A JULY DAY ON THE SPRING CREEKS OF PARADISE VALLEY
Armstrong’s DePuy’s Nelson’s
Part one of a series
The pages of this informational pamphlet will contain information on fishing the Paradise Valley Spring Creeks during a day in the month of July. It is important for the reader to understand that I will be trying to cover everything that a fly fisher MIGHT encounter during July. I surely won’t cover everything in twenty nine pages, for that would take more like 500 pages. Some of the situations I will be covering may not be encountered on all of the creeks. Is also important, for the reader to understand that hatch cycle can run early or late which depends on the general over-all pattern of the weather cycle. The density of the hatches can also vary depending the cycles of the insect populations.
Furthermore, nothing is cast in stone; all methods and strategies may be modified and adapted as needed. What I will be doing, is describing the methods and patterns that I would use during this time period. However, I am not claiming that my methods and suggestions are the only ways to be successful; I can only relate to you what has been successful for me! I have been, fishing on the spring creeks since 1970 and have been guiding on them since 1977 so I do have a modest amount of experience.
Before I cover the fishing day on the creeks, I am going to review some information, which I feel is critical to the fly fishers’ success. To be a successful angler on the spring creeks the fly fisher must be open minded, calm, patience, observant, stealthy and have a game plan. I can hear some saying “A Game Plan”? Yes, you need to have strategy based on the situation, and what you have observed.
Whenever, I arrive to fish on one of the spring creeks I am never in a hurry. Haste and fly fishing just does not work well together.
Often, I see anglers that have observed what the trout are doing, and have selected an imitation which they felt would work, then they step into the creek; promptly spooking trout that in-turn spooked their intended target. That is not a very good start to the day and can be avoided with a more thorough observation of the situation and a strategy for approach and presentation.
Frankly, most anglers are in to big hurry when fishing the creeks, they tend to wade around like a wounded Cape May Buffalo, throwing out bow waves and making far too much noise. Move SLOWLY, and if you can hear yourself wading, you are probably making too much noise. If you are approaching a feeding trout or a group of feeding trout on the flat water, you must move very slowing, so that your bow wave doesn’t disturb the working fish.
I often tell clients, be a predator, and move like a Great Blue Heron.
I am a serious angler, fly fishing and all its related endeavors consumes my life. I fish, tie flies, read about it and write about the subject. However, I have always retained my sense of humor about what I am and what I am doing. Fly fishing is supposed to be fun, and the places that we fish are often set in beautiful locations. Therefore, I am always pausing to watch the flight of eagle, the small signet swans and their protective parents, or just the simply beauty of the passing clouds.
Sometimes, I will quietly berate myself because I have done something stupid and in doing so spooked a trout or missed a trout, or made that impossibly bad cast that tied my leader into a massive knot. I make all the mistakes that everyone else does; however, I don’t slam my rod on the water or yell and scream. Mostly, I tend to laugh at my mistakes.
Because of the good fortune which I have enjoyed with my chosen hobby and profession, I have hooked and missed or hooked and broke off more trout than most people will ever hook in their life. I can tell you that this is not the end of the world. If we were perfect with every trout we targeted, we would soon grow bored with the whole routine. So, when you make a mistake, regardless of what it may be, calm down, take care of the problem and return to your fishing.
Screaming, yelling, cursing and throwing your hat or your rod is just plain silly. If you are going to continue this style of behavior, I suggest you take up golf! If you by chance are fishing with me, understand that I will poke a little fun at such antics.
A Note on Tackle & Accessories: My favorite spring creek rods will vary from One Weights to Five Weights, I prefer Weight Forward Floating Fly Lines. However, I always have a Six Weight with me for those rare extreme windy days that you might encounter. I also have the Six, for special flies like mice and larger streamer imitations.
I prefer 9’ Knotless Leaders, normally I will start my day with a 9’, 5X. Use whatever, leader and tippet brand you favor, however I don’t like to mix them. Tippets, I know that some of you were shocked at the 9’, 5 X leaders to start the day with, I don’t believe in giving the trout anything they don’t earn. If I can take them on 5X, I will. If I can’t and I am sure that the imitation and presentation is correct then I will go to 6X. On RARE occasion I will go to 7X. But that will be on a super bright day and on very flat calm water. 8X and 9X I never bother with. In my opinion, you might well throw the flies in unattached.
There are a couple of other items, which I carry with me; one is a little Aquarium Net, which I use to sample the water.
I also carry a stomach pump, because I prefer that my information comes straight from the trout’s mouth, so to speak.
However, please don’t use a stomach pump unless you a sure of how it is done. I also carry a glass bottle, filled with a mixture of 90% Alcohol and 10% White Vinegar, where I keep the samples, later rinsing them and labeling for further study. (Also, if I get real hungry, pickled bugs are pretty tasty and have lot of protein.)
I always have a landing net, it is easier and faster to land fish with a net, (or net glove) than to try and land them by hand.
Whoops!! Let me backtrack to Fly Lines for a moment, I attach a butt section of heavy monofilament to the tip of my line. For this I use 25 lb Maxima, and I use a NEEDLE KNOT. When properly tied, needle knots slide through the tip top of the rod and the guides without hanging up. I also use a Perfection Loop on the end of butt section and on the end of the leader. I use and prefer a loop to loop connection to join the leader to the butt section. I have seen anglers’ loose good trout, using a Nail Knot connection for their butt sections. Nail Knots have a nasty habit of hanging up in the tip top or the guides, thus allowing the trout to break off.
Now, I have read various selections that claim that the leader should never enter the tip of the fly rod. Well, if that is the case, you better have a really long rod or really long arms. By using the Needle Knot connection on the butt section and the Loop to loop system for attaching the leader, I have reeled the leader into the tip top and guides more times than I care to count. I have yet to lose a fish because I did this. On rare occasion, when I perhaps brought the trout in a little “Green”, I simply drop the rod tip and off goes the trout for one more attempt at freedom.
Notes on fighting Trout and Line Control: When fighting a trout, don’t keep your rod in high position, slowly move the rod to the right or left and change the angle of the pull. This will allow you to move the fish away from obstructions. This will cause the trout to fight you, rather than you fighting the trout. These tactics will tire the trout out faster allowing you to land the fish faster. It is important that you keep an ark or bow in the rod, that doesn’t mean you have to keep the rod high through the entire fight.
Many presentation methods call for upstream or up and across stream cast. Many anglers fail to lower their rod tip to the surface of the water after the cast and mend are made. Leaving the rod tip up off the waters surface will lead to drag. Drop the tip of the rod and retrieve the line as the current feeds it to you.
When employing across stream cast, make your mend and then lower the rod tip and follow the progress of the drift. This is especially true if you are dealing with a wind. As wind and high rod tip means drag. Many times you may have the correct imitation, however if you fail to present it to the trout in a natural manner you will suffer frustration. Sometimes, getting the correct drift means changing your angle, this often means, taking a step to the right or left and continuing to move until you achieve the proper angle. Proper presentation is often a game of inches.
General Fishing Tips: The following will be a selection of fishing tips and observations that the fly fisher should consider while fishing the spring creeks.
When fishing upstream or up and across stream, adjust your position to get the right angle of cast and angle of drift. This is especially important when fishing during low light, say a late evening spinner fall. During this time period, it will be hard to see if your imitation is dragging.
Therefore, face the current which you are casting into, don’t worry about lining the fish, in those low light conditions, as lining the trout will not be a factor in spooking them. But, a dragging imitation will cause you to go fishless.
Stalking Trout; During the heavy feeding time periods, be careful in your observation and planning, by moving from trout to trout and not flock shooting or spending time casting blindly, you will be more successful. Make sure you pick a target. Most the time, spring creek trout are not going to move to take your imitation, they need to be fed.
Be sure that you observe what current line the trout is feeding in and how you can get your imitation into that current line. More times, than I can count, I have watched anglers choose a target, get into position and drop the first cast right on the trout’s head, spooking him.
If this happens to you, back off and rest the trout, until it resumes its normal feeding pattern. Then begin to measure out your cast, be deliberately short and then inch the cast out as needed, until you can place the imitation in the proper drift line.
If the trout is holding close to a bank, weedbed edge or other obstructions, once you have the cast at the proper distance then, pinch off the line on the cork grip of your rod. Cast to the trout, allowing the imitation to drift to the trout’s feeding station, once the imitation is by the trout, lift the imitation out, keeping the line pinched off, false cast and put the imitation back into the feeding lane once again. Using this method, you can place cast after cast to a feeding fish. Be patience, often anglers are far to impatience, thinking that the trout should eat their offering on the first cast. You may be out of rhythm with the trout’s feeding cycle, or possibly, you’re an inch or two short. Remember, often a trout in this position will not move. It doesn’t have to, and also, remember that you are competing with a lot of Natural insects!
Another, tip which is important; when you pick up to re-cast your imitation, DO NOT MAKE YOUR FIRST FALSE CAST OVER THE TROUT!!! If you do, you will be casting water droplets over your trout which may spook the fish! Make your first false cast off to the side of your intended target.
If you are one those individual who have taken casting lessons, and have one of those pretty, straight as a arrow cast, please remember that you need a little slack line to get a good drift. A straight cast will begin to drag almost immediately.
For the serious angler; keep a journal, record the weather and water condition for the day. The sections of the creek you fish, the time of the hatches and what methods and patterns you used, what worked, what didn’t and what skills, do you need to practice. Anything you learn on the spring creeks can be adapted and used on many of waters. These creeks really are the greatest fly fishing classrooms in the world.
Often spring creek imitations are small, with the sizes running from #16’s to #22’s. Also, some of the pattern types are hard to see on the water. I often hear complaints about how hard it is to see a small fly on the water. For those of you, who are, shall we say, visually challenged try employing a larger imitation that you can see and fishing the imitation you can’t see about 18” behind it.
For those of you who will be fishing the spring creeks for multiple days I suggest that you move around and do not fish the same water two-days in a row.
Also, if the section you choose to fish doesn’t produce after a couple of hours, MOVE!!! I normally select an area, that I am going fish to early morning, during the hatch, in the late afternoon and during the evening spinner falls. On Armstrong’s which a 1-1/2 miles in length, and DePuy’s which is 3 miles long, it is fairly easy to move. On Nelson’s, which is only a ½ mile in length, moving is a little more difficult, but you still can move around a little bit.
Weather: The weather can have a major effect on your fishing day. Both the daily weather cycles and the long term weather cycles. If you find out that you are fishing in a drought cycle. You may find that the hatch of PMD’s starts a little later in the day, say around noon. Also you may find that the main part of the emergence is shorter in duration. However, you may also find that the hatch will trickle all afternoon and sometimes into the early evening hour. This will create excellent fishing opportunities for the observant angler.
Fly anglers are the toughest people to please. If the hatch is too heavy they complain that there were too many bugs on the water and that there was to much natural competition. If, however, the hatch is light and/or sparse they complain that there weren’t enough bugs on the water.
The truth of the manner is that what we want really isn’t important. Were there bugs and did the trout eat them? During sparse trickle hatches the trout are always looking. Furthermore, the trickle hatches produce a lot of insects, which mean an excellent spinner fall is going to happen at some point.
If the wind or a rain storm delays or interrupts the evening spinner fall. Be aware that there will be a good spinner fall the next morning. Sometimes, clouds from an upcoming storm will bring on an early spinner fall in the afternoon.
A special note on setting the hook: After I cast and mend, I place the fly line under the trigger finger of my rod hand, and I retrieve the slack line as the current allows. I also have my rod tip low to the water, and I am following the progress of the drift with the rod tip. When the trout takes the offering, I lift the rod smoothly with my rod hand and strip the line (which is still my finger) with the other hand. Once I feel the trout and have hook firmly set. If the trout wishes to run I allow it to do so, allowing the line to slide out under light tension from beneath my trigger finger. As soon as it is practical, I then reel up any additional slack and/or fight the trout from the reel. Stripping in the line and not putting it on the reel often leads to some interesting situations. The trout may swim through one of the loop of line dragging on the waters surface.
When, you set the hook or strike the fish, both terms, which I dislike, do so by smoothly lifting the rod and tightening the line. Try not to break its neck on the strike or rip off its lips.
However, if you choose to ignore this advice, cheer up!! As you will be popular at your favorite fly shop!! By using the HULK method of setting the hook, you will find your spending more time tying flies on to your leader, than you are fishing,
Some notes on fly rigs and combinations: Often, in today’s world of fly fishing, two flies are used at the same time. Why? Well, it increases fly sales and watching two flies is more frustrating for the angler. Sorry, just kidding!!
The truth of the matter is that sometimes you need to use two flies to get the proper presentation. As the PMD nymphs leave the bottom of the stream to begin their journey towards the surface. This process takes a while; they just don’t jump on an elevator and jet to the surface.
They will be found at various depths throughout the water column, during the emergence process. At first, they are deep right off the bottom, at this time standard nymphing methods will work well. However, as they ascend closer to the surface of the water the best way to keep the emerging nymph at the proper depth is to fish it behind or in tandem with a dry fly. Depending on the situation, the dry fly will keep the nymph at the proper and desired depth.
Tying the dropper nymph off the bend of the hook will often cause patterns like sparkle duns and some para-duns to fall over on their side and ride improperly on the surface. I prefer to tie the dropper strand off the eye of the dry. Thus both patterns will be presented properly.
Please, remember, just because the trout are not rising, does not mean that they are not feeding. Nymphing is a viable method for taking trout on the creeks. As rule of thumb, I will place my strike indicator 3-1/2’ above my nymph. Often, I fish a two nymph rig, when doing so the nymphs are only about 12 to 14” apart. If I need extra weight on the leader I will place it 4 to 6” above the nymph. If you place it 18” up the weight will be on the bottom, but where will the flies be located?
There are days when the wind and weather conditions render normal fishing method less successful than you might desire. Or, perhaps you have managed with an abundance of good luck to hit the creeks on a day when they just are not producing as they should.
There are options and tricks, which may turn a rather tough day into something a little more successful.
Streamers: Woolly Buggers, Flash-A-Buggers, Sculpins and various Leeches and Cone or Beadhead adaptations will work on the creeks very well at certain times. Also, a small Muddler Minnows can be effective.
Finally, there are places on both Armstrong’s and DePuy’s Spring Creeks that are deep, and have heavy water. These places can be fished deep, placing the indicator 8’ up from the first fly and placing additional weight on the leader. This style of fishing is not popular on the creeks; however some of these trout see very little angling pressure. Normally I will use a two fly rig, my favorite patterns to start with a large Size 8 Red San Juan Worm, with a gold bead, tied on a TMC 2457. The second pattern that I favor is a Size 14, Beadhead Prince. I will use other patterns like Midge Worms and PT Nymphs, but I always like to start with bigger patterns in the really deep water. Some times they hold larger trout.
A special note of Importance: For many of the presentation methods you will want to grease your leader and make it float.
When I fish nymphs, I will grease the leader down to the strike indicator, which will allow you to mend without dragging the dry fly under or moving the nymph more than you have to.
| Sysadmin Note |
|---|
| Part two can be found here |