Other Side

It's been over 30 years, near as I can remember, since I've fished this creek on the other side of the river.  You can't get on it during PMD season, but I found a cancellation right after the flood last month and jumped on it.  I had remembered it as having more flat water, lots of broad pools, and some pretty spooky fish compared to Armstrong's and Depuy's.  That's what I found.  But they were eatin' right from the start.  They took every fly I tied on too!  I fished one pool for 4 hours, so was throwing at the same 8 or 10 fish except for the two or three newcomers every hour or so. The fish demanded the perfect drift, so it was a 6X morning.  I watched fish refuse naturals all morning!  But the fly wasn't as important.  If they didn't eat one, they ate another.  I did continue the pattern of fucking up the three or four bigger fish that ate.  Broken tippet, a log, a tear-out, just a miss.  The usual stuff.  Maybe next year . . . 

The PHD was still the star of the show

Eats on the spider

Oldie but goodie, a LaFontaine Halo Emerger

I forgot what this one is called, but I could see it and they ate it.

There's an emerger up there

I fished this flat for four hours to constant risers.

Finding a Groove

I sort of felt like I should have today.  Longer hours, better execution, sort of natural.  I guess it takes three weeks to get there after such a long hiatus.  Most of the fish were the cookie-cutter 15 inchers, give or take an inch.  The photo light was no good from the start, with passing showers.  No spinners this morning.  Kinda odd given no rain overnight.  They all must have dropped last evening.  The mid-day hatch lasted all day for the most part, except for a couple of brief pauses for rain showers.  Lightning and showers took care of the evening bite too.  But it was a good long morning and afternoon of rising fish.

I need a new camera.  My damn phone takes clearer pictures than my old waterproof Pentax WG-II!  But, it doesn't have one-touch exposure bracketing, a macro mode for the flies, and would be a disaster of epic proportions if I dropped it in the drink.  Given that its harder to hold in the first place, that disaster would be inevitable.  Now Ricoh, who is also Pentax, has a WG-6 in the WG lineup, to name a few.  However, its still only 20mp instead of my current 16?  Hmmm.  Maybe just a sacrificial phone in the vest pocket.  Actual cameras are probably cheaper though.

The ole Mole took some fish

CDC on a hook worked great.  Lots of fish eating duns today!

It took me long enough, but I pulled out the old "Depuy's Hanger" today too.  They still loved it.  I just hadn't gotten around to tying one on.  Today was right for it.

Just prior to the evening bite about to happen.  It had started, but he big boy's hadn't yet moved up into the riffle.  Wind and rain prevented that.

Reverse It

The times of day it happened were reversed anyway.  The rain that toasted the evening bite last night did the same with the morning spinner fall this morning.  Never happened.  Everything was wet, and not much for bugs or risers 'till around 10ish, despite the clear, calm conditions.  The mid-day into afternoon hatch was best, but it got hot today with little to no cloud cover.  Not many bigger fish up like yesterday.  Just an average morning with average fish.  Hooked one good one, and you know what happened there.

Late afternoon winds howled, but I drove back down anyway, thinking it might lay down.  As the sun went behind the bluff, it did just that, and the air was instantly full of spinners. It seemed like they all came down at once, and the creek exploded around 7pm. I had the whole place to myself! Big fish, out of nowhere, were all over the place.  There were more up at the top, in the riffle, than there were down low.   Do they just scoot up there for the spinner fall?  Apparently.  I saw a hint of that a few nights ago.  I caught my 3 best fish of the day in this magic hour, and you shoulda seen the one that got away . . . The picture light was gone behind the streamside bluff, so still no good underwater shots.

Where the hell are all these fish during the day?  Hiding behind or in the weeds I presume.  So its certain now, the creek's trout population didn't suffer a bit from the flood.  Its loaded with nice ones, at least the fly shop pool is.  They prefer spinners, and low light.

Morning at the sweet spot

All the guides must be fishing dry-dropper.  Pulled these two pairs of flies from fish this morning.  The droppers were hooked in the fishes mouths.

Evening fish

The evening fly of choice.  I could see it.

Big fish moved right up into the ankle deep water here, where I have not seen anything over 14 inches or so in the morning or daytime.  Kinda like they used to do on the Madison in the evening.

Big fish of the day, last fish of the day, shitty light.

Back to "Normal"

Sometimes this little journal is good therapy.  Maybe I got it all out last night.  So I get to the creek at 8:30, wait a few minutes, and here comes this big beautiful male rainbow to the surface.  Then again, and again.  I cast, hook the fish, and its gone in 15 seconds.  Oh shit, here we go again.  But what followed was like the first day at Armstrong's, maybe better.

What was different?  Well, it didn't rain here last night or this morning.  Not a breath of wind until 10:30.  A spinner fall from heaven, or actually, the dry bushes.  A good PMD hatch starting around 10:00 to compliment the still-falling spinners.  The best hatch I've seen here so far.

There were pods of fish up, with risers all around them.  Literally everywhere.  Pick your fish.  So I'm changing my story, there's still just as many fish in the creek after the flood, and the lower in the run I got, the bigger they got.  A second support belt around my waist and back helped, as did the double dose of Aleve.  

Of course, I blew my three best picture fish.  That first one I lost, one right at the net after seeing my backing and chasing him 100 feet down the bank, and a gorgeous male in my hand with the camera not turned on.  I just can't win on getting one or two of those killer underwater photos of a big beautiful male rainbow.  The water isn't clear enough anywhere else except Silver Creek, and its too cold when I come back to either in the fall.  So its this trip, or next year.  

But today is why I come here.  Its why I have a week, not a day.  I wish I could book a few more days consecutive.  I ask, they say not a chance.  I guess I'm lucky to have 7, and a bonus day upcoming at Nelson's.

The spot at the first slough

The only spinner I needed

The water was flat calm.  The disturbances are a pod of rising fish!

The 10:30 wind only put down the pods.  Single risers remained through early afternoon

This #16 PHD worked great in the wind, even upstream.

Evening bite tried, but got rained out

Fished wearing both of these today.  Better than not fishing I guess.