Fishing Conditions River Conditions Weather Conditions May 15      Slowly but surely, the creek is coming up again, although it's taking much longer than the last bump, mostly due to the cold nights we're still having here.  Despite the rise, Rock Creek is still maintaining a fair amount of its clarity, and there are lots of people coming out to float.  Most are using flashy or rubber-legged nymphs, and some are doing streamers too.  There are a plethora of dry flies, but for the most part, the fish aren't looking up while the streamflow is rising.  Still, it's sometimes worth it to chuck out a big attractor or even a stonefly to see if anything rises to it.      Floating has kicked into high gear already on the Creek, and we're seeing rafts go up every day.  Most are doing the lower float from the Fire Ring (13 miles up) to the Tamarack Access above the Elkhorn Ranch (4 miles up).  If you do this float, keep in mind that at Sawmill Access (8 miles up), there is a tree that's fallen all the way across the main stem of the river.  Currently, most floaters are staying left and going down a very shallow and narrow channel that can loop around it.  Just be careful, and keep your eyes open when you get to this point.      I've also heard the "War Zone" (27 miles up) is also looking sketchier than usual this year, although some people have been going through it.  The past couple of years, I've been going up and getting pictures and videos of these hazardous spots, and I'll attempt to do the same in the next couple of days to give you floaters a visual of what to expect. May 11      We've had several consecutive days of sunshine and nice weather.  The added bonus is that the streamflow hasn't really jumped up all that much, so conditions have been pretty stable overall.  That being said, the dry fly fishing has still been difficult, and the fish haven't really been looking up all that much.  We do have mayflies and Mother's Day caddis flying around, so if you can find a calmer section of water, by all means try them.  But for the most part, it's still a sub-surface game here at Rock Creek.  Things should remain steady for most of the weekend, although if it gets into the 80s on Sunday, the creek will come up and cloudy up again.  Hopefully, our big bump from a week ago will temper the rest of the runoff season, but we will have to wait and see.  Until then, come up this weekend, as it should be some great days of fishing! May 7      To say things have gotten much better on the Creek in the past few days would be an understatement.  The streamflow is only slightly above the average now, and the water is looking great.  While there hasn't been a ton of dry fly activity still, the nymphs and streamers have been doing very well.  Surprisingly, people have been catching large rainbows of all things, some even in the 20+ inch category.  That's a marked difference from just a few years ago, when it was the brown trout that dominated here.  The 'bows seem to have made a big comeback.  At some point, the runoff will shoot up again, but until that happens, it's going to be productive up here at the Creek.      Going on a tangent, I removed the Transformer tying instructions that were originally on this page and moved them to the new Multimedia section of the website.  There you'll find pictures (which I'm hoping to get some updates on very soon), videos, relevant articles to Rock Creek and the Merc, and info on how to tie some of the more notorious patterns here at the Merc.  Go check it out! May 4      Rock Creek has virtually all of its clarity back, and it's currently sitting at 1400 cfs.  That should mean some good fishing for this weekend, although the chilly weather has still put a damper on the dry fly activity.  Use the same nymph patterns we've been recommending over the past few days, and you should have a very productive weekend up here at the creek.  Mother's Day caddis can't be too far away either, so we'll keep you up to date on that hatch when it arrives.