Putah creek fly box

Munsiecross · Member

Putah creek fly box

LilWhippersnapper · Senior Member

18 or smaller midges, size 16 or smaller pheasant tails, 18 or smaller wd-40's, 16 or smaller hares ears, and a woolly bugger.

Munsiecross · Member

Thanks little

ANGRYINCHER · Veteran Member

Yeah, start collecting some flies for your box: Zebra midges in diff. colors, poopahs, hare's ears in beads/non beads, pheasant tails in beads/non, Hogan S&M's, sucker spawn patterns, micro mayflies, etc. Check out your local fly shop and get some ideas. Like the above posts, different small sizes. Good luck!

Munsiecross · Member

Thanks angryincher I compiled a small list that I stared working on yesterday. Ill look up all the flys you typed above and add them to the list that whipersnapper left for me. I also picked up 10 flys from bono, that should yeald some nice patterns. I was planning on trying my luck this weekend, but with all this rain I might just tye instead.
However I do have a question whats the ideal flow range that I should look for when fishing the creek?
Thanks!

Ty · Senior Member

I like a disco midges, sz 20 or smaller. As for flows, I like Oct.-Nov in the 200-300 range. Not sure how those flows fish when they start crankin it back up for summer.

East Bay Ed · Senior Member

I've fished Putah for 40 years. Over that time one of the most consistent flies I've used has been a Double Renegade in a size 12 or 14. I always use soft hackles and fish it wet. Underwater the hackle folds back and the fly resembles a caddis emerging. I've probably caught more trout (and more 20 inch plus trout) with that fly then any other.

East Bay Ed

Munsiecross · Member

Wow thanks Ed, would you bewilling to take take me out on the creek for day? Perhaps pass along some of your hard earned knowlage of the water to me?

Putah is in my back yard, I look forward to the day I have a better understanding of its waters. I'm more than willing to put in my time on the water. I would just like to make sure I'm fishing the correct spots with the correct flies.

Also what color soft hackel combo's works best for you?
Cheers..

East Bay Ed · Senior Member

Hello Munsiecross,

The double renegade is a simple tie:

tag on bend of red floss

rear hackle of brown or tan two or three turns

rear body of pea****

mid hackle of cream two or three turns

front body of pea****

front hackle of brown or tan two or three turns

tie off with a wipe finish and you're ready.

Remember to use soft hackle. I usually fish the renegade with enough split shot to make sure it's bumping the bottom. I tie a lot of these flies and lose just as many making sure I'm near the bottom. Sometimes I'll fish it as a point fly with a dropper, at other times it will be the dropper. My favorites are size 12 and 14, but I will tie them down to an 18 and as large as a ten. If the water is shallow I fish it with no weight at all.

I don't spend a lot of time on Putah in the winter. Too busy chasing steelhead. I start fishing it when the water flows become consistent and my favorite time to fish it is from October through December.

Good Luck,

East Bay Ed

deaddrift · Member

munsie
this is half the experience.
I fished bait a very long time ago ,
when I went to ff only,there was a BIG learning curve.
So what I did was,
from the dam to the last spot ,like pull-out 5 ,
,,,I did a study,what looked good ,then I,,,
did a study on the insects of the creek ,all this time ,ive got a journal going.
then ,
I started tying flies for the creek to resemble size and color of bugs ,
then I started fishing ,keeping my journal as I went.
In all it was a lazy 2 year journey,
had I had someone show me ,well it would have taken away the reward of my first putah creek trout.
and now with the snails ,ive been away for yrs,but....
I want to once again try to fish their,but... im gonna have to start from scratch again,and re-learn her.
I know this might not be what you wanna hear,but... it will be much more rewarding in the end ,then you can hook up with us and we might show you secret spots lol...
have a good weekend.
deaddrift

SK60 · Senior Member

Here are some bugs that are doing well in the current state of silt.

Riffles: small glossosoma caddis, pink larva, pink/cream pupa (yes pink), sz 18-20; black fly larvae, black tail, head, cream body, size 14-20; hydropsyche caddis, green body, black head-lots of off the shelf patterns, 14-18; baetis (BWO), 16-20-lots of patterns.

Runs, holes, deeper tailouts (slower flows): midges, adults tiny black, 22-26-search "drowned midge" or "JT" for posts and pictures; larva and pupa, black or red, 18-24-lots of patterns out there. Fish see lots of various midge stages-may be the most common food item now with the level of streambed siltation.

Tyers have an advantageon PC, because they change up the details of basic patterns or design new ones that are not familiar to the fish and the fish are more likely to "take". If you don't tie, go to the bins of bargain flies in your shop and buy some unpopular versions of standards that are often there-odd colors or tied with different materials or are sparse ties. They don't always get you more fish, but on PC can help "level" the playing field.

-- Edited by SK60 on Tuesday 4th of October 2011 02:14:37 PM

Cole Davis · Senior Member

Otter and I ran into a crazy midge about a month ago maybe? Coolest colors I have seen on a midge. They were like a golden stone/light olive blend with very distinct dark ribbing on the bodies. Not to mention they were a size bigger than most of those little suckers out there. Pretty cool.

SK60 · Senior Member

Hard to know without specimens to key. Came across this photo of treating clear lake with 20,000 gallons of dichloro diphenyl dichloroethane (DDD) in 1953 to control the Clearlake Gnat. They knew how to poison back then!

-- Edited by SK60 on Wednesday 5th of October 2011 09:06:26 AM

Munsiecross · Member

Wow that is one scary picture, if they only knew what we know now.
Ps Thanks for all the feedback guys. I will report back after the next PC trip.

shon42073 · Senior Member

Its well worth it to take some time digging around in the riffles of putah creek to see what lives there, There is a surprising amount of life down there. As sk60 mentioned I really like the small cream/white caddis larva, I didn't read all the posts but a brassie defenitly has its moments.