Home waters are nice because of the familiarity that builds up over years of visiting and fishing the same sections again and again. One spot that fits this description for me is the confluence of Haypress Creek in Sierra City where it flows into the North Yuba River. Easy, drive-up access and not too many people fishing there due to the size of the water and accompanying trout!

Still, it’s a very familiar place to fish and enjoy some beautiful scenery, looking up at the Sierra Buttes and breathing in the cool and refreshing mountain air! The fish were plentiful, though somewhat picky, and I would say that they were “assertively nibbling” at my No. 14 yellow stimulator as opposed to aggressively trying to eat it! Lots of nose bumps and active strikes and ended up catching a bunch of beautiful little rainbows in the cold and clear water…

Some small streams seem to have a real magical quality about them… the water, the rocks, the surrounding plant and animal life, and of course the fish that dwell there! Pauley Creek near Downieville is such a place, and it had been a few years since I had been there, in large part due, as my wife reminded me, to the frustration I had felt (and probably displayed) the last time I had fished there and encountered the expected fishy-looking water that was, essentially, fish-less! Sadly, such was the status of many of the creeks and streams in that particular area, and we hadn’t been back since…

But that was two or three years ago, and based on what I’d been seeing recently in both the water and fishing conditions nearby, I decided to take another look and give it another try. And I was not disappointed!

The walk to the stream follows a dirt-and-gravel Forest Service road that doubles as part of a fairly heavily-frequented mountain biking trail, and it’s not unusual to have several of them pass by along their downward descent from the mountain peaks above. Once the bikers have turned off towards town, however, the road continues on towards the creek, where the shadowed waters splash along over beautiful, shimmering shale slabs.

Heading upstream from there, you encounter some incredibly beautiful emerald-green waters that plunge along with an occasional waterfall or two along the way… truly magical surroundings! On this particular day, I was very pleasantly surprised to find that the trout had returned, and there were plenty of hungry and eager rainbows to make it a grand success…

This little spring creek flows unpretentiously alongside a heavily-travelled hiking trail where dozens of outdoor enthusiasts busily hasten along, chattering away while enjoying the beautiful scenery and time outside. Most glance at the stream in passing and probably don’t even give it a second thought as far as fish or fishing are concerned.

I much prefer to jump off the trail and disappear into the thick willows, following whatever breaks in the brush I can find to the edge of this beautiful little stream. Only a few yards away from the trail at times, but still comfortably secluded from the hikers’ frantic pace, I’m able to get lost for a couple of hours, enjoying the scenery and the colorful little brook trout and rainbows that inhabit this little water…

I’ve heard it said that just over sixty or so little creeks and streams flow into the beautiful azure waters of Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada mountains… and only one, the Truckee River, serves as the Lake’s sole outlet in Tahoe City. Because of the efforts to protect and preserve the fish and fisheries in and around the Tahoe Basin, all of these tributaries, on the California side at least, have a late opening for fly fishing, beginning on July 1st!

One creek in particular on Tahoe’s West Shore, Meeks Creek, is an old favorite that I have been visiting, and fishing, off and on for the past fifty-plus years! It is the epitome of a beautiful little mountain stream as it flows precipitously down the side of a mountain in a series of cascading waterfalls and plunge pools that hold a surprising number of wild and feisty little trout. As an added bonus, there are three separate species of trout that inhabit this little gem of a creek, and it is not unusual to catch beautiful little brookies, browns and rainbows in neighboring pools!

Hiked in on July 1st this year and found the water a bit on the low side, but definitely fishable! Got off to a slow start in the first several pools, but the fish finally woke up and started getting active and hungry for my buzz hackle. Mostly brookies that day, with one or two little browns, but oddly no rainbows in sight. There’s always next time…

Some small creeks and streams have a very narrow window of opportunity from year to year, especially during early-season runoff, and there can be a fine line between “too much” and “too little” water… such is the case with Cold Creek, a little over an hour away from home. Winter snowpack, Spring rains and June weather all play a part in what conditions you might find the water when first arriving at the creek. Last year the runoff was so high and fast that it wasn’t safe to wade early in the season, and I couldn’t even really get a fly on the water until mid-June!

Had a pretty good feeling about it this year, however, so decided to take a chance and take a look last week. Much to my pleasant surprise, found the water to be pretty much in the “just about right” category, and had a great morning wandering along and catching a bunch of pretty little rainbows and browns in the deeper runs where they normally hang out…

On a hot day, a little creek like Fiddle Creek is the place to be! You come to enjoy the cool and shady protection of overhanging wise old trees, moss covered rocks and soothing greenness of surrounding forest growth. Lots of pretty little wild rainbows in the cold, clear water make it a good place to fish, to relax and to breathe…

The North Yuba River offers what should be a prime fishery in the local area! It offers an absolutely wonderful and beautiful stretch of water along its twenty-plus miles of roadside access in the Downieville and Sierra City area. Sadly, it’s been more than a bit frustrating watching the fish population noticeably deplete over the past few years, and it just hasn’t fished as well as it has, or should, in the recent past. Not sure why, but there are numerous explanations floating around out there… impact of recent drought years, banning of dredging along the main section of the river, hard to tell for sure!

Gave it another try a couple of weeks ago, and happy to report that even though the fishing wasn’t fast and furious, there was definitely more action in one morning than in several days combined over the past few seasons! Water was still a bit high and fast, typical of the runoff in early summer, but a beautiful morning on a beautiful river…!

Hard to beat a beautiful and meandering stroll along Sagehen Creek under the startling blue of a Tahoe-Truckee early summer sky! This little gem of a stream doesn’t really look like much, only a few inches deep in places, but it can hold some surprising numbers of some surprisingly nice fish! Mostly brook trout here, often colored up nicely, and a few random rainbows along the way to keep it interesting. A nice little 7′-3wt glass rod does the trick, and there are plenty of places where it pays to be stealthy as you approach a likely holding spot…

Another one of my early-season go-to streams is Texas Creek, a small mountain stream that winds nearly invisibly through the forest, so much so that you can’t see it from the roadway where it crosses over it. Most people don’t even know it’s there, which is fine by me! Typical small Sierra water which holds lots of feisty little rainbows and browns in decent numbers, and every once in a while you’re lucky enough to stumble across a twelve-incher that feels like a real whopper in that small water!

Early in the season the Indian Rhubarb are just starting to sprout, giving it a very Dr. Seussian feel to the place. It’s pretty brushy and thick heading upstream, and it always feels like a well-earned workout after a couple hours of being hunched over and winding my way through the tangled willows and alders…

What a difference a couple of weeks can make! A couple weeks later I returned to Fall Creek to fish the upstream section from the parking area, a section I haven’t actually fished in the past few years. A bit of warmer weather had melted most of the creekside snow that I had tromped through just two weeks earlier, and the creek had slowed down and cleared up to provide beautiful late Spring conditions…