Putah Creek 20 March 2007

[JT]

I made it out to the creek for a couple of hours on Tuesday. The water was COLD. The fish were actively feeding, though. When I got there they were feeding on the bottom. At about 9 AM they started moving up into the mid-depths. I assume they were eating emerging midges, because that's what starting hatching at about 10 AM. The midge pupae ranged in size from #18 to smaller than anyone I know can tie. They ranged in color from cream to black. The majority were about #24-#26 and olive. There were no other insects hatching while I was there. I left some time around noon. I managed to land two fish: one a 23" rainbow and the other a little 12"er. The big rainbow took a #18 Poxyback Baetis and the little guy took a #16 olive caddis pupa. I hooked another fish about 18" on a #22 zebra midge. All of the fished were hooked in a 15 minute time span. The rest of the time I spent changing the depth of the indicator, adding weight, taking off weight, and changing flies. There were quite a few pods of fish, but they didn't want anything to do with what I was offering. I guess if you could land every fish you saw, that would take the fun out of fishing.

I also made it out Saturday with my brother-in-law. I hooked quite a few fish on a #16 tan Fox Poopah. I guess my hooks were too slippery that day, because I only landed two. One of the fish landed was a strong 18"er.

I also had a surprise the last two times out. On Saturday I saw what appeared to be a spotted bass. I knew they were in Lake Berryessa. When I saw the pictures of the bass caught on Folsom Lake in the warm water section, that confirmed it. I saw four more bass yesterday. Two were spotted and the other two appeared to be largemouths. They were cruising the edges and the shallows. I guess they were looking for crawdads and trout fry.

[dtp916]

To all that don't know, JT nails fish on Putah all the time and makes most of us jealous :lol:

Good job, bro 8)

[Mik]

I used to catch bass up by the damn all day long. White and black clousers.

[JT]

I made it back out to Putah this morning (23 March). There were midges everywhere. I tied on a #20 olive midge and managed to land a 21" rainbow and had another 20"+ fish about ten feet from my net before the hook popped loose. Another fish was landed on a #16 tan Fox Poopah. There was a decent caddis hatch coming off that started a little after I got to the creek (about 9:30AM). It was a beautiful day on the creek. I saw tons of cars as I was leaving but not too many fishermen.

Irrigation is already starting, so the flows are up. They were about 220 cfs this morning but have since jumped to 250 cfs. Now all they will do is rise.

I saw five bass again on the creek today. I threw a streamer for a little while today to see if could catch one. They had different ideas, though. Two of them came over to get a closer look but didn't hit it.