Almost magically delicious

Flows are still high but the water is clearing. This makes conditions almost magically delicious and I can’t wait to get out there. Saturday plans were already booked so for this trip I was looking for a low-pressured Sunday venue on the creek. Everyone is practically chomping at the bit to get into some clear moving water action and my guess is that everyone may or may not have already worked the best sections of the creek the day before. So I dusted off one of the lesser quality but also less pressured areas in Greenway Park in Georgetown.

Slack water would is in short supply along the creek as the CFS flow is running through most sections like a raging bull. This area starts out with a huge slice of flat and smooth water unfortunately it is clobbered by the bait and take crowd. The good news is that most of the area above this is untouched. The bad news is that there is about half the pockets to fish compared to normal flows.

Moving my way up I pick behind rocks and run the presentations along the side edges. These are the areas that provide refuge for fish from the flowing torrent of water. First I run the minnow pattern and then I sort through the various colors in the PM collection. Gold started to get follows, a few bumps and then this little guy.

A couple more patterns were tried and eventually I decided to stick with the brown trout minnow presentation in 1/16oz. This worked great to attract attention from the fish but they seemed to bully it more than commit to the strike. Fish that did commit would come off in the current or just before reaching the hand. It is a roller coaster of emotions as you feel that thump, work to get the fish in and then the sinking feeling when it slips away. This adds to the excitement and drama of fishing.

Then I find a section of shoreline with a slow moving pool of water and sand bar running the entire length. One cast in and a decent brown trout takes a solid swipe and gives up a fairly good tussle for its size. I step into the water for extra gentle handling before the release.

This pool had a few fish holding up and I managed to pull out two smaller ones as well before moving on. We are not talking huge fish here, just some decent fin-slappers on the cold-water side of things.

Cross the bridge and work the last few open sections between business establishments long the water. I miss a few more fish that were possibly in the 14-inch range and try my best to shrug it off. A few minutes later I pull in a quality creek fish. This brown trout had that spectacular yellow tint that can be quite striking visually.

The real trick for in-town sections on the creek is fish the areas that are obviously open and respect property owners’ privacy in the process. Private areas are well marked for the most part but you don’t want to proceed in areas that could be questionable.

It wouldn’t break my heart to see this stretch become AFLO\C&R. The change would go a long way to help support better fish populations. Folks can still harvest fish from the frequently stocked lake but what is caught in the creek should stay in the creek.

My name is Matt and I’m a fishaholic.