I woke up several times last night to the sounds of a torrential downpours’ rhythmic drumming across the shingles of the house roof. I hadn’t planned to fish but the storm meant that one of my favorite small creeks would be in great condition to fish in the morning. The past months lack of rain had reduced it to just a trickle.

I arrived at the creek late morning. It wasn’t what I expected. The muddy water didn’t bother me but the leaf clutter was suspended thick in the flow from top to bottom. I tried Euro Nymphing with a two fly set up but could barely get a drift that didn’t result in a clump of leaves entangled in my rig.

The leaf clutter was frustrating so I changed up to a simple single fly tight line rig. I chose my go-to muddy water sub surface fly, a Squirmy Worm, tied on a size 14 hook with a bead. I tie my worms with longer material than most folks to get a bigger profile for muddy water conditions. A couple pieces of big tin shot and I was in business! Less snags and more brown trout! Just the way I like it!