Dang, that's a rough place, but I love it! The last time I went there was a few years ago, and I wound up splitting my pants, getting into the Poison Ivy, and getting a few scratches. This time, I only ripped my shirt and got Poison ivy on my right arm, and twin scratches on my left arm. But I am getting ahead of myself.
I have been thinking about going back to this creek for several weeks. It is one of only two exclusive Brown Trout fisheries I know of in the local mountains. My wife who is now in Taiwan, loves to fish with me, but neither of us like to risk her falling down and getting injured in a place like this, so it is best that I go alone. I seem to have an ironclad body, and never get anything worse than a few scratches or bruises even if I slip. There are Rainbows and Browns in the creek that Icehouse Canyon drains into, but the Rainbows have been unable to ascend up the waterfalls on the lower part of the creek. Actually, I believe the creek that Icehouse Canyon drains into is a native Rainbow Trout habitat, in fact.
To park in the parking lot at Icehouse Canyon, one must purchase an Adventure Pass, which I did before starting my adventure. While approaching the parking lot, I became alarmed when I crossed over the empty creek bed. Before, I went at other times of the year, and there were Brown Trout on the attack below the parking lot. This time, it was dry. Did the creek entirely dry up, killing its beautiful population of Brown Trout? About 20 minutes or so of hiking up and down the creek revealed that a ways upsteam from the parking lot the sweet sound of crystal clear flowing water could be heard from the trail, so I went back to the car and got my "catching" equipment, including my equipment-filled backpack, fly rod, and mini ugly stick. By that time, it was about 4 p.m. My suspicion regarding the disappearing creek is that there is probably a pipe which takes the water for domestic use for people who live in the area. I thought creeks with fish were required to maintain a certain water flow, but for sure, this creek suddenly disappears.
The first pool I investigated had two visible Brown Trout. I cast in front of the larger fish, and caught it almost instantly -- a sparkling 8 incher. I spent the next couple of hours fishing various stair-step pools. This scenario repeated itself twice more. The terrain around this creek is very rough, with about a 10% gradient, I would guess. There are numerous waterfalls of a few feet, with pools underneath. Aside from the 3 Brown Trout I caught on my reddish tan midge-like fly, I did catch 1 on the other pole with a redworm. It is possible that other fly patterns or baits might have worked better, but any problems catching fish had mostly to do with the fish spooking very easily in the beautiful, clear, small creek. For every fish I caught, I saw several others which did not feel like biting after noticing that big land creature tossing stuff into their abode. I must have seen about 10 fish in one pool, where I caught one on the first cast, but they refused to cooperate after that. I probably should have only made a few casts in each pool then moved on, but I kept trying to tempt the fish I knew were there. Oh well!
Around 6 p.m. or so, I started running out of daylight. The sun was going down, and I was on a very streep part of the creek about 1/2 mile upstream from the parking lot. I saw the trail above me, and decided to climb up the steep hillside to the trail, to head back. That is about the time I slipped, ripped my shirt and scratched my arm. Then I got into the Poison Ivy along the hillside. Aw, the joys of creek fishing in California! I guess I took the wrong route back to the trail. I tried a couple spots for a second time on the way back, to no avail, so I happily settled for the 4 Brown Trout. I think I could have caught more had I not run out of daylight.
There were many good spots I didn't try, but they were hard to find in the fading daylight. Anyway, I didn't want to be stumbling around in the dark there. The terrain is rather steep, and surrounded by large slick rocks from past floods, and of course Pine Trees and Poison Ivy. Another interesting thing about this place is that there are an extraordinary number of Ladybugs in the area. At times, I felt like putting one on the hook, but the cuteness of these little orange Volkswagons works in their favor, so it was "be nice to the Ladybugs" as always. I went there once in January, and not only were the fish still biting, but there were hoards of hibernating Ladybugs on some of the trees, right out in the open.
I got back to the car around 6:30, and drove home.
Here's the catch:
4 Brown Trout, all around 7-8 inches, 3 on the fly, 1 on worms, all kept to present for dinner to my wife when she returns from Taiwan.
I know there are people on this board who flame people who backpack 20 miles in the Sierras and eat a Golden Trout, but I have never seen another person fish this creek, and despite the drought, the fishing is as good as ever, although before, I did catch some that were 9-10 inches long there. I don't think fishing pressure is a problem there, unless hoards of fisherpeople suddenly descend upon this place. I would worry more about drought impacting the fish population -- that, and the sucking out of water from the creek for people's use. I thought about taking pictures of the fish, but by that time, their yellow colors had faded so they didn't look nearly as good as when I caught them.
Originally Posted by Natural Lefty
Dang, that's a rough place, but I love it! The last time I went there was a few years ago, and I wound up splitting my pants, getting into the Poison Ivy, and getting a few scratches. This time, I only ripped my shirt and got Poison ivy on my right arm, and twin scratches on my left arm. But I am getting ahead of myself.
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