Hunting the River King: Late Fall Trout Creek Exploration

Late Fall Trout Creek Exploration

Despite my familiarity with many local Southern California streams, there are countless others that I have not yet explored in detail, or even ventured to yet. Of these, I was able to fish two (loosely using the term fishing, as you'll see) just a few days ago.

Gotta love that cold late fall sun

These particular creeks are absolutely raging in the spring during snow runoff. Both, reportedly, have a variety of trout; and I've caught trout in the lower reaches of one. Thus, I headed out with eager expectations.

Supposed to be a creek here

However, upon arrival, it was clear that fishing wasn't going to be the major player in this trip. Both creeks were dismally low, with barely a trickle of water running in the first one. Both were nearly completely covered in fall leaves, choking pools and riffles alike. In the first creek, I spotted perhaps 1-2 pools at best that might hold fish, and the largest one didn't yield a single strike.

Really a fantastic little canyon

Water?

The second creek definitely had larger pools, including a beautiful 3ft deep one with excellent cover. However, it too was barely running, and previously innudated rapids were high and dry. Made several casts with a dry fly / dropper rig, but also failed to hook anything save a couple of leaves. I spent another few minutes scanning the pool from above - also appeared lifeless.

This area had 4ft of water last time...

Southern California trout fishing, at least for wild trout, is full of highs and lows - this was a low as far as fishing is concerned, but still a successful trip in getting outside, getting a workout while bumbling around massive boulders and steep drops, and also checking off another couple of spot on my mental trout fishing list. This is par for the course while fishing in local SoCal mountains - lots of planning, "blue lining" on maps, scouting out old reports, and then finally making the trip - boom or bust!