Prospector
Well-known member
Time Fished: 7am - 5pm
Weather Conditions: 55-65 degrees , mostly overcast, sometimes a light drizzle
Water Conditions: 54 degrees when I started and 56 degrees when I ended; Creek was falling and clearing; very off color to start and by the end had over 5 foot visibility
Insects: Small BWO and Paraleptophlebia were the most numerous. Also saw several different type and size caddis (2nd most); Just a few of the rest, which were Light Cahill, cream Cahill, sulphurs, yellow drake. I only saw 3 rises all day
I hadn’t fished Sugar Creek yet this spring so I had it penciled in as the starter today but it was unclear if it was fishable. I crossed the first bridge and I could see the semblance of the rocky bottom. Although it was still quite dirty, I knew the visibility threshold had been reached and I’d be rigging up my rod shortly. Sugar fishes very well on both the rise and fall.
Three bait fisherman were leaving as I arrived so I had the whole section. Another fly fisherman came about 1040am and left at 3pm.
I chose to swing a olive wooly bugger and picked up a brown and 2 rainbows pretty quickly but I traded it out for a black wooly bugger since I thought it showed up better in the discolored water. Conditions could not have be better to catch fish. Marginal fishing conditions at 7am improved every hour all day long, the creek level dropped and the water got clearer and the trout were turned on. The day stayed overcast too which was important.
I walked upstream of my truck, fished down, and just continued methodically working all holding water by quickly showing them my fly. The black bugger was a producer in the 1/2 mile I covered before turning back upstream to fish the best locations a second time. On my first pass I caught about 25. Reworking some key spots a second time I got another 13. Although I tried some other flies I never caught more than couple on those flies. 95% of the trout were caught on the bugger. Other flies that caught a few fish: leadwing Coachman wet, a much larger variant of sawyers killer bug.
Interestingly here are the flies didn’t work:
- yellow zonker (a streamer usually produces in high off color water and I tried it at a time when I had caught a run of Browns),
- prince nymph (usually a solid producer in general and my choice for the past few decades as best fly to use in this creek when you are not sure what to use),
- March Brown nymph (usually a good all around choice that should have been gobbled up when fish are freely feeding)
For about the final half hour, I could see the other angler in the hole below me just netting fish after fish. When I talked to him later he said he was new to fly fishing was thrilled he caught 17 and lost another 17 in 3 hrs. Based on his casting technique I could see he was using a lot of weight so he was catching them deep and I was catching them near the top. By swinging the fly, the fast current was pulling my Bugger so high that many times I saw the swirl before I felt the fish grab my fly.
I left this section about 3pm and headed for another section on Sugar, just a few miles away, that a friend of mine needed a scouting report on. In the new location it was clear someone had parked there and fished it already. I worked the hole he was curious about and caught 5 on the black bugger, next pass with black Bugger I caught 1 more, I tried a prince again that didn’t work and then I went with a BH golden stone. My plan was to fish it deep with 3 split shot but I had only 1 strike (a brown that I caught). After intense nymphing with little to show I thought about leaving. So my fly at the end of the drift was on a short line below me. I contorted to look at my watch as I pulled my rain gear sleeve away using my rod hand, which in turn pulled my fly to the surface and a fish hit. So I had kept the fly low and only had one strike but then by accident I put movement on the fly and one takes it?? I left everything rigged as is with 3 split shot and I began swinging the fly on a dead drift and the rainbows were hammering it. Strange that rainbows never had any interest in it when I tried to take the fly to them. But if I made them chase it in the water column the rainbows were all over it.
This “scouting mission” stop yielded 12 more trout for an even 50 (admittedly once I got to 49 I had stay until I caught one more). Between both locations I got 34 rainbow and 16 brown. The majority of the fish were thick and healthy. It will be a shame when warm water in the coming weeks takes its toll on these fish. But today was one of the really fun days of the year. I covered a lot of water, got to see where all the holding water was and had strikes all along the way.
Photos:
In the “compare photo” of the Little BWO (sz 18) and paraleptophlebia (sz 20), the BWO is the larger fly. They always hatch together.
The dark Caddis have shown up on every stream. Have several in your box and don’t be afraid to use them when you are getting refusals on mayflies. I’d tie them a size smaller than the natural.
Weather Conditions: 55-65 degrees , mostly overcast, sometimes a light drizzle
Water Conditions: 54 degrees when I started and 56 degrees when I ended; Creek was falling and clearing; very off color to start and by the end had over 5 foot visibility
Insects: Small BWO and Paraleptophlebia were the most numerous. Also saw several different type and size caddis (2nd most); Just a few of the rest, which were Light Cahill, cream Cahill, sulphurs, yellow drake. I only saw 3 rises all day
I hadn’t fished Sugar Creek yet this spring so I had it penciled in as the starter today but it was unclear if it was fishable. I crossed the first bridge and I could see the semblance of the rocky bottom. Although it was still quite dirty, I knew the visibility threshold had been reached and I’d be rigging up my rod shortly. Sugar fishes very well on both the rise and fall.
Three bait fisherman were leaving as I arrived so I had the whole section. Another fly fisherman came about 1040am and left at 3pm.
I chose to swing a olive wooly bugger and picked up a brown and 2 rainbows pretty quickly but I traded it out for a black wooly bugger since I thought it showed up better in the discolored water. Conditions could not have be better to catch fish. Marginal fishing conditions at 7am improved every hour all day long, the creek level dropped and the water got clearer and the trout were turned on. The day stayed overcast too which was important.
I walked upstream of my truck, fished down, and just continued methodically working all holding water by quickly showing them my fly. The black bugger was a producer in the 1/2 mile I covered before turning back upstream to fish the best locations a second time. On my first pass I caught about 25. Reworking some key spots a second time I got another 13. Although I tried some other flies I never caught more than couple on those flies. 95% of the trout were caught on the bugger. Other flies that caught a few fish: leadwing Coachman wet, a much larger variant of sawyers killer bug.
Interestingly here are the flies didn’t work:
- yellow zonker (a streamer usually produces in high off color water and I tried it at a time when I had caught a run of Browns),
- prince nymph (usually a solid producer in general and my choice for the past few decades as best fly to use in this creek when you are not sure what to use),
- March Brown nymph (usually a good all around choice that should have been gobbled up when fish are freely feeding)
For about the final half hour, I could see the other angler in the hole below me just netting fish after fish. When I talked to him later he said he was new to fly fishing was thrilled he caught 17 and lost another 17 in 3 hrs. Based on his casting technique I could see he was using a lot of weight so he was catching them deep and I was catching them near the top. By swinging the fly, the fast current was pulling my Bugger so high that many times I saw the swirl before I felt the fish grab my fly.
I left this section about 3pm and headed for another section on Sugar, just a few miles away, that a friend of mine needed a scouting report on. In the new location it was clear someone had parked there and fished it already. I worked the hole he was curious about and caught 5 on the black bugger, next pass with black Bugger I caught 1 more, I tried a prince again that didn’t work and then I went with a BH golden stone. My plan was to fish it deep with 3 split shot but I had only 1 strike (a brown that I caught). After intense nymphing with little to show I thought about leaving. So my fly at the end of the drift was on a short line below me. I contorted to look at my watch as I pulled my rain gear sleeve away using my rod hand, which in turn pulled my fly to the surface and a fish hit. So I had kept the fly low and only had one strike but then by accident I put movement on the fly and one takes it?? I left everything rigged as is with 3 split shot and I began swinging the fly on a dead drift and the rainbows were hammering it. Strange that rainbows never had any interest in it when I tried to take the fly to them. But if I made them chase it in the water column the rainbows were all over it.
This “scouting mission” stop yielded 12 more trout for an even 50 (admittedly once I got to 49 I had stay until I caught one more). Between both locations I got 34 rainbow and 16 brown. The majority of the fish were thick and healthy. It will be a shame when warm water in the coming weeks takes its toll on these fish. But today was one of the really fun days of the year. I covered a lot of water, got to see where all the holding water was and had strikes all along the way.
Photos:
In the “compare photo” of the Little BWO (sz 18) and paraleptophlebia (sz 20), the BWO is the larger fly. They always hatch together.
The dark Caddis have shown up on every stream. Have several in your box and don’t be afraid to use them when you are getting refusals on mayflies. I’d tie them a size smaller than the natural.
Attachments
-
Sugar Ck compare (Little BWO vs Para) para is smaller.JPG -
Sugar Ck Little BWO Profile.JPG -
Sugar Ck Little. BWO underbelly.JPG -
Sugar Ck Little BWO (measured).JPG -
Sugar Ck Paraleptophlebia Profile.JPG -
Sugar Ck Paraleptophlebia underbelly.JPG -
Sugar Ck Paraleptophlebia (measured).JPG -
Sugar Ck Dark Caddis Profile.JPG -
Sugar Ck Dark Caddis underbelly.JPG -
Sugar Creek Dark Caddis (measured).JPG -
Sugar Ck Nice Bow.jpg -
Sugar Ck Pretty Bow.jpg -
Sugar Ck Hefty Bow.jpg -
Sugar Ck Thick Bow.jpg -
Sugar Ck Brown.jpg
