Rocky Ford Creek increases in volume, pleasing anglers

A good thing is flowing through central Washington’s prized desert fly-fishing-only spring creek – more water.

Originating from groundwork done by the Ice Age Floods, Rocky Ford Creek emerges from the ground east of Ephrata at around 52 degrees. It becomes a popular trout factory before the stream eventually warms and runs into Moses Lake.

Last year, as the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation began delivering a new expensive arm of water to irrigators, flows in Rocky Ford Creek began increasing.

The change was in stark contrast to the nearby Columbia River, where sturgeon and sockeye salmon were dying from record low, warm flows.

Earlier this month, few anglers fishing Rocky Ford Creek said they noticed the higher flows. It’s one of the few trout stream trout options available during winter, and they were going to come regardless. On a Monday, at least 20 vehicles were parked in the three fishing access lots along 1.3 miles of public road between the two Trout Lodge hatchery facilities.

Wayne Jordan of North 40 Outfitters in Spokane was more perceptive than most anglers.

“The fish are concentrated in different areas and with the increased flows access is more limited now,” he said. “Normally you can get away with using unweighted flies, but with the increased current I switched to a size 18 midge with a tungsten bead for my top fly and a size 16 olive scud for my dropper.

“I put a small indicator about 24 inches from my top fly. I keep my dropper short, only 6-8 inches from the top fly. This setup keeps the flies down in the water column and in the trout’s strike zone.

“I typically wear an old pair of hiking boots when I fish at Rocky Ford, but with the increased flows a lot of the trails leading to the creek are under water and not accessible. The guys wearing hip boots and waders can still access these trails, but erosion might become a concern in the near future.”

Walk-in anglers in the stretch between the two hatcheries have access to about three miles of the creek. The water ranges from narrow riffles to broad open areas where the current moves so slowly a trout can watch a midge age before deciding to take it off the surface.

Trails offer easy access to the west side the creek in this stretch. A footbridge crosses the creek’s upper end near the disabled fishing access platform.

The other footbridge nearly two miles downstream has been closed by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife for liability reasons. Although some anglers are still crossing over the chains blocking the condemned bridge, engineers say the footings are unstable and the bridge could topple.

Chad Jackson, department area fisheries biologist, said the state has won a grant up to $300,000 to replace the bridge and possibly to improve the upper bridge.

Design and permitting are underway.

“I don’t have a timeline on completion, but the money must be spent by July 2017,” Jackson said.

Rocky Ford’s year-round fishery is lightly stocked with rainbows from hatchery, which was established at the source of the creek in 1945. The creek’s fish range from sweet 16-inchers to heartless 6-pound lunkers that tease hundreds of casts before getting hooked up.

“The guys at Silver Bow Fly Shop say these are ‘professional fish’ because they see so many casts,” said Spokane angler Terra Matsuda as she deftly presented flies from among the shoreline’s tall cattails.

She could see big fish refusing her presentations of tiny scud patterns.

“Gotta hope one has a weak moment,” another angler said.

Rocky Ford rules allow fly fishing only. Single, barbless hooks are required. Wading is prohibited, but most of the water is accessible to good casters with patience and line handling skills to avoid snag-up in the shoreline vegetation.

Jackson said the flows in Rocky Ford have increased by 50 percent or more from normal flows before the irrigation boost.

“It doesn’t appear to be affecting the spring creek nature of it at the moment,” he said, “although angler are encountering surface water along shore where the ground might have only been wetted before.”

People have stepped into new beaver holes while working through the cattails, he said.

“The water coming into the creek is still pretty cool and it hasn’t really affected the fishing or fish behavior between the two hatcheries. Generally speaking, more water is good for trout. Were hoping that translates into cooler water below the Highway 17 so there can be a larger distribution of the trout.”

Jackson said there’s still a lot of wait-and-see.

“We’re in the early stages of the Potholes supplemental feed route that’s contributing to the influx of water. The bureau, to my knowledge, hasn’t ramped up the flow through middle Crab Creek to the maximum allowed during peak irrigation period.

“We’re hoping the increased water will cool summer creek temperatures, but we’ll have to see.”

As the irrigation project to replumb the Columbia Basin evolves, more water is being pumped out of the Columbia River. The fish and wildlife ecology is being altered again, sometimes with positive results, and sometimes for worse.

Flows have increased through the Frenchman Hills Wasteway to Potholes, and starting last spring, the Bureau of Reclamation began releasing an additional 100 cubic feet per second of water from the cool depths of Billy Clapp Lake through Pinto Dam.

The Billy Clapp water flows toward Potholes Reservoir through the natural topography of Crab Creek.

Roughly 20 percent of that water migrates from Crab Creek underground through the fractured basalt of the Adrian Sink. That water emerges about six miles away – six weeks later – with the natural flows into Rocky Ford Creek at the Trout Lodge hatchery.

Fish biologists can’t make predictions yet about the future impacts to Rocky Ford Creek because no one knows exactly how the flows will change. Department of Ecology staffers say the flow rate could increase as much as 10-fold.

Starting March 1, a long list of Columbia Basin lakes will open for the 2016 fishing season. That will lure some of the winter pressure away from Rocky Ford Creek.

On the other hand, blue wing olive hatches are becoming more frequent at the end of February and Callibaetis and damselflies will be coming off, focusing the attention of big fish as well as of dry fly enthusiasts on Rocky Ford’s surface.

The region’s serious fly fishers never totally put Rocky Ford Creek out of their minds.

“When I say you can fish it 365 days a year, I don’t mean just the length of the season,” Sean Visintainer of Silver Bow Fly Shop said. “I mean it never freezes or blows out (with runoff) and you legitimately have a shot at a big fish every day of the year.”