Charlotte Creek Report

I was in the neighborhood so I decided to check out a few spots on the Charlotte Creek between Davenport and Stamford. It was a cool and rainy afternoon but the creek wasn't in bad shape. Cool weather and frequent rain have kept the water temps down making the trout season last late this summer. 

As far as I've seen, the Charlotte isn't known for its insect hatches and most fly fishers I know stick to subsurface stuff there. I hear a sparse black wooly bugger or a copper john dead drifted are killer. No idea if that's true since I didn't listen. This evening I went with a comparadun ISO pattern that has been serving me well of late and did a bit of prospecting. I caught the beautiful brook trout pictured above in some fast water holding behind a rock with the iso as well as a small chub in the middle of a run below a riffle before the storms drove me off. 

I got a good soaking, but it was worth it. That little beauty was my first native brook trout!

Charlotte Creek Report

Monday morning, 4/21/14

The levels are still high but coming down steadily and the water is still stained but clearing up. I noticed a few stone flies and midges about, but no surface activity. I fished streamers on sink tip line for most of the time and the tried my hand at high stick nymphing with a stone fly pattern before casting a few dry caddies patterns, mostly for the fun of it. I didn't have any luck, but my buddy caught a nice 16" brown with salted emerald shiners on his spin rod. 

Charlotte Creek Report

West Branch at Delhi: 479

West Branch at Walton: 1320

The water was quite high on the Charlotte Creek upstream from Davenport Center. Visibility was less than two feet still. My guess is that the water will need to drop another foot or two before fishing picks up. I fished a sink tip line with a moto minnow trailed by a buck tail streamer but had no luck. My fishing buddy fished a spin rod with salted minnows and had no luck either. Seems like the the streams are still too high and with the water temps in the high 30s, the fish aren't likely to bite unless you hit them in the teeth with a tasty morsel. That said, a TU friend of mine has been having luck with night crawlers, so if you know where the fish are lying, perhaps you'll have more luck than I. 

Failed Experiment

I had an hour or so before sundown so I decided to try a local public fishing access on the lower Charlotte Creek about 15 minutes from my house. Man, that was a mistake!

Not only was the water tepid and murky (total frog water) but the Mosquitos were so voracious my OFF! Didn't phase them in the least. I barely made it back to my car without being carried off or reduced to a bloodless, shriveled prune. It reminded me of the Far Side cartoon where the explorers are being swarmed by a cloud of Mosquitos and one of the is shouting, "Jenkins! You idiot!" while holding a can of "ON!"