Fishing at Girls Camp

I was up at Girls Camp for a few days to help lead hikes, teach some map and compass work, and otherwise relax and have fun being silly. Friday morning, there were no more responsibilities and I was ready for a little fishing. Joined by Trevor Larson, I spent a couple hours in the morning exploring a bit more of Miriam Creek, the small tributary of the NF Tieton that I visited last Saturday. Trevor quickly picked up a couple tiny cutts below the bridge, and I found probably the same 9 1/2" cutt exactly in the same place under the bridge as last Saturday. Just as pretty today.

Nice cutt from under the bridge again

We continued upstream, fishing EHC or similar variants, just something that floats and is visible in the dark shadows under the trees. Usually only one fish in each likely hole. Mostly small, but the occasional larger one. Water was still ice cold, even at the end of July.

Trevor and some likely water in one of the few spots open to the sun

Trevor and another nice cutthroat 

Just before turning around to head back to camp, we came to the hole below. I offered it to Trevor, but he said with the overhanging alder on the left hand side and the log angling right across the middle of the hole that it was above his pay grade. So I back-handed, 3/4-side-armed the fly under the log and got a nice drift along the edge of the current. I watched a nice cutt quickly rise to the fly but he was gone before I could set. No more interest on subsequent casts, so I worked a few casts to the left, then returned to the main problem. Another tricky cast put the fly a couple feet under the log for an almost perfect drift. Trevor commented that you can't get much better than that, but still no love. Next cast was a foot farther under the log and another six inches under to the right, right at the edge of the fast current. I was about to say that you can get better when the fly disappeared in a splash. This time I got the hook in him and brought a beautiful 9 1/2" cutthroat to hand. That is the kind of catch that makes the memories of small-stream fishing much bigger than the fish!

Beautiful fish!

Triathlon (Kind Of) for Two New Streams

Back up near White Pass hiking a couple more trails in advance of Girls Camp next week. Threw my bike in the RAV with plans to ride up the closed NF Tieton road after the hiking, about 2.7 miles to a closed campground with three tributary streams along the way and another try a the NF Tieton at the end (twice before I have fished it and haven't seen a fish). So 7 miles of hiking, 5.5 miles of riding, throw in some wading in place of the swim (sometimes it is both), and it is a fisherman's triathlon! 

Another nice hike in solitude, had time to capture a few more nice wildflowers.

Avalanche Lily

Hooked spur violet

The everywhere present lupine

It was early evening when I started my ride. First stop, Hell Creek. Had fish come up to the EHC, but were either two fast, two small to hook, or just aborting the take at the last minute. Tried different sizes, dropper nymph, still no luck. A fish in most decent holes, but unable to hook even one of them. Not even close. Never felt one of them. This was an aptly named stream! In desperation, my mind thought back to the fly of our youth - the renegade. It was all we ever fished in a stream, and still is just about the only fly Rob fishes. Tie it on, drop it in, immediately hook this small cutt. Stream #131, then immediately back to the bike to continue upriver to Miriam Creek.

Hell Creek cutt - finally!

A short ride up the road and I arrived at Miriam Creek and some likely looking water.

Miriam Creek

I dropped down and tossed the renegade into the hole under the bridge. A good sized shape darted up and I missed the take. A little further down, in the hole, another take, with a solid set this time. A beautiful cutt, good size for this small stream. It was getting late, with another couple miles to ride, and upstream looked to be dropping quickly off the mountainside with little in the way of holes, so tally Stream #132 and continue on hoping for a couple more streams. But it was not to be.

Beautiful Miriam Creek cutthroat

Scatter Creek runs right adjacent to the old campground. Small stream, very sterile looking, no really good holes.Tried hard for a bit, but found no sign of fish life. So on to the NF Tieton, a beautiful stream tinged green by the glacier which feeds it. Third time I have tried fishing it, third time no fish. Well, this could be a success because I might have seen a dark shape briefly dart at the trailing fly of a double nymph, but I'm not sure. Can't figure this stream out.

As shadows were slowly rising up the hillside above the stream, I hopped on the bike and enjoyed the mostly downhill ride. Spooked a couple rabbits, a mom elk and her calf, and a coyote, all using the abandoned road as a trail. I'm happy to share it with them. Another great day!

Stream #130!

It is getting harder to find new streams in the areas I normally frequent, but I managed another one today while out pre-hiking trails for the Church girls camp that I will be helping with in a couple of weeks. It was a beautiful day to be out hiking, and since there was a chance fishing could be involved, I stopped by McDs for a #8 on the way out of town. I had two trails to hike, about 8 miles total, and since I was by myself, I could stop and take as much time as I wanted for pictures.

American Twinflower

Small-flowered nemophila

Pipsissewa

Goat Rocks from Round Mountain

Tieton valley (Clear Lake and Rimrock Lake) from Round Mountain

But as fun as hiking and photography is, it still can't beat fishing. While looking at the maps the night before, I noticed a little blue line that crossed the back road back from Camp Zarahemla, with a FS road that crossed it a couple more times upstream. So after finishing my hiking for the day, I took the back road home and found this. Tied on a small Goddard caddis and started dipping. There was no casting on this stream, and generally there was no more than a few feet of leader out from the rod tip.

Small, Tieton tributary

It didn't take long to find a cutthroat about 3" long, then a few more in that size range. Finally, the monster of the stream came from where else, inside the culvert. I should have gone there first!

Pretty cutthroat from Stream #130

After having too much fun at this little creek trying to get the fly on the water and the fish that could barely fit the fly in their mouth on the hook, it was time to head for home. Of course I had the obligatory stop on the Tieton, which was running quite milky and still a little fast. I found one small rainbow and another one flashed (unique in milky water, since the "flash" was a dark movement against the light water rather than the normal silvery flash against the darker water. One more stop on the Naches down below the town of Naches, where I found nothing more than a few small rainbows (they liked the psycho). There must be bigger fish in there, but I have yet to find them. Maybe next time.

Small Naches rainbow

Pre-Fourth-of-July Small Stream Fireworks

Tom texted me last Sunday - "Fishing this Friday?" So I gave the What-to-do-meter a spin, and it came up "Go Fishing" like it always does! This thing was the best present ever! Every fisherman should have one.

The What-to-Do Meter

We met at an undisclosed McD's for dual #8 meals (with OJ) as their doors were opening, then off through the back roads to one of our favorite haunts. As we approached the access point, we both let out a sigh of relief to see no other cars present. It would be a good day indeed! Little did we know how good.

We donned our rattlesnake chaps and pushed our way through the tall grass to the creek. Clear, not too low, and, as we slipped into the water, just cold enough. Tom started with the usual black woolly bugger and I tried a big, ugly black streamer, hoping a big brown would find it enticing. It didn't take long before Tom found fish. And it didn't take me long to switch to the usual small black bugger after he had three and I had nary a bump.

A nice little rainbow to start the day

A little nicer brown

Although nice fish, these were small for what we typically find in this stream. That would change at a grass bank at the head of a stretch of frog water. Tom laid out a perfect cast, drifting the bugger right against the grass, and was aptly rewarded as a monstrous brown took the fly and ran. 

Big brown fighting in the current

A few minutes later, this beautiful, 20-inch brown was in the net. That is a fish to make the day, yet the day was just starting.

Beautiful brown

We continued up the stream, finding a fish here and there, many "small" at 12 to 14 inches, quite a few 15 to 17 inches, like the one below. Fish were scattered, and some likely water turned out no fish, but as we moved up, we realized that we were having pretty good numbers for a typical day here, though we were still hoping for another big boy.

Typical nice rainbow - very fat and stuffed full of October caddis (case and all)

Passing by some frog water, we noted a number of rises in water we normally walked by, and stopped to toss our flies in. Tom had one take down, but no other action. Noting the rises to a small, spent mayfly, I tied a #18 CGPPN below the bugger, but still no love, so we moved up to where the water was again flowing. We found a few more fish, but ever since the rises, Tom was itching to tie on the hopper, and he finally gave in as we approached a nice riffle that drops into deeper water a a bend in the stream. 

I was first up in the hole, and as we approached a large fish rose at the head of the riffle right above the drop off. Tom asked if he could take this one, as he had just put on the dry. I was about to tell him to move on up ahead of me so he could get a good cast, when from over my shoulder 60 or 70 feet of fly line lay out in the current with the hopper floating down just above where the rise had been. My next thought was to tell Tom he'd never get the hook set with all that line out, and just then his fly disappeared in a large splash. Hook set, short run, and a jump clean out of the water displayed a beautiful rainbow that was easily 20 inches or more. Then the hook came flying back at Tom as it was thrown from the fish's mouth. Ecstacy and agony, all in a few seconds. Another couple casts, and he found a smaller, 15-inch rainbow to take away a bit of the sting. Then, it was my turn, and tossing the bugger to the far bank at the head of the hole,  I was promptly rewarded by a take down. Another very large fish, equal to the one Tom lost. Another brief fight, with the fish rolling several times near the surface before throwing the hook. The pains of fishing barbless!

Moving up, we came to a corner hole where Tom claims to always pull a fish or two out with streamers. After fishing the dry and bugger with no love, he tied on an articulated something and let it swing in the current. Strike! Nothing. Strike! Another miss. Strike! The fly was gone. That was a big one! He tied on another, let it dangle practically at his feet, then a hard strike and a football of a rainbow came flying out of the water. This 18-inch bow was finally brought to hand. Tom found two more fish, a little smaller, out of the same run.

Tom's reward for dangling a streamer

It was just before noon, and it had been a very good day already. Moving up from the corner, I picked up a couple more on the bugger, Then, running the indicator right through the edge of the grass along the bank of another small run, I had a take down followed by the sight of a very large fish. This was big enough to make me really nervous about losing it, made all the worse when I saw that it was hooked on the size 18 psycho, not the larger bugger. In the small stream and clear water, the fight was in full view. Each time the fish got near enough for Tom to reach out with the net, it would take off back upstream. Finally, I got the head turned towards Tom and guided it into the net. Barely! Tom said he wasn't sure it would fit! Reading off the net scale, it stretched from 12 on one side to 11 on the other, a full 23" inches and enormously fat. My biggest ever from this stream.

Almost too big for the net

Beautiful rainbow

Tom decided he had had enough of hoppers for the day and returned to nymphing. The nymphs continued to produce, though none so large as the beast I had landed. We reached a stretch that was new to us, and decided to continue fishing up. We found a few more fish, including another brown in the 20-inch plus range that took my fly ran towards the bank right in front of us, realized there was no undercut there, then took off upstream before slipping the hook. Oh, I'd like to have that one back! The new stretch added several miles to the day (up and back) without a huge payout in fishable water. Now we know to turn around at our normal turn around point. 

By the time we ran out of water, it was 5 pm, and we had a 5 mile walk back to the car. Luckily, we found a wax currant bush full of berries to give Tom the energy to make it back to the car. Well, almost back to the car. Tom was worn out from heavy exercising the previous day, so lay down and slept at the side of the road while I walked the last 2 1/2 miles and came back with the car. On the way back to civilization, we stopped at the sight of a badger right next to the road, who promptly faced us and stared us down while I tried (unsuccessfully) to get my camera out for a photo before he ran away. Nice end to a marvelous day. One of the best days every on this beautiful little stream.

One final lesson from the day. As I helped Tom pull off his rattlesnake chaps, I felt something bunched up at the bottom. The hard plastic inserts on the sides of his chaps were shattered and collected in a pile at the bottom. He had been fearlessly leading out all day through the rattlesnake infested grass with no more protection than the canvas fabric for the sides of his legs. So before you go tromping through head high grass full of rattlesnakes, secure in your safety because of the protective gear you are wearing, make sure your gear is functional. We only saw three snake skins, no live ones today. Good for Tom that we didn't run into any.

Stocking up for some extra energy for the long walk back