Get to the creek at 5: 30, suit up and head on down. By 7;30 , the 1'st person showed up. By 9:00, there were two guys fishing across from me. By 10:00 there were the two guys across from me, one directly above me, three down about a hundred yards and three up in the first pool with more headed down from the parking lot. Good times.......
Two weeks in a row I've been "raced" to a hole from the parking lot. Heard one of the guys say, "Hey lets hurry up and beat this guy down before he's finished rigging up". I've been exploring overlooked areas of the creek just to get away from the insanity. I did manage to find some decent trout too, but I fought through some thick brush to get to them. I'll take briers and poison oak over shoulder to shoulder fishing any day.
-- Edited by hares_ear on Monday 1st of October 2018 02:10:01 PM
That's right. Between the guides and people posting shots of their fish (which seems to have tapered off a lot, Thank God), the creek has gotten blown out. The saving grace is that Putah is a HARD place to fish, and a LOT of the tourists come once, get skunked and don't come back. And I am as friendly as anyone you will ever meet, but nowadays, when I see some dude walking where he should be fishing and vice-versa, I just keep walking. And if they ask me what to use, I tell them that they can use anything, the bigger the better.
Etiquette is etiquette. There could be some details that are specific to fly fishing or Putah, but being generally aware, polite, and respectful (and apologetic when appropriate) shouldn't be too hard to figure out.
Also, Keith has info posted in the 'sticky' note just above this post. Good place to start.
I'll take Putah Goobers any day over what I experienced in Oregon last week. I fished the Fall River outside Bend, a beautiful crystal clear spring creek thats fly only and no weights allowed.
I've never seen a stretch of water as crowded. Literally every 30 feet there was an angler. Luckily there are lots of fish to go around. I was sight fishing to a pod of big fish and was upstream from them and drifting a pmd down over their noses and getting rises, and had a few 12-14 inch redbands in the net but wanted one of the 20 inchers.
2 goobers walk downstream of me and see my fish and immediately start throwing a huge streamer over them. I raise my arms in a "WTF" gesture and they just laughed. Henry Winkler needs to go to the Fall River, he'll meet plenty of idiots on that water.
One guide in particular is heavily advertising putah Creek on social media. "Why drive to Truckee, Trinity, McCloud, when you can get trophy trout on putah"
They wanted to “improve” the creek...They wanted to “modify“ the creek as They knew best...They wanted a "wild" and protected stream...what They created was a theme park veiled in blue ribbon dreams...Perfection is the enemy of good enough...
They wanted to “improve” the creek...They wanted to “modify“ the creek as They knew best...They wanted a "wild" and protected stream...what They created was a theme park veiled in blue ribbon dreams...Perfection is the enemy of good enough...
Are you suggesting it was better when the creek was stocked with fish?
I think "They" did a pretty good job at changing the creek into a challenging fishery that rewards those who persist and learn the habits of the trout it holds.
Encounters with goobers are unpleasant and probably more frequent on weekends. I usually visit the creek on week days, about once a week, and all the folks I meet have been respectful and stay well away from my fishing spot or ask permission to fish upstream or downstream as they walk past or just keep going.
