I've been fishing Putah sporadically for about 12 years now and have only recently figured out how to consistently catch the rainbows in Putah, but have not seen or hooked a brown (that I know of). I gathered from previous posts that the chances of catching a brown are much better from Access #5 down. While I'm not asking for you to reveal any of your honey holes, I would like to know the flies people were using when they did manage to fool the elusive Putah Creek brown. I know the usual suspects that often work for brown trout in other rivers, but as I've found out through experience, Putah is an especially cruel and fickle mistress, and the usual suspects usually fail to impress. Thanks for your help!
Thanks Packrat. Did you drift the Goblin under an indicator, strip retrieve, high stick? Did you get agressive takes or were they more subtle?
Best,
James
Mostly a dead drift with no indicator and throw in an occasional short strip. No lead either. The goblin has a rabbit strip across the back. It takes a while to get it to sink. The trick is to hold it under water with your hand and swish it around to get the leather of the strip soaked, then it will sink nicely. If you use about 8 feet of 4x fluorocarbon you'll be set. Spring is the best time to use the goblin with the murky water since the fly uses high contrast colors. Check Cutters website for info on the goblin.
Early this Winter I foul-hooked a 23 inch brown. Of course, I was disappointed that it wasn't lip-hooked, but it was a really impressive fish, nonetheless, and what a fight it put up! I was using an egg/mayfly nymph combo at the time, but I don't remember which fly had foul-hooked him. It had probably been 8 or 9 years since I had caught a brown, but I remember that it was a 16 incher. Many, many years ago I caught an 18 1/2 inch brown at access 5 on a brown Sawyer pheasant tail.
