I decided to give Deep Creek a visit today to compare the winter run-off from March 2011. The winter run-off is still considerably heavy this year despite the overall lack of snowfall. The run-off last March was extreme, Deep Creek was almost unrecognizable. Within the next few months the flow rates should reduce since there is not much snow pack left.
Today, the creek looked and fished more like a river. The trout were not in their usual feeding lanes, and the surface was mostly white-water. Even the shallow tail-outs were full of bubbles and the water was stained a rust color. I decided to fish this creek/river czech style and I tied a size 12 Prince nymph variation with a black marabou tail and a size 16 olive ice hare SH. I explored and fished a new section today and most of my upstream or downstream exploring was halted by white water or geologic barriers. Wading here is a death wish during this time and all of my casting was off the bank or rocky point.
It took about an hour to finally connect with a fish. The trout took my ice hare SH fly in a semi-turbulent narrow run. The take was soft and almost felt like I got tangled in wood debris (I lost about 4 nymphs due to log jams earlier in the day). When the rod tip began to flutter to life I knew there was a fish on. To my surprise it was a brown trout which looked somewhere in the 9" range. Most of the trout that I catch in this section have always been rainbow trout, although I have seen pictures of brown trout in the 16" range from this creek. Unfortunately, the fish popped off before I had a chance to bring it to shore for a picture.
The weather was getting cold and windy so Erika and I decided to head out. We only fished for about two hours since we arrive somewhat late (1:00pm) and left sometime around 3pm. We stopped by The Cottage in Crestline for garlic knots and spaghetti and meatballs and called it a day.
I will return to you once you have tamed.
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