Putah Creek Fly Fishing Report

Richard Loft Reports on 8.18.2016

Hey Everyone; Heres my report for Late July to Aug 15th , As we all know flows jump on Putah durring summer forceing bigger fish to hold in deeper water and sections hard to get a drift i.e. edges and deep water , That said I am still getting good size fish in the 12 to 13 in range, however I am gettingb reports from others on the river of much larger fish regularly.

So let me list the things I think make a big difference.

#1. Flys; Midges. Mayflys Blue winged olive imitations > Beatis. and Hogans S&M , Also Caddis work well .

#2. As ive mentioned before your leader needs to be the right length dont use a 6 ft leader in 25 inches of water and Vise /Versa  if your fishing your fishing deep water really think and watch to see if your hitting bottom and the moore you fish the better sence you get on this . this isn’t an exact science but just a good rule of thumb try fishing shorter drifts keeping in mind is the section you fishing and your leader rigged the right for that depth . > If you leader is WAY  to long fish can feel the drag and spit the hook befor you see a tick. And if your leader is not long enough your fly wont hit bottom.

PS I like making my leader out of tippet rather than useing a tapered leader.

# 3 Weight; I have fished a section , snagging every nook and cranny every moss covered rock , Then returned later and thought i will try going without any weight and started catching fish one after another , I believe its better to sometimes if you get a better drift , I was just snagging every rock and ruining my drift so just keep an open mind you dont always need Weight to catch fish , I probably hooked 6 to 8 fish in that riffel that day .

#4 Stealth/ speeks for its self . try to not alert fish to your presence fish edges first most of the time the edges don’t drift as well sections with more current but can and do hold fish ive seen hooked them holding in slack water with almost no current . I still get in a rush sometimes and pass over fish I’m sure hold in these sections , Just keep it in mind !