Deep Creek

[TubeFisherman]

I'm having a hard time deciding where I want to go fishing this weekend and was wondering if anyone has been up to Deep Creek and if so did you catch anything besides those 12 - 14 inches?
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[gstott]

Mine were a little bigger with 14-16" being typical. Still they were very active and it was a pretty steady bite all day. I did talk to a guy who had caught a 4lber earlier that day.
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[TubeFisherman]

If you don't mind me asking (you can send me a PM if you want), how deep were you fishing, what were you using, and when did you fish it last?
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[gstott]

I fished it Sunday, so I'm not sure what all this rain is going to do to it. Most fish were 7-10 feet deep. I was fishing with a type 2 sinking line and a two fly rig. I had a size 12 black peacock crystal bugger as my top fly and a size 8 olive crystal bugger as my bottom fly. I caught a few on the top fly but most went for the olive bugger. I did miss way more than I caught (12 caught, probably 40 misses), but it was still pretty good fishing. The guy I talked to was also using an olive leech and said he'd been knocking them dead all morning.
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[tmas]

Deep Creek does have a lot of smaller trout in there, but there is a pretty good number of 20"+ fish caught as well. It seems with popularity growing there that the average size has been dropping the last 4 years or so but there is still some great fish in there. Go out there on the ice and there are guys everywhere keeping their 6 fish limit so obviously you're not going to have lots of big fish. I like to troll very early in the mornings, within 50 yards of the deeper banks. Try some small pop gear with a rapala behind it and a small inline weight so you're down about 10 ft. Good luck. Let 'em go let 'em grow!
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[TubeFisherman]

I don't quite remember what the weather was like last Sunday, but I wonder if the fish was thinking it was a damsel fly. I've heard that the damsel fly hatch comes early there. Maybe the warm weather was just enough to get them active.
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[TubeFisherman]

Maybe I'm thinking wrong, but I thought Deep Creek was a two fish limit. Either way, I too think it's when people are taking all those big fish home to eat. Although I don't eat fish myself, I took one fish home last fishing season and I felt bad that I hadn't let him go to be caught again. You aren't going to get big fish unless you let them go. Anyway, thanks for the advice.
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[gstott]

It was really warm and sunny. It very well could have been the beginning of a damsel hatch. One of the fish inhaled the fly and was bleeding really badly, so I kept it. I was impressed with the quality, bright orange flesh like a salmon. It was good, but I just don't get the mentality of keeping your limit every time and stuffing your freezer, especially with the larger fish. Oh well, at least there are a couple places with special regs in the area.
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[troutcarver]

Why is it so to keep a limit of fish to eat. Just because you don't eat fish dosent mean nobody else does. We love fish and we keep a limit to eat all the time. Deep Creek is planted so often that the fish population does not hurt when people take fish home with them. The big fish will be there. We need to take advantage of the fish while we have the water there. Because who know how much they will drain it down in the years coming.
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[gstott]

I don't have a problem with people keeping fish if they eat them. What I hate is when people just keep their limit every time they go out and then have a freezer full of freezer burned fish that end up in the garbage. I also don't care for the mentality of keeping only the largest fish. You can catch a ton of cookie cutter fish, that usually taste better, at a place like Deep Creek, but people insist on keeping the one or two large fish they catch. Pretty soon all that's left to catch are the cookie cutter fish and all it becomes is another put and take lake full of little planters.
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[jigs]

i agree greg if i go fishing on a trout lake it almost never fails i mishandle one or it takes a hook deep and needs to be kept but there is no reason to keep 6 fish every time out, in my mind if your going to freeze a trout you shouldnt keep them. eat them fresh or let them go. but if there is a lake to keep a trout on its deepcreek like said above there orange almost like a salmon and they taste awsome. i just wish they didnt have that blackspot parasite.
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[gstott]

No kidding about tasty trout from Deep Creek. I was kind of about killing it at first, but dang that was about the best trout I've ever eaten.
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[56Chevy]

So where exactly is Deep Creek?
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[gstott]

Just east of Malad.
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[Troutlover]

As a fish keeper thought I'd add my 2 cents(that's all it's worth) I honestly prefer to keep the planters to eat. (They fit in the pan better).[cool] I do freeze fish (mainly cause I plan my meals) but I never allow them to go bad. In all honestly it is nearly immpossible to find a lake where you can limit out. So might as well if you can. Personally, I am just a poor white boy, So my fishing licence is an investment for days when food is low. I understand the point there are a few people that keep a bunch of fish and waste them. Usually the guy with the Big $20,000 boat, and $50,000 truck. But the majority of us that take fish do actaully eat fish. And when you see the poor guy in the 80's car sitting on the bank counting his worms.... That's me feel free to give my your unwanted fish.[sly]
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[TubeFisherman]

I'm there with you in regards to the poor side. I get one or two small gifts for Christmas and the rest is used for fishing gas money the rest of the year (which doesn't last that long). Hey if you are eating the fish I don't have one problem with that. My big beef is just like yours where they keep the big fish and in the end just go to waste. Last year I had a neighbor that kept begging me to bring him home some big fish to eat. Instead of multiple fish, I brought him a 20 inch 3.5 lber. I found out about two months ago that the fish sat in his freezer and eventually was just thrown away. It's stuff like that that makes me mad. As for the worms, I remember as a kid going outside at night when the grass was wet and hunting those things down. Thanks for your reply.
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[Warchild]

More Preaching to the Choir.
It does no good to jump on the soap box and scream C&R on BFT its about as dumb as democrats and there health care
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[TubeFisherman]

I'm sorry if I'm coming off as screaming catch and release. By all means if you are going to eat the fish take it home. My only point was that I know of people that will take a 5 lber just for pictures when you know for a fact that they will not eat it. It just seems wasteful.
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[gstott]

I'm with you on this one. It's all about selective harvest. Keeping fish can be good for the fishery, if it's done right. I get frustrated when people complain that the fishing isn't what it used to be, but then they go and take all the large fish home. Duh. And wasting a game fish is actually illegal and it bugs me that it happens so often.
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[Kodiak1]

Warchild,
How about keeping the politics off this forum. It really isn't welcome. Mike
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