Crane in Summer

[Dkman]

I am new to Crane Creek and will be fly fishing it for the first time. I have gained a lot of good info on this site. Thanks

Besides the Snakes, which apparently can be an issue, how is the hot summer weather fishing? I would plan on hitting it right a daylight to hit the coolest temp possible.

thanks for any info

[Lancer09]

Good dry fly fishing with small caddis and midges. It can get low and very clear in the summer. When the water starts to warm is good to go easy on them for a while. Even a short fight can be the death of some of those little gems.

Big foam hoppers on that small creek can be a BLAST when you can hit it right in the afternoons/evenings.

[Dkman]

Thanks Lancer, appreciate the input. had hoped to it this past weekend but work interfered.

[Trout Predator]

Go!!

Went yesterday from sun up till about 1 PM when it got too hot!

The creek looks great and the fishing was awesome. I was averaging a hookup about every 10 mins at first but as the day went on and it warmed up, the fishing cooled down. I found it doesn't matter so much which flies you use, its all about how you present them. They will try and eat most anything in front of them as long as you and be stealthy. If they know your there you might as well move on.

Also yes there are snakes, but that's what you get when your in habitat like Crane. I've only ever seennorther brown water snakes at Crane and I've never been bothered. They like to sun themselves on the banks and branches/roots and line the bank. They blend right in.

Funny story time!

So after "catching" a tree and being too far up to untangle and unhook I had to break the line. I find a shady spot on the bank and start tying up. I notice a snakes head poking up from the water across the bank and it looked different than any water snake I had seen previously so of course I couldn't just leave it be, I had to go see what kind it was. I walked over and reached out with my rod to see if I could get it to move and get a good look at its body. Well immediately my rod tip catches a root and as I bring it back it the top piece of my $400 4 piece Sage Z axis disconnects and is left sitting inches away from rushing water and inches away from the unknown snake that wasn't even bothered. Having broke the line off there was no line running through the guides, stupid thinking on my part, I got what I deserved. I was still left in a bad situation though, rod tip is still in the roots across 6 feet of deep rushing water, oh and snakes. As I'm sitting there trying to figure out how I'm going to retrieve my rod tip without swimming or falling into a snake pit a 2nd much larger snake slithers out of the root wad to see what's up.

Here's a pic highlighting my rod tip below, first snake, which is on the upper right, and the 2nd snake whos head is on the upper left.

Turns out it was just a juvenile water snake and its mom I'm guessing.

Moral of the story. Leave the snakes alone and they will leave you alone. Try and mess with them and this is what you get.

[BilletHead]

Too Funny!

I thought I was the only one things such as this happen to,

BilletHead

[fishinwrench]

Haa! I dunno, that looks like a genuine pit viper to me.

You did get your rod tip, right?

[Dkman]

Thanks for the heads up......I will hit it and update

[Johnsfolly]

If that were me, I would have likely slipped (since you can no longer wear felt soled boots) while going across the water and drove my rod tip into the root wad. Fortunately the tip would have broken away thus dissipating the energy of the fall and thus preventing me from going head first into the viper pit. Not that this scenario has ever happened.

[Dkman]

Thanks for all this info guys. I was finally able to go this past weekend for the first time. Was not sure where to start so went to middle access and worked my way west. Came across a lot of small pools and caught three fish total. Was only able to fish a few hours. I am sure I spooked some fish around those small pools. Caught everything on a pheasant tail nymph locally tied at Tim's Fly Shop. Looking forward to going back when I have all day so I can explore more areas and find some bigger pools. Thanks again... Oh and it was HOT

[trythisonemv]

Awesome day! I love that creek!