FS Digest

Hello!

I've been hunting for streams near me to fly fish. We have many lakes, which are great, but sometimes I crave trout fishing.

Anyway, after pouring over many many maps I made a list and today went and checked them all out.

Now I should note that for my area this time of year is the lowest water levels. The first stream I went to was alright but had a lot of dried up sections. Didn't get my rod out.

The next stream was much larger but totally dry. I walked the stream bed for a while and found pools here and there. I did see a sign on my way out stating that the steam is steelhead habitat and to know the laws before fishing. Seems promising for when the rain comes?

The final place I went to actually had running water. It was real hard to cast, but after a few tries I was pulling in 4-6in rainbows on every cast!! To find a rainbow creek 10 minutes from my door is freaking awesome.


Now onto my questions:

- How does water level affect fishing in small creeks? If I'm catching 4-6 inch rainbows in the creek at its lowest water levels will their size and/or frequency change in 6 months when waters are running much higher?

- For seasonal creeks/rivers, should I expect fish to move into the dry areas once there is water? These creeks don't exactly dry up, but rather large portions run underground instead and surface for a few pools before disappearing.

- Steelhead.... When do they move into freshwater (when is spawning season)? This might be a silly question, but the sign got me real curious.

- I'm willing to bet the rainbow stream I found gets little to no fishing pressure. Fishing regulations don't even mention it. I'm honestly surprised its running and has fish. Will my fishing this creek impact the rainbow population? Are there precautions I should take to avoid leaving too much of an impact on this spot? (Obviously catch and release only, but any others?) I'm fairly new to fishing as a whole and am beyond excited to have found a near by trout stream.


Thanks for any and all help you can offer!

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by outfieldslayer

FS Digest

Barbless

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by LeonFish

FS Digest

Flow makes a big difference. During high water you'll find migratory salmonoids (like steelhead) entering. Some species like steelhead and cutthroat can move in from saltwater, a lake or a larger stream and spawn in small, usually dry, creeks extremely fast. Sometimes they are only present for a few hours, so it definitely pays to watch the weather and get out during wet periods of increased stream volume. That said there is such a thing as too much water and sometimes streams get too rain swollen to fish. On the contrary too low and fish will be too spooky or just not around, so there's definitely a sweet spot and it's different for each individual watershed.

As for catch and release practices with salmonoids always use barbless hooks, and fight the fish as quickly as possible. Wet hands before touching fish, and keep fish as close to the water as possible. Keep them out of the water for no more then 10 seconds. Some will say as long as you can hold your breath, but I can hold my breath for 3 minutes which is a totally unacceptable amount of time. Never ever set fish down on dry land (see this way too much). If you want to take pictures of fish get a net (specifically a rubber or mesh net gear toward C&R, no knotted baskets!)You can keep the fish safely in the water giving you time to take your shots while keeping fish safe in the water doing no harm to the fish.

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by YOLOMaSTERR