Early Spring 2024 Putah Creek Fishing Report
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- Опубліковано 18 вер 2024
- Another year, another end to the voluntary closure of Putah Creek, another season of fishing this unique and challenging waterway--the closest wild trout fishery to the San Francisco Bay Area. The creek underwent a significant change in flows just under two weeks in to the month. This video shows just how the creek changes in response to such flow changes as well what flies and techniques were working before the change and continue to work after, as well as the incredible quality of the fish at this special place. I hope you enjoy it and thanks for watching.
Congratulations on a great day on the creek.
Beautiful place
I am so jealous 😀. I been to Putah creek three times now and walked away empty handed. It my first year fly fishing.
I was at last two parking spots going toward Vacaville and it was crowded very early so not surprised. A good location for my first time since there was no quicksand.
I went last Tuesday and Friday. Flows were high, but manageable. Ran into a lot of quicksand those two days, but had good rapid locations like you had.
I am going next Thursday and Friday. I was going to try the dam location to the resort first too to try there.
Thanks for keeping inspired.
Yeah, quicksand is real--be careful. And good luck!
The difference on the Creek from opening day, until this weekend is night and day. Really does change fishing and approaches to the water. Hooked into (and lost😢) my biggest fish in the dirtiest water day this month. Sometimes even the bad days have big fish. Saw a double rainbow that day too 🌈
It really is amazing how much it changes. I saw that rainbow too! It was so bright! Glad you are getting out there!
My brother and I met you late fall last year. All of us got skunked that day including the guide we were with. Glad you started off this year with a bang. Maybe we will have better luck this year too.
Yeah, I remember! Great to see you guys here. I'm sure you will. That creek can be tough, but you'll get 'em--at some point it just starts working.
Great video! Going out this week- Would love to hear any suggestions for flies - setup- been a while since I have fished Putah- looking forward to it!
@@penelopegadd-coster3428 Oh, geeze, just getting to this--I'm so sorry (work and travel have been killing me!). How'd it go? Will you go back? How many flies did you leave it the blackberries for me to find? Seriously, I'd love to hear how it went. I haven't been out since I made this video (hoping to sneak out there tomorrow maybe). Using enough weight is going to be critical with the flows the way they are, and finding the spots where the fish are holding. It's also getting to avoiding tick and poison oak and not stepping on rattlers season.
I worked the creek for the first time this past weekend and was deeply humbled… However your videos with so many great tips and tricks certainly helped prepare me for the adventure and appreciate that! Any tips for line selection when the water is running around 600 dcfs?
Really, even at those flows any old floating line will do. I've never found it necessary to use a sinking line of any kind, but I also use really big beads on my flies. If you wanted to use lighter flies you could maybe use an intermediate line, but still probably not necessary. I use a level euro line on my euro rod and can even get away with the shorter (and cheaper one) most of the time. Hit the creek again in the fall, maybe Oct, but def Nov and Dec when the flows are down around or below 350. It's a whole different experience. You'll get 'em then for sure (also, the big fish come up to spawn later in the year, so you have a better chance of finding a 20+ inch fish). Good luck!
@@abushinthewoods thank you for the intel, much appreciated! I think I need to sit down at the fly vise and tie up some bigger beads. I may not be getting the hook down deep enough….
It's possible. Putah can be tricky because you snag one place and 6" over you are 2' off the bottom.
I appreciate you showing us the “full” story, you could have easily cut the video off at the lower flow success! 😂 this video is informative to show that getting dialed in is a learning process for everyone.. also love the music choices and drone footage!
Always love the Putah reports! Haven’t been able to get out to Putah yet (been pretty busy) but I can’t wait to get some dry fly fishing out there. Also I would have to disagree with Putah being the closest wild trout fishery to the Bay Area. Have you ever fished the Santa Cruz Mountains? It’s where I learned to fly fish 9 years ago.
I have not. I'm in the east bay and that's about an hour farther for me than Putah, but I guess what's closest depends on where you start from, so your point is likely valid. I haven't even heard of any even semi-decent fishing there, so it's not on my radar. I'll have to do some research and check it out. Thanks!
Oh ok that make sense. There is good steelhead fishing and wild native coastal rainbows in some super tiny creeks, barely a couple feel across @@abushinthewoods
Great video. I notice you always strip in and don’t get the bigger fish on the reel. Have you found that to give you more control than a smooth drag?
I've had a number of guides say that they see people loose fish all the time because they are focusing on getting the fish on the reel. So they trained me to not worry about it and just strip. (If the fish runs and puts itself on the reel, great, but if not, then just play it manually.) Counterintuitively, they say it's actually smoother and lands more fish. Now it's just habit.
@@abushinthewoods makes sense. With tightlining, I only have a little line hang so it gets on the reel fast, also thinner mono leaders can leave a nasty burn during a run.
@@Popcornbeetle Yeah, for sure. Line burn is real.
Very good job. You obviously have this whole fly fishing thing figured. I do not. Or as you put it, you have the ability to figure it out. I am still trying.
I fished this creek a few times last fall and then once this spring. Didn't catch anything last time and figured it was due to the water clarity. But you proved that wrong. I struggle with knowing that I am actually presenting my fly to the fish at the correct depth. Do you think this is important here? If so, how do you go about finding the fish in the water column? I try to make sure I am snagging the bottom every few casts but in some spots it seems I can't even find the bottom. Any tips? Maybe a topic for another one of your videos?
Such great questions.
First off, depth can absolutely be critical, but there are exceptions--sometimes fish will move for something they want and come up from really deep in which case if they see it you are good even if there's a 3-foot range of depths that would work.
There's probably multiple solutions/approaches, but the one I use and that seems to work for me is to start at the surface and then work my way down incrementally. So I'll start with either a dry, a double dry, or a dry dropper. Then add length and/or weight to my dropper. Then switch to a nymph rig and slowly add weight and/or length until I find fish. Then when I've exhausted them at that depth add on more weight or length or both. Lather, rinse, repeat. If you are super familiar with a fishery and things like flows don't change, you can cheat each morning because you piggy back on what worked the last time you were there. The hardest part at a place like Putah, IMOP, is the fact that the bottom is so varied. There are these huge boulders so at one point it's 1 foot deep and maybe you hang up with a 1.5 ft dropper. But if you were to move over even half a foot and it would be 2-3 feet and you might not be deep enough with your 1.5 ft dropper. That means you can snag up regularly and still not be deep enough. So you have to be sure to work the water laterally as well as vertically. And you lose lots and lots and lots of flies. I usually joke that "don't be afraid to lose flies" is something guys that sell flies like to say, but they are still not necessarily wrong.
Another thing to consider is the flow rate. If the water is moving really fast you have to get down fast so you need more weight and/or thinner tippet. I try to avoid the thinnest tippet for obvious reasons and my feeling has always been the difference in sink rate between 4x tippet and 5x or 6x tippet is likely pretty negligible and, in any event, can be overcome by adding more weight, but I have to say I've been experimenting with different tippets and I may need to walk that back. Anyway, the point is that it's a process of trial and error that is hugely informed by experience and knowledge of the environment and it's not just the weight you add on but tippet size and flow flow rate.
If you are looking for resources, I found the information in the Dynamic Nymphing series and on Tactical Fly Fisher's vlog really helpful. Even if you don't fish a euro rig as the information translates to traditional set ups as well. And as you get more practiced and your confidence grows you'll be able to add in additional techniques like throwing a roll cast to mend the fly at drop offs to allow the flies time to sink under the indicator (or dry fly) and get you more depth quickly.
Not sure if this helped or overwhelmed, but I hope it helped. You'll get there, I promise, if you keep at it!
@@abushinthewoods Yes that definitely helps. Thank you for the in depth response. I need to start at the surface instead of immediately trying to find the bottom. Also know that even if I think I'm at the bottom I still may not be. I will definitely check out those other channels. And I will definitely also keep at it.
This river has been kicking my butt lately. Is there any spots without the deep mud?
I haven't been out since the flows dropped after the increase to 400ish CFS, so my worry is I'll tell you a spot and then you'll go and it'll be super muddy again. I was having to go and just find places and, as you can see, I ended up on my face and, if I'm honest, my butt, more than once. That mud is evil and practically takes your boot off if you manage to keep your feet. Sorry I can't be more help on that score.
I totally agree about the mud, it is like quicksand! Just need to find the rocky locations.
Mud is a bugger. Got home the other day from Putah and realized I left one of my Korker felt soles in it.
@@GaryElliott-yv9cm That's totally been me! Then I was all, "man, it's extra slippery today!" Because I was sliding around on the hard bottom with no felt. I'll keep an eye out for it--what size? Seriously, I find them all the time.
Someone found a korker on last year's opener 💀
Can you please share the details of your rod and reel specs?
I usually fish either a 10'6" or an 11' 3wt euro rod matched with the cheapest 3wt reel I can find or a 9' 6wt regular rod again matched with the cheapest reel I can find. A 9' 5wt and reel set up would also work just fine.
Any recommendations on brands for rods? I am looking to get my first fly fishing combo and think I should select a 9’ 5wt. Then most likely taking your advice to get the cheapest reel. What would you do?
@@brycebarajas6851 For entry level rods you really can't beat the Echo Base combo (they call it something other than the Base now, but I'm not sure what--you'll find it easy and your local fly shop will know for sure). It comes with a 9' 5wt rod, real, a line, and a case for a few hundred bucks. That's your best bet to start. If you want something else, TFO makes great rods and they are very reasonably priced, as does Redington (which is Sage's lower end brand--Sage stuff is made in the US and Redington is make is Korea, other than that, same stuff, I think) makes good reels for under $200, last I checked. I also encourage you to look at used rods. I've bought a few of them and I've been very happy with them. Many of the manufacturers will honor the warranty even if you aren't the first owner. Try outlets like Steep and Cheap as well, sometimes they have great stuff randomly. Good luck!