Sandy Creek Part 2

I thought I would post some more photos from the October 11th trip, since it was such a success. And included are a few photos from Bob and Jessie's stint at Oak Orchard creek. Plus, I've included a report from today's little scouting trip. Hope you enjoy!

Ethan and I went to Sandy today. We stopped at the rt.19 bridges and saw plenty of cars, so we drove upstream to the next bridge....more cars. So we kept driving up until we hit church street. There were only two vehicles here so we got out and geared up. Got to the bridge and looked down into the water just beneath the bridge and saw a nice big male chinook. We walked down and saw more fish moving upstream from below. We tried for a little while to get two salmon to take our fly below the bridge, but they weren't cooperating. A walk downstream revealed more fish holding here and there and we managed to hook a nice female. We fought her for a couple minutes and 3 guys from down below came up and helped me land her. These guys had three fish a piece on their stringers. I asked if they would take a photo for me with the fish and Ethan, as I have never had a photo with Ethan and me together yet! And you know what?....no camera, I left in the car. Oh well, that's the way it goes. Any way, we need rain!!!! still low and clear even up at church street were there are some decent runs and holes. Lots of people around too! I think once the hunting season starts it will become a little less crowded. I hope!

Sandy Creek, October 11th

We all met at Sandy creek this morning at around 6:30am. And as we rigged up our fly rods at our cars, we could hear salmon moving upstream in the shallows of the creek. Needless to say, our walk to the creek was full of anticipation. And it did not take long to find some salmon working their way upstream. A few minutes later, and Dan was holding on with all that he had, as a salmon stripped line off his reel. Soon, I tailed a nice 20lb.+ female chinook salmon for Dan. We took a few pictures and went back to find some more salmon.

Looking upstream we could see more fish moving up through the shallow sections and Bob and Jessie each took turns fighting a few fish. More pictures were taken. Then Drew came back to the group after he went to put on a pair of waders, and soon hooked into his first fish. This is how the fishing went all morning long. We would walk upstream and find a few fish to present a fly too. Then one of us in the group would get a fish to take a fly and the battle was on! By mid morning everyone had at least one fish landed and a few others hooked that they had lost.

I will post all the picture I have on my camera. And I will also post the other photos that the guys took, as I get them. Here is the link to my jumpcut page for a few more photos.
http://www.jumpcut.com/explore/?type=all&keywords=bbradfield585

What a great way to start the 2008 salmon season!

Sandy creek salmon

Bob sent me an e-mail yesterday. He wrote about a little trip to Sandy creek in search of salmon. He and his wife Kim saw one fish shoot up from the bridge. Bob was able to hook and land that fish. His first salmon of the 2008 season. A nice female Chinook salmon. Way to go Bob!

Bob gets a special prize for catching the first salmon of the 2008 season. I will make the presentation this Saturday when I see him at Sandy.

The salmon will continue to build near the mouth of the creek. And as the season progresses, more and more fish will enter the stream. And soon after the brown trout and steelhead will follow. I can't wait to get going.

See you on the stream!

Oatka creek!

O.K. so the story really starts out at spring creek, and it does not involve me in any way. But, it is a good one none the less. Two of my friends (Jessie and Luke) started their day at spring creek, and after a few fish caught on a small grey scud, they decided to move to the Oatka. I was told they went to the "nice hole." The nice hole is a spot that produces a lot of fish for us on a regular basis. And for those that have fished with us...you know where this place is.

Luke started things off by fishing a FB pheasant tail nymph. This produced a couple of good strikes, but no fish came to the net. Then a change here and there to the nymph rig, and an addition of a second fly...wham. This was the ticket! Fish came easily now. Soon after those changes, Jessie met back up with Luke. He too made some adjustments, and quickly got into a good number of fish. In fact I was told he was "slamming the fish." There were some good size fish that were landed I'm told, a few that were in the 15" range. This is what great fisherman do. They are constantly making adjustments to find what works in each situation. And it is only a matter of time until they find the solution, even for the pickiest of fish.

After a good while of catching fish, Jessie made his way back home and left Luke to his own devices. This is when Luke spotted "the White Whale." A fish of near mythic proportions for a stream like the Oatka. It was a large fish, maybe 20" Luke had thought. His head tried in vain to decipher the code of the great fish. It took an hour of refusals by the great fish before an addition of a small midge larvae changed the course of the day. Fish on! It ran upstream. Then with some effort, Luke worked the fish back down to the deep hole. Next, the fish jumped, headed for the weeds, and broke off.

Captain Ahab now recounts the tale with great enthusiasm. And his obsession grows deeper. The "White Whale" is free for now, but I would guess not for long. The good captain will be back to claim his prize another day.

Photos taken by Lucas.

Scouting Mission #1

After dropping Katie off at nursery school, Ethan and I headed up to Sandy creek to check it out. While putting my waders on, I told my self that it was too early and the water was too low. And after walking upstream about a half mile and seeing no fish, I realized that once again I was right! Sometimes I hate it when I'm right. I did see some shallow gravel sections where the rocks had been worn clean(the algae and weeds had been worn off.) This usually indicates that a fish or two have come up into the stream, at least a short distance any way. They may have gone back down to the estuary after first light.

The water level was not as bad as I thought it would be. The water was on the cool side too, maybe in the low 60's. But, as the sun continues to rise, it will warm that water back up into the high 60's. All we really need at this point is a couple of rainy cold days to bring the water level back up and trigger some fish to run the smaller tributaries, like Sandy creek.

Oak Orchard creek is already receiving small runs of fish, probably a few fish every night. And there are fish up by the dam. Plus there have been reports of people catching a few salmon and some trout as well at the dam. This is normal for this time of year, and soon the salmon and trout will be in every tributary.

Now....if we could just get a little rain to help things a long, that would be great!

Getting Ready!

It's that time of the year again! Cool weather, brilliant fall colors and big fish! Are you ready? Have you prepared for the fall salmon and trout runs?

I have been slowly tying flies to restock my boxes from last year. I am also checking all my reels, and my fly rods to make sure they are all working properly. It would be horrible to hook into a 15 lb. steelhead and have your line snap, or your reel freeze up just because you didn't take a little extra time to check everything before using it. And how many times have you gone to the river only to find out that you don't have your tippet material, or split shot, or a fly box, or.....I think you get the idea. I always try and make sure I check everything at least twice before I head out the door. It is always better to know that you don't have something before you go fishing, rather than stomping around the river like my 2 year old son does when something doesn't go his way. And the only reason why I know this, is because, I have done it many times before! And it really doesn't help, when this realization happens during a major run(this has also happened to me.) Trust me when I say, trying to land 20-30 lb. king salmon on 6 lb. test tippet is an exercise in futility. So take it from me....PREPARE YOUR SELF!!!

And when you're on the river this fall and you see someone stomping around like a two year old throwing a temper tantrum, you will know why!

Great Photos!

A photo can bring back a lot of memories. This is especially true when you capture a great moment while fly fishing. The photographer sees a great moment, takes a shot, and the memory is saved for ever. It's always nice to find those old photos. And they always seem to bring me right back to that time and place captured at that instant. It is good to go back and remember!

There is much that goes into taking a good photograph(more than I will ever know). Getting close to the subject, making sure you have the correct lighting, composition, etc, etc. This is all well and good. But, I must admit that I do not have a natural gift for taking great photos. I rely on friends to guide me. In fact, all of the really good photos that were taken for this blog, were taken by friends.

This photo was taken by Lucas Carroll during an early morning excursion to Oatka creek to fish a trico hatch. In fact, if you are interested in viewing more of Lucas' photos check out this link! www.flickr.com/photos/22304730@N03/

Good photographers capture the moment. Great photographers put you there!