Brodhead Creek - Pocono Mountains - 4-20-12

I fished the Brodhead by the ballpark this evening. Dark caddis were coming off in good numbers after 7 pm. I fished until about 8 pm, landed 5 and missed several others. All trout were browns and caught with dries or emergers. Water temperature was mid 60's and flow is obviously very low. Hopefully we get some rain this weekend. There are a ton of fish in the Brodhead right now.

Putah Creek, Northern California, April 16 2012

I fished Putah Creek today in Northern California. It was the closest trout stream where I am working for business currently. I contemplated the 3 hour drive to the Upper Sacramento but I wanted to try the local stream. I scouted the creek on Saturday and talked to one local fisherman. He informed me that Putah creek is  a "four star trout fishery", whatever that means. I do know that Putah is not stocked anymore and there are some incredibly large wild rainbows in there, 30+ inches.

I fished the morning from 1030-130 between pulloffs 2 and 3. I tried nymphing a BHPT, caddis pupa, zebra midge, and a caddis emerger. I didn't get any hits nor did I see many fish. I went back to my hotel room until around 6 and heading back out for the evening hatch and what a hatch it turned out to be! Slowly, yellow stoneflies began to fill the air. There were some other "non eastern flies" that I couldn't identify as well. Once the flies came out, the fish started to show themselves by rising to the stones. I missed roughly 6 and landed 5. None were even close to the monsters I was hoping for but it was fun to catch them and they are my first wild rainbows. Their colors are quite different than the stockies we catch in PA. I caught all the trout on a yellow colored sulphur parachute pattern.

I'm anxious to get back to the Pocono's since I missed yet another trout opener. I have never fished opening day in the 8 years I've lived in PA. Even once I do get the chance, I doubt I would contend with the crowds anyway.

Lake Berryessa Dam



 Lake Berryessa

 Putah Creek

Putah Bow

Putah Bow

Early April 2012 - McMichael's Creek Delayed Harvest

The past week, MMC has been producing good hatches of caddis, black and green (16-18). The fish have been actively taking them on top when they aren't concentrating on the emergers. The water is so slow and clear so 6X-7X and absolutely no drag is a must or the fish will nose your fly and swim away. I'm sure I've had over a hundred "noses" the past week. The larger fish have been in the darker holes where you can't see the bottom.

Water Temp: low to mid 50's
Successfull flies used: green/black caddis, caddis emerger, griffiths gnat, parachute adams, sucker spawn, BHPT, green wooly bugger, small BWO.

I have seen some mayfly hatches but not as many as I thought I would have by now, mostly BWO's. I had a beautiful bow on today that took an adams parachute in a fast run. It was the most graceful jumping trout I've ever hooked up with. It got off after about 10 seconds and 3 jumps. It took drag on my 3 weight almost instantly. I'd guess it was roughly 16-17" with beautiful colors. Definately not a 2012 stockie.