It wasn’t overflowing its banks, it was mostly transparent, it was largely wet, completely private and I managed to commit most of the Opening Day sins on my tackle to exorcise me of later demons.
While the first fishable water of the season made it feel like Opening Day, and the jitters that come with throwing your first cast in anger added to the growing body of evidence, Opening Day isn’t till next weekend, where the rest of you will feature all these same highlights hundreds of miles from your home …
I shipped water into my waist highs, right about the crotch area.
I bollixed a cast badly enough such that it combined with the feathery weed it gathered on the return, required me to cut away everything and start over …
I imbedded a fly in a soft and flaccid area of my frame – that can’t be rubbed in public.
I added color to both face and pallid forearms. Bright red.
Peeled a tick off my neck … and had to eyeball every square inch of gross fatbody for fear I was hosting creepy crawlies. I peeked between clenched fingers, recoiling at the doughy expanses of blindingly white flesh that were proof of winter’s excesses.
… and left most of a double sawbuck in bankside vegetation. Which was required of me.
But I also got ate. Which breaks one of many long and dour spells, where unruly weather makes finned prey the scarcest photo on a supposed fishing blog.
The creek still has a couple of weeks to wait. While the color is returning it’s not the placid little drainage I remember, nor can it be crossed at any point, as the bonafide white water confirms above.
I’m getting eager to walk it given that the mouth was open to the Sacramento for a full two weeks. There’s no telling what might have poked its nose into my quiet little backwater.
.. and if it doesn’t belong there I may have to start a fish rescue …
Hey, nice fish to start you off! I’m hoping to stick my first bass of the year soon! Poppers are ready and willing to fly, just waiting on the weather.
Glad to see you got out. I spent the weekend fishing and doing reconnaissance on the Upper Sac with Wayne Eng. I’ll send you some photos when I get a chance.
I thought about stopping as I rumbled over your creek on the I-5 overpass. Water looked pretty good.
Well done! I’ve been busy filling my fly boxes with the usual suspects and more than a few “creations” of high hope.
Hopefully, I’ll need to restock the boxes before June. Unfortunately, the company I gave fifteen years of blood and sweat was acquired and I lost a week of vacation.
I can’t wait to hit the little stinkin this year. I hope some monsters got up there when they had that chance, plus I am going to work real hard on getting one of those monster carps that is always crusing in there.
Prior to the last big storm the creek was as good as I’ve ever seen it. Mostly because it had been scoured well and was much deeper than normal.
This last storm moved a couple hundred tons of gravel, and there’s no telling what she’ll look like now. At one point the creek was 73′ deep – which bespeaks to the water volume.
Right now the banks are scoured clean of all veg due to the water – clean wipe of bankside debris.
Unfortunately, there’s still no fish. Creek is still recovering from drying up completely two years ago.
Where you and I fished there’s still a few bass, I call them the “brood stock.”
What a shame. Hopefully the brood stock get a chance to mature.
Broke my 1.5 year fishing “curse” this week with MR. Bucket-mouth as well.