Time: 4:30PM – 7:30PM
Location: Behind Gaboury’s house then junction of Eagle River and Brush Creek to Sylvan Lake Road
Fish Landed: 12
Brush Creek 07/05/2013 Photo Album
After a nice lunch at the Grand Avenue Cafe we all returned to the Gaboury house, and then I went for a bike ride with Jane. The sun came out, but there were still some fairly large clouds floating by and keeping it from getting too hot. Dave G. and I decided to fish the bottom stretch of Brush Creek from the confluence with the Eagle River back to the house, but before Dave G. was ready at around 5:30, I headed to Brush Creek where it flows directly behind the house. I probably spent half an hour covering this short stretch of water and managed to land two browns and experienced long distance releases on two additional fish. One of the landed fish was an eleven inch brown and the other a nice 14-15 inch chunky fish. The larger brown and one of the momentary hookups grabbed the beadhead hares ear as it drifted along the bank in a very tight narrow one foot band between the bank and the current. I’m always amazed when large fish hang out in these type of locations.
At 5:30PM Dave G. appeared behind the house so we had Jane drop us off at Violet Lane and hiked down a path to the confluence with the Eagle River. I kept the Chernobyl ant and beadhead hares ear from the morning on my line and prospected the Eagle River right below the confluence with Brush Creek for a bit with no action and then moved up into Brush Creek. After only 25 feet or so we encountered a place where the small stream split around a tiny island so I explored the smaller right channel where there was a deep rocky hole. When I cast tight against a rock and as I lifted the flies so they wouldn’t snag, I felt some weight and set the hook then landed a fifteen inch brown trout and then photographed it.
Brush Creek Brown Landed Above Confluence with Eagle River
We proceeded up the small stream playing hopscotch and circling around each other from one nice hole to the next. Not long after landing the fifteen inch fish, I lost my balance while standing in the middle of a riffle and sat back in the water inducing a wave of ice cold flow over the top of my waders. It was too early in our evening fishing venture to return to the house so I ignored the wetness and fished on and in fact settled into a nice rhythm and began catching fish at a steady rate. I landed another five trout as I worked under Violet Lane and route 6 and then upstream past the trailer park. Three snared the hares ear nymph and two smashed the Chernobyl ant on the surface.
By the time I reached the trailer park, the action slowed and Dave G. was up ahead so I skipped some water until I encountered a beautiful deep run that fed into a pool just above the trailer park. As I surveyed the water I spotted a rise in the center of the pool so I switched to a light gray caddis. I flicked a short cast across from my position and allowed the caddis to drift down the center current into the pool in the dim light and just as the fly reached the spot where I’d spied a rise, an eleven inch brown rose and slurped it in.
As this was unfolding I thought I spotted another rise across and slightly above my position. It was hard to determine whether it was a rise or riffle as it occurred at the tail of a secondary feeder run into the pool and there was a strong sun glare hitting the water. I cast my fly above the presumed rise and, wham, another twelve inch brown came to my net. Finally before leaving the pool I made an upstream cast to some slack water between the left bank and the main current, and a nice chunky thirteen inch brown attacked the caddis. I had taken three fish from this one area and all were fooled by the light gray caddis. Perhaps I was on to something.
I moved up under the Sylvan Lake Road bridge and approached a nice deep slick behind a rock in the center of the creek and flicked the caddis to the current seam. Another thirteen inch brown rocketed to the surface and sucked in the fraudulent caddis, and now I was pretty pumped thinking I unlocked the secret to some great evening hatch matching. Next I fished around a large horseshoe bend and covered what appeared to be some great water with a huge pool and some deep runs along undercut banks, but surprisingly this yielded no results. Later Dave G. told me he encountered several groups of fishermen in this area, but I didn’t know this and probably should have skipped over the disturbed water.
After completing the horseshoe, the stream returned to the road, and feeling chilled because of the dunking and my watch displaying 7:30, I climbed over the fence and hiked back to the Gaboury house. In spite of the spill, it was a fun evening on Brush Creek.