The creek usually fishes well before runoff, but that window of time varies year to year. Last year I had two weeks of good fishing before snowmelt turned the creek into a raging torrent. I spent most of June on tailwaters, waiting for the freestones to come back into shape.
This year, even with an average winter, the creek is in fantastic shape. The water is low and clear, the bugs are hatching, and the fish have moved from their winter runs into the riffles and pockets. It’s been this way for almost a month, a much longer window than any of the years I’ve had since moving to this corner of Wyoming.
And I only realized the creek was fishing this well by accident. From my driveway to the first parking spot on the creek is 27 minutes, but from the first snowfall until usually the first of May, the creek doesn’t fish well. It’s at the bottom of a steep canyon, so the ice and snow stay packed in there longer than any of the rivers flowing in the valley. That means the water stays colder longer, which delays the bug activity, which delays the fish activity.
About a month ago, I had to drive near the canyon for an errand, so I decided to park at that first pullout and get a lay of the land. Sure, it was earlier than I ever fished the creek, but there was a chance it might be in good shape, and fishing is about taking chances, if nothing else.
Fish were rising in the pool at the pullout when I parked. I had a rod in the truck, so I fished for a few minutes, caught one, and made plans to head back the next day. What followed was one of the best days I’ve ever had on the creek, culminating in this gorgeous cuttbow.
I went back a few days later and found a blue-winged olive hatch that had every fish in the river looking up. The fishing was the kind of lights-out day where it feels like you can’t throw a bad cast, miss a hook set, or play a fish incorrectly. I don’t usually keep track of how many fish I catch, but I honestly lost count that day.
I wondered just how long the creek would stay in good shape. We had a string of 70-degree days, and one that broke 80. But it was cool enough at night, and high in the mountains, to keep the creek in great shape. Enough so that I even took my mother-in-law out, to a section of the river full of rainbows that eat anything so long as the drift is good. She caught 15 fish in a couple hours, including a few decent-sized ones.
The water was clear enough that we could watch the fish eat the nymph off the dry-dropper rig, which was a great experience for my mother-in-law. Once we’d had our fill of smaller fish, we drove down to a stretch of the creek where the trout grow larger. We walked right into the best March Brown hatch I’ve ever seen, and it felt like every fish in the river was eating.
The hatch was so good that I went to the creek two more days in a row, before I had to leave town for a work trip. I won’t be back until Saturday, and I’m not sure how much longer the creek will be in prime shape. But for this year, at least, I experienced some of the pre-runoff madness that gets so many anglers hyped.
I also learned that the creek probably fishes better earlier in the year than I’ve assumed. That means I’ve spent days staring at the mountains, wishing I could fish, when I actually could’ve gone fishing.
At least I know better for next year.