CFS: 970
Water Temp: 55-61°F
Dries: Yellow Sallies, Green/Gray Drakes, Caddis, PMDs, Purple Haze
Nymphs: Hare’s Ears, Pheasant Tails, Small Stoneflies, Perdigons
FISHING REPORT
Both salmon flies and the float fishing season are officially over here on Rock Creek. It’s that time of year again where we transition to our general wading/foot fishing as well as our summer hatches. Fortunately, we still have a decent number of stoneflies. They won’t last long, but there have been a few golden stones high up the creek. However, the best current stoneflies are the yellow sallies, which are far smaller than their salmon fly and golden stone counterparts. The cutbow pictured here was the result of fishing a small sally yesterday (thanks to Ben for the picture).
It’s also time to start fishing summer staples like caddis and pale morning duns. The caddis hatch has been dense in recent days, with some of the bugs even reaching size 8-10. The guides were using large October caddis to replicate these with great success. I am also a big fan of the larger goddard caddis in the early summer. It’s a very classic fly that still works effectively to this day. Drop a crippled green drake, purple haze or PMD pattern behind it, and you’ll have an effective dry fly combination for evening fishing.
There are going to be windows throughout the day where the fish simply aren’t interested in rising to dry flies. When this happens, a double nymph rig or a streamer pattern will be your best chance at catching some trout. We are seeing some rain this July, and San Juan worms are good options during and after days of precipitation. I pulled out a nice brown trout using a pink worm just the other day.
If worms aren’t your thing, a Pat’s Rubber Leg or a TJ Hooker will do the job also. With the emergence of good caddis and PMD hatches, their nymph counterparts are doing well also. Use smaller sized Hare’s Ears, Pheasant Tails, and Copper Johns behind either a large dry fly or nymph to increase the likelihood of a hit.
Although it’s not as popular when the water is lower, fishing streamers is still a great way to get into some bigger fish. A fellow Rock Creek enthusiast I fished with stripped an articulated Circus Peanut and had several trout pursue it throughout the day. You won’t catch quite as many fish versus using a dry fly or nymph, but you will increase your chances of catching a big predatory trout this way. Most of the anglers I speak with prefer to fish them in the early mornings or late evenings (low light conditions), but if you’re not having much luck throughout the day, this is a fun way to change things up.
Now that float fishing is over on Rock Creek for the year, the amount of pressure on the fish will reduce substantially. Until we get a long-lasting heatwave, I would expect the fly fishing on Rock Creek to be very good.
More as conditions change, stay safe out there and happy fishing!