December 7, 2010

"You're from Oregon, eh?...."

This is the comeback report I needed last post... Was on the Kalama and the E. Fork Lewis this past weekend slaying the steel like a union worker!

Flew into Portland and hooked-up with my brother-in-law (aka dirty Samchez) for a quick weekend shot at some Washington waters that I've never fished before. Generally speaking, (no offense Samchez) I never expect to hook anything when I'm fishing with my brother-in-law. Never was there a man with worse fishing juju. I could net thirty fish on Friday, and when Sam shows up on Saturday, we won't touch a fish for two days... sorry man... but it's true.

HOWEVER... that changed this last weekend...

We showed up on the Kalama before day break with no cars in the pull-out. Rigged up and went bank-side and right away spotted some squishy salmon working about three feet off the bank. I'm not sure, but I think we also saw a monster summer steelhead mixed in there with the salmon, but it was gone before I could get the line in the water. Water color was perfect and the flows were juuuuust right. We started drifting some egg patterns behind the working salmon no more than 4 ft off the bank and within the first 20 minutes or so I'm hooked up with a hot pissed off fish, probably pushing 10+ lbs.

That fish bolted for the other bank and before I could get it on the reel, my 2x tippet said, "snap!" Rookie move for sure. Fighting a huge steelhead on a single-hander with 25 yards of line at your feet is not what I'm used to.... By then a couple of gear guys had crept in just below me and were starting to do work. Nice guys, but they had it all wrong. They were bombing 50-70 foot casts out into the middle of the run. I said, "I hooked that fish right off the bank," and the guy goes, "I think they're more our in the middle of the run..." A new rig and 10 casts later, I'm hooked-up again with another fish no more than 4 ft off the bank... guy should've listened..

It hurts me to say it again, but that fish broke me off as well. At least I had it almost to hand before it broke off this time... What hurts even more?... I broke two more fish off before I finally got the smallest fish of the day to hand... but that's how it goes when you're a protard like myself.

Sam.... we need to have another talk about your camera skills...

By noon Sam and I had hooked a combined 8 fish out of the same water, which was causing a little bit of a commotion with the gear guys. Pretty soon they started to surround us, bombing plugs and bobbers over our heads right into our water... I almost shanked one dude when he threw his shit right over my flyline and just let it drift. I mean... really? How about I haul a cast right into your face on accident...

We bailed right after that and then fished some other sections of the river for nada. Near the end of the day we decided to come back to the same hole we started at to see if we could get a happy ending, but the place was crawling with gear guys when we got there. We figured the day was good enough so we just cracked a few beers and watched the sketchy locals toss plugs for about an hour.

Just before the sun started to go down people started to bail, so we swept in for a few last casts, and right in between four gear guys not catching shit, and three gear guys talking trash to us "fly guys," Sam pricks a chrome-bright steelhead and everybody shuts up all at once... pretty good feeling...

"You're from Oregon, eh?... Ever though about going back?..." the dude says to Sam... and that's when we left.

Banner day, but would've been better if I could've touched all the fish I broke off... if it's only about the fight, then I got what I was looking for.

Handy work from the locals...

November 26, 2010

Trinity Steel

Long time no post. Wish I had a better comeback report...

I'll make it quick, cause I'm on my way out the door right now to take full advantage of the K factor.

Three days, two guys... and only one fish to show for it...

There were a couple other grabs here and there, but we only put fingerprints on one fish. We were swinging flies the whole time, but I don't think the nymphs were doin' any good either... just not a whole lot of fish in the river.

Air temps were all over the place with one day nice and sunny and in the 50's, one day rainy and in the 40's, and the third day snowy with howling wind and temps (with wind chill) near zero... brrrrrrrrr.... I'm guessing the water temps held pretty stable, but it still didn't help the fishing.

Water was gin clear and low low low. Fishing was tough for everybody that we talked to. Some local gurus were saying that the fall returns this year are the lowest they've seen in 50 years. Even the bait dunkers weren't touching fish. Hopefully the winter run comes in with a vengeance... cause we'll be waiting....

Fly of the week is this thing...

Doesn't have a name, other than the one that worked...

July 29, 2010

The Daily Grind

Not the normal Wednesday routine last week.

Little fish for a little stream, but lots of 'em. Western sierra streams are in full swing right now. If you haven't been out in them thar woods yet, now's the time. Just grab a map and start drivin' towards anything blue. Chances are, there're some fish there that'll eat just about anything.

This little trib eventually runs into the middle fork of the AR and was in PRIME shape. Hadn't been back to this spot since the old man and I hiked down in the canyon to the big waterfall nearly 20 years ago. Didn't quite get back there this trip, but I got down in the canyon pretty good. Far enough to hit the HUGE pools just stuffed with fish. Almost like shootin' fish in a barrel. I had some hook-ups with fish on both the dry and the dropper at the same time... a fish tug-o-war...

The hare's ear was the fish nip for sure. As soon as that thing hit the water, the fish were brawling to get a taste. 4 or 5 fish on back to back casts out of the same hole was a recurring event.

Had a great time except for the giant f@#$ing spiders all over the place. Seemed like every step I took put another spiderweb in my face. Not just your normal webs either... I could've flossed my teeth with these webs they were so thick. By the time I got home I had enough spider yarn wrapped around my legs to knit a sweater.

Check out the sierra spider motel... I accidentally stomped through a few of these...

It's hard to tell without a little zoom, but I counted 10 huge spiders on this plant.

Not small spiders either... Big f@#$ers! With fangs, and long legs, and ill tempers. I hope it's true that no one can hear you scream in the woods, 'cause I let out a few girly squeaks when I found a 3 incher crawling up my arm... I wonder if spider guts stain?

Most of the day I used a huge march brown dry with a hare's ear dropper and was wrecking shop. Like I said, the hare's ear had the juju for sure...

but the march brown did some damage too. I'm sure the fish would've eaten anything, but after I saw a few dozen monster brown mayflies get tooth punched by some trout, I figured it was the logical choice... and it paid off.

Now's the time, so break away and start hiking. The fish are HUNGRY!

July 26, 2010

Livin' it up in Pollywood

Pics are a week old, but the river is still in prime shape. Spent a few hours early on the SF American near my old stompin' grounds. Screw the Silver Fork, they can have it...

Flows on the SF were perfect, and the fish were all over.

Nothing big to hand, but plenty of fish ready to chow on the dry fly.

When the dry fly bite slowed down, I tied on the world's smallest pheasant tail and and started nuking fish in every run... the shitty part about using tiny flies?.... they pop out...

Hooked a couple of fish that were MONSTERS for that river, but like more than half of the fish I hooked, they came unbuttoned too...

All in all the fish were active. Little yellow stones, some PMDs, and little mahogany mayflies all over. The big stonefly hatch is well over, but there were still plenty of nymphs crawling around on the river bottom. Hot flies were a yellow sallie dry with a size 18-20 pheasant tail dropper.

July 9, 2010

Truckee River Cleanup

It's been awhile... the US got knocked out in the round of 16... The Netherlands upset Brazil, and now they're in the finals.... the rivers are STILL blown out in the middle of July... and time to get away and fish is at a premium....

What's the world coming to?....

Not much to report... Spent last Saturday trolling the big T for garbage and fish. Found more garbage than fish, but that was a sign of a good day.

Found this little beauty in the afternoon... droppin' the rod in the drink is a sure way to wreck a good day.

Fed everybody lunch. Good turn-out, and lots of props to the Truckee TU chapter pres. Stefan Mcleod, a good guy who's committed and enthusiastic about keeping the Truckee running cold and clear. He'll do big things for the new chapter.

Stefan, If you read this, next beer's on me.

Who's full of hot air now?!

June 24, 2010

Victory in the face of defeat!

1 - 0 in the 91st minute....



Sweeter than suga'.

Can the US go all the way?...

Vuvuzelas are on sale on ebay for $0.99... I might have to get me one...

June 22, 2010

Portugal WRECKS Korea

If you didn't see the Portugal vs Korea game this morning, and don't want any spoilers, then don't keep reading.... but.... PORTUGAL WRECKED KOREA 7 - 0!

Brazil better watch out...

Go USA.

June 21, 2010

The June Brown

Funny... With a name like "March Brown" you'd think they'd be gone by the time the middle of June rolled around. Just another amazing (and yet, really confusing) day on the Tuffee.

New pattern test last Friday...

I think I'll call it the "June Brown".

Proof's in the puddin'...

If you're headed up this way, be sure to bring some split shot. 3 BB's still wasn't quite enough for those deeper runs... Oh ya... and I didn't see a single flying ant all day. Could've been me, or my shitty attempt at a flying ant pattern, but the drowned ant didn't produce a single fish. Lots of talk about the ants being around, not a whole lot of walk to back it up.

They'll show up eventually, jut not when I'm around.

Saw a few green drakes poppin' around lunchtime. Didn't try my new drake pattern though... got caught up in the wind and wasted too much time trying to get the perfect cast, every cast.

No yellow stones... in the air, at least.

Another note... don't bother showing up on Prosser unless you've got some scuds in the box...

Focker, out.

June 8, 2010

Shad Fishing Sucks!

Either that or I have no clue what I'm doing... you decide...

May 17, 2010

Trip of Epicness 2010

Welp, I think it's official... I don't have fun fishing the E. Walker anymore... It's been about a 12 year long run on that river with some big fish..... but it's just not worth it for me anymore. Just like some of my other past favorite rivers, the number of fisherman on that river at any given time has exceeded the number of fish in the river.

They can have it!

When every fishable piece of water has someone  on it, standing thigh-deep right in the holding water, lookin' like he just fell out of a simms catalog... I'm out... To me, no fish is worth doing battle with a hundred dudes acting like they own the river. They can have it...

Instead, we figured we'd have more fun rattling off some rounds hill billy style at the local shootin' range. What camping trip would be complete without dispatching a few rounds from the ol' assault riffle?

Just holding that AR makes you feel like a boss

The runoff is comin'...

Sleep tight tiny dancer.

Here's some fallout from camping at 8,000 feet in the middle of May.

Gritty coffee and eggs cooked in bacon grease... breakfast of champions.

Like the crowds weren't thick enough on the first day... where did we go on day two?

Hot Creek....

Imagine a quiet piece of water where you can fish peacefully and you'd be surprised to see another fisherman all day.... now image the complete polar opposite of that.... that's Hot Creek.

I had never fished south of mono, so I had no idea what to expect. We got to the creek and looked down the canyon and I almost lost it when I saw a dude (and ladies) on every inch of that creek as far as you can see up and downstream. You've never seen so many cars worth more than $70k parked in the middle of nowhere. People were packed in there so close, that you had to be careful casting your fly upstream 'cause you were likely to hit the guy downstream with your back cast...

It might be hard to see without zooming-in, but there are 5 other dudes in this picture, covering no more than 150 ft of water.

Water to fish was at such a premium, that some people, once they got a hold of some water, didn't move ALL DAY. Or, sometimes it just felt like you were swapping spots with someone. You'd look up and the guy above you would start walkin' away, so you'd haul ass up to where he was to fish some new water, and as soon as you got to your new spot, somebody had already filled your old spot.....

How was that better than the E. Walker?.... well..... the 30+ fish days made it bearable, and that's only fish to hand. We lost as many as we landed. In spite of the fly fisherman circus, we were blowing up that river like hiroshima. Other people were catching fish, but not nearly as many as we pricked. For some reason we had the Hot Creek juju, cause we were hookin' up on every cast. I had a guy tell me that Hot Creek is one of the most technical fisheries he'd ever fished..... It would've been harder to NOT catch a fish. There had to have been an average of 4 fish per foot of river, because we would sit on a hole and catch fish nearly every cast... for hours.....

The first day, Cole and I didn't move for at least two hours, catching fish after fish.

We had double hookups, big fish, little fish, rainbows, browns. I even caught some cutthroats.

On the second day Josh, Cole, and I all posted up on a great hole under this huge overhanging rock and banged fish out of there all day.

Josh had a banner day with fish on back to back casts three or four times.

Josh had the hot brown trout fly, pickin' up browns left and right.

On the way out, Cole slid over to this tiny hole where I picked up a good fish the day before, and stuck the best fish of the trip right before we mounted up.

None of the fish we touched were very big (18-20" tops), but the numbers of fish caught made up for it big time. Great fishing, but still way.....WAY.... too many people around that creek to make it worth a trip back.

May 11, 2010

Extreme Skunk Repellent

Ain't no fool gettin' out fished on his birthday! I brought the good Truckee skunk repellent this time.

Sam may have crushed the will of this piggy little fish...

Booyakasha!

...but I made up for it in numbers.

Water was high, colored-up pretty good, and damn cold. Bite was off and we worked pretty hard for less than 10 fish between the three of us. I don't think it was fly selection, I took out every tool in the shed. I just think the flows have put the fish down for the most part. We probably left right as the flows were stabilizing in the afternoon, which I'm guessing was prime time... oh well... Lots of bugs... No fish heads. Just a couple of splashes that could've been anything.

I was eyeballin' Gregg's 5/6 switch rod as we were rigging up, wishin' I had one... winds kicked up around 11, and casting an indicator was like peein' in the wind. Nothing good ever comes from that...

Gregg was slicin' through that wind like Vader through Kenobi, while Sam and I hacked our way up and down the river. We may have caught more fish than Gregg, but I'm guessing his arms weren't fubar'd like mine after 6 hours of violent casting.

Next on the wish list... switch rod, 4wt, 11'6"....

Gettin' Ready for the Boogey Man

Flows are up, water is cold, and the boogey man creeps closer and closer...

Striper season on the American approaches as the cold winter weather has temporarily given way to some phenomenal spring conditions. 80's the last week, and after another small storm, 80's again. Something tells me that this won't be the end of winter just yet either. You may have heard of a "miracle March," but have you heard of "miracle May?!"... I have...

Time to start tying...

May 7, 2010

The Fish Cannon

Ever wonder where some of those huge trout in the E. Carson come from?...

Well, let me show you...

April 29, 2010

Swarmed...

Spent some time by myself this last weekend on the Truckee trying to clear my head after a pretty brutal week. Lots of things going on right now, some good, some bad, but seemingly all at once. I try to stay positive as often as I can, but some days are harder than others. I figured a little alone time on the river would help slow the thought process down, and it did. No distractions, no hustle, and just a good time to talk to myself about things that I try not to think about.

Fishing wasn't all that great with the higher flows and all, but at least I didn't see another person the entire day. Only one fish in the net, but I hooked several others that promptly came unbuttoned, which was encouragement enough to keep at it.

My golden stone pattern was the trick... too bad I only brought one that I broke off at about 11:30...

Weather was AMAZING! The total calm before the storm...

Ever had one of those days where suddenly, without much of a change in flows/weather/temperature, a hatch miraculously starts to happen? Well, that happened to me this last Sunday; except, it was this unbelievably profuse hatch of bugs just swarming around me, landing on my sunglasses, all over my waders, and up the entire length of my rod.

All mayflies. I counted four different species but I'm sure there were more, all at once. Duns, spinners, emergers, and cripples everywhere. It was like someone had hit the switch and the bugs just starting popping like popcorn... I looked down and there were at least 10 mayflies hatching on my legs as the current splashed them off, replacing them with another set of hatching bugs every splash.

I was standing in about shin-deep water at the head of this eddied section at the bottom of a narrow riffle. The water and air were pretty calm where I was standing and the hatching mayflies were sort of swarming in the still air. I could see nymphs swimming and floating to the surface just as they came rolling around in the eddy, just about to pop through the film. The wind picked up and the mayflies started blowing up the canyon like a fog along the canyon walls. I could see the wind shifts changing the direction of the mayfly cloud like sheets blowing in the wind. It was really amazing to see; something I've never seen on this river before.

Not a single fish nose the entire time...

Still an amazing thing to see.

April 23, 2010

Thanks for the snack...

Just 'cause I'm married doesn't mean I can't appreciate a good-lookin' bass when I see one...

April 22, 2010

Game Time

Just like I watch a little FISH EYE 3 before hitting the river, or a little MDP vid before hitting the corduroy, before my soccer games I like to get a little pumped up....



Now I'm ready...

April 20, 2010

Steelhead in The Classroom

Never was there a fisherman so passionate about their sport than a steelheader. And thanks be to those fishermen, for if it weren't for them, we may never again have a good run of chrome giants in our home waters. If only our youngest generations knew that these fish now exist on a delicate thread held by those that strive to protect this fish above a vast expanse of those without concern, and without their help, after we're nothing more than a memory, this fish's existence may be lost entirely.

Without an outreach to our future leaders, many of the resources that we as fisherman love so much, and have worked so hard to protect, may be lost once we're gone. It's this message that Trout Unlimited is striving to instill in our children.

A grassroots project, the Trout and Steelhead in the Classroom project has begun to take hold locally thanks to several grade school teachers. Scott Lyons, a junior high teacher from Gold Trail School, successfully hatched and raised baby steelhead in his classroom with the help of his 8th grade class throughout the last few months.

I was fortunate enough to be part of the release of these fry steelhead into the American River last week.

It was amazing to see these students so engaged in the existence of these fish, some even having given the fish names.

As the fish were released, students watched as their hard work had come to fruition.

Clearly, a connection had been made with these students, and it's these connections that will help our future generations understand exactly what an important part these fish play in our world, and what we may need to do to help protect them now and in the future.

April 14, 2010

When the seas are rough, get busy...

Took a little break from fly fishing a couple weekends ago and went up the coast with the family for our annual abalone dive trip. Not the best timing seeing as we hit it right on the opener weekend, not to mention the triple (and sometimes quadruple) overhead seas; but what could we do, the boy's in school now and we've become slaves to the public school calendar.

Just a little wave action to prep us for what was to come...

Rained four out of the five days we camped (rained sideways for two of those four days), and the wind howled all day every day.

Stan and Louise braved the rain while we dove, and it shows.

Every river from Reedsport down to Monterey Bay was pumping chocolate milk into the ocean. Even the little dry creek beds through the reservation were raging. Needless to say, the visibility in the water was about 2 feet with patches of 5 to 10 inch visibility near the river mouths... I gotta hand it to Sam though, looking into 25 foot swells and pea green water is not easy to do, especially when it's your first time diving for abalone...

Sam did pretty good except that he kept spitting out his snorkel tube every time he surfaced. He started slow, but I can't blame him, the visibility sucked and he had no idea what he was looking for at first. After his first two or three, he started to find some keepers.

The only thing I like about diving in high seas is that there just aren't as many people in the water... That wasn't really the case last weekend. It's been a long time since I dove on the opener weekend, and I was quickly reminded why. Friday wasn't bad in terms of people, but Saturday was a different story. By the time Sam had pulled his last ab there were about thirty other divers all around us, with more walking in as we were leaving.

We had no problem getting our limits, but other people looked like they were having more trouble. Jenna and the Iversons watched as divers kept getting tossed into the rocks...

A man proud of his bounty.

Sam, now that you've experienced the worst, at least you know it'll only be better next time!