Visiting Napa in early September

David_D · Newbie

Visiting Napa in early September

rmacneil656 · Veteran Member

Good Morning David,
Welcome to the board! September can be a great time to fish the creek. Before I go into fishing I would like to point out a few things:
Putah Creek is a Catch and Release system that requires barbless and artificial Flies/lures year long. Putah Creek is a wild trout fishery, so when you catch these fish please do your best to release them as quickly as possible and try and keep at minimum their gills in the water as much as possible. This will help ensure that fish survive and thrive.
The creek also has the invasive New Zealand mud snail. Take proper steps to clean and dry your gear before returning to your home waters.
Now for the Fishing:
Putah Creek flows are controlled by the damn and most of the water is eventually used for irrigation. You should check the flows before you go out fishing. Flows tend to be high in the summer, low in the winter. High flows make wading and general access difficult. There is also a lot of brush and overhang so make sure you have roll casts dialed in. This is California so watch out for poison oak, rattle snakes, mountain lions ( pretty rare but they have been sighted) and last but not least blackberry bushes as they can shred a good pair of waders.
As far as where to go there are access points & parking lots along the generally fishable sections. Every parking lot pretty much has good fishable water. You may just need to hike up or down a little ways to find it. It is only a few miles From the Upstream dam to the last access point so try to cover a lot of water.
Flies: Most people use small nymphs under an indicator, however you can use whatever tactic you are most comfortable with. Dry fly fishing can be spotty at best. If you see a hatch give it a try, but don’t wait on the hatches. Stop by a fly shop while in the bay area to pick up some flies or I believe there are users on here that sell flies specifically for the creek.
Cheers
Ryan

David_D · Newbie

Hey, Ryan,

Thanks for the info!

I am also strictly a catch and release fisherman. And, I only use barbless flies. I'm vegetarian and try to do as little physical harm as possible.

I am from Arkansas. We have lot of dangerous animals here combined with lot of poisonous plants. So, all those obstacles I am well versed in. The mud snails though...those we don't have. I had read about them and will be sure to be very cautious to clean my gear.

pcd · Newbie

Can you speak to current water levels, early Sept. patterns and if you ever streamer fish with a weighted line on Putah?

rmacneil656 · Veteran Member

Water levels can be found through a google search or I think there is a link floating around. Mostly flows will depend on the need for water by farmers. If its hot and dry flows will be up, if its cold and rainy flows will be down. I've fished streamer on putah, but then again Ive fished everything on putah. Streamers arent always a go too and success is hit or miss, but as streamer fishing goes when you get a hit it tends to be a good fish.

keith bigelow · Webmaster

There is a link for "Creek Flows" on the Blue Bar above the Forum

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv/?site_no=11454000&agency_cd=USGS