Chad Pettrone

9/22 Post Flood Boulder Creek with Zayo Group

• By Chad Pettrone
• 23 September, 2013
• No Comments

Boulder Creek flood our town in a 100 year flash flood.  The peak of the flood was Sept 11, 2013 but continued to reek havoc for 4 more days.   Click to read a detailed article about the flood.    This minor obstacle did not stop the Zayo sales force for from getting the job done.

We fished the downtown area of Boulder Creek as it is conveniently located across the street from the St. Julian Hotel, where our guest were staying.  Theresa, Ryan, Rick, Christine, and Kin slipped into some waders and were ready for action.

We walked across the street to the newly redesigned Boulder Creek.  The pools are no longer in the same area, the river is deeper than it used to be, trees are wrapped around other trees, the parking lot was being cleared of mud, and we were hoping that the fish were still going to be in the river.  As we learned more about each other I realized that I was guiding sales people…well, I know how to speak sales.   The river is like a list of potential clients, sometimes it’s a small river with small clients, and sometimes it’s a big river with big clients.  All of the fish and the clients are caught the same way, with multiple casts to a specific target.  With persistence and practice, your going to land one.  

Given the conditions, most people thought we were crazy for fishing Boulder Creek.  You can’t listen to what people think, you have to go with your gut, stick to the game plan, and make it happen.  Luckily (it’s never luck) we caught a fish on our first cast : )  Theresa brought it to shore and Ryan held it up for a group picture. We spread out on the river with the help of guide Ryan Nixon, and we all started catching some fish.

Boulder Creek has been through some tough times and these trout, much like it’s citizens, have proven to be resilient.  If you look in the background of some of these pictures you can see hazard cones from cleanup crews, trees bent in half, and full sized trees stacked like firewood kindling by a river that raged out of control.  In difficult times we can take a lesson from the trout.  Nature bounces back very quickly, as do successful sales teams.

Keep a look out for a book that I am currently writing on fishing high flows and dirty water for trout, called “Getting Dirty”.  Also, for fly selection perfection please visit www.flyselector.com