To this day I must admit I’ve still only fished Putah a handful of times. CalTrout meets annually with our Science Partners at UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences. A few years back I snuck out to Putah Creek after one of our meetings and was instantly impressed by the quality of habitat and natural beauty of the canyon. That first session, I pulled up to a likely looking run and it didn’t take long to spot a couple feeding trout. After a few casts, I was into a really nice fish. Needless to say I was pretty stoked. This winter I finally had an opportunity to spend a few days up there really checking the place out and getting to know the fishery a little more intimately.
The last time I had visited the river was for the inauguration ceremony when it was officially inducted into the California Department of Fish & Wildlife (CDFW) Wild Trout Program in 2014. The next year, Solano Lake was also included in the official CDFW Wild Trout Waters. As a new Wild Trout Water, CDFW will implement a resource management plan to monitor and protect the wild trout fishery, while supporting public access and enjoyment. This designation helps keep the fishery healthy while groups such as Putah Creek Trout, a local non-profit, continually monitor the fishery, searching for ways to improve in-stream and riparian habitat, water quality, and angler experience and engagement.
Flows in Putah Creek can fluctuate dramatically throughout the year. Summer flows usually average between 400-700 csf while winter flows typically drop below 200. Winter can be a great time to fish the creek, but some anglers don’t advocate fishing Putah in the winter because the rainbows in that system have adapted to winter spawning. The key is to be aware of where you're fishing and taking the time to look for fish and cleaned out gravel. Typically, the bows will be spawning in the tail outs and slower sections of the runs. In many cases they will be fairly visible. Please take precaution when wading so as to not step on redds and avoid fishing to fish that are visually spawning. Those spawning fish are the future of the wild trout fishery! If you stick to the fast water and minimize wading as much as possible, you should be alright. I looked around quite a bit at lower flows this March and couldn’t spot any spawning activity. There was however a nice caddis hatch and plenty of happy fish rising.