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RETURN to Putah Creek Trout -> Putah Creek Fly Fishing Forum -> Putah Creek Fly Fishing -> Monsters Be Thar! V.2
Post Info TOPIC: Monsters Be Thar! V.2
Shark Diver


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Monsters Be Thar! V.2
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Got on the road this morning at 6.00am. Almost said "nuts to fishing" when I got an eye full of the wind and wet. Arrived in a strange misty dawn at my favorite spot on Putah and proceeded to step ankle deep into fresh mud. So much for the dry socks.

Opened with a Tan Fox Pupa and some heavy weight to keep it on the bottom. The flows (as expected) are way up, and I could see several pre-spawners up stream. All are huge, all could care less that I was there, fishing a deep pool a few yards down from them.

Soft cold rain as I tossed out my first fly into the deep green current. The indicator vanishes in a split second and I pop the rod tip feeling something heavy on the end. One magnificent head sweep, and then another and I KNOW this fish is for real.

Forgot the rain, cold. Focus instead on the blistering run upstream and leaps out of the water. This Putah Hog knows all the tricks, scraping the bottom, twisting in air, runs against the current....and I know from the miles of tippet and more lost flies than I can count a few alternate tricks as well.

In the rush to get to the stream I forgot my net, Christ, have to really handle this fish well, guide this nice looking hen into the slow water, easy does it.

An otter swings by for a look, he hauls out on a log upstream and watches intently as I guide this Hog into the slow water for the photo finish.

It's all over too soon and she's back in the strong current with a flick of the tail...the otter yawns at me as if he's seen bigger.

In all a 5 Hog day, here's two before my camera battery died.

Flies:

1. Tan Fox Pupa
2. Green Pupa with bead head
3. Zebra midge
4. Big Ugly Greenie Thing

Putah Creek in the rain?

Priceless! 
--


-- Edited by Shark Diver at 14:02, 2007-12-04

-- Edited by Shark Diver at 17:39, 2007-12-04

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Daara


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those are some GOOD fish. what size zebra midges did you use?

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shon42073


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Nice pics. Correct me if I am wrong please, The fish on the left is a buck the fish on the right is a hen ? If that is correct this a good chance for people to see the difference. If I am incorrect, well I'm tryin. Funny how hooking into a fish makes ya forget real quick about that cold rain fallin on ya. Those dark foggy overcast days on putah are priceless, everything seems quieter. Thats what winter trout fishin on putah is about.

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Shark Diver


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They were size 18 with a small silver bead head. I have lost more of these to soft takes than I can recount. They worked all through out the morning.

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Shark Diver


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Good call Captain!

The more silver of the two was a hen and yes the darker of the two was the buck. Simply stunning colors this time of year and yes, I had forgot how damn cold I was the second these fish hit.

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shon42073


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Cool, All this reading about trout i do is payin off. I too have been using alot of midges size 20 to 22's and the takes are almost always super suttle, Even when i was using a 20 griffith gnat as an indicator the takes were still super sutle. But I have had a few just nail it on the swing, but just a few on the midges.

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Daara


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i love the zebra midge. it works well in a lot of places.

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Lahontan


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Freakin' Rock Star!


Nice fish!  ... Cool narrative ... where do I get me some of dem there BUGT's (Big Ugly Green Thingies) ....(ROFL  LMAO!)wink

Fun update thanks Diver!

Ed

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Shark Diver


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Hi Ed,

The "BUGT's" look like your regular green wolly buggers, except these have a silver flash in them and a small red tail. I bought a few of them on the advice of the fly shop in Reno last spring when we were at Pyramid Lake.

Naturally they worked like shi#$% on that lake and I have been trying them out all over the place since then. They have worked well on ol' Putah, too well.

I left my last one in the top of a tree yesterday. It's also attached to about 6 feet of tippet;)

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Otter


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Way to go Sharky. Sounds like you were hammering them in the rain. What was the biggest fish out at Pyramid? Were you fishing on a ladder?

I have always wanted to bring a tree trimmer to the creek. I could get rid of some of those overhanging branches and get some free flies.

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chris
Shark Diver


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Hi Otter,

Good hearing from you. Got those last two fish at that spot you let me drop in on a few weeks back. Love that spot. Here's a pic of a Pyramid Lake Bruiser I took on a float tube trailing a size 20 red midge...seriously took me 40 minutes to get this one in. He just towed me around the lake for a while while I prayed to the 4X tippet gods and to the makers of very small hooks.

Ladder fishing is fun if you hit it right, and a drag if you do not. Although ANY day on Pyramid Lake is still a better day than working for a living. I am going back this spring. Spend a day on the river and a few days at the lake.

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SK60


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Put a pair of 6" flower cutters in your pack-lightweight and can help you retrieve some of those flies as well as create new "access" tunnels. I never leave home for Putah wihout them.

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brian clemens


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bad ars sharky, you can also tell by the mouth, females will have a smaller shorter jaw structure,  as a male will have a longer bigger jaw structure. cappy yours was a male. my big fatty girl was a female.

-- Edited by brian clemens at 13:33, 2007-12-05

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Otter


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That is a giant Pyramid Rainbow. During the summer I float Putah and have been towed around by a few of Putahs monsters.

I fished that riffle I met you at about two weeks ago and landed a huge fish. It was pretty weird looking. It had a tumor about the size of a golf ball right near the dorsal fin. I think it must have been hit by a cormorant or one of those fish eating ducks.

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chris
Shark Diver


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Bet if you dug around in that "tumor" you would find a well preserved #20 "nymph".

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shon42073


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Nice pyramid fish shark diver. I've had an oppurtunity to fish pyramid a few times and have turned it down, Do to the fact my buddy that fishes it regularly only trolls hardware, Definetly not my cup of tea, Trolling is almost as bad as soaking bait.

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brian clemens


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i agree with ya captain. but everyonce in a while you need a break and if you can catch pigs like that and thats the average, then bust out there beer and cheetos and i am there.

i might be doing that at amador with sk60 (steve). should be fun. they get that big in there. whats good about amador is that its so low that the fish are easier to get, less water to troll.

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shon42073


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You can troll a streamer on a fly rod with a downrigger, but I assume the surface temp. is low enough that a downrigger is not needed now. So pulling a wooly bugger behind the boat may work well. Thinkin I should pull the ol boat out of storage, Problem is i no longer have a truck to tow it with. Nevermind, I'll fish a river or creek over a lake anytime. I guess it's time to sell that old boat.

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brian clemens


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dont sell it anytime soon, i might be lookin to get a small suv here sometime in the near future. so if thats the case we can hit up some lakes. can it make a river run, like a drift boat, or is it a bass boat.

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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.
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