Blue Springs Creek 3 29 13 - First Time

[Dirtworm]

I parked at Blue Springs Rd., I knew I was going to love this place. The parking area was so small, and the creek so narrow that I actually doubted I was in the right spot until I saw the fishing regulations sign. Perfect!

I had read that it was important to be stealthy here, so I figured I would have to hike up stream from my car to have any luck, but I need to warm up my casters so I threw a few into the trees right there by the low water bridge anyway. It was right then that I realized I was really going to have to watch my backcast. The problem is I can only pay attention to one half of my cast at a time!

I waded up stream a ways and saw quite a bit of shallow, riffly, water but a few nice looking holes. I was somewhat dissapointed not to actually see any fish, I guess that is my trout park experience messing with my eyes. It was then that I realized I had forgotten my polarized sunglasses. Darn. The water was so clear and shallow and it was so overcast I didn't think it would matter, and maybe it didn't.

I had also read that fly selection here isn't near as important as stealth and presentation, so I didn't fret too much, I just threw whatever I could cast decently. After wading and alternately tracking through the woods I saw a beuatiful looking hole under a mini bluff on a bend in the creek. I wasn't going to waste this one, so I crawled on my belly over a bunch of rocks, into the riffles below the pool, and went to work. I let the current take my fly line as far behind me as a dared and used that as my backcast. It took a lot of doing to get my fly into the calm water, but I was eventually very pleased with my efforts. I did see fish hitting the surface, and some even bumped my fly, but when I got tired of sitting in the water with my knees and elbows in the rocks I crept up closer and saw that there were mostly little chubs coming after my little black dry fly. This is where I learned that you can see your dries really well when your eye is at water level.

I waded up stream some more but had no luck, no fish. Some more adventures, though. I learned how to cast around and over spindly branches and put a loop into the forecast to drop a parachute adams right over a nice pool on my left side. That was fun. After a few nice casts there my reel fell apart. It shouldn't have surprised me as "made in Japan" is stamped on the bottom, which is no knock on the Japanese and their workmanship, but the reel is old enough I'm not sure at the time it was built they even had boats big enough to make the journey from the far east to the Americas.

I got the reel back together but ran out of tippet when I landed my 57th brush trout. So, back to the car. I had time to drive upstream to another access and ended up wading just past Highway N. Still no fish, but heck I learned a lot.

I will come back and I will be better equipped, but thats not to say the day was a loss. I may have spent several hours wading around only to throw $20 worth of flies into the trees, but on Good Friday I think it is worth reconsidering what is "good." Enjoy some of God's finest creation and being challenged by beautiful fish in a stream so small most wouldn't even give a second thought, I call that Good no matter what the fish count.

[Buzz]

Good report Dirtworm. Since I've never fished Blue Springs I can't speak specifically to that particular creek, I have fished a few wild trout creeks over here in the S.W. corner of the state.

1st) I probably wouldn't have started with dry flies. Don't get me wrong, they can be killer on wild fish, but in my experience a midge or a scud is a more effective fly at this time of year.

2nd) (And I don't know your fly fishing skills) A roll cast in tight areas is the more effective cast. You don't have to worry about what is behind you, but only what is in front of you.

3rd) Don't pass up the small to shallow riffles. Sometimes that is where the fish are, especially on a bend in the creek. They may be the small stupid ones, but it might be the difference between getting skunked or not. Besides, the little ones are really pretty.

4th) You have a good attitude about fishing for these wild fish. Don't get discouraged. I got skunked the first time I fished Crane Creek, but I learned a lot and caught my biggest trout out of there the next time I fished it. A nice 17 incher. I haven't been able to top that fish since, but I haven't been skunked since either.

[Flyflinger]

I've been fishing BSC about twice a week for 2 years now, it sits 5 minutes from my front door. You are right about the stealth being the most important thing to consider when fishing here. Most of the fish will be under 10 inches....but I have gotten into some real bruisers on that creek. Several 15'-18" fish. One key is to stay out of the water as much as possible. I know the hole you are talking about. In fact it is that very hole where I learned the secret to catching lots of fish at BSC.

After several trips out with nothing but snags and a few fingerlings to talk about...I decided to just get up into a tree and watch the fish from above...I don't know what I was thinking, other than I was wanting to figure something out by observation. Long story short I watched that very hole you are talking about for about an hour...just observing the fish. They were all feeding...all were active....why wasn't I catching them. Well...just as I was thinking that, all the fish in the hole (10-15 trout) disappeared. I mean vanished, like they were never there. I was confused as all hell....nothing hit the water, no strange shadow spooked them.

A few minutes later a lone fly-fisherman came walking up the middle of the creek. Those fish heard him well before he was close enough to cast...and well before he was thinking of stalking into the hole.

Lesson learned. I stay out of the water as much as possible now and have no problem bringing several to hand just about every time I go out. They bite just about anything you throw in there.

Good luck.

[ness]

Enjoyed these posts a lot. Keep at it dirt worm. Sounds like you're thinking things through and figuring out your mistakes. In that kind of fishing avoiding mistakes is a big part of it. Stay out of the water as much as possible. Even cutting across a shallow riffle you grind the rocks underfoot and that can start a chain reaction of scared fish darting upstream scaring more.

Plan your approach 2 to 3 spots ahead. A lot of time it's wise to pass on a marginal spot to improve your odds at a better one. Also remember shadows, moving branches, sun reflecting off metal, light clothing or skin, rod tips, fly line, coiled tippet, drag on the fly, plopping split shot, strike indicators or dropping your phone in the water can affect things

[jgentile]

dirt... thanks for starting this thread... ness, fly, buzz.... thanks for the tips. I am headed to BSC tomorrow. I plan to park close to the N bridge/overpass and work my way upstream from there. I've been practicing my bow and arrow cast and hope to keep my waders as dry as possible tomorrow to get into some of those wild 'bows.

[Buzz]

Good luck tomorrow jgentile. Let us know how you do.

[Dirtworm]

I tried bsc again this past weekend, this time fishing upstream from N just like jpgwntile planned. He must have caught them all because I again saw mo evidence of a fish's existence. I barely got my waders wet this time, and I am confident that tactic will pay off eventually. I really appreciate everyone input, especially flyflungers anecdote. I will be back to bsc again soon, it is such a beautiful spot.

[ness]

Well, if it was easy it wouldn't be near as much fun when you catch one, right?

If you feel pretty confident you were not spooking them too much with your approach, think about a couple other variables. Anywhere there's a rock, tree or bend in the stream is a likely spot. They all scour out a little deeper water and offer more protection. They also concentrate flows and the food floating by. Seams where fast and slow water are adjacent to each other are good too. Along the edge of a rock, below a plunge in the slower-current "V", to the sides of a plunge in the eddies, along the foam line at the start of a run. Hit all those places.

In such skinny water, your mistakes are magnified. In a bathtub-sized pool, if you slap a fly on the surface, lay down a big coil of tippet, plop a fly in with a split shot and indicator, stick a fly in a tree and shake the branch overhead, whatever, you will make those fish quit or leave. And if they dart out of there, they're gonna spook their buddies too.

I believe presentation trumps fly selection most of the time. And, that's really the hardest part to learn in fly fishing. You've surely read about drag-free drifts, etc. Laying a dry fly on the surface and having it float along in the conflicting currents without creating a wake is a bit of an art. Having a nymph bump along at the right speed below the surface, where you can't see it and the current is probably different than at the surface, is an art too.

Anyhoo -- keep at it.

[mic]

Dirtworm,

Here is my two cents, some may not agree. However, I learned to fish on this stream:

1. Use the lightest set up your have. I love a three wieght there.

2. No indicators and a single fly. If you get snagged, pull in all your line leaving the fly on the tip of your rod. Give it a quick shake, and 90% of the time the fly will come lose. My favorite set up is a five foot colored furled leader (Feather Craft #GC015) and four feet of 6x flouro. If you use a standard leader keep is short... five or six feet and color it with permenate marker. Trust me you will see the line dart.

3. You won't see them, but if there is current, cover, and any change of depth there is a fish there. This creek has one if not the largest fish per mile ratios of any of the non-park waters. Give every hole a few good drifts. If it doesn't have all three, try it but don't waste time on it.

4. Small flies, take every fly you would use on normal stream and go down a size.

5. Light flies, there are exceptions but most holes aren't deep so don't use heavy flies.

6. If you can go during a rain... GO... the noise and broken water cover your tracks and the rain oxgeniates the water. My best days have been during a light rain.

7. I never have luck with them, but everyone else I know does, small woolies. Give them a try.

8. If you are going downstream, try standing back and feed line and fly into a hole. Works great with wet hare's ear. Stand up stream a ways back, make a long cast and then simply feed out three feet of line and mend left or right. As the lines straightens out it will swing it. Then let out another couple of feet, mend the other direction. Works great where a riffle meets a pool.

9. Finally, if they aren't bitting, leave your rod in the car. Get above a hole where you can, and watch. Don't forget the bug spray or your will be fighting chiggers on your underwear line... don't ask me how I know

Tight lines.

Again, my two cents, but it works for me.

[2sheds]

Heading out to BSC tomorrow (Thursday) in the wake of the floods. Circumstances put this Texas in the area - so now is my window and I can't resist the opportunity, regardless of the water level.

I apologize in advance to others for my lack of stealthiness, doing my best to learn. Say hi if we cross paths on the stream.