Rock Creek has been fishing exceptionally well, though water levels remain quite low for this time of year. The bottom section is very skinny, but everything is still very fishable. The browns are mostly done spawning, and while many are still up in the forks wrapping up their spawn or munching eggs, a lot of them are headed downstream. As a general rule, assume any stationary fish in shallow water or a side channel to be spawning.

Dry-fly fishing has been strong over the past few weeks, but with the recent cold front moving through, Mahoganies and October caddis are mostly done, though we have seen a few straggling caddis after the cold snaps that usually shut them down. Right now, Blue-Winged Olives are the focal hatch, with midges present as well. We should see a few more weeks of BWO action but once winter hits in full, dry fly options will predominantly be midges. The BWOs tend to be 16-20 in size, while the midges are generally 20 or smaller. The little trico patterns fished earlier in summer have great utility in this period.

Nymphing is always the dependable approach. Smaller perdigons and soft hackles are excellent imitations for BWOs and mahoganies before they hatch. When targeting deeper runs with an indicator setup, larger patterns like Double Bead Stones, Pat’s Rubber Legs, and TJ Hookers are great choices for matching the river’s stoneflies and getting down to fish holding near the bottom. Tightline, indicator, hopper-dropper, swinging, it all works well.

The streamer bite was great this fall, but with browns either actively spawning, or headed down to the river we generally advise sparing the streamer fishing for the main river. Most any fish up the forks or sitting stationary in a side channel is spawning, and it is obvious to anyone driving by what’s going on if you choose to fish for those fish. Do the ethical thing, just let the fish go about their funky business and go swing streamers down in the main river.