Fishing Report for Mid-July
Posted by Sugar Creek Ranch Administrator (admin) on Tue Jul 20, 2010
News >> 2010

Just returned from what certainly was a big-fish outing at Sugar Creek Ranch.  I was there from Monday evening, July 12th to Saturday morning the 17th.  In that time, I guided Jerry from the Long Beach CA area for a day, and fished with friend Walt from Redding CA for two days.

The weather was hot, with the warmest day hitting 96, but as long as you picked your shots and rejuvenated during the hottest part of the day, you had the chance (and energy) for some big rainbows.  Fishing is best in the morning from first light to 9:15 a.m.  Mid-day is good for ambush fishing for the big bruisers cruising the shoreline.  Stealth required!  Finally, the cooler evenings were good fishing with lots of rises, but a couple of evenings were very slow.

Between the three of us, some 20-24 fish larger than 20" were hooked, netted, revived and released.  The best topwater action was on dry terrestrial patterns.  Walt caught four huge 'bows the first time out using a black midge pupa below an indicator.  A variety of buggers produced a good number of big fish.

It was quite a different trip.  Usually, there is a mixture of smaller fish in the catch, but this time, the biguns predominated.  I took one at 8 pounds that was the hardest, longest battle I have ever encountered while using a float tube.  Walt got a kick from seeing the trout towing me around the lake.  I call it "steering" *grin*.

Fishing was still difficult (as it always is for the bigger fish), but provided you took advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves, you were usually into big, nasty rainbows.  

Best pond was Lone Bear, followed by The New Pond.  The fish are at the inlets and deep water.  For the New Pond that is the far east end of the east-west dogleg.  Fish were caught in the North Pond and South Pond as well, but nothing approaching the success or fish size of Lone Bear and the New Pond.

Of the middle ponds, Cottonwood and especially Tule are fishable.  The larger fish in Tule are wild native Steelhead. Alder is marginal, and Blackberry is unfishable due to weed growth.

The South Pond is rejuvenating!!  My personal favorite pond is the far South Pond, but for the last few years, heavy weed growth has limited fishing opportunities.  Also, there is predominately a population of fish 12"-16" right now, as the pond goes through a fish growth cycle.  To my surprise, when I visited the South Pond, the weeds were GONE.  I asked Mike Kalpin about this, and he said the disappearance of the weeds was not something he had done (if you could, ha.)  So now you can go back to throwing sinking lines and buggers in the South Pond, which is often the ticket to success.  In two more years, the average fish should be approaching four pounds, so something to look forward to.

Wes Wada

Last changed: Wed Jul 21, 2010 at 12:03 AM