Staircase

Nate · Veteran Member

Staircase

lightfoot · Senior Member

Back in the late 80's/early 90's it was the section directly upstream from the guide hole. Basically a couple hundred yards below the deer sign spawning area. I've heard that spot and the guide hole called different things over the last 5-10 years.

Anybody remember canonball?

Nate · Veteran Member

Which access area?

Thanks!

lightfoot · Senior Member

A hundred yards or so past deer sign. Deer sign is the "deer sign" alongside the road that is downstream from the resort just after the first right hand turn.

Ty · Senior Member

I thought the "staircase" is the rapids right behind the resort??

Rossflyguy · Senior Member

Name it what you guys want. I just call my spots "good spot 1, 2, 3 " etc. silly names for honey holes.

cjkohen · Member

I've heard staircase is behind the resort just downstream from the bridge.

bono · Master Fly Fishing Guide

I'm not completely certain on this but I believe it was myself and the group of guys I always fished putah with ( Rob Lightfoot, Ricky Lopez ,Danny O'Connell ) coined a lot of the nicknames that kinda stuck on some of the places on Putah (this was back in the 80s)We named the " guidehole" for a place where we always saw the guide Mark Pinto fishing. We called the area above the guidehole the staircase because of the pocket water, narrow, steeper grade. At the upper end of the staircase was the " rope swing" where Danny OConner hung a rope so we could shimmy across the big old cottonwood tree then drop down the rope to gain access on the back side in the high flows of summer. The hardest part was pulling yourself up the little rope about12 feet and climbing onto the branch with a fly vest and fly rod. in fact remnants of that rope are still there. The " brown hole was a spot where Ricky caught a huge brown down by access 5. The name" Cannonball" has been around at least since the fifties, cause my dad used to speak of it as a putah landmark When he was a young man. I would be interested to hear from any of you " old timers who have fished the creek waaay back in the day, and share some of your memories also to possibly elaborate and /or correct some of my memories. Rob/Ricky/Danny , you guys out there???

lightfoot · Senior Member

Greg, that spot needs a little bit of aircraft cable :) The only other option is to wade through the poison oak and hike down from the bridge. Granted I've floated across the flat water down below probably 15 times or so but the backside is now blackberries and poison oak.

I first heard reference to the cannonball spot when Ken Rowells granfather Hue would take us fishing at putah back in the early 70s'. It was located on the flat rock face near the upper end of lot 1

Boulder alley starting around the 1-68 marker

Pampas grass just down from the flooded trees just above 1-50 marker. I didn't think it's possible but all of that pampas grass is gone. The last I checked, still plenty of spawning taking place at the flooded trees. I tried to kill a wild pig with a stick there back in the early 80's.

Access lot 3 on the downriver side--it was just a trickle of water coming through on the road side of that island with most of the water flowing along the back side--HUGE reversal now.

There used to be an aircraft cable that ran across the creek between the dam and the resort. That was a lousy way to cross the creek and I only did it once.

As kids we used to hike up from the bridge and scale the rocks to access the glory hole. Then we got smart and just hiked to the top of the dam and took the trail down to the bottom. A lot safer. Every couple of years the Reporter would have a story about somebody falling to their death on to the concrete pad where the glory hole comes out.

I never did ride my skateboard in the glory hole :( Yes it is possible to look up and see daylight, about the same time some idiot decides to throw in a rock or bottle.

The side channel at deer sign used to have a LOT of water flowing through there in the summer and was dicey to cross.

I seem to remember a story of 2 float tubers saved by a flyfishing guide at the top of the big island.

Smallmouth bass at the base of the dam

There used to be a ton of sculpin in the creek back in the 70's. We called them bullheads.

In the late 60's/early 70's there were no weeds in lake solano and the water was relatively deep and cold. Lots of planted trout down there but also a lot of carp. I haven't caught a carp in Putah in probably 25 years.

Fishing below the diversion dam was pretty darn good.

The old bridge pylons at the second parking lot haven't changed.

The big island used to have a lot more water flowing on the road side versus the back side. The smaller island just above it used to have a lot more water flowing on the backside and fishing at the bottom was rather nice.

Is the currogated pipe still on the back side of the island?

I think I saw a post a few years back that the old car at the big island has finally been removed?

I remember what East Bay Ed was talking about regarding the maggot hatch. I'm guessing it was the winter of 81/82? I was a bait guy then and didn't think to match the hatch, I used dead minnows instead. On an interesting note, almost all of those fish stuck in the trees and bushes had their heads shaved off. My guess is they orientated themselves head first as they went down the glory hole? It didn't matter if they were a 20 lb carp or a 4" shad, the majority all had head damage. I've got some pictures stashed somewhere of the water flows that winter...yeah, it was in the trees.

Rossflyguy · Senior Member

There's huge carp in solano. I've seen pods of them.

lightfoot · Senior Member

Well, a carp specific adventure in the summer might actually be kind of fun. Were you seeing them down towards the diversion dam? They would be kind of hard to spot while sitting in my kayak but it should be worth a try.

East Bay Ed · Senior Member

The stretch you guys are calling the staircase is probably the area I used to call the chute. It was a great stretch if you were able to get to it. There always seemed to be some sort of hatch. And when it was low enough you could wade up it or cross to the far side. But the best part was that there was a secondary channel between the really fast moving water and the road. It had a fairly good current and all kinds of fish liked to go into this stretch before it became a low water area in late fall or summer. I had many a great day in this area when you couldn't fish any where else. But during one of the big winters the staircase/chute got blown out and took most of the water. Now the area between it and the road is a trickle of what it once was and is not worth the time.

lightfoot · Senior Member

Good news on that Ed is Putah Creek Trout used a track hoe to open up that side channel to improve habitat and survival rate of young of the year fish. Water flows will be restored to that side channel once they raise cfs in the spring.

Rossflyguy · Senior Member

Lightfoot I've had carp nose a small streamer at the campsites closest to the bottom of the island and I seen the pods right below the boat launch and boat docks. There's a grass flat and they eat there. They are very shy though but there are definitely double digit carp.

East Bay Ed · Senior Member

Oh, that's great news Lightfoot. It was a nice spot to fish, with risking life and limb.