Time: 11:00AM – 3:30PM

Location: National forest.

Cascade Creek 08/01/2025 Photo Album

Note: In order to protect small high country streams, I have chosen to change the name for a few. This particular creek happens to be one of them. Excessive exposure could lead to crowding and lower fish densities.

After two very successful days of fly fishing, I was anxious for day three and the last during my visit with my daughter, Amy. I fly fished on Cascade Creek twice in 2024 with excellent results, so I felt like I was saving the best for last. I got off to an early start, and this allowed me to arrive at my chosen destination by 9:15AM. I quickly geared up and fit together my Sage R8 four weight and hit the trail. A two mile hike placed me at a starting point, and I knotted a tan body mini chubby to my line along with a hares ear nymph and a psycho prince. As I configured my line, I heard the rumble of thunder, and the daylight dimmed, as a large gray cloud rolled overhead.

I delayed my first cast and hustled beneath a large evergreen tree to remove my packs and pull on my raincoat. As I was doing so, another angler approached on the trail, and he heard me before he saw me and mentioned that he thought I was a bear. I’ve never been mistaken for a bear before! I asked how far he was going, and he stated another mile. I was pleased to hear this, as it gave me plenty of space to explore upstream.

Once I snugged up my raincoat, the rain increased in intensity, so I sought some shelter other than a tall evergreen tree. I found a small nook between some large rocks with an overhanging ledge, and I squatted there for ten minutes, until the precipitation became light. I was amazed at how much the temperature plummeted with the dampness and lack of sunlight.

I returned to the stream and finally began my day of fly fishing at 11:00AM. Within the first fifteen minutes my flies became snagged on a rock, and this forced me to wade downstream to a more manageable crossing point and then wade up the left side to dislodge the nymphs. I was not happy. I returned to the right shoreline, which was more conducive to progressing upstream, and in the next target spot, I attempted a sidearm cast under some overhanging branches. When I retrieved the flies, I noticed a serious tangle, and I spent the next twenty minutes undoing the mess.

Lunch View

At 11:45AM I broke for lunch, and the fish count stalled at zero. I probably only fished twenty minutes during the morning session. Most assuredly the day could only improve. During lunch the sun appeared, and the sky was blue, and this had to be a harbinger of better things ahead.

Not Bad

I continued fishing the dry/dropper after lunch for a bit, but after covering two first class runs and pools with no action, I decided to make a switch. Two refusals to the mini chubby suggested that the fish were looking upward, so I transitioned to a double dry with a peacock hippie stomper up front and a purple haze in the back. This combination finally provided results, although the early netted fish were quite small and barely exceeded the six inch personal minimum. One of the first six was a decent twelve inch rainbow trout. All the early fish chose the hippie stomper, and the purple haze constantly tangled with the stomper. When the purple haze disappeared, while I played a fish, I replaced it with a size 14 parachute green drake.

Low and Clear

The green drake attracted a few refusals and a temporary hook up, but it was rather ineffective, and I sensed that I was fishing through spots that harbored decent trout with no action. I made another change, and this time I replaced the green drake with a size 14 stimulator with a ight olive body. This pair enabled me to climb the fish count to eight, with several spunky twelve inch rainbows in the mix.

What I Was Seeking

During previous visits I landed many hard fighting rainbows in the thirteen to sixteen inch range, but I was not encountering similar fish on August 1. What was the answer? I remembered that the mini chubby was a desired commodity in the afternoon on my previous trips, so I replaced the hippie stomper with a tan mini chubby and retained the olive stimulator as the trailer. The mini chubby allowed me to track the drab olive stimulator, and several fish snatched up the trailer, but more trout refused the stimulator or quickly slipped off after a brief hook set.

Home of Rainbow

I once again made a change, and this time I swapped the small stimulator for a size 14 version with a darker olive body and darker hackles. This fly was probably the most successful of the day, as number nine and ten were wonderful rainbows of fourteen and fifteen inches. They possessed wide slab bodies and fought extremely hard, before I could nestle them in my net.

Wide Body Rainbow

I added another twelve inch rainbow to advance the fish count to eleven, when once again thunder and dark skies intruded on my afternoon. In this instance I retreated to a dense copse of trees and managed to remain relatively dry without the aid of a rain shell. After the brief storm passed, I resumed fishing up the river for another twenty minutes. I was very selective about where I chose to cast, and I managed to hook up with two fine rainbows; however, they leaped and shook free of the stimulator, before I could guide them into my net.

Another Rainbow Home

At 3:30PM I faced at least an hour hike back to the parking lot, and the river ahead seemed to narrow into a tighter canyon with steep banks on both sides. I decided to call it a day. Friday was not the day I envisioned. Certainly the rainstorms shrank my fishing time after the long hike. I also feel like I relied on the mini chubby too much after immense success in 2024, but those visits were later in the season. I wish I would have tried some larger hopper flies, and I also feel like I could have been more strategic in my selection of stream sections to focus on. My best results came from deep slots and large pockets near large rock structures. Obviously the low and clear conditions moved the trout to sanctuaries along the bank or near rocks, where they enjoyed cover yet could readily cherry pick drifting food morsels.

I have not given up on Cascade Creek and hope to return at least once more before the 2025 season ends.

Fish Landed: 11