Nice job on catching fish on dries!! It is a rare occasion that I tie on a dry fly for putah. There was a nice caddis hatch a few weeks ago, and I did catch about a 14" fish on an X2 caddis. I am sure you were yelling at the TV and the coaches about this game.

Hey guys.  I went out Sunday afternoon from about 2:00-4:30.  I think it's just a matter of being at the right place at the right time.  I caught 2 in a section that I had never fished before right as the heavy rain hit.  I have had so many skunked outings and was so pumped that I finally had success,  I didn't realize until I got back to the car just how wet and cold I was.  I could barely open and close my hands.
As far as the real fishing report goes, I'm still trying to figure out all the ethics and do's and don'ts out there.  I'm just trying to catch fish and when you pull out one of Putah's beautiful rainbows you get reminded just what a great little creek it is.  Education goes a long way.  My first trip ever was last winter.  I was checking out the creek for 10 min or so and some dude walks up, asks if he can fish here, I said go ahead, he looked like he knew what he was doing and I had never fished with a fly before and I wanted to learn , so I watched.  He made 2 casts and then hooked up and landed a big 'bow.  Then, I could see the fish he was targeting.  There were 4-6 big rainbows lined up in shallow, smooth water.  My buddy and I hammered those fish for about an hour, hooked several landed 1.  I thought, man fly fishing is awesome and so easy!  Well, a month or so later I joined this forum and learned alot about fly fishing.  Including how to spot redds and to leave those fish alone.  The new signs and stuff that were posted should be very helpful.

i do my best on the creek when i am fishing to take time out of my day to stop at all the spawning areas to make sure noone is targeting them. and if they are i go educate them. if they just give me the ya what ever buddy, then i give them the illegal stand point on what the are doing. which is lining fish or snaggin fish is spawning areas is illegal same goes for anyother area, but spawning areas are more suspectable to this because the fish are easier to line and snag. i tell them that i have seen DFG out 3 times already today, and already handed out one ticket to a guy for doing the same thing, they took all his gear, (which he might get back but 75% of the time they dont) and he recieved a 1200 dollar ticket, cuz not only was he lining but he had barbs on every single fly he was using.

that statement right there pretty much makes them pack up and leave about 95% of the time, if they stay and they keep hittin the redds i tell them that i am about to take a pic of u as well as your car and lics plate and head down to the DFG station which is only 10 mins away, so u have about 20 mins to get the hell out of here or there is going to be a huge issue and its not going to be me adding to the bashing. that pretty much gets them the hell out of dodge.

i do the same for the bait guys as well. same story just without the redds part.

just my 2 cents.

everything i say to these people are in a very respectfull, sincere and education tone. and havent had an issue yet. and for my protection i carry a 8" buck knife with me at all times. u never know what kinda crazy bear will come at u in the woods. lol. the way i wrote it sounds better, u know the get the hell out of here part, but i dont say it exactly like that. like i said i do it with respect and i am very sincere about how i say it, and its more of an education stand point than anything else. if they do start giving me lip, then i do take pics of them and their car and plate and shoot off down the road.

i am a pretty sneaky guy for the most part, ill take of my waders so i dont swish swish through the bushes and what not, and just sit and watch for a bit. sometimes i talk to them from a safe distances and sometimes u cant. but with the knife on my side i havent had any lip yet.

the best is when they say man i didnt even know that was a redd. thats the best, so u are throwing a glo bug or a bead and u didnt know that was a redd. i call bullsh-t, but what ever. that is the funniest. if u know fish are not spawning y would u even throw a glo bug.

u are taking what i am saying way out of proportion here.

there is a ethical way to fish the spawn and an unethical way to fish the spawn.

as far as carrying a knife, i carry one for protection, from bears, cougars, an occational berry bush or vine, and u never know maybe a crazy person as well. but its for protection not to scare people.

again the way i typed it was to make it sound funnier, people that know me, know i am not a violant person, i wouldnt harm a fly.

This goes for everyone including me.....
people need to understand that when someone types something it can be interperated 1 million different ways. so fyi when some writes on a post. if u have an issue with something they posted about, pm them, dont start a big bashing parade on the board, thats not mature at all. use your pm's thats what they are there for.

and just like i said i put a lil more action in mine to make it sound fun, but come on am i really gonna shine my knife around and say hey u hillbillies get your butts off the redds or i am calling the cops....NO. gonna educate first, take other actions later if needed, unnoticable actions later, i wont tell them i am gonna take a pic of them, or their car or plate, shoot that will get me killed. ill just do it when they are not looking.

That is so funny Bob!!!  I am still rolling on the ground.  Apparently golfers like to indulge in the finer things in life!!  Wine, women and song.  Tiger Woods comes to mind. 

You should have put Alistair and JL on your team, they both have single digit handicaps.  You would have won that tournament!!

Three bottles of wine? Alastair produces some good wine, but aren't you going to be a CHP guy?

Brian,

Thanks for patrolling the river. I have only seen a few DFG guys and gals in the past ten years. A warden actually wrote a ticket and confiscated equipment? That is some good news!! Be careful out there.

Bob, I know quit well the pain you must have been in ! It could not have been worse then my truckee river hangover. almost had packrat pull over on the way that morning so I could give it up.

Good thing they dont serve much wine at the Bar of America eh bob? That wouldve been a sight to see ;D

I saw the snow on the hills around the mouth of the creek yesterday, so I headed up  to Putah, hoping to get a few pictures of the creek with snow on the banks.  The snow was only on the tops of the hills, though, so I took some pictures of the few spawning fish that I found instead.