Stevens Creek (shore fishing) 4/25

Almost caught the skunk, but a 7" Crappie that took a Fat Rap about half it's size saved the day.   I started out about 6:15 PM tossing a Kastmaster for about an hour, hoping to get some trout action. No love from the side of the point east of the boat ramp. I moved over to the small cove West of the boat ramp, and immediately saw a couple cruising bass. Took the trout gear back to the truck and started fishing for the largemouth. Again, no love for the longest time, until the aforementioned Crappie.

Scott

Looks like the crappie are making a comeback at Stevens Creek....haven't seen or heard of those guys in a while. Back in the day, we used to catch buckets full of 'em by the lanch ramp and the picnic grounds.

Scott - get your kayak wet and explore the back end of the lake - lot's of structure back there for bass,bluegills and crappie 

I need to put it back on the rack for the trip home tomorrow night anyway. I figure that since I don't want to be on the road before 7:00PM, that I'll fish for an hour or so after work.

Since it is so close to work, I stopped by last night as well, sans kayak. Still avoided the skunk - this time with a couple willing trout by the dam. I was actually headed to Fishermans Warehouse for some new line and another hook file, but 85 was a parking lot so I just made the right at Stevens Creek Blvd.

I've seen the cormorants with a couple of Crappie so far. I bet if you targeted them, you'd be able to fill buckets.

This weekend, it's plenty of home maintenance and a little bass fishin' for me at Lake of the Pines. If Maggie wants to join me, then I'll use the cataraft, otherwise, I'll be yakking it.

Scott

Crappie were reported being caught earlier in the week off the picnic area.  Earthworms seemed to be working better than Power Bait.
 
I went all but that last twenty feet or so from the bridge this evening.  I've never seen the water high enough to get that close before.
 
Three guys were fishing from shore on a point near the bridge.  They said they'd caught 9 trout from that spot.
 
No other signs of life that far up except for various birds.  I tossed a woolly bugger into several places but only found the dreaded skunk.  I was mostly exploring, not fishing.
 
There's a nasty log jam not far before the area those guys were fishing.  You can paddle through it but I didn't dare pedal my Outback in that mess.  I paddled and could feel all sorts of debris smacking the bottom of my yak.
 
That stuff piles up where the current and the wind equal out. 
 
I couldn't find my water thermometer so I couldn't see if it's any warmer up there than by the picnic area (which had been hovering at 59 degrees for about a week and was still there Tuesday when I was last able to find the thermometer).
 
On the way back, I was tossing the bugger near a deadfall in the big cove  across from thelaunch ramp.  I smacked the water a couple times while feeding out line and something came out to check on the noise. Couldn't get its attention.  Tried a popper as well in case it was the noise that got it out...no sign of it.
 
Spotted the birds dive bombing the water yet again about 7:00pm.  Decided I wanted to know what they've been diving at every evening so I pedaled out to the middle of the action and scooped up several small bugs that were either hatching or were blown in while swarming.

Here are a couple pics for any flyfishers that want to match the hatch (had a couple trout rise near me while I was scooping these but not consistently enough to target).
 

 

I looked those bugs up in a book on still-water hatches to confirm they are indeed ants.  They're drones (males) left over from a mating swarm.  The queen picks a drone out of the swarm and the rest fall out of the air when they're worn out...where ever the wind takes them.
 
Apparently, the winds lately are taking a fair number of these onto Stvns Creek since I've seen the birds dive bombing the water several times this week (all towards the end of the day...the warmer the day, the later they show up).
 
I saw a couple rises yesterday in the area where I was scooping these up.  It might be possible to toss a couple ant patterns in that area and wait wait wait wait to see if you get hit but it would likely be pretty slow fishing.
 
I'd rather something a little more active so I don't fall asleep out there. 

I was at Stevens creek yesturday and had a monster bass fallow my castmaster to the dam.

What time were you out there?  I hit the water about 5pm and stayed until a little after 7pm.  Spend most of it heading to/from the far end but spent the last bit across from the boat ramp and in the middle in front of the dam (circling around and around scopping up ants and posing them for pictures).

I was there in the morning, I got a bunch of trout, kept four of the bigger ones for dinner.

Ants are always good to match- when they're around the trout act like they're candy bars, and everything else is broccoli!!    I've also had 4# bass surprise me by sipping them down as delicately as any trout.

I believe their carpenter ants , you could match their size on 14/12 hookes not a hard flie to tie at all. Ants fall into the group called terrestrials which includes grass hopper, lady bugs, and crickets. They're many others in the group but those are the ones I focus on. It's most definitely the time of year for them. It will be interesting to see how the hatches happen this year, a lot of them will be late due to the high waters. At least I hope their just late.
There's another hatch that happens this time of year called Hexagenia, they're from the mayfly group their the largest one. They're  about the size of a quarter and their a beautiful yellow. I tie them on a size 8 hook. As far as hatches go--Hexagenia's are the holy grail for fly fishermen and fish. I've seen stripers go nuts on a hatch of hex's on O'Neal Forbay. The water's that they hatch from simply explode because of fish feeding on them.
Your water's sound perfect for them.

Hexagenia hatch at Stvns Crk?????  When?  I'd love to get in one of those!  I thought we had to be a lot further north though.
 
Here's a pic of a hex mayfly taken last Sept on the Fall River.  A guide that was working with our group found one mid-day and I took a couple pictures.
 

 
Those things are huge compared to the typical size 18 (and smaller) mayflies that are usually found on the Fall.
 
I didn't know we got hex hatches this far south.  Are they right at dusk as well?  If so, I'd have to find somewhere on shore to fish from since the parks require watercraft to be off a half hour before sunset.
 

Just where is Stevens Creek located? we have hex hatches on the San Joaquin and the Kings here in the Valley(Fresno) I 've seen the best hatches a couple of hours before sundown

Stevens Creek is in Cupertino (near San Jose...northwest of Fresno maybe 150 miles by car). What time of year do you get a hex hatch on the Kings?  The only hex hatch I'm familiar with is on the Fall River and that's a six hour drive north.
 
Somebody's been holding out on me if we have 'em here in my backyard and nobody's ever mentioned it.  October Caddis is the only "big fly" I've heard about locally.  Every mentioned I've seen before this thread has talked about them being southern Oregon or northern CA.  Man, I'm feeling pretty gipped...   
 
Thanks for any enlightening you can share.

Now you guys are making me want to break out the buggy whip. Of course, I'd be using the 8 weight with a bigass bunny leech or a 2/0 hair bug, and going after Mr Bass. Or better yet, Mrs. Bass.  Fun, fun, fun...

I was also out again on 4/28. With the 'yak this time. Did some bass scouting, and then trolled a gold kastmaster for a while, to pick up and release two trout.

I have a very good idea where the basses are now, so I'll put the hurt on them this week. I just wish the Scupper Pro was a bit wider at times, as standing in it and paddling is just not all that comfortable for scouting, never mind actual fishing.  Sometimes the pontoon boat really is the way to go.

Regards,
Scott

What about trolling one of those crazy big rainbow trout look alike swimbaits around. Are there big enough bass in Stevens Creek to munch a 9" swimbait?