Now that the spawn is winding down, has anyone been fishing? Any reports? I hope to get a day or two on the creek this week, but am concerned that the rain and after-effects from the fire have turned the water into chocolate milk.
I was out two weeks ago. Water is tinted but River in good condition. Didn't catch any. Weather hit a cold spell and water was REALLY cold. It's been warmer evening the rain. I'm sure they'll be more active. I know they ramped up the river to 700 cfs Saturday night. I didn't see any spawning fish. I think it's done. Give it a shot. Only way you'll find out.
Took a drive up yesterday to check it out. It's complete chocolate milk from the resort down. The wragg fire runoff continues to change the creek from cold creek to the 128 bridge area. There's a lot of new mud and silt deposited all over that will probably change the dynamic of how that area fishes. Whether it's for better or worse, only time will tell.
It's sad that on a year where I've seen the least amount of fishing pressure towards the spawners, the eggs and alevins could be facing possible suffocation due to the fire runoff.
I fished it on the Thursday the 3rd last week before the storms. It was so nice. The water was clear green and was a bit warmer than usual. There were lots of bwos and even caddis coming off. Although the fishing was a bit slow, it was consistent.
It'll probably be a while before the water is fishable considering the crazy rain and fire runoff. Bummer.
-- Edited by mattymcfly on Monday 7th of March 2016 03:15:42 PM
-- Edited by mattymcfly on Monday 7th of March 2016 03:16:53 PM
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I ♥ Putah Creek
http://keepcalmandflyfish.blogspot.com/
If you are wading in the river and you start to see an increase in debris such as weeds or weed fragments floating by, it's usually an indication that flows have just been increased. When I see this happening and I'm in a possible precarious position, I head toward shore.
I fished the river three time during the last couple of weeks. Had not been on the river since last year in March.
I didn't do very well. Got skunked two out of three days with 5 hrs on the water each day. I hooked three fish on my second day out. Two large fish broke my 6X tippet, the third one, a 9 incher, came to my hand fighting hard. Water color was cloudy/greenish. Flow was 120 cfs and pretty cold.
The fire cleared up a lot of the blackberry bushes at the south side of spot 4, which I think is a good thing for my waders and back casts. Walking from spot 4 to the riffles at the island near spot 5 I found the river character and geography almost identical to last year before the fire. I didn't see any evidence of erosion. I didn't venture upstream to the other parking areas. Maybe I'll try other areas on Wednesday of this week.
I think finding trout eager to take a nymph is going to be tough. The three fishermen I talked with on my last two outing had no fish and no strikes. All, including me, are using 18 to 22 size hooks. I caught my 3 trout on a size 20.
I just bought an Echo nymphing rod, the Shadow II, 10 ft, 3 wt. It's pretty affordable. I'm very curious to see if the soft tip and longer reach will help me catch more fish.
Took advantage of what seemed to be good weather to stop by Putah Creek this morning. The creek today was pretty much "blown out". It was low, less than 100 cfs, mud brown and with visibility of 6-10" at best. I didn't bother to gear up and fish it but I did talk to two fly fishermen who had hit most of the spots between Parking Areas 5 to 3. They had no luck. I went up to the parking area across the bridge beyond the campground and took a look at Cold Canyon Creek (CCC). It was raging and pouring mud into Putah Creek. The water in Putah above the confluence of CCC was clear so if anyone plans on going out there you might want to try the far upper reaches. I'm attaching a few photos from this morning of CCC, the confluence, the merging waters and just how low the level was from below the bridge.
