I finally got out for the first time in 2020 yesterday afternoon for a few hours. We received a nice shot of rain Saturday and creek levels were still up but falling Sunday afternoon. It didn't take too long to hook a fish.
Flow was in great shape. While the volume was about the same as the last time I had fished the stream, the habitat was in much better shape, as a lot of the leaves and silt had been flushed out. There's some new woody debris in the stream too, which is creating some new habitat.
End up catching just two fish, and seeing just a total of six, including the two I caught.
Towards the end, I saw some movement by the bank as I was fishing upstream. Turned out to be a doe that must have been shot during hunting season. She was trying to climb the bank, but could only move her front two legs and she kept falling over into the seep that was there. I was really surprised that the coyotes hadn't found her yet. On the way out, I walked out on the side of the bank she was trying to climb out. She saw me and managed to haul herself across the small floodplain, across the creek and up the bank on the opposite side, all using her front two feet.
Regardless, it was a nice day to be out. Despite not seeing too many fish, two that I missed will stick with me. The one fish, maybe 14-15" followed my bugger right to my feet and snipped at it, just at the end of my retrieve. The second fish showed itself after a toss to the tail of a pool. I just started the retrieve, when a larger black shape rose out of the slightly off-color water and swiped at it. I reacted too quickly and pulled the bugger right out of his swipe zone and he wised up pretty quickly, as that was the last I saw of him.
I walked out in the dark, after sampling a Founders Underground Mountain Brown and a Bobo's Peanut Butter and Jelly oatmeal cake. Near the car, I heard a metallic banging noise and thought someone was beating on the gate or my car. I Looked up the hillside and saw a headlight a few tens of yards away and based on the proximity of the sound, assume the metal banger was also wearing the headlamp. No idea what the individual was doing - stealth camping? Mining gold? Percussion? But I didn't stick around to find out.
