So I managed to pull together another 1/2 day to get into the Sierra for a little creek fishing. After some careful reconnaissance with CalTopo, I realized that one of my favorite creeks did *not* burn last summer. Imagine my surprise to see rain in the weather forecast. In August. In California. Hmmm. As Odonata can attest, the high Sierra peaks often get drenched with summer thunderstorms that roll through in the afternoon, but this was actual rain at night and in the morning. And temps in the 60's. Cool. Literally. I made a date with zero dark thirty, grabbed a rain shell, and headed for the hills.
The creek I fished is a true headwater - no alpine lake with a mini-dam above it - so it's fed entirely from annual snowmelt. To my surprise, it was running... ok. Not high, but not dried-up-dead or stagnant either. I brought my Hardy "The Stream" 3wt glass rod and Featherweight reel, which turned out to match the creek size pretty well. Casting a big bushy attractor fly with this rig takes a bit more focused motivation than with, say, a 4wt, but that's ok. Of course it rained on me the whole time. Not hard, but consistent. I think it helped the fishing like rain sometimes does, but it also left me pretty bedraggled when I was done.
This is rockhopping exploration fishing. There are long stretches of shallow cobbles that don't offer much cover for fish interspersed with granite shelf drop-offs, little water cascades, and some deeper pools. The trick is to find a pool with depth/cover for the fish AND an approach with some cover for the fisher - so you won't spook every inhabitant of the pool when you approach to cast. I found a handful of these and ended up bringing eight fish to hand in a couple of hours. They were a mix of small-but-eager and a bit bigger. My catch of the day grabbed a woolly bugger I pulled through a deep run. I guess I am officially/sort-of a streamer fisherman now, since I seem to have pretty good success with this tactic.
I will say that it was pretty nice to see a lot of soaking wet ground cover that is usually tinder dry this time of year. I will also say that wet downed logs are SLIPPERY. Pics follow.
NOT how these streams usually look this time of year. Pretty though!
You know you're in Gold Country when you find signage for active claims.
Biggest fish of the trip - a dark rainbow that grabbed a woolly bugger.
Another rainbow.
I don't see too many browns in the Sierra - nice red spots!
This pool yielded two fish.
Big incense cedar trees in the forest.
My rig for this trip - Hardy "The Stream" 3wt glass rod and Featherweight reel.