Rock Creek Round II

Rock Creek II,

Just like making a sequel, if the original is excellent, re-make another. If fishing Rock Creek was exceptional, the first time, go back. Hell after fishing it again a week later, I want to fish Rock Creek over and over and over and over. I can’t get enough of this river. Today I went with fly fishing favorite Lee Herron and his son “The Jay.”

Here’s the interesting thing about Lee: he was genetically engineered in a laboratory to have three asses, he can defy the laws of thermo dynamics by making cold water heat up faster than warm water, and has the ability to make ice dogs breed for hours on end. If all of what I just said makes you scratch your head in complete wonder and confusion, it should. It’s really just tid-bits of our conversation on the way back from Rock Creek dam. We took the Wolf Creek Pass route on the way home and everyone had so much fun fishing that we talked about baboons, chickens and hippos genetically altered to have…well three asses. I have often found that a great day on the river leads to colorful conversations.

But let’s move on to more informative and interesting material—the fishing. Every fisherman has their own tastes in rivers. Personally I have always enjoyed rivers with big bends, and deep holes. I have always liked rivers that allow me to deep nymph. But boy oh boy I am feeling the love of flat riffle water that is conducive to dry, and perhaps dry dropper; or better yet dry, soft hackle dropper.  Its magical to cast a a dry up river on a flat area where the water is only about  a foot or two deep and bam, stealth like a big brown come out of a rocky bottom that you see no fish. Or, to find the seam where to soft meets the ripple, and they go after your soft hackle.

Rock Creek has some of the most amazing flat riffle water around, not to mention it also has its fair share of nice deep nymph holes. I have been focused on working soft hackle for the past two years and I am really getting the feel of a lot of ways to fish with it. Each river has its own challenges, and honestly its own ways to fish each one. You can’t learn one technique and expect it to work on every water situation you encounter. Also with each different feeding pattern, you have to adjust. You often hear fishermen who are between novice and expert say, “I just want to add a few arrows to my quiver.” Soft hackle techniques can fill your quiver with enough arrows to compete with Robin Hood, but you still need to know how to use them. Rock Creek is an exceptional river to use a lot of those arrows; not to mention it’s a great place to simple throw a dry.

I know I am going to fish Rock Creek a lot more, and I know I am going to keep fishing with Lee.  I don’t know how much Jay will join us; he’s a young college kid home on vacation about to embark on Columbia University. But when he’s in town I hope he joins us—cool kid (I think he takes after his mother).