There’s another little creek not far from home that I often use as an early-season indicator, and this year it proved to be a very nice way to work out some of the off-season kinks! Because the creek flows through some fairly dense growth of pines along and under the Forest Service Road that leads to a much more populated lakeside destination, most people simply drive right by without even realizing that it’s there, which is fine by me!

Upon arriving at the creekside parking area, the big decision is whether to try upstream or down… the former meaning mostly browns and the latter meaning mostly rainbows. Not sure why, but there is a distinct and noticeable difference in the ratio of these two species above and below the large man-made pipe that tunnels the water underneath the USFS road…

On this particular day, decided to head downstream, which is a little more open, less overgrown to see what I might find… Not surprisingly, found dozens of hungry, eager and feisty little rainbows in the 6″-8″ range with a couple nice little browns to make it interesting!

All-in-all another beautiful morning out on a local small stream that serves as a trusted and familiar way to spend some early-season time on the water…!