New guy on the creek!!!(help PLEASE?LOL)

ryanpadgett · Member

New guy on the creek!!!(help PLEASE?LOL)

Matt R · Senior Member

Ryan welcome to the boards, sounds like what your using should catch fish. Late winter/early spring is probably one of the hardest times of the year to catch fish on Putah atleast for me it is. One thing for sure is the fish will feed, when and where is always the question. Lately for me the bite has been better in the late afternoons but that tends to change from week to week. As to where to fish all I can say is in the water. Really there are fish everywhere. But the real secret to catching fish is you just got to keep pluggin away.

ryanpadgett · Member

*laughing* Well, plugging at it is the current plan! See, now that I've been skunked a bunch, I'm hooked..lol...Besides, fishing only for the purpose of catching fish is like getting married for the purpose of having sex......If it's your reason, then you'll be sorely disappointed some day soon..lol....If ya see me out there, come say hi! (actually, I'm heading out there right now...

)

LilWhippersnapper · Senior Member

Use your instincts...Sometimes it doesn't work, but sometimes it does. Fish all the likely spots, and make sure you make a good drift. I catch a lot of fish in 2-3 feet of water. 20 zebra midge in black or red is one of my favorite, but Matt's right. There are fish everywhere.

shon42073 · Senior Member

You must concentrate and become one with the river, Become one with nature, and become one with the trout. Just kidding biggrin

. Matt said it the best keep pluggin away and pay your dues buddy. I have not had great success since about late december. Fishing will pickup very soon. Remenber one thing, Theres fish almost everywhere, its a matter if you can get one to bight. Take a day and just hike the creek, you will find some great spots away from the bridge area.

JL · Senior Member

My advice is to search this board for old posts from Brian Clemens.� He asked about every question you could ask and got lots of answers.� He was a newbie last summer and has like a thousand posts now.� He started out getting skunked every time and was miserable, but he kept at it and started bangin fish.� Course, he fished like 30 times a week (LOL - just messin Brian).

Seriously, search for those posts.

Quick tips:� small mayflies, caddis pupas, zebra midges, and be prepared to clean moss off your flies and lose a lot of flies in the trees behind you (unless you're an accomplished roll caster).

Good luck!

LilWhippersnapper · Senior Member

haha, JL gave the best advice you can get...

shon42073 · Senior Member

heres the best advice... get your butt out there and make your own report, If ya dont like the current fishing report then get your self out there and make your own. Its not about reading past posts, or finding someone that will tell you were and how to fish, its about getting your a$$ out there and putting time in. Not that hard, but then again seems everything now days is all about quick satisfaction.

-- Edited by thecaptain at 20:31, 2008-03-12

SuperFlyGuy · Veteran Member

haha welcome to putah friend. She doesnt take to newcomers easily I can tell you that. It took me the better part of 10 visits before I started consistently getting hooked up. You have the right gear, and the right approach. We're not being vague by saying the fish could be anywhere, because really they are. From the lower bridge all the way to the dam, I've seen people hook into great fish. The flows change so often that the fish move around in the water system so much. But if you find them, it will make a great day of fishing often hooking up in the first cast or so. The trick is to keep moving and avoid people.

6x tippet flouro, pause at the end of the swing a bit, pupahs in 16, zebra midges 20-22, anything small will do, really. Try an egg combo with any of the aforementioned. The egg helps with the visibility a bit and they always hit the nymph. I use a small 3wt because 90% of the time Im casting in small water and have bushes behind me. It will save you loading so much line up on the rod, small effecient roll casts is the trick.

You can do with or without the indicator. I prefer none myself.

Good luck!

AC22 · Senior Member

thecaptain wrote:

You must concentrate and become one with the river, Become one with nature, and become one with the trout.

Steer clear from this guy ( hes a little off his rocker mate )�� ;)�

Just messin cappy

but ya ive had the same luck as you mate maybe we can hook up soemtime and get skunked together eh?�

always better with freinds

shon42073 · Senior Member

by the way Ac22 you owe me an indicatodor and a leader. Of course i am kidding. You learn how to tye� a tippet on yet� ?

AC22 · Senior Member

thecaptain wrote:

by the way Ac22 you owe me an indicatodor and a leader. Of course i am kidding. You learn how to tye� a tippet on yet� ?

Ya a stonefly too :) ill make it up to ya one day

ya got that down pretty well now

cathcing fish is the next goal

Lahontan · Senior Member

Hey All ... been away a while! Miss ya'll and the creek.

Hey Ryan...WELCOME! I am impressed with the advise you've gotten in this thread ... it's ALL good...if you'll pardon the cliche.

Just a couple things I'd emphasize or add. First, take Cappy's advise and get out to the creek and get your but kicked! (joking) but seriously, I learned more not catching fish in some cases than catching. I think I fished 2 or 3 times without a take.

First fish to hand was a 10" stocker. Addiction, occured when a pig of unknown size took my fly stripped line off of my reel for 5 seconds and broke off.

So here it is for me...fly selection: generally speaking "go small". I agree...fish are everywhere, I can "feel" it�better than I can describe it. Keep fishing, you'll see what I mean. Last, and this was huge for me, don't give up on your drift too early, I hit some nice fish on the swing, AND the final rise as the bug comes up off the bottom.

Now go�fish, and report back!

Ed

ryanpadgett · Member

I'de love to man! I'm tryin to get out there at least once or twice a week whenever I'm in the country(I travel a lot).....And hey, I'm totally OK with getting skunked.....Actually, I kinda like the challenge....Wouldn't be anything to be proud of if anyone off the street could come in and catch em all, would it?� SOOOO, on that note, you guys will DEFINATELY see me out there; whether I'm catching fish or not, I'm already pretty much hooked on putah creek

As for going out, just shoot me an email! ryan.padgett@yahoo.com... Or just post on here....I get notifications on my crackberry, and we'll go out and rip some lips!

Ryan

JT · Senior Member

Fish the edges.

mx19 · Senior Member

If you had to pay a dollar for every good how to tip�about putah creek�on this board you would have spent as much as it cost to hire bono...
� I hate to say it, but this "new to the creek and I need help" topic comes up all the time...If you want the get it now version of putah spend the money for a half or full day guided trip...If you want the to master it on your own ,time on the water will get you there..
�When I want to learn a new river I hire a guide to get the most out of it.It sure helps when I go back to fish it on my own...
� I will say this message board is a good place to learn some, what to do and what not to do things about flyfishing and putah creek...
� enjoy the learning process as well .It is very rewarding.I believe that acheiving success feels better than being succesful....

mx19

brian clemens · Senior Member

jl funny hahaha. but you are right, you put in your time you will learn it quickly. i started out fishing putah every once in a while, then started fishing it 2 times a week for 3 months straight. fished by myself, and fished with some very knowledgable people. i think me fishing it with those that know the creek then by myself really payed off. i watched and learned from them, and went on my own. it is a hard creek to master, and i still have much to learn but if you put your time in, TRUST ME IT WILL PAY OFF. if that water looks fishy, then fish it. if it doesnt fish it anyways. you would be suprised. i have caught fish in the unfishiest spots, like frog water, there are some big fish that lerk in those waters. and have caught fish in fast water as well, deep pools to shallow runs, to tail outs, as cappy and others have said, there are fish everywhere on this creek from lake solano to the dam. fish it long and hard. and maybe even walk the creek one day just to find spots that no one fishes all that often.

good luck out there

tight lines
brian

SK60 · Senior Member

Every month 3-4 "newbies" request info on how, where, when, and what to fish on the Creek. Several senior members then kindly provide a litany response, opening with "hire Greg B"(an excellent idea) to closing with "get out there and fish" and "get out there and look". At least half of the water can be seen from the road from the dam down to the 2.5 mile point, if you pull over into the turnouts. Often what can't be seen can be heard when its fast water. There are trails from the dam down to below access 5 so well used that you don't have to machete your way through the brambles and poison oak, unless you want to. There have been so many "report" posts giving quite a bit of detail of water and flies that its hard to keep track. Maybe Keith B should collate them all into an online "handbook". If you are new to nymphing or don't know how to "read" water, rent videos and buy books-there are hundreds of excellent ones out there-any fly shop can help. And keep the positive attitude; my own experience is 50% skunked, 40% 1-3 fish, and 10% 3+fish.

ryanpadgett · Member

Hey guys! Thanks for all the advice! Actually, I'm kind of planning on learning the river myself for the most part(i.e. I'm trying to learn it from trial and error as opposed to taking a guide out)....I love catching fish, but it's actually kinda nice to go to a river where it takes some time to get it right....call it character building

....Then again, I'm also not opposed to getting getting a LITTLE push in the right direction...So again, thanks for the advice! I guess from here on out, I'll just post back and let ya know if and when I start catching fish! If any of ya wanna head out, drop me a line!

Ryan

throwinmetal · Veteran Member

I was in your shoes back in September. I visited the creek several times before posting here. Then it took several more trips after reading and posting here for me to get my first trout. I still have lots to learn but I believe it will come with putting in the time (and using the right flies).

JT · Senior Member

If you want more specific info on fishing the creek, click on the keyword search above.� Type in "new" or "newbie".� Read all of those posts.� I think you'll find many of the answers you're looking for.