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!