"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...

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...

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?!