I managed to get out for a day trip to a headwaters creek in a watershed that’s been on my list. It’s not too far from home as the crow flies, but the drive includes something like 50 miles of long winding road, followed by a multi-mile hike in. I carved out some time and got an early start. Turns out it was worth it.

This year has been dry in California. The mountains got hammered with snow in December, then… nothing for three months. Some late snowfall in April helped, but we’re still in drought. The creek I explored is fed by wilderness area snowpack coming off of the Sierra crest, so I wasn’t sure what I would find. The snow is long gone, of course, but the creeks are still flowing.

After too many miles of windy road, I got on the trail about 8 am. It was clear and not too steep, so I made good time. This was partly exploration, partly fishing. I ended up hiking into a cliff area and did a little off-trail scree scrambling to get to fish-able water. The water was flowing, but low and super clear. It was also full of rainbows. Spooky rainbows. There were pools that were absolutely mirror smooth and flowing at a measured pace, so the fish had all the time they wanted to inspect prospective meals. More often than not, if I didn’t scare a fish with a hard landing on the cast, it would swim up, look at the fly, turn away, turn back and look again, then ignore it.

I did have good luck finding some runs with depth, active water, and cover for me so I didn’t spook the fish by just being there. I got solid grabs on small Chernobyl Ant patterns that I think do a good job imitating grasshoppers and stoneflies and other targets for these fish. I landed half a dozen - all good size for this kind of water (which means small anywhere else). Fun stuff.

My rod for this trip was a new (for me) Hardy Sirrus Glass 7.5’ 4/5wt. It’s a nice rod. I have a number of rods with cap-and-ring reel seats, but this is my only one with the ring over hardwood rather than over cork. It secured my LRH Lightweight nicely for the day, so I guess I am a believer. The Sirrus Glass worked well - supporting both very short casts and a few 50 footers (I did mostly for fun) with a 5wt 444 peach line. I did have some issues with the line landing a little heavy on the water. I’ll have to try a 4wt line next time.

All in all, a good day in the mountains and on the water - and my first in more than a month. Given the water situation, however, I think this creek in particular is probably done for the year. The water is only going to get lower, so it’ll soon be time to leave the fish alone. Pics follow.

The headwaters valley. The creek is down there somewhere.


Where the creek emerges from a narrow slot.


Fishable pool - structure, depth, and cover. I pulled three fish out from here.


My rig - Hardy Sirrus Glass and LRH Lightweight reel at another fish-able spot.


This fish hit the little Chernobyl Ant hard.


... another one.


... and another.


yes, the water was that clear...


I sat down at a side creek near the car to take off my wading / hiking boots and this guy came up to check me out.


The hike was nice, too...

Thanks for sharing that. The pictures showing the water clarity are particularly cool. Glad you got to be acquainted with a nice stretch of water within striking distance, and I hope it sees good snow the winter.

That is crazy, clear water! What a great trip!

The water is insanely clear! The fish looks like he’s floating in midair in one of the pictures.

Thanks for the kind words! A couple of comments:

First, the water generally is that clear in many/most Sierra creeks. The granite and other hard rocks at the top of the range doesn’t seem to generate a lot of fine sediment that would cloud the water - definitely adds to the challenge.

Second, this headwater was connected directly (before most of the Sierra dams were built after WWII) to the Sacramento Delta and the Pacific, so there wasn’t much genetic isolation from the rainbow/steelhead that circulated in rivers from the Sacramento to the San Joaquin. Like (almost) all headwaters creeks on the west slope of the Sierra, this is upstream from a reservoir that I am sure has been planted with rainbows. So these fish are most definitely wild, but only sort-of native, like trout almost everywhere in the USA….

Nice find ! Good size fish, too.

Renewed hope seeing rainbows surviving in such tight waters!

Beautiful stream and lovely trout!