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!

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.

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?!