Small creek fishing

B

Bubbw77

Freshly Spawned
I want to start off to say I don't want personal honey hole spots. I grew up fly fishing small creeks in central PA. Haven't fly fished in 20 some years and really want to get back into it
Slowing putting a kit back together. I live just 15mins south of Blaine WA, don't mind driving and walking to find places to fish.

Just hoping someone here might point me into a direction of where i might go to start this journey again.

As for rods I have a 9' 5wt, 12' 5wt trout spey ( still learning this one) and a 9'6" 8wt

Thanks again
 
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I grew up fishing small creeks in PA as well and can tell you there is no comparison. Most PA streams are stocked with some holding wild fish. Very few WA streams are stocked that I know of and hold small native fish. PA streams have the benefit of being limestone that hold a multitude of insects while WA streams are mostly granite based and quite sterile. WA was once a mecca of Salmon and Steelhead fishing but those fisheries have all but disappeared. I would agree with a 3 wt and exploring the thin blue lines for small fish.
 
The 5 weight will still work for the Cascade mountain streams, though! The main thing is get out there before the water comes up and the fish really shut down for the winter. I don't know where they go but the same areas that hold fish in summer become seemingly devoid of trout 'round about October time it seems...
 
I grew up on a small creek (it was a crick back then). It meandered through its valley that was open in places but usually in pretty dense overhanging trees and brush. I didn't fly fish as a kid (periwinkles and Pautzke) - I started fly fishing small creeks since moving to the Columbia Basin; I had your 9-foot 5-weight for the first couple trips. My friend had a 7-foot rod, he spent a lot less time untangling (or breaking off) flies hung up in that overhanging jungle. I have two "shorty" rods, my favorite is a 6'-6" 2 weight. Have fun! And welcome to the forum!/Pat
 
There used to be a forum member who has since passed named Old Man Jim, AKA Old Man. He loved fishing blue lines as he called small creeks. Some gas, a reg book and a gazetteer are what he used to explore. It worked back then and will still work today. After reading many of his posts over the years, I think Jim enjoyed the exploring maybe more so than the actual fishing.
Good luck out there.
SF
 
Grew up fishing the Lake Washington creek in my backyard so have a fondness for small streams.

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I've had better small stream fishing on the east slope of the cascades. The streams seem to be lower gradient and there's a longer growing season. There are some gems...

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The small streams on the West slope of the cascades are usually pocket water plunge pools with a fish a pool but small fish. I'm not giving up secrets when I mention the Taylor River (catch and release and close to Seattle) because it has miles of fishable water, much of it accessible off a trail. The tributaries of the Skykomish and Foss and the Beckler have fish as well as do multiple small streams in the Skagit drainage. Try to find a small stream with a falls or blockage which prevents the migratory fish from accessing it. The trout will be more numerous and a little bigger.

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@MattB is right that many small streams go quiet in October. Not sure what's going on. Maybe the fish are migrating downstream to find bigger water where they can overwinter.

A small stream right along the road often isn't so good. If it bends away from the road the fishing will be better. I've found some jewels like this which involve a hike...

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^Dave gives some great tips there and IMO the photos show how a 9’ 5wt is 100% a viable choice for especially the larger mountain streams in our area. Fish what ya got! Then you can dial in what you think might “need.”
 
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