Putah Creek

Putah Creek Pride

by Matt

I feel like I’m getting old and these knees just aren’t like they use to be. I’ve been fortunate to have had the opportunity to explore most of California’s great fly fishing streams and will continue to seek new adventures however now at a much slower pace. With life’s priorities having been shifted and time being limited I plan on sticking to streams within the hour to get my line wet. I’ve been visiting and fishing waters that are near me and had some time to check out Putah Creek. It’s been about five years since I’ve last fished Putah Creek and I was excited to see what’s changed.

Putah Creek is one of my favorite places to fish provided it not being crowded. My favorite flows to fish the creek are between 250 – 450 CFS. The flows have been high since February with no relief until recently mid-April. I manage to catch the flows at around 330 CFS which was perfect. Some new things I noted were new boulders around the Cold Creek run, the game trail below Staircase being overgrown, and a closed off parking area at access #3. Overall not too many changes.

I like to start fish the section around the bridge and make my way downstream throughout the day. I find that the fish are most active between 8am – 1pm with peak activity around 10am – 11am. I fished on a Monday and was lucky enough to have a lot of the creek to myself. There were people holed up in the popular spots but I’m familiar enough with the creek to be able to find productive areas. The fishing the was great. I was able to find fish in all the fishy spots and caught them on a combination on BWOs and midges. Most of the fish were in the 10″ – 12″ range with the fish of the day at around 16″. A lot of people judge the health of a body of water on the biggest fish it can produce but I say finding fish in a range of sizes is the true indicator of great water.

The flows on Putah Creek are starting to fluctuate now and will soon be in the 600 – 700 CFS range as the summer rolls in. Fish can still be caught during the higher flows but limited access makes it a tricky fishery.

Putah Creek

Putah Creek Peak

by Matt

Summer flows on Putah Creek are tough. I’ve been attempting to learn where the trout hold during the summer on Putah Creek and this visit I covered water from the Monticello dam down to Access 5. From now on I will be calling it quits on Putah Creek at 700 CFS.

The previous week I had visited Putah Creek the flows were around 630 CFS. This visit the creek was cranked up to 700 CFS. It appears that every ~100 CFS rises the creek about 3-6 inches. I learned this the hard way after I stepped into a spot where I could usually wade in and my waders started to fill with water. Not the best way to start the day… After slogging around in waders for a bit I opted to just wet wade in shorts and sandals. This was more comfortable than wet waders however it also was not the best idea because my leg and feet got pretty beat up by all the berry bushes and weeds.

I checked out the spots where I had caught some fish the last visit and noticed that although there were still fish there were a lot less of them. I hooked four fish and landed two of them the biggest being about 20”. It appears that the fish were only taking midges.

I hiked and covered water throughout the day checking out all available access spots. About 80% of the creek was too high to fish and spots that looked like they should have held fish (nooks, crannies, soft seams, etc) didn’t yield any. As I was making my way around the creek I spotted a Putah Creek beast in soft water that looked like it was +25”. Unfortunately it spooked into deeper water before I could get the chance to cast to it.

I ran into two guys that were interested in fishing the Putah Creek at access 5. Apparently the ranger they spoke to told them they could keep fish at access 3. I kindly iterated that all of the creek is catch-and-release only. If you are ever unsure about the regulations make sure you reference the DFW fishing regulations book.

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