I rarely fish on the weekends these days, but Saturday, I made an opening day exception. I met up with Curt (thanks for the fun day) around 7am on the Main Fork of the Tuolumne to start things off.
As usual, the T was beautiful and looked very fishy. Surprisingly, the water was not high and was actually a little lower than I had seen it on previous outings. What didn't change is the tough fishing. I've only pulled a few fish out of this river in the few times I've been there. Nothing happened today. Not even a bump.
Around 10am, we decided to head to Cherry Creek, above the power house. The water was rocking. I wasn't expecting so much flow. Much higher than the last time I was here. Unfortunately, access was difficult and there weren't a whole lot of good spots to fish. Eventually we managed to find a location where some small fish hung out. I caught a handful, all 10 inches or less. Like the last time I was on the river, darker flies seemed to be their favorite flavor. And today, wooly buggers and anything with a marabou tail attracted the most attention. Even if it only got them close enough to see the smaller soft hackle and pound that instead.
After a few hours, we went down to the Middle Fork of the Tuolumne. I've never fished here before. It was crowded for such a small stream. I guess the access was too easy for people to pass up. Initially it was slow going, but as time wore on and I started getting down deep with the flies, it improved.
Because the river was small and the water was cold, I started high sticking some weighted soft hackles with split shot on the leader. This seemed to be the best way to go until the evening when the fish were starting to come to the surface after swung flies. At that point, I put on a size 10 steelhead pattern in the rear with a smaller soft hackle upfront. They were loving the combo. This particular pattern produces well on the Stanislaus, and did well here. It is an ugly little thing with red dubbing and very flashy wings. When swung slowly in the right conditions, it is hard for trout to resist. Again, nothing that large was caught, but for a day that started out slowly, you end up happy with anything.
The day was wrapped up by heading to the Rainbow Pools over on the South Fork of the Tuolumne. There was only an hour or so left of daylight, so one had to be quick. I was happy to see that no one was here and I had the place to myself. Again, with heavily weighted soft hackles, I'd drop them into pools, only to let them rise near the tail outs. This really attracted the fish. They'd follow the flies from 6-7' depths to near the surface. Quite a lot of movement for such cold water. If they didn't take on the rise, a twitch or two on the rod often made them commit.
For someone who likes to swing flies, I did very little of it on this day. Mostly high sticking or very close in swinging while holding almost all of the line out of the water. Slow and deep was the trick. I ended up with a dozen or more fish to hand. Most small, the largest being only 15”. Still, quite an enjoyable day.
Showing posts with label cherry creek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cherry creek. Show all posts
Apr 27, 2009
May 2, 2008
Trip Report: Cherry Creek
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.
Aug 15, 2007
Trip Report: Tuolumne and Cherry Creek
Yesterday was another 12 hour fly fishing marathon, this time it started out on the Main Fork of the Tuolumne and ended up on Cherry Creek.
After arriving at the Tuolumne around 7:15am, I suited up and walked the path for approximately 3/4 mile to find a spot that looked good to enter the river. I strongly urge everyone to use barbless hooks whenever you go fishing, however here, it is mandatory. This is a wild trout section of the river and you must also release all fish, which is something else I urge everyone to do wherever you go.
After wading out into the river, my first thought was, "Where are all the fish?" I didn't see any. Normally, I can spot them pretty quickly, but I didn't see a one. I'm sure they were there, it was just odd not seeing anything. To make it worse, I got absolutely ZERO bites, let alone a fish caught. I stayed for approximately three hours trying every fishy spot I could find. I wandered approximately 1/2 to 3/4 miles upstream in my attempt. Wet flies, nymphs, streamers, you named it, were tried with no results. I fished deep pools, shallow riffles, every fishy pocket I came across. Nothing.
Cherry Creek
I wandered back to my car feeling defeated. After a sandwich, I decided it was time to move on. After going further down Cherry Lake Road I came upon Cherry Creek. I had never been here before, so I first checked out the section downstream of the power station. The water was CRANKING! I don't know what the flow was, but it was deep and fast. Not something I felt like getting into since I enjoy wading. I was really surprised by the volume of water and wasn't about to get in.
Back in my car, I drove upstream to the Cherry Creek Rd bridge over Cherry Creek. I got out and looked. Didn't see any fish, but what can you expect, the bridge is probably 100 feet over the water. I snaked my way down the dirt trail that was rather steep and unstable -- eventually finding the water with a decent but very manageable flow. Again, I didn't see any fish. I knew they had to be in there, so I walked upstream and started fishing anything that looked like it could hold trout.
I found this area with rushing water dumping into a deep pool with large boulders underneath. There were fish in here, I could finally see them. They had no interest in anything I presented. I tried all sorts of sizes and colors of wet flies. Finally, in desperation, I threw a black wolly bugger and suddenly they were on the chase. This ended up being key and I realized that the color of the day was BLACK!
The bugger was too big, so I downsized to a size 12 Black Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear that had a gold bead head. I dead drifted the thing to about a depth of 3-4 feet. I scrambled around and used a combination of high sticking or just short up and across casts without any indicators. I caught a few 10 inchers in that pool. I wiggled my way around and stood at the head of the pool right over the plunging water and high sticked that nymph down there. After some drifting, I played it in and out of boulders and fishy areas. A few were caught that way too.
After the fishing slowed down, I moved on and did a variety of casts in different places. Shallow water, deep pools, whatever looked good. My black hares ear was getting gnarled from the fish taking it so often. I only had one, so I looked for other black flies. Next was a darkish Prince Nymph size 14. I caught 1 or 2 on that. But it seemed slow, I'm convinced it was because there was too much white on it.
I moved to a dark (almost black) Adams Wet Fly and used dead drifting and swinging methods to catch more fish. It produced well. Finally, after a pit stop at the car to refuel on liquid and food, I made one last trip to the downstream side of the bridge. I decided to put together a 3 fly rig together. The anchor was that beat up black hares ear (I dont normally use a nymph in a 3-rig, but since it was working earlier I thought it was a good idea), the middle fly was that dark Adams wet fly. The top fly was a light cahill dry (it was late in the day and some surface activity was starting up). All 3 flies were getting bites. However, the middle fly (adams) caught all the fish.
All in all, this was one of my most productive days of fishing -- ever. Even with that stinker of a morning on the Tuolumne, I did nicely on Cherry Creek. These fish were hungry. The largest fish were 15-17 inches. Besides those two, most of them were in the 9-11 inch area. With a few really small (5 inch) guys thrown in.
Fish count: More than 22 (lost count)
.
.
After arriving at the Tuolumne around 7:15am, I suited up and walked the path for approximately 3/4 mile to find a spot that looked good to enter the river. I strongly urge everyone to use barbless hooks whenever you go fishing, however here, it is mandatory. This is a wild trout section of the river and you must also release all fish, which is something else I urge everyone to do wherever you go.
After wading out into the river, my first thought was, "Where are all the fish?" I didn't see any. Normally, I can spot them pretty quickly, but I didn't see a one. I'm sure they were there, it was just odd not seeing anything. To make it worse, I got absolutely ZERO bites, let alone a fish caught. I stayed for approximately three hours trying every fishy spot I could find. I wandered approximately 1/2 to 3/4 miles upstream in my attempt. Wet flies, nymphs, streamers, you named it, were tried with no results. I fished deep pools, shallow riffles, every fishy pocket I came across. Nothing.
Cherry Creek
I wandered back to my car feeling defeated. After a sandwich, I decided it was time to move on. After going further down Cherry Lake Road I came upon Cherry Creek. I had never been here before, so I first checked out the section downstream of the power station. The water was CRANKING! I don't know what the flow was, but it was deep and fast. Not something I felt like getting into since I enjoy wading. I was really surprised by the volume of water and wasn't about to get in.
Back in my car, I drove upstream to the Cherry Creek Rd bridge over Cherry Creek. I got out and looked. Didn't see any fish, but what can you expect, the bridge is probably 100 feet over the water. I snaked my way down the dirt trail that was rather steep and unstable -- eventually finding the water with a decent but very manageable flow. Again, I didn't see any fish. I knew they had to be in there, so I walked upstream and started fishing anything that looked like it could hold trout.
I found this area with rushing water dumping into a deep pool with large boulders underneath. There were fish in here, I could finally see them. They had no interest in anything I presented. I tried all sorts of sizes and colors of wet flies. Finally, in desperation, I threw a black wolly bugger and suddenly they were on the chase. This ended up being key and I realized that the color of the day was BLACK!
The bugger was too big, so I downsized to a size 12 Black Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear that had a gold bead head. I dead drifted the thing to about a depth of 3-4 feet. I scrambled around and used a combination of high sticking or just short up and across casts without any indicators. I caught a few 10 inchers in that pool. I wiggled my way around and stood at the head of the pool right over the plunging water and high sticked that nymph down there. After some drifting, I played it in and out of boulders and fishy areas. A few were caught that way too.
After the fishing slowed down, I moved on and did a variety of casts in different places. Shallow water, deep pools, whatever looked good. My black hares ear was getting gnarled from the fish taking it so often. I only had one, so I looked for other black flies. Next was a darkish Prince Nymph size 14. I caught 1 or 2 on that. But it seemed slow, I'm convinced it was because there was too much white on it.
I moved to a dark (almost black) Adams Wet Fly and used dead drifting and swinging methods to catch more fish. It produced well. Finally, after a pit stop at the car to refuel on liquid and food, I made one last trip to the downstream side of the bridge. I decided to put together a 3 fly rig together. The anchor was that beat up black hares ear (I dont normally use a nymph in a 3-rig, but since it was working earlier I thought it was a good idea), the middle fly was that dark Adams wet fly. The top fly was a light cahill dry (it was late in the day and some surface activity was starting up). All 3 flies were getting bites. However, the middle fly (adams) caught all the fish.
All in all, this was one of my most productive days of fishing -- ever. Even with that stinker of a morning on the Tuolumne, I did nicely on Cherry Creek. These fish were hungry. The largest fish were 15-17 inches. Besides those two, most of them were in the 9-11 inch area. With a few really small (5 inch) guys thrown in.
Fish count: More than 22 (lost count)
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