First Timer at Putah

pork50 · Newbie

First Timer at Putah

DrDan · Administrator

Welcome! I am happy to share what little knowledge I have about fly selection. One word: small. Two words small and black. As a tailwater, there is a high proportion of midge and caddis and small mayflies in the trout diet. Typically size 16 - to as low as you can tie on a tippit. I have been having some success with size 20 - 22 black zebra midges, "drowned" midges. Some success with brown/tan sparkle caddis pupah. I have have success with small flies in other colors such as tan, red and blue. A few weeks back they liked small bead head copper Johns.

Although I hear people have success with the prince, I have not... I've heard of people cathching on buggers but I have not...

My last few outings I have had fun with some top surface flies such as the parasol midge in size 20 as an emerger form. They are really hard to see!

Good luck! More important than fly selection is access/ location and presentation...

Dan

-- Edited by drdan on Monday 24th of October 2011 10:13:10 PM

iamamultitasker · Senior Member

Why not buy some flies from Bono? That would be a great start. This is his website after all.

http://www.putahcreekflyfishing.com/fliesforsale.html

pork50 · Newbie

drdan wrote:

Good luck! More important than fly selection is access/ location and presentation...

-- Edited by drdan on Monday 24th of October 2011 10:13:10 PM

Thats true, I dont want to ask for anyones secret spots, but I was thinking of trying just below the dam at the public access point?

And Ordering the flys from Bono would be a great idea, but Im not sure if I'd have the flys by this saturday or sunday.

lightfoot · Senior Member

Does Greg still have a box of misc bugs for sale at Pardeshas or the market in Winters?

BTW despite what some people on this board might claim...there are NO secret spots on Putah creek. The thing is, most people look for the path of least resistance, which includes accessing areas of the creek to fish.

pork50 · Newbie

Alright thanks everyone for the advice. I will stop and Berryessa sporting goods and pick up some midges, WD-40's, egg flies, and some nymphs (anything else). Is there any good fishing below the diversion at Lake Solano?

Nohackle · Senior Member

For most of Putah creek's water try bead head flies. This applies to midges, mayflies and caddis. The idea is to get your flies down near the bottom of the stream. I don't know where you live, but Sweeneys sports in Napa has their fly bins marked for Putah creek. Creative Sports in Pleasant Hill has fly boxes put together specifically for Putah Creek; if nothing else these boxes will give you an idea of what will work at Putah. Most flyshops in the Bay Area or Sacramento can provide you with helpful information on what to use.

bono · Master Fly Fishing Guide

I'm no longer selling flies at the corner store (Pardhesas?) since it was bought out a couple of years ago, just do the online thing. In fact I just finished 2 more orders this morning and tied a few more for my outing which I'm leaving for in 10 more minutes!

Bob Loblaw · Senior Member

Putting my order in right now. Got some vacation days coming my way and I'm going to use em!

iamamultitasker · Senior Member

Even though I don't know Bono (hope to meet him some day) I would suggest that newbies consider hiring him as a guide. I know it's expensive, but if time = money it's even more expensive to spend months (or years) learning how to fish this place. This way you get a kick start and are most likely catching right away. IMO, this is very different from hiring a guide to float a big river with since you will be learning techniques and locations you can do on your own.

I took a totally newbie fly fisherman out the other day, rigged him up, gave him some flies, showed him where to fish and he hooked around 15 fish, biggest being something like 14". He had a totally awful drift, set the hook late, had no idea about the flies he was fishing and managed to bird-nest his line every time the bite got hot. Still, he caught fish being instructed by a person my wife calls "the worst teacher in the world."

Bono, you can thank me for the plug when we meet. wink