Late April on the spring creeks and fishing has been consistently fun! There are still a number of spawning fish in all 3 spring creeks. On Depuy’s, there’s a closed section on both the lower creek by Eva’s hut as well as in Betty’s riffle on the upper creek. Both locations are marked with orange cones and a sign explaining that the entire area’s shallow gravel bar is essentially a huge spawning bed and to please not walk out there, disturbing the spawning fish. or to fish over these fish. It’s amazing, but every day there’s someone who chooses to ignore the signs. Just too tempting I guess. I think it would be a nice idea if folks wouldn’t be so short sighted that they couldn’t fish elsewhere. There’s a lot of spring creek water that’s available and has non-spawning fish that are bug eaters.
Hatches on the creeks are on the wane a bit. There’s still some baetis to be found. But as of late even on the really good cloudy days with seemingly perfect conditions for the Blue Winged Olives, there’s only been a smattering of bugs and hatch activity. Midges are present all the time. And if one looks hard and in the right areas, there can be rising fish found. Though it can take some looking hard and patience…. Sight nymphing is still very much a prevalent game on the creeks. Midge pupa, baetis nymphs and emergers, as well as cress bugs are all good bets to work through for patterns. Don’t be surprised if it doesn’t take a bit of finangling to finally “unlock” the key. And then do it all over again on the next set of fish you find to cast to. But that’s the nature of fishing on the spring creeks. Always something of a challenge…..