Pollywood

Fished the Sly with some success this weekend. Water's a little warm for the sink tip and a little cool for the popper, but we still managed to find some buckets. Good fight and good night! Remind me to put sunblock on the tops of my feet next time.

MET is still closed, but the western tribs are in perrrrrrrfect shape right now. Day 2 was on some of the creeks my dad and I fished before the roads that led to the roads that led to the trails that led to the tops of the canyons were even paved. Found lots of hungry fish in some crystal clear water... no monsters... but still fun in any case. A good place to go when you just want to be by yourself.

Granlibakken

Put in some work this last Monday in the upper reaches of the big T. Found some fish, but that was after pounding the water with a nymph rig for a couple hours por nada. The golden ticket was a tiny black woolly bugger, slow stripped... just the way the fish like it... with a 15 ft type 6 sink tip in that not-so-fast (but not slow) water.

I found the bottom a few times but I have a feeling the fly was about a foot or two under the film most of the time. All brown trout in the 12-14" range. Water was pretty stained in the afternoon so I think the black fly helped it stand-out better.

Not my favorite conditions on the T, but I still managed a few and had fun doing it. Lost my Kanteen though... third one this year... You'd think it would make a distinctive klink noise or something when it falls out and hits the ground... but I guess not. Another donation to the Truckee river gods. I guess it's only fair since I found that Kanteen on the same river a few years back. The lord giveth and taketh away.

Back to Pollywood this weekend... maybe the MET will be open?

It's the Meat in the Seat

Been a while, but I haven't really had a lot of chances to pick up the fly rod lately, and when I do, it's pissing rain. With weather still on the radar, the trout fishing will have to wait another week two (or three)... and when is enough, enough? I mean really... I'm sorry for all the bad-mouthing the past few years about the lack of Spring... but we're good on water here in the state. We were good like two months ago. I'm okay with the cool temps, but the constant precip is really starting to bug.

I should point out right away that this report lacks any fishing with a fly rod: I still consider myself to be a bit of a methodologist when it comes to fishing. I'm coming to the conclusion that it's not rod in the hand that gives one method a bad name, but the meat in the seat...

Squeaked a few Friday afternoons out on Folsom, but the fishing has been pretty crappy. A fish here and there but nothing consistent. So far this year, mostly just a waste of boat gas. Doesn't help when the lake is overrun by a fleet of giant wakeboard boats either. There should be a noise ordinance on that lake. I understand that you've got this crazy expensive boat with a 20 ba-zillion watt sound system... but you've gotta understand that not everybody likes lady gaga, and there really aren't many walls out on the lake to block that noise. Also, I hope you were playing that for your girlfriend, cause if you weren't, your man card just got revoked.

Anyway... after a few less-than-worth it trips to Folsom we decided to reroute the chart to Oroville this last Saturday. We heard the bite was turning on and the hope was that the weather would scare off all the lice on the water, and it turned out to be a sure thing. The lake was empty except for the die hard house boaters and bass fisherman. Weather was great at 8am when we put in, but it didn't take long for the cloud cover to roll in. No rain yet, just a little brisk when the wind was blowing. Didn't matter though because the bite was en fuego! First cast and Mike hooks up.

Four or five casts later, we've both got 3 fish to the boat... and so on and so forth...


We fished a lot of cover in the Middle Fork to start and did well on the open water, but the bite was definitely not as strong in the coves and protected areas. After an hour or so of fishing protected water (it was a little nicer because the wind was blowing pretty good on the open water) we moved back out into the wind and immediately found fish. Three or four times I landed three fish on back to back casts. nothing real big, but a lot feisty spots that pulled hard. I even broke one off! It goes without saying (or seeing...) that it was clearly the fish of the day too. Fish were everywhere, but the greatest concentrations were on the rocky ledges out in the open water.

The fishing was so good that we couldn't leave even when the rain started pouring and the wind howled. The weather just kept the bite going. We left before 6 with wet feet and well over 60 fish to the boat. Might have to make a trip back next weekend.

Kiss My A

A-merican river that is.


Combat fishing sucks.

So Close to Hell You Can See Sparks.

One day in the silver state was all I needed. Not much of a WESTERN sierra report, but who cares: It's winter and all my favorite waters are either stuffed with chowder heads or flowin' higher than grandpa's pants. Beggars can't be choosers. Besides, that stretch of the river is a lot prettier (and more productive) than people think.

The likelihood of getting shanked goes up exponentially the closer you are to the city, but if you stay just outta town, you're good.

Here are a couple of fish faces from the day:

Had to chase this one down the river right past the impromptu toilet under the walking bridge.

My PSA for the day is: watch where you step... even river water can't wash some things off.

Hadn't been back down in the valley since the OCC tournament last October (which was an awesome 4th place finish for team master baetis). Speaking of master baetis, she claimed several more victims this last weekend and is proving to be a pretty much year-round Truckee river fly. Does well all year in pretty much any size: http://flytyingcontest.com/2010/03/31/master-baetis/