FISHING SMALL CREEKS

FISHING SMALL CREEKS

Carol Northcut | Wednesday, 6 July 2022

There are always articles and podcasts about how great this can be, and it can. Yet I don’t do it that often anymore because, well, IT’S WORK! Yesterday was a good reminder of that. We walked a mile down a trail before dropping into a small stream that still was running a bit high from run-off. The cutties were done spawning, but it’s still too early to walk in the creek for fear of stepping on redds with incubating eggs. You could see that the fish were holding only in the slower water but getting to those holding spots wasn’t easy:

You had to get out of the creek, navigate thick undergrowth, unseen holes in the ground, black bear scat, willows, twigs precisely aimed at your eye as soon as you took your sunglasses off to see in the dim light, and branches always at the ready to hijack your line/leader.  Then there were the spooky fish to deal with (albeit less spooky than brookies.)  Sneaking up on them required navigating undergrowth hell then approaching on your knees.  Finally you get to a point where you could get a fly in the water and, F*&@!, you forgot to (a) shorten the leader and (b) look behind!  Now, the decision to sacrifice the fly/rig or save the rig but sacrifice catching the fish that you worked so hard to get to.

Ultimately, it was good exercise, but also a good reminder of what it takes to fish small creeks.  Next we likely will be doing it in Montana where the bears are little lighter in color but a lot bigger and nastier.  BrooCooMooWoo (bruin, cougar, moose, wolf) spray will be part of the gearing-up mantra: Rod, Reel, Creel (sling/vest), Boots, Waders, Stick, Hat, Shades, Block (sunscreen), SPRAY!