I have been wanting to visit a small wilderness area somewhat close to home for years but have never gotten around to actually doing it. With my wife working over part of the long weekend, I found myself with two days free. HEAT was in the forecast, so this place fit the bill. The trail I was looking at follows a small creek for miles. It is up in the mountains and shaded so should be at least a bit cooler than home. I had heard there are fish in there. It sounded great. Icing on the cake was that the drive in passed a couple very very small creeks that looked interesting. The plan was to go light, no stove, no tent, minimal gear, light pack. I got up early and hit the road to beat the heat. This year I have been pushing my thoughts on how small is too small for fish. I have been surprised at some of the places I have found fish but how small can you go? The first creek I stopped at was tiny. I could step access in most places without getting my feet wet. The plan was to just fish a little bit and keep going. When I saw the creek I almost went back to the car it was so small. I thought probably not but there was one hole that looked like it might have something. I wasn’t disappointed. It wasn’t large and I didn’t land it but it did take my fly. Curiosity satisfied, time to move on. The second creek also very small but had a couple bever ponds. I could see some fish rising form the car. It was great just to watch them swimming around. My presentation needs some work for this kind of fishing but I still landed a few.
Great fun but needed to keep moving to the main event. Finding the trail head wasn’t too bad even though not all the roads are marked. When I got there, there were only 3 other cars. Better than I had hoped. Time to get geared up and go. With the trail more or less following the creek I have plenty of places to fish. This was to be an out and back hike with no real end destination so I had the freedom to fish as much or as little as I liked. The bugs were hatching and the fish were active. Most places I stopped produced fish. Often on the first cast. It couldn’t get much better. They were not large but made up for it in quantity. Mosty feisty rainbows.
As the day wore on and heated up I got a bit more picky on where I stopped with plentiful shade being essential. You could feel the temp rise in areas where the trail rose up above creek level. 6 or so mile in and hungry for dinner it was time to call it a day. I found a nice spot near yet another nice hole for the night. Something really nice about sleeping under the stars next to running water. It cooled off nicely over night and the morning actually felt a little cool. Going light, I didn’t have a jacket or hat so I just slept in. It was really watching the sky turn blue from under a canopy of alder and fir trees. The fishing was not quite a good as the day before but still wasn’t bad. I suspect the fish had gorged themselves. I saw some with what appeared to be disgorged stomachs. I suspect they have been gorging themselves and were now taking a break. Kind of like me with a beer, pizza and a couch, at some point I’m just not getting up for more. The hike out was similar to the hike in.
Fish, hike, fish, hike, fish, hike, fish, hike and as some point I found the car.
A couple more stops at tiny tiny creeks on the way home, both had fish. I really had a great trip and hope to get one or two more in before the end of the summer. This trip has got me thinking, am I going to these places to fish or is fishing just an excuse to go to these paces? I’m sure the answer will be different for all of us. For me, I’m not sure these days. More research is needed.
Great fun but needed to keep moving to the main event. Finding the trail head wasn’t too bad even though not all the roads are marked. When I got there, there were only 3 other cars. Better than I had hoped. Time to get geared up and go. With the trail more or less following the creek I have plenty of places to fish. This was to be an out and back hike with no real end destination so I had the freedom to fish as much or as little as I liked. The bugs were hatching and the fish were active. Most places I stopped produced fish. Often on the first cast. It couldn’t get much better. They were not large but made up for it in quantity. Mosty feisty rainbows.
As the day wore on and heated up I got a bit more picky on where I stopped with plentiful shade being essential. You could feel the temp rise in areas where the trail rose up above creek level. 6 or so mile in and hungry for dinner it was time to call it a day. I found a nice spot near yet another nice hole for the night. Something really nice about sleeping under the stars next to running water. It cooled off nicely over night and the morning actually felt a little cool. Going light, I didn’t have a jacket or hat so I just slept in. It was really watching the sky turn blue from under a canopy of alder and fir trees. The fishing was not quite a good as the day before but still wasn’t bad. I suspect the fish had gorged themselves. I saw some with what appeared to be disgorged stomachs. I suspect they have been gorging themselves and were now taking a break. Kind of like me with a beer, pizza and a couch, at some point I’m just not getting up for more. The hike out was similar to the hike in.
Fish, hike, fish, hike, fish, hike, fish, hike and as some point I found the car.
A couple more stops at tiny tiny creeks on the way home, both had fish. I really had a great trip and hope to get one or two more in before the end of the summer. This trip has got me thinking, am I going to these places to fish or is fishing just an excuse to go to these paces? I’m sure the answer will be different for all of us. For me, I’m not sure these days. More research is needed.
. I love to explore, I love to get remote, but I also need to end up at a place that I can fish, hunt or scout for a future hunt and if I encounter more than 3-4 people along the way I’m not happy.