New Years Eve

I spent yesterday at Putah Creek. I'll have a report shortly. In the meantime, I had to post a link to this video I came across from the North Umpqua.

http://theflyshop.com/Mikes_Folder/kindofabigdeal.mov

This is one of the better videos I've seen from the net for both steelhead fishing and two handed casting. The vantage point that the camera man has is excellent. Not only can you see the casting perfectly, but you can see the steelhead going after the skating fly. And of course you see him catch a couple as well.

Most of the videos I see are people casting endlessly and then magically they cut to a guy with a fish on. In this video, you actually see him catch the fish.

We need more of these!

Fly #39: Earth Tones and Muted Colors

Now that I've been tying larger size 4's, these size 10's are starting to look puny. Regardless of what I think, these flies work! Not only do the trout suck them up, but steelhead around here love them too.

Basically, this fly is a miniature version of the larger spey flies. Only with very muted colors. Trout absolutely dig these when swung in the current, and steelhead will grab them too.

Fly #38: Green Hornet

The following fly was tied on Christmas night after my wife and son fell asleep. Again, it is another feather wing spey. This time on a size 8 silver hook.

Green Hornet Spey

Hook: Size 8 Tiemco Silver
Tag: Gold Tinsel
Body: Green Floss, Oval Silver Tinsel rib, Black and Green Dubbing
Hackle: Black Schlappen
Collar: Natural Guinea
Wing: Bronze Mallard

Fly #37: Another Strip Wing

Here is another size 4 using a Bronze Mallard strip wing. I'm still finding my way with spey flies, but they are looking better each time. I'm also concentrating on making them more durable by doing the little things to keep them from shredding apart after some use. This one will hopefully hit the water soon. The Holidays have kept me indoors with family.

No Name Spey

Hook: Size 4 Partridge
Tag: Silver tinsel
Body: Hot Orange Floss, Purple and Red/Orange dubbing with Pearl Tinsel rib
Hackle: Black Schlappen
Wing: Bronze Mallard
Collar: Guinea

Fly #36: New Materials

Santa arrived early this year and delivered a bunch of material. I've been tying when free time permits and below is one of my creations.

I just recently received a steelhead fly tying DVD featuring Marty Howard and Dec Hogan. Marty is in my opinion, one of the better fly tiers out there. His work is not just effective, but nice to look at. Likewise, Dec is not only a world class steelheader, he can also tie up some beautiful flies. After watching the DVD, I discovered some new techniques and was able to learn a lot. Some of that is represented below. Check out Marty's website here if interested in his DVD (I do not benefit from this link, just want to point out good instructional material).

Hot Orange Spey

Hook: Size 4
Tag: Silver Tinsel
Body: Hot Orange then Orange Floss with Black/Purple Dubbing
Ribbing: Oval Tinsel
Hackle: Orange Spey
Collar: Mallard Flank
Wing: Bronze Mallard

This guy hasn't seen the water yet. However, I know it will do well. And confidence is half the battle when swinging for steelhead.

Fly #35: Teal and Mallard

Santa is delivering a lot of tying material for Christmas. I can hardly wait to get to work. In the meantime, you can check out another fly from a frenzy of tying activity that took place in the last week or two.

Another simple fly, this guy was tied on a size 10 Tiemco 7999. The tag is silver tinsel, the body is brown/yellow dubbing, wire rib, and mallard flank hackle. Lastly, the collar is a blue/green guinea feather.

This fly hasn't seen the water yet, however, I know just by looking at it that it will be successful. I cannot wait to try it out.

Fly #34: Blue Guinea Wing

While messing around with different ideas, I quickly tied up this simple fly on a size 10 Tiemco 7999.

The components are pretty self explanatory. Silver tinsel tag, tan dubbing with wire rib, a natural guinea collar, some flash, and two blue guinea feathers for wings.

Report: Trinity

For one reason or another, I've been having a hard time finding motivation to write this report. Finally here on this Monday morning, where I'm even less motivated to begin work for the week, I've decided to finally sit down and peck this out.

I drove up to the beautiful and productive Trinity River a couple of weeks ago. Unlike the other trips so far, this would only be a one day excursion. With the price of gas falling, I felt a little better about short time spent on the water. Still, this is quite a drive for only one day of fishing. Although I think the results made it worth it.

Arriving before sunrise, I started rigging up by my car's dome light. The air was cold and I needed a few layers to be comfortable. By the time the sun was high enough to see, I was ready to head down to the water. My location was somewhere along Steiner Flat Rd. This was chosen for a couple of reasons. First, less driving distance. Second, the area was worth more exploring.

As usual, I started with a set of smaller flies to get a feel for the fish and what their mood is. I had an intermediate poly leader with a couple feet of tippet separating the size 10 and size 14 flies. The front and smaller fly was a winged wet, the back was a bead headed soft hackle.

Within ½ hour of swinging, a large fish was hooked. The bite took place about 60 feet away from me just after the dead drift as the fly started to swing across. The fish was strong and bolted for cover near a large boulder. That was the end of that. The fish was off and after a closer inspection, I could see that my soft hackle hook was bent.

I found a similar replacement in my box and tied it up front where the winged wet was and then tied on a slightly larger generic spey fly on the rear. If I catch him again, maybe he'll go for the stronger salmon/steelhead hook and it won't bend. I decided to leave this fish rest a bit, hopefully he hadn't left the run completely.

Went downstream to the next good looking spot and swung through with no results. Now, it was time to go back upstream and try that initial run again.

After getting back to almost the same exact spot, I hooked another strong fish. Was it the same one? Who knows. It didn't matter, it was a nice fight that lasted a few minutes and put a good bend in my 7-weight. I tailed the wild fish and removed that spey fly from his mouth without lifting him from the water. Since I didn't pull him out, I couldn't get an accurate measurement against my rod. I'd guess he was somewhere between 22 and 26 inches.

The rest of the day was almost a mirror image of the early morning. I hooked around a dozen fish, landing 6 of them (I caught several smaller trout, but I don't count those). All of them caught were healthy and strong in the range between 18 and 25 inches. A few of them were very bright.

The Trinity continues to be one of my favorite destinations. I hope to get out there again in the not so distance future.

Fly #33: Mallard and Orange Spey

It has been quite a while since the last fly post. Because my latest tying obsession is feather wing spey flies, I may as well show one here.

This particular fly was responsible for that decent sized rainbow on the Yuba river.

Mallard and Orange Spey

If you'd like to build your own, here are the specifics. Tiemco 7999 size 10 hook, Hot Orange Spey Hackle palmered up the dubbing, guinea collar in natural color, mallard flank wing. There is a silver tinsel butt, an orange and red dubbing with wire ribbing to give a little weight.

Report: Yuba River

I had an opportunity to sneak out for a day of fishing, so I decided to give the Yuba river another swing. After December 1st, the water above Highway 20 is open again, so I figured this would be my target.

I arrived a little late (the morning fog slowed my driving time.) I was finally fishing around 8:30am or so. I had walked to a point upriver where I had never been. Saw some riffles well past a rather long stretch of still water that went for many hundreds of yards. Since a cliff blocked my access on river left, I needed to cross. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a shallow enough spot, so I walked back downstream to the last decent looking fishy area.

Early morning; looking downriver.

I was swinging various wet flies. I had a two fly rig with a smallish winged wet in front and a soft hackle in back. The flies were rotated every so often and mixed in with some hair wing steelhead flies as well. As mentioned in another post, I've been tying a bunch of hair and feather wing flies. My most recent builds even included my first official entry (to be classified as a true spey fly, it must meet a few requirements that I hadn't yet done) into a spey fly. I'll post pictures of those soon.

By noon, I had gotten a few tugs, but nothing more. It was rather quiet. Typical Yuba fishing. The only thing I was getting, was a plethora of casting problems. I'm not sure what happened, but I regressed a little and my casting was sloppy and I had a hard time getting the distance normally accessible with my two handed rod.

I changed setups several times trying to guess where the fish were. Started with a 3.9 ips sinking poly leader, then went to a furled neutral leader, then finally settled on a intermediate sinking poly. I threw on a little split shot to sink my unweighted flies a little lower. This is something I had never done before while swinging. It worked out pretty well.

Around 2pm, I was downriver from where I started, but still well upstream of the 20 bridge. A size 10 bead head soft hackle in the rear and a size 14 winged wet upfront made up my rig. That bead head was giving me some depth, where I assumed the fish must be. My current target was the tail end of a small rapid section, and more specifically, the seam from fast water to slow. On one of my casts, when the swing crossed that seam, wham! The jolt was so sudden, it almost pulled the rod from my hand.

As quick as it came, it was over. The fish released himself and I never saw as much as a flash. I imagine he was pretty good in size. He hit me really hard. This is why I love swinging flies! Hard hits that can scare the crap out of you.

About ½ hour later I started swinging just below the surface while a hatch was going off. I caught and landed a few smaller fish in the 12-15 inch range. Towards 3:30pm I was swinging one of my new spey flies (pictures below), it was accompanied by a size 10 soft hackle. In the heart of the swing, I felt another huge jolt.

Immediately, the line started ripping across the current. The fish was probably 70 feet away from me and had covered at least that distance cross river in the blink of an eye. He stopped in an eddy and I gave a few cranks on the reel. That woke him up and he zinged down river and it stripped more line off. I had a player this time.

About 10 minutes later, I muscled a 24-26 inch beautiful missile shaped rainbow to my hand. He was hooked squarely in the side of the mouth. This is the one of the biggest fish I've ever caught on a fly rod. And he gave a real good fight. In fact, this was one of those time I actually needed to use two hands to keep him under control. even noticed that someone had stopped at the road above me and got out of their car to watch the battle. Luckily for them and more importantly for myself, I didn't disappoint and lose him.

The fish was lifted out of the water very gently and I quickly removed the hook. After putting him up against my rod for a measurement. He was lowered back in and I let him sit behind my leg for a few minutes while he was cradled with my left hand.

I was a little concerned because he showed no sign of trying to get away from me. I moved him a little bit out into the current to try to get some oxygen to him. But, I didn't want to lose my grip and have him belly up. After a few more moments he gracefully swam out of my hand and sought refuge in a stream depression about two feet below me. He stayed there for another few minutes before swimming off like nothing ever happened.

While there was still another 45 or so minutes of fishing to come, that would be my last catch of the day.

Report: Meramec

While visiting the folks over Thanksgiving, I took a day out to fish the Meramec River. I've been on this river before, and in fact you can go back and read that report here. This time around, it was much colder and in fact, a couple of inches of snow had fallen the night before. The ground was still warm enough that the snow all but melted before the end of the day, but it still made for a picture perfect day.

The temps never rose about 33 degrees and this caused not only my guides to ice up, but my line became a little stiff as well. No big deal and all part of the fun. I'm not sure what the water temp was, but you can imagine it was also a little chillier than my last trip.

Icy lines...

On this outing, we parked very near where we were last time. If you recall, I scrambled down “Suicide Hill” to get to the water on that day. With the ice and snow, I thought that would be a bad idea to attempt such a thing this time around. Instead, I opted to park at “Cardiac Hill”, which is not very far away. You end up maybe ¾ of a mile or so upstream of Suicide.

Upon reaching the river, I realized that the water was extremely low and clear. Not what I expected. With the snow and rain a couple of days before, I expected it to be much higher. In fact, the water seemed to be a lot lower than when I was here last time. The fishing near where the path reaches the river did not look inviting. So, I went upstream. I was easily able to cross the river every 100 yards or so to access the sand bars that were on the inside of each bend. This made for easy traveling. I went quite a ways and found a few spots worth fishing, but there were not any lengthy runs/riffles like I had hoped.

I fished at the best looking spots and didn't get so much as a bite. The fish were down today, most likely in deeper pools. Problem was, I couldn't find any deep pools. Where were these guys?

I traveled far enough upstream that I was ready to turn around. I only had a half day to fish, so I needed to keep moving. I went back downstream and passed the Cardiac Hill path. I went far enough downstream that I ended up at Suicide Hill and where I was last year. The water was so low, I barely recognized it. It was a little disappointing. After several hours, I decided to head back upstream towards the base of Cardiac (last year it was almost impossible to go very far upstream of Suicide because of the water depth).

Over the course of the morning/early afternoon, I received a some bites and some good tugs. I hooked and later long distance released a good sized fish. But it never made it very close to my hand. The fish were definitely off their feed.

Trying to access the pool...

After getting back to the bottom of Cardiac, I climbed up on the bank and saw a bunch of trout eating deep down in one of the deeper parts of the river. Unfortunately, it was near impossible to reach them. I was 10 feet above on a steep bank and they were protected by floating debris. The trees surrounding me made it extremely hard to cast to them. These fish knew they were safe and picked probably the best place on the river to hang out.

Trees directly behind required an almost vertical backcast...

Next time I'm in town, I'll be checking out a new section of the river. Hopefully the water will be higher and the temps a little warmer. All in all, it was a beautiful winters day out in the Midwest fishing some usually fantastic waters.

Meramec River

I'll post a report soon on my trip to the Meramec River outside of St. Louis. In the mean time, since I haven't said much on this blog, I'll post a couple of pictures from that trip.

Here I am swinging a soft hackle size 10 and a winged wet sized 14. As you can see, it was cold and snowy. Besides the constant icing up of the fly line and the guides, it was fun to be out in such cold conditions.

Other than this trip to the Meramec and another to the Trinity, I've been on a tying spree. I've put together a bunch of hair wing and feather winged steelhead flies (finally went out and bought some mallard flank feathers). I'll be posting some pictures soon.

Report: Trinity

Braving the heavy rains, I made a two day trip up north to the Trinity River. Arriving just after 3am on Monday morning, I pulled into a deserted Hayden Flat Campground and slept for a couple of hours.

It was absolutely pitch black and the rain made it even more difficult to see. I didn't know exactly know where I was, but that made it even more exciting. All that I did know is that based on the roar of the river, I was close.

The sun didn't exactly “come up” as it was very cloudy. But, eventually I could see my surroundings. Sure enough, the river was just down the hill. Since I was in a campground, and while it was empty, I probably shouldn't have been there. With that in mind, I drove back to 299 and went downriver to an access road that also served as a boat launch.

The short but steep drive down to the gravel bar wasn't much of a problem. It looked very similar to a mogul run at your favorite ski area. The bumps were 2-4 feet deep and if I'd have known what I was getting into, I wouldn't have driven down. Luckily my four wheel drive had just enough clearance to make it over the humps if I zig zagged my way down. Getting out was much more difficult. More on that later.

After gearing up, I walked down river a little to start steppin' and swinging my two fly rig. On the bottom was a size 8 generic steelhead hairwing fly. The top fly was a soft hackle of some kind. Within a few minutes I caught a few smaller 10-15 inch trout. They fought pretty well, but weren't much of a match for my 7 weight two handed rod.

The run was perfect. Three to six feet in depth, rocky bottom that provided plenty of structure, and a walking pace – riffly flow. As usual, I cast out straight across or down and across. The cast is either all the way across the river, or to the last fishy looking spot/seam. The idea is to get the fly to swim as slow as possible. Not necessarily a dead drift, but not allowing the line to belly and make the fly zip across at high speed.

I was river right with absolutely no wind, which called for a basic double-spey cast. This allowed for quick coverage of the entire river. Make a cast, step a few feet and do it again. If there are any aggressive fish, you'll find them.

After that first run, I went further upstream, much further actually. I basically walked back to that campground from earlier. I saw many salmon. Some were dour, others were much more fresh. A few of them were pretty good size. Although none of them looked like the monsters I saw on the Lower Stan a few weeks ago. Several smaller (12-18") trout later, I found myself downstream at the run where I was earlier.

At some point, I caught a decent sized steelhead. He barely grabbed my fly. No hard tug that you'd imagine from a good sized fish. As I started bringing him in, he leaped a good 4 feet out of the water. It wasn't until that point I realized he was large. Until then, I assumed it was a 10 incher. Each time he lept, I buried my rod tip under the surface to try and keep from getting off. As he got close, almost within my grasp, I saw that he was a little over 25 inches! Nice bright steelhead. He must of saw my hand reach into the water and he took off, tearing line off my reel at the same time. He made some huge leaps out of the water, making some violent head shakes along the way. When he landed from one of those cartwheels, I sadly realized he was now unbuttoned. I lost him! I laughed out loud and gave him a friendly curse word or two before moving on. I was almost giddy with excitement.

I worked this section pretty good, so I packed it in to go somewhere else. Keep in mind it had been raining like mad for the whole time I was fishing. That steep entry down to the gravel bar that I mentioned earlier now resembled a dirty slip and slide that I played on during the dog days of a midwest summer. As I approached and started going up the steep hill, I was okay until I hit the moguls. My tires started spinning. Uh oh!! Nobody was around, and I was afraid I'd have to be towed out of there. I made a run up to the moguls several different times. Each time I backed up further and gained more speed. Each time the same result. Spinning tires.

I said to myself, “screw it!” I backed up and hit those moguls at a pretty fast speed. After a violent jarring that made my head hit the ceiling (even with the safety belt), I made it out of that sticky situation. I was now on the highway shoulder. I got out and looked under the truck for damage. I bottomed out rather hard. I was sure I punctured something or broke something else. Everything seemed to be okay (hard to tell with all the mud and water dripping off). My little four wheel drive SUV performed pretty well considering the evil mixture of mud, moguls, and steep incline. Impressive!

Now that the almost-nightmare was over, I travelled downstream looking for a new spot. I drove all the way to where 299 crossed the river and turned back. I found a decent looking spot and got out. Went down to the river and threw in my line. I don't think I caught anything here. It actually wasn't that great looking once I was on the river. After a few minutes, I got back in the car and went upstream.

Drove past where I was earlier and through Del Loma. I stopped at a few places that looked inviting. Never spending more than the time needed to fish the run. I keep telling myself, carpet bomb, carpet bomb. Meaning, don't linger around. Just cover the water and move on. If a fish isn't grabbing you immediately, it isn't worth the time trying to convince him to. Besides, there may not even be steelhead in that section.

I can't tell you where I went next. Somewhere between Del Loma and Big Flat. It was a matter of just looking from the road and picking a run that looked good. The end of day one was coming to a close. I had caught around 10 fish. The biggest was that one that got away just as I was reaching for him. The next biggest one I actually got in my hand was another bright 22-23 incher. The size 8 and 10 hair wing steelhead flies were working. As were the soft hackles.

Near the end of the day, I found a nice spot to spend the remainder of it. As it was getting near dark, I walked back to my car to get a flashlight in case I needed it. Upon returning to the river, I saw very fresh - what looked to be cougar tracks that were not there earlier. Now, I'm not a hunter, so I don't know my tracks. But I do know these were rather big and they didn't really look like bear tracks to me. Whatever the case. There was a big animal that had visited between my car and the river (a distance of about 50 yards) while I was fishing. This was quite alarming to me. While I'm curious, I didn't want to be surprised by a meat eater. I went back to the river to fish a little while longer, but I was constantly turning around looking over my shoulder. I wasn't very comfortable. I decided to pack it in a little earlier than I would of otherwise.

It was now dark and since there was no cell reception, I drove down 299 until I had some bars. I needed to call my wife and let her know I hadn't fallen in the river. After doing so, I had a dilemma. Do I spend the night near where I was or go upriver? I was interested in the water up from Junction City, but also worried that steelhead hadn't moved that far up yet.

I decided to take the chance. I drove to Sky Ranch Road/Oregon Gulch. This section is south of Junction City along a very narrow winding road. There are few homes and it was hard to tell if I was going in the right direction. Eventually, I found the small narrow path to the gravel bar. Unfortunately, there was standing water across the entrance. In the dark, I couldn't tell how deep the water was. I didn't want to take the chance, so I backed up. Backing up in the darkness with a driving rain on a road barely wide enough to fit your vehicle was not easy. Eventually I made it up the hill and could turn around. Driving north, I found a spot to pull off this road and sleep for the night. I got in the back of the SUV and wrapped up in a sleeping bag. I was exhausted. Before I knew it, it was time to wake up.

That water that covered the road was only a foot deep. No big deal. Better safe than sorry. Now that I was on the gravel bar, I got out and started fishing. This area wasn't that great. I immediately caught a smaller 12 inch trout, but that was it. The more time I spent here, the more guides/boats started showing up. This must be a popular put in. I must of seen 15 boats go into the river. Not bad for a Tuesday. A few guys were fishing a deep section where water was piling into a pool . They pulled out some large fish. I'm going to guess they were salmon. I was a distance away, while they could have been steelhead, they seemed too big and since they looked to be in deep water, I'm only assuming.

Anyway, I wasn't really doing that well here. I covered the runs pretty thoroughly. I decided to move on. In fact, I went back to where I was yesterday. The Big Flat area to be precise. I stopped here and there along the way at whatever looked good. Caught a few fish throughout the day, but nothing like Monday.

Trip Tackle: 12 foot tapered mono leader (hand tied, 30lb, 20lb, 12lb, 8lb) or 10 foot intermediate poly leader with 3-4 feet of tippet or on one occasion a 3ips poly leader with 3 feet of tippet. Always used two flies. Steelhead hairwing pattern at the end in size 8-10 and a soft hackle or winged wet in front size 10-14. Tried eggs with no success and a few nymphs with no success.

As my two day trip wound down, I drove away happy to know I caught a few larger steelhead in the 20-26 inch range and even more in the 12-18 range. To me, it was a good couple of days. Especially considering how everyone has been saying that the steelhead fishing on the Trinity has been rather slow. Maybe I'm lucky, maybe the fact that I refused to stay in one area for too long. Who knows. All that I do know is that I had a blast. Rain and all!

Here is a partial list of the places I visited/fished. I won't say what I caught where. But just to give you an idea of how many places I visited.

Skunk Point, Big Flat Access, Big Flat Camp, Sky Ranch Road, Oregon Gulch, Pigeon Point, Baghdad Slick, Little Swede, Hayden Flat Camp, The Access Rd at Hayden, Cedar Flat, Sandy Bar, French Bar, Big Bar/Corral Bottom, and a handful of others that weren't marked.

Keep moving! Hit and run!

Report: Lower Stanislaus

A couple of weeks ago, I made another trip to the Lower Stanislaus. I decided to delay this report until after the river closed. Reason being, considering the stuff I saw on the American, you never know who out there may read this and decide it was time to go target some very large salmon.

I arrived at the Tulloch access while it was still dark. I had already rigged my rod before leaving the house, so I only had to throw on my waders and get to the water. For the first time, I started up underneath the dam and worked myself down. I threw a 2-fly rig consisting of a size 14 wet fly and a size 12 soft hackle. I had a few bites here and there, but didn't catch anything for a while. I could see the trout swimming around about 6-10 feet under the surface, more or less out of reach since I was swinging just under the surface.

As I scrambled along the rocks to get myself downstream, I was able to open up my cast a little bit. There were less overhanging tree branches and I could get in a good double spey cast across to the far bank. Fish were starting to come to the surface for a few bugs that filled the air. At this time, I caught a few around 10” in length.

Working yourself along the river in this section is not easy. Wading is limited. You are more or less pinned on a rock and doing whatever you can to get the fly out. As I was clumsily moving around, I heard a big splash. A few moments later, I saw a large salmon come out of the water. He was fresh and lively. This was the first time I had seen salmon off of Tulloch. That shouldn't be a surprise since I don't normally spend a lot of time in this section. Nice to know they're out there. Although I was tempted by the big fish, I moved on and let him and his friends be.

Scrambling up the rocks to the path, I went downriver and waded out again. Caught another swarm of 10-15 inch fish. As usual, I kept moving, looking for “players”. Instead of pounding the same section over and over, I like to keep moving and look for those that are active.

I stayed at the Tulloch area until 1 or 2 pm. The fishing was that good. Normally I'm gone before noon. I'm not going to say where, but in a deep hole, I was able to see a few very large salmon. And a bunch of "small" salmon over 30 inches that paled in comparison. In fact, those big guys were the biggest salmon I've ever seen period. I didn't know that fish this big were in the Lower Stan. I can't say for sure, but at least two of them looked to be around four feet and built like a missle. They were absolutely huge. The first time I saw the larger of the two, I really thought I was seeing things. He made the 30” fish look tiny by comparison. By the looks of things, he was fresh from the ocean. He was moving around like a mad man chasing others that were getting too close. Totally unexpected and awe inspiring.

Not long after this discovery, and my 10 minutes of just sitting on a rock just watching, I went back to the car for a quick trip down to Two Mile.

After arriving at the new location, I went down and fished right where the path meets the water. Normally I head upriver to begin, but for some reason, I decided to start here. On the second cast, I landed a 15 inch trout. Keep in mind, this was around 2pm. Fishing was great, all day long. Afterwards, I traveled downstream and caught another before heading upriver.

I won't go into details, but I fished the usual spots and a few new ones. I was catching fish almost everywhere. There were salmon all over the place around here. There was a good mix of spawners that have been there a while and look to be in bad shape, and then there were some fresh guys that were happily leaping out of the water with the trout.

As reported in another post, I had caught three fish at one time. This happened pretty far downstream in an eddy. It was an exciting moment that I soon won't forget. Between that and seeing the huge salmon, it was quite a day. After it was all said and done, I caught more than 20 fish more than 10 inches. The largest was around 18 and full of fight.

Thanks Lower Stanislaus, I'll be back when you open up next year.

Triple Catch

While on the Lower Stan yesterday, I was working a 3-fly rig. In an eddy, I caught a rainbow and after reeling him in, all of a sudden, he really started fighting hard. I was thinking that I had a really big one.

When he got within 10 feet of me, I noticed that there were two fish. Each of them had latched on the lower two flies. Right as I was trying to corral them, a 3rd, and pretty small (7 inch) rainbow popped up from no where and onto the last fly!!

I was laughing so hard I almost fell in the water. All 3 fish to hand. The first two were around 12 inches, the last was 7.

It will probably never happen again. It was pretty darn amusing seeing these guys trying to escape in different directions.

I'll have a Lower Stan report soon. It was a doozy of a day and I saw some incredible stuff.

Two Handed Casting and Leaders

Something happened on the American River. I'm not sure what it was, however, by the end of the day, I felt that I had taken a step backwards in my spey casting abilities. I wasn't getting as much distance and the line wasn't unfolding very well. I'm not sure if I was tired or was just low on concentration.

On Sunday, after watching my weekly football game, I decided to head to the local school playground and get some practice in. Focusing on my technique, I felt much better after a quick half hour. I was back to casting 80 or more feet in a controlled manner. I also modified my form a little bit and feel more confident about my technique.

Spey casting is so enjoyable for me. There are so many facets to the cast that it takes a lot to bring it all together. How you hold your hands, how you set the anchor, where you set the anchor, how you apply the power stroke, etc, etc. When it all comes together, it can be satisfying. Before getting a two hander, I never really enjoyed casting as much I do now. There just aren't as many variables to keep my mind buzzing. I know it sounds ridiculous to anyone that has never used a two handed rod before. I was there and thought the same thing. Give it a try and you'll know what I mean.

However, casting isn't fishing. And if you allow yourself to get too caught up in it, you suddenly find yourself ignoring the presentation. Which of course is what leads to actually catching a fish. You have to be careful.

On the rigging front, I've built a few tapered 12 foot leaders in various lengths to use with steelhead. I'm hoping to get back to the grass to see how well they turn over the larger flies. Something that seems to be working right now is the following formula.

5' of 30lb
3' of 20lb
2' of 12lb
2' of 8lb

However, since grass casting is much different than when you are on the water (more tension when anchoring on water), the true test will be my next fishing trip.

Trip Report: American

Better late than never, eh? Last week, I went for a day on the American. Arriving before sunrise, I got out on the river and was ready to go at first light. Step and swung several steelhead patterns with a trailing soft hackle or nymph. Got several small bites, but didn't land any fish for the first hour.

Later on, the two fly setup got more attention. I caught a handful of small 10 inch rainbows that went after the soft hackles. Still, no half pounders.

After several hours of fishing this area, I decided to move upstream to the Nimbus hatchery. I had never been here and was curious to see what it was like. Upon arriving, I saw a ton of Salmon in their spawning beds. I decided not to fish here and accidentally hook a salmon. That didn't stop other fisherman. I saw a guy with a fly rod targeting a salmon that was sitting quietly on his redd. It was disappointing.

I went downstream to the riffles far below the hatchery area. The water looked great and I had a few hard bites. But they were all released before I ever saw them. Further down river, I witnessed some spin rod guys snagging fish (see my previous post) from a distance. More disappointment.

I stayed till night fall and sat through a massive hatch where mayflies were swarming around me. I have never seen one so strong. Despite all the bugs, only a few fish came to the surface. None went after my soft hackles. Something that generally is very affective.

On my way back to the car, more gear guys were targeting salmon at the redds. Frustrating.

Other than the guys targeting salmon or snagging fish, it was a pleasant day. Despite not catching anything of significance, I enjoyed myself.

No Respect

Just recently, I was on the American River and witnessed some awful stuff. It is bad enough when I see people putting fish on the ground to take a picture or keeping it out of the water for an excessive amount of time, but to see this kind of behavior is just sick.

First off, with the Salmon situation being what it is and the moratorium on targeting the fish, I was surprised to see so many people going after them. Maybe they weren't keeping what they caught, but they were definitely trying to hook them. Spin rod guys and fly fisherman alike. No respect.

Saw one guy pull out a large Salmon only to pull it up onto shore, push his hand onto it against the rocks to keep it from moving and yank the hook out. The fish was thrown back into the river. Way to go.

The worst thing I saw were a group of guys casting spin rods across the river. They were all standing in a line almost shoulder to shoulder, then ripping their lines back. I saw at least one Salmon caught this way. Sick!

While on Putah Creek last week, I watched a guy catch a trout and as his friend took what could of been a hundred pictures, the fish was out of the water for more than five minutes. I tried to calm myself down by assuming they were going to kill this fish and eat it that evening. Not that the abuse was necessary. Nope, the fish was thrown back in the water. Probably dead or near dead. Sick.

Please show some respect for the rules and the fish themselves. That's all I ask.

Trip Report: Putah Creek

Because of the high winds, I opted for a day on Putah Creek instead of the American. My thought process was that I'd be a little more protected here. Even though it became quite nasty at times, for the most part, the winds were acceptable.

Keep in mind, this is only my second time to Putah. I'm not very familiar with it, so I limited myself to two areas, the bridge and access 5. Started out below the bridge at sunrise. Although it was a Friday, it was pretty darn crowded. I couldn't get into the water I wanted without bumping lines, so I only stuck around for an hour or so. It looked like a decent area if you can put up with the stench from the campground across stream and had more room.

I went down to access 5 so that I could explore the island. It looked somewhat empty at first, but as I was stepping downstream, a group of 6 or so fly fisherman were moving upstream. No big deal. They were all really nice and we crossed paths. I was throwing a two fly rig, a small nymph on the top and a larger soft hackle on the tail. That size 10 was getting all the attention.

Throughout the day, there were more people here than I expected. I can't imagine what this place must be like on the weekend. Elbow room must be at a premium.

One thing I noticed, that I probably already knew from the postings on forums is that everyone bobber fishes here. Obviously, it must work for these guys or they wouldn't do it. If you read this blog, you know I'm not an indicator guy. I just can't get it to work for me. I feel handcuffed. I like the freedom of swinging, high sticking, or just dead drifting while watching the fly line as my indicator. You can switch techniques so fast without doing anything special. And since I move through runs quickly looking for aggressive fish, I need to be able to quickly change to suit what that area requires.

I must of walked up and down that island six times, both front and back. I tried all sorts of flies from some small 20's to size 8's. The large flies worked for me. I caught a nice 16 inch fish on a size 8 steelhead fly swung through some disturbed water. A size 10 egg imitation dropper worked well at the end of the day. All in all, I caught around a dozen wild fish in the 10-16 inch range. Mostly on size 10 soft hackles or winged wets.

The Putah is a fun little creek, however, the options seem a little limited to my style of fishing. I'll probably try again when the flows are even lower. Just to see what it is like.

Putah or the American

I'll be out tomorrow for another full day of fishing. Will it be on the American or Putah Creek? I'll probably decide at the last minute. I'm talking with friends and visiting a few forums to see what the steelhead situation is on the American, if it looks positive, that will be my destination. Otherwise, it will be a trip to Putah.

Ideally, I'd like to do the American and swing some flies for steelhead. However, reports lately have suggested it may be good to wait another week or so for better chances. Decisions, decisions...

As always, a report will be here afterwords.

Trip Report: Lower Stan

Arriving at Tulloch access before sunrise, it was raining quite hard. I suited up while still in the car to keep from getting drenched and quickly headed to the water. I started nearest where I parked and went down river. Caught a few 10-12 inch rainbows in the very low and clear water. Used very sparse soft hackles in size 10.

Before too long, I went upriver a ways and then came back down to where I started. Caught more fish of the same size on a variety of soft hackles and winged wets. Anywhere from size 10-12 worked just fine. It was still pretty early morning and the rain was coming down lighter, but still putting a chill in the air.

I quickly became bored and decided it was best to get in the car and go down to Two Mile Bar. After getting to the river, I covered the usual water for a few smaller fish. Eventually I went further downstream than I normally go and found a beautiful stretch. Because the water was so low, I was able to cross the river here. Something I've not been able to do in the past.

I put on one of those hair wing steelhead flies that I recently tied and started swinging it. The first cast out, I hooked a nice 16 inch "steelhead". I put that in quotes because I doubt he's been to the ocean, but by DFG definition, he is a steelhead. This was the last fish I caught in this stretch. I had a few hard grabs, but nothing hooked.

This size 10 hair wing received plenty of interest.

After going back upstream and fishing some of the same water I covered earlier, it was getting late. Because of the experience I had last time at Two-Mile, I decided not to push my luck. I made more of an effort to be back at the car before dark. However, before leaving, I made one last stop with a size 12 wet fly in the riffles. I caught a 10 inch or so fish on almost every cast for the last few minutes of light. The fish were really biting.

Overall, I brought to hand around 20 fish. Not only was it raining for a good portion of the morning, my waders formed a leak in the crotch! Needless to say, it was a very wet day. Despite the soaking, it was a good time on the Stan.

Fly #32: Off to the Lower Stan

I'll be packing my rain jacket and heading out for some foul weather fishing. Some of the best days are when the rain is pouring. Let's see how the Lower Stan treats me tomorrow.

I've been on a tying spree the last couple of days. Like the one pictured above, I've not only been tying more steelhead flies in preparation for a Trinity trip, but have been tying a bunch of soft hackles for the everyday trout. My box has been sorely lacking some simple sparsely hackled/dubbed soft hackles in muted colors. For some reason, these seem to be the ones that have ended up being snagged and lost out on the river.

For a little variety, I tied in some buck tail hair as tails or hackle on those size 10-14 soft hackles. I'll give those a try as well.

Fly #31: Steelhead Hairwing

After a trip to the local fly fishing shop, I loaded up on some material and hooks to tie some hairwing steelhead flies. Using a small size 10 salmon/steelhead hook, I began a tying frenzy.

This is one of my first attempts. Using a Tiemco 7999 hook, this fly is decorated with a silver tinsel butt, a red guinea tail and hackle, and a red bucktail wing. I added a little flash upfront with a gold tinsel nose. The dubbing is black with wire ribbing.

I've heard that the Trinity River steelhead prefer smaller hairwing flies. That will explain why I chose the rather small sized hook.

Fly #30: Thanks Stripes!

For this fly, I'd like to thank my two cats, Boots and Stripes. I believe the fur came from Stripes, although I can't say for sure. All I can say is that it works great for dubbing.

Tied on a size 12, this rather simple soft hackle has the cat fur dubbing (shorter stiffer hairs found on one of their beds) and natural colored partridge for the hackle. Copper wire provides the ribbing.

Fly #29: Attractor Soft Hackle

Here is another attractor fly that has been working rather well for me on the Lower Stan. This one is on a size 10 scud hook and features silver tinsel on the rear, red dubbing, olive marabou, and blue guinea hackle.

This is another attempt at crossing regular soft hackles with features that make steelhead flies successful. Brighter colors and marabou. Not tested on the anadromous fish themselves, however, it does work on your everyday trout.

Fly #28: Reverse Spiders

You've got your flymphs, soft hackles, spiders, and now reverse spiders. I can't remember where I first read about these, however, a month ago I decided to tie a few.

They are almost the same as your regular spider, except for the obvious. The hackles are tied forward. I doubt I'll make a habit of tying these guys. Not that they are difficult, but tying a knot on the concealed eyes while on the river isn't exactly easy. Below is one that has successfully caught a trout or two with.

Piercings

While on the Trinity last week, I was swinging a small fly downriver when it got hooked on a rock about thirty feet below me. I'm yanking on the line trying to dislodge it, when all of a sudden "doink", it comes free and the line and fly come flying back towards me.

Before I could duck, the next thing I know, I have a size 10 soft hackle stuck deeply in the INSIDE of my nose!! Immediately my eyes start watering as I try to gently pull it out. Not so easy to get my big fingers in there gripping a tiny hook bend.

For what seemed like an eternity, I'm pulling on this thing having visions of walking into the emergency room with a fly for a nose piercing.

I told myself just to grit my teeth and yank it out. I did. And it hurt! But the fly was out and I was back to fishing minus the embarrassment of having the whole world see my new piercing.

And thank God for barbless hooks.

Trip Report: Trinity (Day Two)

While it was still dark, I drove from Douglas City back to Lewiston. Because of the success I had yesterday, I decided to return to a spot a few hundred yards upstream of the bridge.

Once again, I was catching trout pretty regularly. They were in the 10-16 inch range and put up a decent fight. I really enjoyed this section because it has such a variety of water type. There is pocket water to precision cast into, then below a few nice runs to step/swing through. I hooked a few larger fish that broke off in the wider sections. Whether they were steelhead, salmon, or just a large trout, I'll never know. They were holding in both seams and behind rocks that lined the river floor.

Unlike the day before, I worked my way further down river past the Lewiston Bridge. The good looking water was difficult to get to, so I didn't stick around too long trying to find a way to access it. I didn't want to waste the best fishing hours. After a climb back to the road, I made my way to the car.

Driving up river, I got out underneath the Lewiston Dam to wade the section near the hatchery. I spent a couple hours here until the sun started to heat everything back up. Again, I caught plenty of fish under 18 inches. I could see both salmon and steelhead holding in the current as well as a few jumping out. Even caught a glimpse of a handful chasing my flies, but nothing more than a grab from any of the big boys resulted.

Realizing that I left my water bottle at the car, I had to get out of the water to replenish. It was now past 11am and the heat was already intense.

I drove up river past the Lewiston Dam all the way to the Trinity Dam about 12 miles away. What a beautiful drive. An excellent area for fishing slow water if you're into that. However, I made the drive just for the scenery, not for fishing. I wasn't disappointed!

My memory is a little foggy, but I believe I went back downstream and parked at another access in between the Lewiston Dam and the Lewiston Bridge. There was really only one access point I hadn't visited yet and this was by far the best place in my opinion to be. I'm sorry that I didn't try it earlier. There was access to a very long stretch of water that included riffles, wide broken surface water, and a little bit of pocket water. The whole stretch had very large fish jumping almost continuously, even during the heat of the day. I caught a few, but it was largely quiet for a long stretch of time.

The midday heat is a good time to practice casting. I find a joy in two handed casting that I never really had for overhead casting. Whether you are doing a double spey, single spey, snap-t, snake roll, or any of the other type of spey cast, there are so many elements that can be tweaked to increase distance, accuracy, or efficiency. The possibilities are endless and getting the proper moves committed to muscle memory makes it much easier when you are casting to actual fish. Besides, I'm a very technical person by nature, and I get a kick out of analyzing every nuance of something to try and improve.

During the this time, I decided to see how far I could cast across. While river left, I was pushing out almost 85 feet of line cack handed. I think I could of gone a little further, but my flies were hitting the trees on the opposite bank. The heat gave me an opportunity to focus more on my mechanics without worrying about catching a fish.

As the temp started cooling down, I transitioned from playing around to actual fishing. I saw no reason to leave the area considering this looked like the best water I've seen so far on these two days.

As evening came, the activity picked up as bugs started filling the air. I tied on a small winged wet fly and caught plenty of small fish. A few larger ones put on a decent fight, but nothing that really bent the rod over. As the evening wore on, the fish become even more aggressive and if I didn't catch a fish on every cast, I at least got a pull. There were times that the fish were attacking my fly line as it hit the water.

I swapped flies quite a few times trying to see what would work within this hatch and what wouldn't. Most everything small and white performed. Whether it was a soft hackle, a winged wet, or a dry. Everything comes full circle and eventually I went back to a winged wet which seemed to work the best.

I made a cast along a shelf into deeper water as night was fast approaching. The fly swung until it became hung up on something. Or was it? The line started shaking ever so lightly. Either there was a fish on or the current was making the line flutter. I pulled on the line gently and it seemed to be stuck on something since there was no reaction on the other end. I pulled harder trying to dislodge the fly only to find out it wasn't hung up after all. There was a violent shake and my rod bent to an almost 90 degree angle. Something big was on the other end.

Next thing I heard was my reel spinning at high speed as the end of the line shot down river. The fish stopped on his own about 50 feet away, I put a little more pressure on the line and before I could let out a “yeehaaw”, the line shot straight back at me almost hitting me in the face. The line snapped right where the tippet connected to the leader.

I cast out a few more times hoping that I'd somehow luck out and get his interest. Unfortunately, it was now so dark that I couldn't really see anything beyond my hands and decided this was a good time to end my two days on the Trinity.

All in all it was a great introduction to the river. I'll certainly be back. Actually, I'll be returning in the next few weeks as more steelhead push into the system. Although I didn't catch any monsters, I did catch more than 40 fish ranging in size from 5 to 17 or so inches to make this a very exciting trip.

Trip Report: Trinity (Day One)

This is the first post of two for a trip to the Trinity. As you'll read, when I visit a river for the first time, I like to go to as many fishing locations as possible to try and get a feel for the best water. This means less time in one area in favor of more locations. As you'll discover reading these posts, I literally covered miles of access points and river frontage. Next time I visit, I'll know exactly where to go.

I generally don't like to travel too far for a day of fishing. For that reason, the Trinity has always been skipped over. At 250+ miles in one direction, it stops making sense for a day trip. After hearing so many stories, I couldn't wait any longer and since my wife was out of town with our son, I took advantage of the time with a two day fishing adventure.

After driving more than 4 hours, I arrived at 4am to the Steel Bridge Rd access. It was so dark out that the stars were absolutely stunning. There were so many of them, something I hadn't seen in a long time. It was almost mesmerizing. Beautiful.

I started gearing up in the dark and was on the river with just enough light to keep from falling in. This was an early start to a spectacular two days of fishing.

The length of river I had available for fishing at this particular access was limited. I covered a section of riffles about 200 yards very thoroughly. Catching only a few rainbows under 10 inches, the action wasn't particularly noteful. However, something I did witness that is pretty rare at the rivers I usually frequent, but ended up becoming almost routine on these two days were the large fish jumping out of the water. Here we had one that kept proudly showing his length to be clearly over 24 inches long. He was pretty darn fat too. He could easily clear the water and made a huge splash on his return. I tried everything in my power and a box of flies to catch him, but it just wasn't meant to be. Eventually, after an hour or so, I gave up and went down river.

I found a few more places to get to the river downstream off of Steel Bridge before reaching 299. Literally in people's backyards, I was swinging soft hackles and winged wet flies on a three-fly-rig. In this one area that looked quite fishy, I was catching 10 inchers on every cast. So much so, it started to become annoying. I was trying to get the bigger fish that surely were out there. But these little guys were attacking my fly with vengeance. Time to leave.

The next planned access point was Poker Bar Rd. I didn't find any good spots to reach the river, so I didn't actually get out of the car. Upon reviewing my trip with satellite images, I must of missed the road I was looking for that paralleled the river. Oh well, maybe next time.

It was still relatively early, so I made my way downriver by car to Douglas City. The riffle underneath the bridge was nice looking water. Unfortunately, the hot part of the day had already begun. Fish were staying down and not interested in eating. I pulled exactly zero fish out of this section. Although nice looking, I'll skip over it in favor of better water on my next trip. Being right under the highway, it probably gets heavy pressure too.

The next few hours took me to the miles along Steiner Flat Road. This area has a lot of good water. Deep holes, long riffles and runs. Still being the hot part of the day, I still managed to catch some rainbows under 15 inches. It was somewhere along this stretch that I saw a dead steelhead floating in the water. He was more than 34 inches long! This only confirms what I found out earlier. This river holds big fish! This was one of the better sections and deserves more attention next time. Although accessibility is difficult in areas, it is prime.

There was some discrepancy whether the "fly fishing only" section of the Trinity was open or not. I could of sworn I read that it closed on August 31st. However, the local fly shop said that that was a typo. I was willing to travel the 12 or so miles upstream to find out. Upon arriving, I was happy to see that it was posted clearly that I had until September 15th to fish. No need to worry.

My first stop in this section was below the Lewiston dam. This section runs along the hatchery and although isn't the prettiest water you'll find, it is loaded with fish. A lot of big fish. There were trout, steelhead, and salmon sharing the water. Once again, big fish were everywhere. Some of the Salmon looked really worn out and I went out of my way to avoid them. The last thing I wanted to do was catch one of these guys. Not only was I successful at that, I was also successful in not catching much of anything else! A few trout here and there. Technically they were steelhead, but to me, steelhead means much more than the official definition you'll find in the DFG books.

It was now late afternoon and I decided to head downstream. Closer to the Lewiston bridge, but upstream several hundred yards. The river was incredibly beautiful in this section. I seemed to catch trout after trout. Mostly smaller guys around 10 inches that were caught on various nymphs and soft hackles on the swing or high sticked through the pocket water.

Once again, large 24-30+ inch fish were jumping from the water. I tried for a while to nab one, but I was given the cold shoulder (fin?). It really was humbling to see these fish. I don't think I've ever been on a river and seen dozens of very large fish jumping like this. In one particular pool, they were everywhere. Getting a good cast out to them was difficult and I just couldn't get it done to where they were.

The water below this pool deserved some careful casting to the dozens of little nooks and crannies that looked to hold fish. When the pocket water ended and the river opened up, I did the step and swing with soft hackles. By using various spey casts, I could cover this river thoroughly - even though my back was against the brush and the river was 60 or more feet wide. I was rewarded with a lot of catches. Mostly rainbows, some wild and some hatchery, but also caught a couple of browns.

The sun was coming down and I made a decision to head back upstream to the dam. I covered it more carefully this time, but the big fish continued to ignore me. Fortunately, I caught some 15-18 inch fish that fought hard. One quick hook up with a large fish did take place, but he broke me off after a few seconds. Was he a larger steelhead? We'll never know.

While perched on a rock, I bent down to brace myself as I scrambled down. My sunglasses, which were in stuffed into my chest pack popped out and into the river. They weren't needed at this point, since it was now getting dark, but what about tomorrow?! For someone with very sensitive eyes to bright sun (blond hair/blue eyes), this was a bigger deal than it should of been. In an effort to get them back before they disappeared forever, I shoved my arm into the water and submerged my upper torso to try and grab them. I missed. Not only am I completely soaked from neck to toe, some steelhead is sporting a cool set of shades.

I fished for a bit longer, before it got too dark. While navigating the river back to my car, I tripped on an unseen submerged log and almost dunked myself again. For such a hot day, it was now pretty chilly out and this certainly didn't help. I shivered myself back to the car to end my day.

Stay tuned for day number two.

Trip Report: Yuba

If you recall, I was planning to fish the American river on Friday. That was until I remembered that the Yuba above the 20 would be closed in a few days. So, my plans were altered at the last minute.

Arriving at 7am, I geared up and quickly fished the run just below the first bit of churning water, not far upstream from the bridge. Started out with a 3 fly assortment of various soft hackles, anchored by a colorful attractor soft hackle. The rig was held on by an intermediate sinking leader. This setup was the basis for my morning. The three flies were swapped in various combinations throughout.

There was barely any above the water activity, although a few fish did break the surface here and there. It didn't take long before moving upstream seemed like a good idea. If I remember, correctly I went to the first left hand bend and fished upstream of that and back to the bend. Again, nothing.

Eventually, I made my way upstream a ways along the left bank (looking upstream) and found a place to cross river. I hadn't tried to go this far last time I was here and didn't realize there was a somewhat easy place to cross. The river was wide and only waist/chest deep. Not much work, just a slow process on the slippery rocks. I caught a few smaller fish in this area.

Once across I moved upstream to the slow right hand bend, where there the river divides in 3 sections. This was my starting off point for a step-and-swing down river. Again, a few more fish were caught. Nothing to write home about. Maybe 12 inches max.

At one point, I was standing in the river and happened to look down at the right moment to see a 24-32 inch rainbow about 7 feet away from me. He was just hanging out, nibbling on nymphs as they floated down to him in about 4 feet of water. Quickly pulling in some line, I made a few casts to him before he disappeared. So, obviously the big fish are in there. I just wasn't able to nab this one.

While swinging/stepping down river I was met by a guy in a kayak from Fish and Game. We talked for a moment and then he continued down river. Nothing much for him to see here, that's for sure.

The day was getting hot. The high was supposed to be over 100, and I believe it. There were no other fisherman on the river, too smart to stand in the triple digits I suppose. Because of the heat, I eventually dumped the three fly rig and put on a sinking tip with various heavy (summer) steelhead flies. This lasted until the late afternoon and the fish started coming to the surface again.

I've got a lot to do this weekend, so I won't pour over every place I fished. Let's just say that pretty much the whole river was covered from where I saw that big fish down to the bridge. In one area, while perched on a rock, I could look out and see more than a dozen trout, all over 15 inches. The largest ones looked to be pushing 30. It was a crazy scene. They were deep down and it wasn't easy to access them with a fly rod. Although I tried for a while, I just couldn't get to them with the limited casting space and precarious position I had to get into. They were not all trout. Some of them were obscured by the surface ripples and made it hard to know for sure. Other than being huge, I'm still not positive what they were.

All in all, it was a sweltering day with a few decent sized fish. Overall, it was slow, as you'd expect for such a warm day. Next week, I'm hoping to take a two day trip to Northern California. Perhaps the Trinity.

Fly #27: Steelhead Experimentation

I'll be heading out to the American next week for a swing (pun intended) at Steelhead. I'll be taking along all those rather large and colorful steelhead flies that I've been tying up recently, but also be doing a little testing with smaller soft hackles too.

The colors are off in this photo, but what you should be seeing
is white marabou with an Olive soft hackle up front. Some extra flash
tied in, along with some green rubber legs. A wire rib gives it a little
weight to pull it below the surface.

I know that plenty of steelhead can be caught on smaller soft hackles and nymphs as well as the larger "steelhead" flies. After tying a box full of the larger guys, I've come to really like the movement you get out of the soft feathers. While at the Stan last week, I took advantage of the ultra clear water by really looking at how the flies looked underwater. The marabou gave it so much life, they billowed in the current.

A rather thick chunk of olive marabou hides a silver ribbing. The hackle
consists of a red guinea and a blue/green guinea in front of that. A bead gives it some weight.

Earlier in the week, I decided to mix up my love for soft hackles with my new affair with big marabou steelhead flies. The result are small size 10-14 flies that have a soft hackle up front with marabou underneath. I've done some really unscientific testing in a glass of water in my kitchen and indeed they have nice movement. Just like their big brothers. hat will the fish think? We'll hopefully find out next week.

Trip Report: Lower Stan

Last Sunday, I was able to take a rare weekend day off to fish. This was part two of the exchange program between Mr. X and I. He had already shown me Putah Creek on a float tube and now it was my turn to show him Two Mile Bar on the Lower Stan.

We met at 6am in the parking lot. After putting our stuff together, we walked down and found the river at a very good wading level. It was clear and cold. And interestingly enough, for a Sunday, it was pretty much empty. All day long.

This was my first time starting out at Two Mile. Normally, I begin the morning at Tulloch and switch locations in early afternoon. It was a nice change of pace. Upon arriving, we started at the top of the first riffle below the long slow pool coming down the canyon. Even though a hatch was on, it started out slow. I did my usual swing and step down the river while Mr. X stayed a bit in the slower water above the riffle. After making it to the island, I still hadn't caught anything. I covered a good portion of both channels until I started catching a few 10 inch rainbows on a small white soft hackle.

Traveling on the far side of the river from the parking area, we headed down river. I think I spent more time changing flies and swapping sink tips than I did fishing. At one point I even tied on a big old grasshopper as an indicator and a small nymph trailing down from that. That probably doesn't sound unusual. But for me, someone who rarely puts on a surface fly, and even more rarely uses an indicator, it was quite unusual. It should be no surprise that I didn't catch anything. I don't think I could of felt more out of my element. However, I'd like to broaden my horizons and try new techniques. Afterward, I switched to some of those big streamer flies on a sinking tip and swam them in the current below me as the water churned through some boulders. I may of gotten a bite or two, but that was about it.

We decided to head back up river to revisit some spots from early in the morning before making a move up the road to Tulloch. Once making the drive, Mr. X suggested we fish near the dam. A place I had never been before, at least not that close to the falls. Boy did that mist feel good on this hot day.

Fish were everywhere, but they didn't want anything I presented to them. And I tried a whole lot of flies. We gave it quite a while and then headed down river. After a little while longer, Mr. X decided to call it a day. At that point, I went back up river and caught a few more fish about a quarter way to the dam. Again in the 10 inch range.

I was getting bored with Tulloch, so I went back down the road to Two Mile. Fishing started out slow, but as the sun began to lower, it started picking up. For a while, I was catching a fish every 5 or 10 minutes. As you can guess, they were all in the 10-12 inch area.

This was a big day for experimentation. Soft hackles, nymphs, streamers, steelhead flies, dries, terrestrials, I tried them all. Only the soft hackles were producing for me. Mostly on the downward leg of the swing with a few coming during the dead drift on an upriver cast.

It was getting dark and I was about to throw in the towel when I hooked what felt like a large fish. I was quite surprised because of the constant supply of small fish. At first he didn't seem very big, but then he really pulled hard as he got within 15 feet of me. The fight when on for a little while, but the guy started to get tired and I could scoop him up pretty easy with my hand. I was actually surprised to see he was only about 15 inches. Considering the fight he gave me, I expected him to be a little bigger. Like some of the others during the minutes prior to dark, he was caught on a small size 16 wet fly. This one was a black winged wet. After letting him rest behind my leg, he sped off, full of energy.

As I was standing in the river, trying to catch a few more as it became almost pitch black out, I heard a siren blare in the distance. I didn't know what it was initially since it was echoing off the canyon walls. About five minutes later, it happened again. For a paranoid moment, I thought it might have been some kind of warning that the river was about to rise, so I quickly exited the water. Then reality set in and I remembered that I was supposed to be out of the parking lot by sunset. It must have been someone trying to hurry me up.

I got out of the river, dug out my flashlight and headed back to the car. Sure enough, the Sheriff was waiting for me. Woops!

All in all, it was a great day. I didn't accurately keep track of how many fish I caught, but it was somewhere north of 15. All of them except the one were in the 9-12 inch range (I'm not counting the few dinks that somehow opened their mouths wide enough to get hooked). The Lower Stan continues to be an ego booster.

Fly #26: Flies for the Lower Stan

In preparation for a trip to the Lower Stan, I've been tying a few flies. Some of those are pictured below. As always, click on the picture for a larger version.

This one is tied on a size 12 hook and has a red guinea feather for a tail, a partridge hackle up front and a feather palmered up the shank. I've used a similar fly on this river before with great success. This relatively light fly combined with the palmered hackle will keep him right under the surface.

This is a size 14 with partridge hackle up front and a dubbed body with wire ribbing giving it some weight. This basic soft hackle always gets attention on just about every river. The Lower Stan is no exception. This guy will sink at a good rate and will be fished a few feet down.

Another red size 10 fly. This is practically the same as the first except with a red guinea hackle up front.

Watch for a report in the coming days to see how they worked out.

Fly #24: Articulated Variation

Very similar to the previous fly post, this one mostly differs by the trailing stinger hook. The main part of the fly is tied on a shank that had the hook clipped off with wire cutters. That trailing hook is tied to the shank with heavy mono, with a small clump of marabou tied to behind some dubbing. The result is an articulated marabou fly meant for everyday trout.

Trip Report: Putah Creek

Saturday was the first time I've been on this river. From what little I now know, Putah is high during the Summer and lower (and therefore more favorable for wading) in the Fall and Winter. Since we are in the middle of Summer, this was a good time for float tubing and when given an opportunity to tag along with a Putah regular, I didn't want to pass up the chance.

This will be my first report where I'm a little more quiet on what I did and where I went. I'm doing this because I was the guest of someone else and he was showing me the river. Out of respect, I don't wish to give away his spots or techniques.

I'm not sure that this person wants me to identify him, so let's just call him Mr. X. Mr. X and I met around 6am and after pumping up our float tubes, we got out in the river. Anyone reading my blog knows that I'm rather new to tubes and the whole idea of catching fish on still water is rather perplexing to me. Or even slow water for that matter.

I don't want to give away the ending, but it is safe to say that I still stink at it. Yes, another skunk in the tube! The good news is that I feel like I'm learning something from the people I've been out there with. Maybe it isn't showing up on paper yet, but hopefully soon!

My biggest problem is my patience. It is hard for me to cast out in still water and just wait. On moving water, I make a cast to a specific area that looks like fish holding water, then a few seconds later I do it again after the swing. Still water seems to require a lot of sitting. My wife tells me I'm not good at that. She seems to be right.

I've always felt that catching fish on a flyrod is largely due to confidence. You have to feel good about the flies you use and your presentation. Right now, I have little confidence in either of those things when I'm taken away from my element. Slowly, as I get bites and watch others, I can feel my confidence slowly rising. While I'm far from hauling them in, I'm hoping that by hanging around others that are good at it, I'll receive some of that mojo via osmosis.

On that note, Mr. X managed to catch several fish with one of them being a big fat rainbow that gave him quite a fight. I won't tell how or where he did it, that isn't for me to discuss. However, I took plenty of mental pictures and I'll learn from it.

Mr. X didn't say so, but I think he was feeling sorry for me. Later in the afternoon he suggested we move down river for some wading. I wasn't about to argue. Unfortunately, I didn't pack my wading shoes and had to wear my "fin shoes". Walking on the slimy rocks with soft rubber soles was downright treacherous. Happily, I survived the evening and caught some fish.

Everyone has always told me that Putah fish like tiny flies. And I believe it. Mr. X used them to great success. I caught a few on some size 14-16 too (which may be on the large size from what I've read and been told). As the evening wore on, I wanted to see how big of a fly I could catch fish on. So, I did something I haven't done in quite some time. Actually, it is the first time I've done it since I've started using two handed rods.

I strung together a three fly rig. The top fly sported a size 18 winged wet. The middle was a size 10 soft hackle, the anchor was a bushy size 8 attractor soft hackle with bright white wings.

After a few minutes, the bites started coming. But which fly were they hitting? I had no idea, but after landing my first fish, I saw that he favored the size 10 middle fly. Okay, so he skipped the smallest one. Of course this could of simply been the pattern. Who knows. A little while later I caught another one on the size 10. Either they were enjoying the size or the pattern. The plan was to match the middle fly in a smaller size and throw that up top and see if they go for that.

It never happened. The smaller fly was always ignored. This obviously doesn't prove much of anything. The only thing I do know is that some of the fish didn't mind larger flies on this particular evening. I even caught one on the size 8.

My fish were caught in a variety of ways. Mostly dead drifting or at the start of the swing. One was caught as the flies were stuck in a whirlpool as the water plunged over some large boulders.

I went back to the car around 8pm to call it quits. I had fun on the Putah and I'm glad that Mr. X volunteered to show me around. I'll be back again.

Trip Report: Truckee River (day 2)

Day two on the Truckee started off at 5:30am. From the Hirschdale exit, I drove downstream to the old one lane bridge. After crossing it and the railroad tracks, I went further to a dirt road that leads off to the right.

This wasn't the Rubicon, but it was a steep rock filled road that should be avoided if you only have two wheel drive and not very much ground clearance. The parking area at the bottom was right up next to the railroad tracks for convinient access. After gearing up, a train passed by and honked a good morning to me. What a way to wake you up.

Going down the river I found some great water. This is not pocket water, but mostly an unobstructed wide river. There were boulders down there and the water became shallow enough in sections to cause seams to form. After casting various soft hackles and wet flies, I finally put on a size 10 march brown SH with wire ribbing. Swinging this fly across the 70 foot wide river was easy with my switch, I angled myself and my casts so that the swing went through the seam edges. I added line in to get as much drift as possible and slow the swing at the same time. Add a few twitches and tugs on the line and the fly comes alive and gets the trouts attention. Normally, I make sure that the end of the swing and the dangle end up in a current seam. Leave it hang for a while and add some tugs and lifts and drops of the rod. This normally works and within 30 minutes of fishing, I had a 14 inch brown on.

He gave up a decent fight. Like last nights catch, this guy was fat. After disloding the fly, I moved downstream. Swing and step, swing and step. You know the drill. I cast to all the fishy looking spots, including the far bank. Another hour went by and I caught a couple of other 10 inch rainbows.

I made my way upstream and realized that I didn't have any food with me and since the morning chill was now gone, my sweatshirt needed to come off. Back to the car to eat and disrobe. Walking the railroad tracks down stream, I found a new section to try. It was very deep. No doubt there were big fish in here. I put on a 7 ips sinking tip on and went at it with various streamers. No takers. I kept moving upstream until I got to where I started this morning. After a debate with myself, I decided to work my way back to where I caught the fish earlier, but this time, no luck.

Back up the steep hill and over the railroad tracks to my car. Jumped in and drove back up the rocky road. Drove upstream through Hirschdale and under the 80 overpass. Now that I'm on the road to Stampede, I found a parking spot near the water and went for a walk. This section had much more pocket water. The heat of the day was pounding me down. I stuck it out and came up empty in this section. Back to the car again!

I decided to go back towards the section where I was this morning. This time, I stopped after crossing the one lane bridge and parked. Went upstream a little ways and worked this rather slow section down to the bridge. Received several bites, but no hook ups. The rubber raft hatch was in full swing. I had to stop constantly to let boaters go by. This was sometimes entertaining. I don't know what class river this is, but I saw more than one come down in an inner tube bouncing off the rocks as they went. No dunkings, but some close calls.

I worked this section for a while. Hitting any area that looked fishy. My patience can only go so far. So, I went under the bridge and worked downstream of that. While climbing along the boulder lined steep bank, I scared a rattlesnake that was sunning himself on a rock. I didn't see him until he scooted away. He coiled up about 3 feet away from me when he came to a dead end in his escape route. I carefully stepped around him, gazing into his eyes, putting him in a trance so that he wouldn't strike.

Now that my blood was pumping, I worked the section from downstream of the bridge all the way to where I was early this morning. Along the way, I caught a couple of 10-12 inch rainbows that found my size 10 soft hackle irrestible. Again, caught them in a seam while swinging the fly in and up and across presentation.

After chatting with a couple of sun bathers and swimmers making noise in the water, I decided it was time to go somewhere else. Walked back to the car and headed up west on Glenshire drive until I got to the river again. I pulled into a parking area and looked out. There were so many people swimming and floating, I decided to pass. Later in the evening, I was told that it was a good area, maybe I rushed to judgement.

Whatever the case, it was now getting close to 6pm. I drove west on Glenshire and got off on one of the parking areas along the railroad tracks. The walk to the river was much further than it looked. After arriving, I was welcomed by two rather large dogs that were barking and growling at me. They both ran from their owner and right up to me within a foot. I froze, preparing to be bitten. Luckily the owner came and got them under control. Sort of. After passing by and walking down river a hundred yards, I started wading out. Here come the dogs again.

I quickened my pace out into the water. If they were going to get me, they better have their water wings on, cause I was half way across. Luckily they thought better of it. But now, being in the middle of the river wasn't the best place in the world. I've now alerted every fish in the area that I'm here. Ignoring that fact, I started casting to river right, along the cut banks and overhanging bushes. There were also some nice boulders in the area to disturb the flow. A few bites, but no hook ups.

I worked my way downstream. Still in the middle of the river, I was casting to both edges and letting the fly swing to center. This was actually a good system. I could hit both edges and the swing always stopped in the center channel. I could quietly move down and cover the water pretty thoroughly. Hooked up with two or three fish, but lost them just out of arms length. These guys were fiesty. One of the fish leaped a good two or three feet out of the water on two occasions. That was exciting and illicited a "yehaaw" or two. Something I don't do very often.

Not long after it started to rain. It felt good and I enjoyed getting wet from the waist up for a change. The wind was another matter. Spey casting river right was starting to become dangerous. I got nailed with the fly on two occasions and decided it was time to stop with the circle cast and go to a double spey (cack handed). My casts aren't as accurate off this shoulder, but I didn't have much choice. Now with the line downwind of me, getting hit by a rogue fly was not likely.

I've gone as far downstream as I wanted to go. Now, I've got to move against the current in waist deep water with a strong wind in my face to get to shallow enough water to exit the river (the edges were deeper than the center channel at this particular point). It never fails, but I again caught a fish when I wasn't trying to. My fly was dangling below me as I noisily pushed my way through the water. The fly was no doubt jerking all over the place, but that didn't stop another 15 inch rainbow from hooking himself. I got him to hand and let him rest behind my leg after removing the hook. He took advantage of the break from the current and gathered enough energy to disappear.

Now that I caught a fish on accident, I decided to swing more flies in this same area. Down and across since the wind was at my back. The next cast landed another rainbow. This guy was only 10 inches, but since he was chubby, he put on a pretty good fight. That same spot delivered several more hook ups. The fish were everywhere and happy to try and eat my offerings.

I trudged upstream and finally could exit the water. I decided to walk upstream on the bank to where I originally found the dogs earlier. Now that it was late, the dogs and their owner were gone. Got into the water and casted to the far bank which had trees/bushes overhanging the water. It looked like a prime trouty area. Not only were there bushes, but the water was deeper here with plenty of rocks to break the current. Once again, I hooked some decent 10-15 sized fish. These guys were very acrobatic. Coming out of the water a couple times. The downside to their flip flopping was that they all were able to dislodge themselves within the last few feet of trying to grab them. If I had a net, no problem. But, trying to scoop them wasn't easy. I hate carrying nets with me, but maybe I need to re-consider it. The number of fish that I lost trying to scoop them out of the water was unusually high today.

I've now been on the water more than 14 hours. My back was starting to hurt and I was exhausted. The sunlight was almost gone and the wind was howling. Time to call it a day and a weekend. All in all, I caught more than 6 fish today and 2 fish the night before. Numerous hookups and an exciting battle with a big fat fish on Saturday.

The Truckee delivered!