The day was very familiar to me. It was an almost exact repeat of a trip I had last Summer. If you recall, I went to the Main Tuolumne in the morning and was skunked. Afterwards, I went to Cherry Creek and ended up catching more than 20 fish!
With that day in mind, I was excited to get back to Cherry. Visions of catching multiple fish was getting me excited. Unfortunately, it didn't end up as successful of a day.
This time, I started downstream of the Cherry Lake Rd. bridge. I didn't get any bites or see any fish. I know they were there. It may of just been a little too cold for them, and they were hunkered down in the rocks. Whatever the case, I wasn't pulling them out.
After getting restless, I went upstream about a mile stopping at all the fishy looking locations. This took several hours. Anyone that knows Cherry Creek knows it isn't a big river, and it is filled with boulders that require a lot of hopping around and pin point casting with little or no back casting room.
Lucky for me, I just modified my rod with an extended handle on the butt. This 4 inch handle provides extra leverage for spey casting. I can easily whip that rod around and cast 50-60 feet without any room behind me. Although Cherry Creek is normally smaller than this, the second hand handle came in handy (say that 4 times fast!) quite often. This rod now works great for single hand pin point casting, or two handed spey casting. You wouldn't be able to spey across a large river, but you can easily do it on small to moderate ones. Leave the big rivers for my new 10'8" switch rod. More details on that later.
Hours have gone by and I still haven't caught any fish. It would of been a disappointing day if it weren't so pretty out in the middle of no-where.
The wind was starting to pick up and I was getting a little bruised from scampering around on boulders. I decided to head back downstream towards the bridge. Almost directly underneath the bridge looked to be a perfect spot for trout. The sun was shaded by the overhead structure, and the layout of the stream looked perfect.
I stealthily worked my way into position. Moving quietly through the water, I hid behind some boulders and gently casted into the current. My 9ft leader had a 3-4 foot tippet on and a size 16 soft hackle tied on the end. This setup was gently presenting itself to the enormous trout that lie underneath.
As the fly dangled in the current - directly below me, I felt a tug on my line and pulled a fish to hand. This 3 incher put up an enormous fight! Well, okay, maybe not much of a fight. At least I knew there was a fish in this river somewhere.
Before this happened, I was getting frustrated. Not by the lack of fish being caught, but by the number of flies I was losing. I don't know what was going on, on that day. But flies were just getting hung up everywhere. Cherry Creek snatched at least 4 more from me.
I had run out of water and decided to go back to the car to refuel. Anyone that has been to Cherry Lake Rd bridge knows that the trip to the creek is a very steep climb. With the loose rocks it can be kind of hazardous. After getting to the car, I figured it wasn't worth going back down again. Especially since I wasn't catching anything.
With that day in mind, I was excited to get back to Cherry. Visions of catching multiple fish was getting me excited. Unfortunately, it didn't end up as successful of a day.
This time, I started downstream of the Cherry Lake Rd. bridge. I didn't get any bites or see any fish. I know they were there. It may of just been a little too cold for them, and they were hunkered down in the rocks. Whatever the case, I wasn't pulling them out.
After getting restless, I went upstream about a mile stopping at all the fishy looking locations. This took several hours. Anyone that knows Cherry Creek knows it isn't a big river, and it is filled with boulders that require a lot of hopping around and pin point casting with little or no back casting room.
Lucky for me, I just modified my rod with an extended handle on the butt. This 4 inch handle provides extra leverage for spey casting. I can easily whip that rod around and cast 50-60 feet without any room behind me. Although Cherry Creek is normally smaller than this, the second hand handle came in handy (say that 4 times fast!) quite often. This rod now works great for single hand pin point casting, or two handed spey casting. You wouldn't be able to spey across a large river, but you can easily do it on small to moderate ones. Leave the big rivers for my new 10'8" switch rod. More details on that later.
Hours have gone by and I still haven't caught any fish. It would of been a disappointing day if it weren't so pretty out in the middle of no-where.
The wind was starting to pick up and I was getting a little bruised from scampering around on boulders. I decided to head back downstream towards the bridge. Almost directly underneath the bridge looked to be a perfect spot for trout. The sun was shaded by the overhead structure, and the layout of the stream looked perfect.
I stealthily worked my way into position. Moving quietly through the water, I hid behind some boulders and gently casted into the current. My 9ft leader had a 3-4 foot tippet on and a size 16 soft hackle tied on the end. This setup was gently presenting itself to the enormous trout that lie underneath.
As the fly dangled in the current - directly below me, I felt a tug on my line and pulled a fish to hand. This 3 incher put up an enormous fight! Well, okay, maybe not much of a fight. At least I knew there was a fish in this river somewhere.
Before this happened, I was getting frustrated. Not by the lack of fish being caught, but by the number of flies I was losing. I don't know what was going on, on that day. But flies were just getting hung up everywhere. Cherry Creek snatched at least 4 more from me.
I had run out of water and decided to go back to the car to refuel. Anyone that has been to Cherry Lake Rd bridge knows that the trip to the creek is a very steep climb. With the loose rocks it can be kind of hazardous. After getting to the car, I figured it wasn't worth going back down again. Especially since I wasn't catching anything.
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