Big Grizzly Creek, Portola, California

      In the never ending quest to find great trout fishing waters I recently went on a bit of journey to what I had been told is a great place to fly fish and "nobody knows about it."

      The place is Big Grizzly Creek, commonly called Grizzly creek, outside Portola, California. It is a small stream that flows out of the Lake Davis dam. Getting there is tricky. Leaving is even trickier. The stream is at the bottom of a very steep canyon. There is a service road to the outlet of the dam but it is closed to public cars. Otherwise, there is no way in or out. So, I parked above, and walked down the road to the base of the canyon, and to the stream.

      Grizzly Creek is only a few feet wide. Often times my fly rod is longer than the creek is wide. There is a foot trail along the bank thus ending the claim that "nobody knows about it". I had been told there are many small trout, but in the larger holes are some very nice, big, browns. I never saw any big browns, but I did see a couple of small trout. I had no luck getting any to bite.
      Casting is nearly impossible, between the small size of the creek and the abundance of bushes, trees and tall grasses.
         There are tons of bugs, but despite the marshy type areas, mosquitoes were not a big problem.
     The best thing to do is to stand in the water and flip your line up or down stream into a hole.
   I saw one other fly fisher and a couple of bait fishers. The bait guys were using worms and had caught a couple of small trout. The fly guy had no luck - like me.
       Getting around is very difficult and perhaps dangerous. Due to the long, marshy grasses, you often cannot see where you are placing your foot. Sometimes I'd get solid ground. Other times I'd step in a hole carved by the miriad of "finger" streams in the area.
    Making your way up and down the stream along the bank is difficult due to all the bushes, fallen trees, rocks and canyon walls.
        On the way out I decided to climb a canyon wall as the guy who turned me on to the place said he did - rather than fight the bushes all the way back to the service road. Bad idea. Not only is it extremely steep but the dirt and rocks are not stable. I'd fight to climb ten feet only to slide back down three feet. I'd make it to the top of a ridge only to realize it led to a sheer cliff meaning I'd have to change directions to continue the upward climb.
       Overall, the amount of effort was incredible and the payoff - well - there was no payoff in terms of fish.
All the fish in Lake Davis had been erradicated a couple of times in an effort to get rid of killer Northern Pike which were put in the lake illegally. This may still be affecting trout populations in Grizzly Creek.


      It is scenic along the creek, and I've included a few pictures (coimg soon) but I cannot say the trek in and out.