Today i fished putah all day and didnt get anything, tried pretty much everything in the flybox. But i did see something i found very odd, this happened at least 6 different occasions today, there were very large trout 25 to 30 inches possibly larger that would out of know were just explode, tailwalk, porpoise, and basically act like they were hooked up, one even hit my flyline, i though it was gonna get tangled in it, it was amazing!!!! the first one i saw i figured an otter was chasing it, but never saw any otters, also these fish were all but one in deeper slow moving holes, so they were not on redds, i figured that this is some kinda post or pre spawn behavoir, but i dont think so, i beleive these are adult steelhead that have made it into putah, have ya noticed putah creek is listed on the steelhead report card, although they may mean the lower creek were there is no doubt that there are salmon and steelhead, but i seriously beleive that steelhead have made it into the upper creek. I'm goin back tommorrow and gonna try to get a picture, these fish were goin crazy on the surface for so long if i had the camera in hand a pic. would have been easy. Of course i would like to read some opiinions on this. Oh and i was fishing access #2 working dowstream to the "bighole" at the end of this hole a recently fallin tree has created a really good riffle. I was surprised to have the whole area to myself, never saw another soul, just the way i like it
Fished putah again today and those crazy trout were at it again, this time i saw the craziest one yet, this fish jumped completely out of the water, tailwalked a good 10 feet, then ran nose first right into the bank, backed up a few feet, and again ran into the bank so hard it banked itself and flopped around for a good 5 seconds before it made it back into the water, this is really weird, and these fish are freakin huge, damn camera battery was low so i couldnt leave it on to try for a pic. but i did get a few pics of this really big dead fish i found, check it out. Again i didnt have any luck today as far as catching anything, pretty much tried everything but the kitchen sink, but had a good time, i always say a successful fishin trip is one were you leave with more knowledge then when you started, catchin a fish is just a bonus. I didnt measure this fish but i'd say it was at least 26 inches and very thick, man it stunk. Again had the entire area to myself, isn't anyone fishin these days???
I've seen alot of this activity for awhile on the creek, but it was mainly by the redds or in holes below the redds, chasing eachother and jumping around. It was spawning activity when I have seen it, and I know that access 2 has a whole bunch of redds in it and I have seen the same thing, fish act funny around spawning season its awsome to watch. Thats what I think your seeing. As for steelhead in the creek, that is a myth that has yet to be proven, this is a posiblity but... I just don't know how they would get past the diversion dam.
Many, many years ago I was fishing around access 5. As I was moving upstream, I spooked a fish. Rather than just dart off like most fish would do, this fish seemed to go into a state of shock. It acted as if it was electro-shocked. It thrashed around the surface of the water like it had lost its mind. Eventually, when it got about 15 feet away, it regained is composure and swam off. This fish was only about 15 inches, very dark in color, and I am not even sure if it was a trout. It was the weirdest acting fish I have ever experienced in my 30+ years of flyfishing.
I think the fish are being chased by the fish eating ducks. I observed several of these ducks on the creek today. They can stay underwater for a very long time. The otters can also stay under water for a long time. Female fish will also jump out of the water to loosen up eggs. On a better note there were several large mayflies on the creek today. Have been using a lot of tan pheasant tail hares ear emergers on the creek lately that seem to work. Size 12 to 20 pheasant tail for the tail, tan possum dubbing, 3761 hook and a clipped wing of light dun z-lon. Hooked into six fish today the biggest one landed was about 20". Landed two others about 16". The fishing slowed around 2pm when the mayflies stopped hatching. All of the fish were caught between access 2 and 3. I saw about 15 cars at the bridge as usual. I don't fish up there, but I was wondering if people are having any fun up there.
The bridge area has been quite productive recently. I fished near the bridge on Saturday morning. It was not as crowded as I have seen it in the past. Actually, when I got there, I had a whole run to myself. That was pretty nice. I hooked nine fish but only landed three. The fly of the day for me was a #20 midge pupa. Most of the fish that I've landed in the past few weeks have been on this fly, ranging from #18-22. I also used an egg, but the majority of hookups were on the midge.
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"Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught."
I've seen the behavior you're describing before in other waters. It's not good...when the larger fish exhibit this type of behavior, there is usually a huge die off due to some sort of algae bloom. What are the flows and clarity like ? I'm out of state and can't get to the creek myself. Please keep me posted...
Spent most of Sunday on the creek starting near the bridge and then down to access 3. The water is pretty darn clear with vegetation starting to break off (dont know if this is cause the freezing temperatures as I have seen elsewhere). Saw several fish doing the above behavior, and several with white spots. Two of these lunks with a large portion of their body covered in white seemed to be in a trance, swimming aimlessly in slower water within about 3 feet of me. I didn't even phase them. Looked similar to salmon dying off. Hope were not getting some sort of plague in the stream.
