New member but I have combed through the forum in the past. It's good to see a tight knit community devoted to such a unique watershed. I have been fly fishing for 15+ years, I have lived in the East Bay most of my life and have just now started fishing Putah.... Yeah, alot of my buddies that fish Putah call me crazy and after my first report gave me the, "duh!" And "told ya so!" Response.... Most of the water I like to fish is in the desolation wilderness and foothills. After years of hearing Putah stories and tall tails about the 20"+ fish that feed almost exclusively on #22 midges I decided to join a buddy for a quick weekday inspection of the creek. We stopped at #3 I scoped the water and the flows/level looked fine.( not sure how many CFS that day, didn't check) My buddy was down stream from the lot Nymphing some deep fast runs. He landed a few small fish but had to use a bunch of shot to get down to them. Being the noob and stubborn guy I am I decided to fish a dry. I noticed a nice hatch popping off and tied on a #14 cinnamon elk hair caddis to see if I could get any fish to rise. I had instant success with a bunch of smaller fish, I had a ton of fish rise to my fly. I ended up with 6 fish to hand to 12". I saw a good number of smaller fish which is a great indicator and I spotted a couple of 20's working a weed line in a shaded deep run. I hang out with a handful of guys that fish this water regularly and am familiar with the etiquette and unwritten rules in regard to redd's, spawning fish, avoiding winter fishing and other things along those lines. I look forward to learning more about this creek and hope to meet some people that enjoy fishing and preserving fisheries just as much if not more than I do.
Welcome to the forum. Fishing dries on Putah can be rewarding, you never know when one of the larger fish might just look up and take your fly. The little ones are just plain fun and good practice.
Regarding nymphing, you really don't need to get too crazy about super small flies over 20. 18, yes 16 if you're more confident tying them on. Fies in black and olive seem to work well. 5x is my go-to tippet for both dries and nymphs. Have a net and a partner handy if possible to make landing them quicker to minimize risk of breaking off. I once hollered to a guy who I had met only once before to help me land a 22" fish there. I just couldn't get it to hand on 5x and was about to just haul it in without a care of breaking off but he saved me that time. I had broken off on 6x on two fish prior.
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Leland Fly Fishing Ranch 24120 Arnold Dr. Sonoma, CA 95476