Rock Creek

Fished rock creek today with my new friend Cody. We drove in about 20 miles on rock creek road and got in the water just before noon. We both started with dry fly patterns and did well to start. I managed a few fish on a hopper pattern while Cody landed several fish with a small caddis. However, soon after fishing I started nymphing the nice pockets on our first stretch of river. Rock creek, as we discovered, is full of nice riffles and pocket water, along with the occasional deep runs. Those deep runs are what we tried to focus on and it payed off well. The first run I fished I had many nice fish nymphing, including a nice cutthroat that I lost. After finishing up with the first stretch we moved on upstream. The road that follows is very steep and I was glad that I didn't take my own Volkswagen passat. The second stretch we fished also produced several fish on dries and nymphs. We continued upstream again looking for more good water. We found a nice braid section in a meadow and it proved to be an awesome stretch. Again I stuck with the nymphs and the first fish I hooked into happened to be a small brook trout. I continued to fish the braid down to a nice deep chute where I hooked up with a brown and a few nice cutthroats.

Just before calling it quits I had a nice strike and I landed a decent 14 inch rainbow. I had completed the rock creek grand slam of a brown, brook, rainbow and cutt. It was the first time I've ever done so. When I met back up with Cody he told me he had managed a few nice cutthroats and lost a real nice fish on the same caddis pattern. It was a decent day of fishing and we both had double digit creels. Not bad for just exploring Rock Creek for the first time. Tomorrow is the last day before classes begin, so I plan on getting out on the water somewhere. Will maybe check out the Bitteroot with Cody to get a feel of where things are. Stay tuned...