Putah Creek

Current Report
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Putah Creek Online fishing survey  - please participate, thanks.

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Greg Bonovich's Putah Creek Message Board
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Putah guide Greg Bonovich

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Flow on Putah Creek

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***Be careful to not transmit the New Zealand Mud Snails from there to other fisheries. Read about treating your waders and wading shoes after fishing Putah Creek.

Warning

• New Zealand Mud Snail Info - Courtesy Ralph & Lisa Cutter

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Stream Information

Upper Putah Creek by Middletown flows east into the upper end of Lake Berryessa. It has Smallmouth Bass up that way and then near the lake there can be trout at times.

It then flows east out of Lake Berryessa and heads down towards Lake Solano.This 4 mile stretch between Lake Berryessa and Lake Solano is the most popular area for trout fishing.

Actually Lake Berryessa above and Lake Solano below are very good stillwater fisheries for bass and trout.

At Lake Solano Dam a large percentage of the water flows into an agricultural canal running to the south under Hwy 80 out into the farm land all summer. The old original creek bed is still there heading east out of Lake Solano passing to the south of the small town of Winters and then finally all the way to UC Davis where it then flows south under Hwy 80 and east again into the Toe Drain along side of the Sutter Bypass. This lower stretch has a small minimum flow now and is a very good warm water fishery.

Putah Creek is located between the Bay Area and Sacramento making it a popular place to fish especially in the winter when most other stream trout fisheries are closed.

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Season

• Putah Creek is open for the general trout season from the last Saturday in April to November 15th with a 5 fish limit and no special regulations.

• On November 16th to the Friday before the last Saturday in April it is flies only, single barbless hook and catch and release.

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All winter it flows fairly low because there is no agricultural need then. The exception would be if we had a very large rainfall one winter and filled up Lake Berryessa then it would go over the spillway (glory hole). It is very popular all winter with spawning runs of wild Rainbow trout running up to and over 5 pounds. Fish 15 to 20 inches are a common event for those who frequent the 'Creek'.

In the summer the flows are high but if you know where to carefully edge wade you can still catch some nice fish. The river has fairly large rock in it that is slippery plus the water is not very clear making wading a little difficult. It is also very brushy right up to the waters edge adding to the challenge.

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Tackle

We recommend a 9' #3 to 5 weight rod with a soft action for fishing the light tippet and small flies required to be successful here. Mostly you will only need a good floating fly line. For fishing small adult mayfly imitations and small midges on top you can use a 9' (or longer on open flats) 6x leader. For nymphing most use a 7.5'  5x leader with 5x to 6x tippet. Most use delicate small yarn indicator and very small split shot.

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Flies

In the low flows of winter many use size #16 to 20 bead head nymphs that are tied very 'skinny' on the hook. Small may fly nymphs, small caddis larva, small midge larva and even small glo bugs are popular. The San Juan Worm and scuds work too. A little flash on the back of your nymphs can trigger a take from these finicky trout in cold water. Darker nymphs seem to be the most popular. There are some small ~#18 BWO mayflies that hatch in the Fall and Winter. There are lots of small ~#20 midges hatching too.

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Putah Creek Map

• Courtesy FlyFishNorCal site
• Courtesy Fish Sniffer site.

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• Kiene's Putah Creek Guide recommendations. (do yourself a favor and get a guide for the first time over to Putah Creek)