn't get the fly to stay down in the faster water. When I pulled the fly in I could see it water skiing on the surface. I thought about putting some shot on it but was worried about being able to cast it. I will have to try your streamer method next time I head out.
If you heard me, it was probably after I hooked nice fish, played him for a while then he came unbuttoned at which point my flies flew up and hit the tree above me... so not only did I lose a nice fish, I lost my damn rig. That is the worst.
Anyway, with respect to your question, I'm not sure how fast the water is you're talking about. If you want to get your streamer down in fast water, case more across the stream or even up stream, giving extra line and several up stream mends to let it sink. As your line passes you on its way downstream, give another upstream mend, then follow it down... this will get your flies deeper. Sinking lines are harder to waterhaul cast b/c they tend to stay in the water, also you don't really cast streamers upstream so much. So you have to just roll cast to the best of your ability. More weight makes that tougher for sure.
Chemdoc - I haven't fished streamers in putah's low flows yet. I might try to do so with my floating line and a little shot or just not mend so much when the water is shallower. With regard to letting the fly hang as the end of the drift, I find if I keep enough tension on, I'll keep it off the rocks. However, I did probably have 6-7 snags at the end of the drift yesterday, but that was out of several hundred casts, so not too bad a ratio.
Steve - one thing I forgot to mention was to keep you rodtip in the water as you strip in your line. I keep mine 6 inches to a foot under water. that will help keep the fly down.
Great report JL, one of these days we'll run into each other, heck I'm surprised we haven't yet I was on the creek at varrious times for the past 4 days. Wind was an issue alot of the time this w/e. Most of my fish came from high stickin pocket water or nymphs on the swing.
