Got to the creek about 3:30 PM in my new favorite spot.
No one else was in sight, which was cool by me, though I do look forward to fishing with my fellow posters some day.
Tied on a #16 Pheasant tail and a black midge dropper.
First cast, first fish, a native, who after 3 jumps (so awesome to see fish like that), came unbuttoned. No biggie. Problem, of course is I had no idea what fly he took.
Ok, reset. Second cast, second fish, another jumper, about 13-14 inches (see attached photo). He was fatter than he looked - a little football. He hit the pheasant tail, which, given all the mayfly activity lately, was no surprise.
After about 20 more casts I had about 6 more hookups, including a few larger fish, all of whom came unbuttoned in the fast water. This whole time, as the sun was creeping down the sky, there was no wind, and mayflies were floating by like little tents on the water. I heard/saw a large fish rise up above me about twenty yards close to the far bank. I moved up.
First cast in the new spot, putah pig. About 17-19 inches, didn't have a tape, but you can see for yourself in the pic. He came out of the water 5 or six times and tore line off my reel like a bat out of hell. Lucky for me he ran up stream or I would never have landed him. He was so fat, I could barely get my hand around him. He also took the pheasant tail. Like many fish on putah (maybe all natives?) he had some cutthroat in him. Orange slashes under his jaw.
I resuscitated him and watched him laze his way up stream from rock to rock until I lost sight of him.
It went on like this for another hour or so, with several more 13-15 inch fish to hand and that many lost, including a few more pigs. I often wonder if I'm hooking the same fish when I hook them and they get off after a head shake.
No way to really know I guess.
Well, after hammering them in that spot I moved down stream and got to an area where tightlining is the gig and slayed them there too, on a size 22 bwo emerger pattern that is just magnetic during the hatch. Literally, in each pool, the first 3-4 casts yielded fish.
then the fish were rising like crazy. They loved the mayfly emerger fished as a dry and swung, but I was getting mostly dinks at that point. I decided to try another pool where I knew there were bigger fish. I got there just as it was becoming too dark to see anything but snouts and backs sillouetted against the now mirror like surface. I tied on a cdc bwo and cast it straight up stream hoping to see the splash of a rise and wasn't disappointed. Only problem is that the fish (a good size fish) spit the hook immediately and my line shot behind me from tension in went into the bushes. At this point there was no hope of saving my rig, so I cut my leader down to about the 3X point and tied on a caddis. I drifted it over several large rising fish but they wouldn't take it. It was fun to see shoulders and noses though - I'm not used to that on putah.
If you haven't fished this mayfly hatch, pick up some PTs, some small grey mayfly emergers, and go hammer em. You won't regret it!
I was waiting for JL's usual Sunday report. Those are some really great fish; the second one is fatty. I contemplated heading out there on Sunday, but a migraine had me side-lined. After seeing your fish, I should have sucked it up and headed out. Great report!
Ya, I live in San Francisco. I'm down! I will let you know closer to the weekend if i am going foresure or not. FYI; I usually leave around 7:00am get to Putah at 8:30 and I leave by 3:00pm to get back by 4:30 or 5:00pm.
i was thinking about doing some salmon fishing next sunday the 23rd, told the boss i would take him, if things are slow, i might head out to putah later on, hey jl or bonefish you guys up to have a rookie come along, if you guys dont mind to have a rookie joining you let me know, just shoot me an email.
jl nice post and pics.
i am still waiting for my first real putah pig, i have done 2 planters on putah, have hooked into more than just a few pigs, but lately havent had such good luck. need to find some new spots. but i am all about gettin waist deep in the water if i have to, as long as its under 400, i was waist deep on the 15th i think flow was around 350, i had no problem out there in the water.
so hopefully we can plan something out for this coming sunday. i would really enjoy some company out there especially if you are a vet on the creek. just let me know.
oh ya will be making a carson trip on thrusday will let ya know how it goes.
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Fishing isnt about catching fish, its not about who caught the most, or who caught the biggest, its about the experience that you have on the water, and the life long bonds you make with others on the journey to becoming a better person inside.
Fishing isnt about catching fish, its not about who caught the most, or who caught the biggest, its about the experience that you have on the water, and the life long bonds you make with others on the journey to becoming a better person inside.
I'll most likely be fishing this sunday, Probably start at #5 around 7 a.m. Then move up to a spot I like around #2 a little later in the day. Nice report JL, Way to go get em !
Hmmm... don't want to fish into the evening? So two things would work... 1.) share a ride and fish til one of us wants to quit. Drive separately, and fish until we each want to. Maybe that makes more sense unless you want to stay later... i love fishing the evenings...
Hey JL, I will be up there all week long let me know if you will be going up during the week. Also I wanted to try some streamers this week and know you have had luck with them. What size and what kind have worked for you?
Every time I've fished around access 4 or 5 for the last few weeks, I've seen tons of mayflies. Now that I think of it, I don't think I saw any up high on the creek when I fished there a few weeks ago. You'd mentioned no insect activity. I wonder if they are moving up now?
Hmmm
Catch you on the creek soon, I hope. I should be out there at some point on sunday.
well still debating on what i am doing on sunday, I think I'm gonna go up to the N. Yuba and fish up there near Downieville with chuck, if i do go, gonna head up the night before crash then fish there all day sunday, but if not, hopefull jl and bonefish still dont mind some company
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Fishing isnt about catching fish, its not about who caught the most, or who caught the biggest, its about the experience that you have on the water, and the life long bonds you make with others on the journey to becoming a better person inside.
I have been out playing with some very big fish this time of year with the company and some private clients who like big fish as well. Looking to get back to good 'ol Putah in the fall when things settle down, looks like you're into some "classic fish" there!
I will be on the Upper SAC in a few weeks and let you folks know how it goes up there. We just need water temps to cool off and give some of those 22' monsters a chance to get hungry again.
In the meantime...here's what I have been playing with at Isla Guadalupe..White Shark Heaven;)
Damn Sharky! Those suckers are huge. I have always wanted to do that. It would probably keep me from diving for awhile though. Going to do some night dives in Mexico around thanksgiving. Nice report JL. Cutthroats?
Should be up there in the first week as well. Dog Creek exit and La Voie always produce fatties coming up from the lake to enjoy the cool weather and Caddis hatch. I checked in with the Fly Shop yesterday, the Caddis are a bit late this year, but some are coming off.
Zebra midges and lot's of them are my "go to" choice nymph this time of year as are PT's and anything in a size 20.
Very soft takes from the bigguns...cannot wait to get flyfishing again.
We went after some Cutthroats on Pyramid Lake this spring. Fishing from a 9 foot step ladder was a blast...caught this bruiser by getting in my little inflatable pond skipper and freezing my grapes off in that cold water...should have worn thermals.
By the way this guy fought like a summer brown on the Mc Cloud. Thanks to Steve Blair for hauling my ass out there in the first place.
Those are both great fish. One of the guys from Russian river flyfishers takes some folks to pyramid every year but I missed it last time. My cutty question was in regards to JL's comment about Putah fish having some trace in their bloodline. Maybe Bono knows?
Here is Bono's response to the cutthroat question from a previous post:
As far as cuttbow hybrids in Putah, I have unofficially heard that a cutbow hybrid was introduced in Miller canyon creek way back at the turn of the century. This little creek flows into Lk Solano and the upper reaches of it has a population of these fish that I would fish for when I was a kid, so maybe that's where the source of the light red-orange slash comes from.
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"Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught."
