The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

Well I have some good news and some bad news...

Cindy and I, along with another AFF Member, Gary, went for a drive up Highway 88 today.

We decided that we did not want to bake to death on the East Carson during the heat of the day. So we fished our way up to the top stopping at the Silver Fork of the American, Woods Creek and two spots on Red Lake Creek. We never made the East Carson.

The Silver Fork was lowered from ~27 CFS to 11 CFS last night. We stopped at the bridge over the spillway and walked down stream a little ways and fished back up. I managed a nice 13" Brown Trout on an EC Caddis. Saved the stop because I had no luck before that.

We drove over the hill and past Caples Lake. There were a bunch of people there, even more on the return home! We decided when leaving the Silver Fork that we would head into Woods Lake to check it out as Cindy and I had never been there. Let me just tell you, if I had not seen a fish rise in the creek I probably would have left the rod in the Armada and broke out the camera instead! That lake is beautiful. If you ever drive up and over 88 headed to the Carson, or Tahoe, take the short drive in and enjoy the view. The entrance is on the right (headed East on 88) just up the hill from Caples Lake. We fished the creek for several hours and then took a lunch break at one of the picnic tables lakeside. We found lots of willing, albeit small, Brook Trout in the creek. They rose after ant patterns, EC Caddis and Elk Hair Caddis. This is a small creek so a shorter rod say, a 7.5' 3 or 4 weight is perfect. Just watch out for the trees, they take flies too. Just remember the mosquito repellent, they were pretty thick too & very hungry...

After lunch we loaded up and drove over the hill to Red Lake. The wind was blowing up white caps on the lake. Cindy stayed in the Armada and Gary and I walked across the dam to check out the water in Red Lake Creek below the dam. It turns out that she had a good idea because it soon started raining and there was some thunder booming going on as well. The lake is still spilling by the way, but not a whole lot. It had been a while since Gary had fished it, and I never had. What we found below the lake was a ton of beaver dams, and damage. The only fish we hooked were suckers. The creek bed that Gary described was no more, it was packed with silt. We worked our way downstream, but found most of it was messed up by beaver dams and silt, all the way down to where it crosses under 88. It looks like it needs a good flushing. Lets hope for a lot more water next winter. There was only one other vehicle there when Gary and I walked away, but 5 or 6 when we returned. Mostly spin fisherman sitting in chairs.

We pulled out and headed downstream. We stopped along the side of 88 and walked through a meadow down to the creek again. This was a much better looking stretch of water. There were smaller fish in the creek than Gary had spoke of, but we had some fun fishing to them with dry flies and watching them rise. I had a Lahontan Cutthroat on, and thought for a moment that I might get the first fish out of the way for the HTC but, before Gary could run over with the camera it spit the hook, gave me the middle fin, and swam away. The nerve! I had numerous fish blowing up on a Light Cahill, and also on an EC Caddis. I tried using a size 18 Humpy when I could not hook the fish on the larger EC Caddis (size 12). They didn't want any part of it. I guess it wasn't a big enough meal... Anyway Gary said that as he fished his way upstream he started finding more Brookies and landed 8 of them before he gave up and came back to the truck.

We decided that dinner was in order and that we were too tired/sore to fish anymore. We headed back over the hill and grabbed a nice dinner at the Kirkwood Inn before heading home. All in all a great day!

Hey Dustin,
Sounds like a great day, I love that area. Willing (AKA-stupid) brookies in the creeks, bigger fish but more wind in the lakes and every once in a while some very interesting sunbathers on the rocks. Capping it off at the Kirkwood Inn makes a perfect finish. Only troubles I've ever had up there are: figuring out the name of the creek I'm fishing; and one time we had our car broken into at the trailhead just past the Kirkwood Inn.

Stretch

Nice report Dustin! I've never fished that area, just driven through several times. Sure is purty up there, and I'm positive a welcome break from the valley heat!

great trip dustin

Stretch,,,,NOOOO NOOO NOO

These bookies will only rise to a perfect dry, presented in only the most proper way ,,,, they are known (well kept secret )to be highly elusive and one of the smartest species to fool in CA,,, only caught by the most skillfull of dry fly fishers .

you are not trying to change my perception of reality are you ?

Steve,
I would never presume to try to change your perception of reality. It's just that my perception of it was that these fish would hit just about anything. I was tossing out pretty much every attractor pattern I had in my box, Wasn't trying to match anything I saw on the water, in fact I don't remember actually seeing any bugs on the water. I was getting takes almost every cast. Not that I actually landed many of them, they were much faster than I was. One interesting thing was while I was about to net one of the few I managed to get on the hook, a very (very) large flash of silver jumped out from the undercut bank and ate my little brookie! Shocked me so much, I almost took a swim! Needless to say, I started tossing big streamers along the bank, but never again saw the big flash of silver.

Stretch

Stretch

just funin with ya my friend ,,,i love playin with brookies in creeks.

my failed attempt at humor LOL,,still thats my story and im stickin to it.

Hope your doin well these days.


peace

Very glad to hear you were kiddin' . Guess I swallowed that one; hook, line, sinker and indicator! Those brookies are possibly as gullible as me. Now if we can convice the developers that over-built Kirkwood to put in some year round services for the folks that aren't there to ski.

Stretch