Got out to Fall Creek in late April for an early-season look at some local water. Nice to find a good cold flow but also surprised to find so much snow still on the ground along the creek! After a bit of unexpected post-holing through the crusty snowbanks, finally made it down to the water and was able to find a few pretty little rainbows in the deeper holding spots outside the main runoff current. A very nice way to start the season…!
I don’t usually get out to this particular creek this early in June, as it is susceptible to high-and-fast water when the warmer late-spring weather hits the Sierra snowpack, essentially making it un-fishable. When I arrived at the stream this morning, I was not the least bit surprised to find the expected conditions as described…
As I took a closer look, however, I noticed that there were some interesting pockets and eddies of calmer water along the edges. Though few and far between compared to the predominantly white-water conditions, I had a feeling that there just might be a few hungry rainbows and brown trout eagerly awaiting the after-runoff calm
I was definitely not disappointed and ended up catching several of each species, all a bit lean from the winter months but strong, eager and hungry as anticipated!
I was also very pleasantly surprised with a triple after hooking into a completely unexpected brook trout! Can’t remember the last time, if ever, that I caught a brookie in this creek!
Another moment of excitement took place when a hen mallard exploded out of the bank-side undergrowth about three feet behind me when I was concentrating on my casting! Must’ve spooked her out of the reeds, and on closer inspection found the nest of eggs she’d been sitting. Took a quick pic then headed upstream so she could get back to work…
One of the real pleasures of repeat visits to your own local streams is getting to know these “home waters” personally, developing an actual relationship with them and getting to know their moods from one season to the next. There is one small stream near Truckee that fits this bill for me, and it’s always nice to get there early in the season to see how she endured any given Sierra winter. Was very pleasantly surprised this year to see that the creek had fared quite well and was, in fact, appearing healthier than during the past two or three years…
Lots of hungry little brookies were the norm for the day, with one nice rainbow joining in the fun early on…
Beautiful stroll through a mixture of meadow grass and small pines under a bright and cloudless Tahoe-blue sky! Wonderful morning spent with old friends…
Headed back out to Texas Creek to check out the upstream section of the creek above the parking area…
Found a good flow of clear, cold water and beautiful Indian Rhubarb starting to cover the rocks among the shallow sections of the stream. Surprising amount of new growth already covering the banks, and it made for more bushwhacking among the alders than I had anticipated!
Still was able to find plenty of room to cast into some beautiful small pools wherever the foliage opened up, and the creek was full of hungry little wild rainbows eager to feed on a buzz hackle!
This section of the stream usually holds mostly browns with only a few rainbows, but the opposite seemed to be the case today! Was able to find a couple pretty little browns, however, and it’s always nice to add a little variety to the catch…
All in all it was a very peaceful and relaxing couple hours out on the water with the creek all to myself… not a bad way to spend the morning!
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…!
Well, I may not have made it out on the water on the official Opening Day of the 2018 trout season, but better late than never, as they say! Was finally able to dust off my gear after the normal off-season hiatus and head out to a local creek on Memorial Day that usually ends up being one of the first I visit every late spring. Fall Creek is nothing spectacular, by any means, but it is relatively close by with easy access, and it is generally reliable in providing cold, clear water and eager little rainbows among very beautiful surroundings…
The first day on the water after the long winter break is always something to look forward to! The comfortable familiarity of stream-side preparations like checking gear, assembling rod and reel, selecting flies and feeling the friendly heft of a loaded vest comes back with a rush as I eagerly set off down the trail and try to select the best spot to drop into the creek and try a cast or two. And it doesn’t take long to be rewarded with that all-too-familiar tug of a little, wild rainbow trout to welcome you back home!
Warm sunny skies above and icy-cold water below, and once again feeling the flow of a beautiful mountain stream… great way to start the season!
A highlight of my youth, and the true origins of my fly-fishing adventures, has to be the annual summer trips we made from Santa Barbara to Lake Tahoe, when my father would take me and two of my older brothers to visit our Aunt and Uncle who had a beautiful lakeside cabin on Tahoe’s west shore for a couple of weeks in July and August. I was only five or six at the time, and I still fondly remember feeling the magic of that amazing and icy-cold Tahoe blue water, especially during our mandatory pre-breakfast swims!!
During these annual visits, we would also take a few-to-several days to horse-pack into the backcountry behind Squaw Valley, leaving from Alpine Meadows Stables and riding over the ridge past Five Lakes and down the other side, following Five Lakes Creek and breathing in some spectacular sights and piney smells of Tahoe Forest surroundings…
Our destination was a wonderful old campsite near a place called Diamond Crossing at the confluence of Five lakes Creek and Powder Horn Creek, and this is where my father first put a fly rod in my hand and introduced me to the joys and wonders of small-stream fly fishing!
That little Fenwick fiberglass rod was like my magic wand, and through it I felt the thrilling first tug of a beautiful little wild rainbow trout devouring a royal coachman fly… I was hooked! Most of the fish we caught were in the typical six-to-eight-to-ten-inch range, but occasionally, someone was lucky enough to stumble across a “monster” of twelve-to-fourteen inches, and that always made for some pretty respectable bragging rights on any given trip!
We spent early mornings and late afternoons wandering the area and casting dry flies to scores of those little wild trout, and I remember my father’s genuine excitement one day when he returned from an exploratory outing “above the falls” on one of the local streams to report that he had discovered that there were brook trout up there as well! Needless to say, our horizons had been broadened, and the climb over the falls became a regular part of the adventure every year thereafter…
Always tough to have to break camp at the end of a trip, and the ride out usually felt a little somber after so much wonderful time fishing those crystal-clear Sierra streams in that beautiful Tahoe backcountry! If we were lucky, we’d find a wonderfully refreshing patch of snow still holding on to the shady side of Five Lakes despite the heat of mid-summer, and that spot became our regular lunch stop. My brothers and I would always look forward to the obligatory snowball toss and ice slide down to the water’s edge where we would cool off with a dip into the icy cold mountain lake before heading back to the stables.
Fond memories, to be sure, and I will remain ever grateful for these familiar adventures and the passion for small-stream fly fishing that still flows within me to this day…!
Welcome to Wandering Streams!
Ever since my childhood, I have felt a deep passion for wandering along beautiful mountain streams with a fly rod in hand in search of elusive little wild trout. And one of the great advantages of this meandering pastime is finding myself surrounded by some of the most spectacular scenery imaginable! A few years ago, with the acquisition of a waterproof camera, I have been able to explore a little deeper and discover a new appreciation for the vibrant colors and patterns that truly come to life in this turbulent underwater world.
Even when the fishing is slow, there is still great nourishment to be found around, along and within these cascading creeks and streams, and I very much enjoy trying to capture these natural images with my camera. Through the photos and written reminiscences that I hope will continue to flow through these pages, I invite you to join me in my wanderings along the way, and I hope that you are able to imagine yourself meandering along these beautiful and relaxing creekside surroundings that I am lucky enough to frequent… Enjoy!
Blair H. Spaulding – Nevada City, CA
