Crane Creek Is Looking Better

[timsfly]

Crane is still high, and it is nice to see, usually crane rises and falls very quickly, I guess with all the rain maybe the water table has risen a bit and it is taking longer for the water to recede, so crane is staying higher longer, this should help the trout, maybe the floods dug out some of the holes in the creek and created more places for the trout to hide, like they needed more. The creek is looking good, I'll probably fish it this thursday or next thursday depends on how fast it continues to drop, it would be tough wading right now, but in a few days it should be better, right now the water is clear and high, and it is looking great.

If you fish crane creek now, use big tung headed nymphs, I use #10 nymphs at crane all the time, glo-balls and san juan worms are good there also, and I do great on woolybuggers.

The dry fly fishing should be good in few weeks also, I catch a lot of trout at crane on small caddis, adams, and cracklebacks, but I have caught a lot of trout on #12 renegades, beetles, and on royal wulffs, those trout are just like the trout you fish for out west, if you don't scare them and the fly drifts over them in a well presented manner, they will usually take a crack at the pattern, they are not picky some days and will hit anything that drifts into their line of sight. In the summer I do well on hoppers, beetles, and stimulators, and I usually get away with 6X tippet, the trout on crane are not as line shy as the park fish(usually) I fish for trout on crane a lot like I fish for goggleye on the creeks, you need to sneak up on a hole and look for root wads and deep holes, these trout will lay right up in a root wad and they seem to like to rush out and grab an item and then rush right back in, I've seen them do it a hundred times, and the bigger fish will lay right in the fast water sometimes, but I see a lot of them laying right along the bank just inches from the edge, they are never far from cover, I enjoy these fish the most, they will take about any dry presented to them, and they hit like smallmouth most times, it is a joy when you can get a drift to one of these trout that close to the bank. When you fish crane prepare to lose a few flies, I use small jigs for the rootwad fish, just because if you fish the root wads correctly you are going to lose a fly now and again, if you arn't losing flies once in a while, your probably not fishing deep enough or close enough to the bank.

So spring is here get out and fish.

[TroutBum4wt]

Tim, thanks for the information. That's really good stuff. Crane is also my favorite.

[Buzz]

That all sounds great. I want to get down there soon, now that the weather looks like it might settle down. What type of small jigs do you use on Crane? I know that even back in January the fish seemed to be in or near the fastest water.

Buzz