Bocianka1
Active member
Fished Ricley Creek today 10/24/18.
Started around 9:30am and finished around 2:30pm.
Air temp started out around 45 deg. and gradually warmed to about 55 deg.
Clear sunny day. the water was a little low, and gin clear. Typical slow to almost nonexistant current in most of the stretches along the bike trail. I started fishing at the parking lot located below the dam in the Fly Fishing Catch and Release Only section. I moved up river to a few bends past the handicapped only dock. The upper sections were almost barren of fish, even at the handicapped dock which usually has a large group holding in the deep pool. There was a light breeze, but typical weather for fall. A beautiful day to be on the river.
The state stocked the water on Oct. 4th, but there seems to be few sign of all the stocked fish that were put in. In the past years, i have seen large numbers of stocked rainbows visible from shore as you walk different sections of the creek and look into different pools and deep troughs. Last year at this time i caught 10-12 fish a day.
Today, i spotted only a very small number of fish, and most of them were suckers. A few trout here and there swimming, but no sign of groups of hatchery fish milling around. A few rises near the typical fishing pools, but they were sporatic at best.
I caught two rainbows along the brush overhanging the far bank, and 3 suckers. All were caught on a black Estaz Beetle pattern (tied by Laszlo). caught one large rockbass on a Golden Retriever (wooly bugger style) also tied by Laszlo. I managed to coax a few trout out of the deeper holes at the dam to investigate the Golden Retreiver, but even those few fish were just curious and went back to their holes quickly. No where near the usual action.
My buddy caught one rainbow at the falls using a white wooly bugger with a blue squirmy tail. I missed another on a Tungsten Surveryor nymph.
No hits on san juan worms, micromops, squirmy wormies, black peacock herl midge, or olive wooly buggers. Between the two of us, and the time on the water, we tried lots of different flies that typically produce well here. The Beetle seemed to be the only thing drawing any decent strikes.
There have been very few fisherman seen in recent weeks (compared to the droves who are usually out after a stocking). Today was the first time i've seen significant numbers of other fisherman during the weekday. I saw perhaps 7 other guys during the entire day on the water, and that is with hiking up stream and back. The fish usually put on a good show at the dam, but today there were few hits. The recent storms have left lots of tree branches to block access to some of the pools at the far side of the dam, as well as lots of underwater structure to snag along the base of the dam. My buddy lost 6 flies from 9-11 in the morning at the dam, and only one fish to show for his efforts.
Hopefully the Trout Unlimited stocking scheduled for early November will yield better results for fishing. I believe the TU stocking is the last scheduled stocking to take place before spring. If that stocking doesn't produce more fish in the typical holding pools, then it might be a long slow winter fishing Ridley this year.
Started around 9:30am and finished around 2:30pm.
Air temp started out around 45 deg. and gradually warmed to about 55 deg.
Clear sunny day. the water was a little low, and gin clear. Typical slow to almost nonexistant current in most of the stretches along the bike trail. I started fishing at the parking lot located below the dam in the Fly Fishing Catch and Release Only section. I moved up river to a few bends past the handicapped only dock. The upper sections were almost barren of fish, even at the handicapped dock which usually has a large group holding in the deep pool. There was a light breeze, but typical weather for fall. A beautiful day to be on the river.
The state stocked the water on Oct. 4th, but there seems to be few sign of all the stocked fish that were put in. In the past years, i have seen large numbers of stocked rainbows visible from shore as you walk different sections of the creek and look into different pools and deep troughs. Last year at this time i caught 10-12 fish a day.
Today, i spotted only a very small number of fish, and most of them were suckers. A few trout here and there swimming, but no sign of groups of hatchery fish milling around. A few rises near the typical fishing pools, but they were sporatic at best.
I caught two rainbows along the brush overhanging the far bank, and 3 suckers. All were caught on a black Estaz Beetle pattern (tied by Laszlo). caught one large rockbass on a Golden Retriever (wooly bugger style) also tied by Laszlo. I managed to coax a few trout out of the deeper holes at the dam to investigate the Golden Retreiver, but even those few fish were just curious and went back to their holes quickly. No where near the usual action.
My buddy caught one rainbow at the falls using a white wooly bugger with a blue squirmy tail. I missed another on a Tungsten Surveryor nymph.
No hits on san juan worms, micromops, squirmy wormies, black peacock herl midge, or olive wooly buggers. Between the two of us, and the time on the water, we tried lots of different flies that typically produce well here. The Beetle seemed to be the only thing drawing any decent strikes.
There have been very few fisherman seen in recent weeks (compared to the droves who are usually out after a stocking). Today was the first time i've seen significant numbers of other fisherman during the weekday. I saw perhaps 7 other guys during the entire day on the water, and that is with hiking up stream and back. The fish usually put on a good show at the dam, but today there were few hits. The recent storms have left lots of tree branches to block access to some of the pools at the far side of the dam, as well as lots of underwater structure to snag along the base of the dam. My buddy lost 6 flies from 9-11 in the morning at the dam, and only one fish to show for his efforts.
Hopefully the Trout Unlimited stocking scheduled for early November will yield better results for fishing. I believe the TU stocking is the last scheduled stocking to take place before spring. If that stocking doesn't produce more fish in the typical holding pools, then it might be a long slow winter fishing Ridley this year.
