Now that the streams are open I’m planning to hit a few places that I’ve never had the pleasure of fishing. Hopefully I can get to Hat Creek, Mill Creek, McCloud, and the Upper Sac before the summer is over. It’s going to be an interesting summer with the water levels this year.

Horseshoe Bobber Cat

Horseshoe Lake
I’ve been hitting the lake a lot and have been catching quite a few fish. On one of my few trips, I snagged a carp in the afternoon which tells me they are in the shallows. One of my highlights was catching a catfish that broke off the line from a previous angler. The fish broke off the bobber which was floating around the lake until I was able to snag it with my fly and bring it in. It was strong 3-4# fish; no wonder it broke off.

Unfortunately the fish was gut hooked deep and I couldn’t remove the hook without pulling out its insides. I just cut the line and hoped for the best. People often forget that this is a catch-and-release lake!

Deer Creek
Deer Creek is where I spent my Sunday and the fishing was still as good as it was before. For some reason the fish here have gotten smaller and smaller; probably the lack of water these past few years? Nevertheless they are there and everywhere. There were a lot more caddis out this time as the water has gotten a lot warmer. I wet waded the entire day so the water is not ice cold. During this trip I fished the upper portion of Deer Creek for the first time and it wasn’t great. It was a pretty cool little stretch though, less mountain freestone stream more spring creek style.

Little Deer Creek Trout