New Toy

I've been thinking about getting a float tube for several months now. After researching various websites and getting opinions from others, I came to the conclusion that a good economical choice was the Fist Cat 4.

The Pleasanton fly fishing show was coming up and I figured it would be a good chance to see some float tubes up close and personal. Compare them all and figure out if the Fish Cat was indeed the direction to go.

While at the show, I made the mistake of looking at some pontoons. Several manufacturers were there showing some white water capable crafts. Wow. This could be really fun. Float down a river to find some good fishing spots that would otherwise be hard to reach and have some fun in the white water at the same time.

I returned home from the show and went through weeks of turmoil. I was trying to figure out if I should spend more money for a pontoon or stick with my original float tube idea. In the end, I purchased a Fish Cat 4 just last week. The deciding factor was that my local trout lake that is literally less than a mile away does not allow pontoon boats on the water. The proximity of this lake in a day of almost $4 a gallon gas is hard to pass up. Float tube it is.

So here I am with a brand spanking new float tube. It hasn't been used yet, I hope to go in the next day or two. I'm pretty confident catching trout in rivers, but have had terrible luck in lakes with my flyrod. Hopefully this will give me a chance to improve my still water skills.

I promised myself that if I go the whole Summer without catching many fish and still find myself yearning for river drifting, I'm going to sell the thing and upgrade to a pontoon.

Fly of the Week #18

Are my flies starting to all look similar? Probably. I guess that is what happens when you love one style so much. On top of that, you have patterns that work and are not eager to change. Someday I'll explore more varieties, especially as I start fishing still waters more often.

(click for larger image)

This fly is tied on a size 10 hook with a variety of dubbing colors making up the body. Natural colored partridge as the head hackle, and olive dyed partridge tied across the back as a wing case and tail. Underneath the dubbing and sticking out of the butt is green stretch cord. A little bit of weight was added in unseen copper wire on the hook.

Trip Report: American River

Another week and another new river to explore. This time I made the journey to Sacramento for an American river experience. After reviewing Google satellite maps and a few fishing reports, I figured a good place to start would be a street that dead ends near the river called El Manto (there is a five dollar fee to park in this lot).

When arriving at 8am, I quickly noticed that other than a police officer, there was no one else in sight. It was a Wednesday, but I did assume that there would be more people fishing. Did they know something I didn’t? Read on to find out.

Not only was I the only one around in the parking lot, I was of course the only one in that section of the river. I didn’t see anyone else for several hours. Throughout the whole day, there were only a handful of fisherman that arrived late afternoon. Not even a single boater came down the river until 5pm or later (and that was group of non-fishing kayakers).

Initially I rigged up a three fly system. (I’ve documented how I do it here on the blog.) My whole setup consisted of a floating line and a short 12 inch 20lb connected to the fly line and then the three rig was 8lb mono. No leader. The furthest fly from the rod was a modified San Juan worm with purple dubbing that I tied up on Tuesday evening, a size 10 soft hackle with golden dubbing and copper ribbing in the middle, and a size 16 winged wet fly as the third.

I’ve never been to the American before, but could easily see that it was low and clear with no trout in sight. My line was thrown in just a couple of hundred yards from my car and I moved downstream. Because of the clarity and the depth of the runs, I stuck to rippled water. I’m sure there were fish deep in the slow water holes, but I wanted to be in the current. The ripples would provide some sense of protection to the fish on this sunny morning, so I didn’t bother much with the faster smooth and shallow water except for some of the sections directly above the ripples.

This river is quite a bit different than the water I’m more familiar with. It is very wide and has little natural structure. The floor was made of extremely slippery stones about the size of baseballs and footballs, there were few large boulders in this section.

If I were equate this type of fishing to dropping ordinance on an enemy, the American would require more of a carpet bombing approach, rather than the precision of laser guided weapons that you need on smaller streams with trees, brush, and boulders diverting the water.

On the plus side, I was able to do something I’m not normally allowed – long distance casting. The river demands it if you want to get out to midstream or further without wading far out and potentially scaring the fish away in the process. And since the river was rarely broken by structure, the flow was even all the way across. Much of the time, there was even room for a decent back cast. I was easily able to shoot line out where I needed it even if the room behind me was somewhat constricted. I had plenty to work with. The places where it was tighter, a nice two handed roll cast did the job for an across or down and across presentation.

Several hours later I finally reached "Suicide Bend" without any bites. No signs of fish anywhere. I tried the rippled sections, any current seams, and the occasional boulder. I changed flies here and there, trying to find something that they would be interested in. No go.

The breeze picked up in early afternoon and it was time to toss the idea of the three rig. Tangles were happening at an ever increasing rate and I decided it wasn’t worth the trouble. I put on a 7 foot furled leader with another 4 feet of 6lb fluorocarbon. It was the difference between night and day. Keeping the single fly under control versus the three put a new kick in my step.

After “Suicide Bend”, the river slowed and although I’m sure there were fish in those deep pools, it wasn’t something I wanted to do. Doubling back upriver towards my car seemed the best option.

Of note, there were remains of several large salmon. I wouldn’t want to guess there length or weight, but the skulls were huge. On of them was easily the length of a football. So yes, there are big fish in this river at some point.

I managed to keep myself motivated despite the continued skunk until around 5pm. Scurrying back up the small hill to the car, I refueled on water before heading upriver further than I had gone so far.

The fish were starting to get active as the light got lower and the clouds rolled in. I saw plenty of them jumping out of the water, most were decent 17-22 inch sized. However, the river continued to humble me.

After rounding another river bend, I found a stretch of water that was rippled for the length of 300 yards or so. This is where I spent my on the water time until sunset. I did manage to catch a couple of under 19 inch trout that felt sorry for me.

It was now getting pretty dark. So of course, instead of walking back to my car, I decided to see what was on the other side of the park, far downriver from "Suicide Bend" and actually around another bend. As I walked, I kept expecting to see the river over the next rise, but it felt like it would never come. Finally, after a good 15 minutes, I found the river. I didn’t intend to fish, but just see what was there in case I come back someday. It was flat water without a ripple in sight. Oh well.

Heading back to the car it was now almost completely dark. In a very strange Twilight Zone like episode, I found myself completely surrounded by deer. There must have been 20 or more. They just appeared out of no where from behind all of these little hills that made up the landscape. They just stared at me. It was all a little creepy in a cute Bambi sort of way.

Now out of danger of an awful death by deer, I finally made it back to my car. It was pitch black out. My day of 12 hours of fishing the American was over.

Two Handed Rods

Not too long ago, I bought a new Redington 8-weight rod. While shopping at my local fly fishing shop, I quickly realized that this weight came with a "fighting grip". Initially, I resisted the idea of an extra stub on the butt end of the stick, it just looked odd. Lucky for me, I purchased it anyway.

As mentioned briefly in my Calaveras report, I've become somewhat obsessed with spey casting techniques. Although you can certainly do all of these casts using a one handed flyrod (which I certainly do), I've found that I can more easily get the line out longer distances by taking my left hand and using that fighting grip for extra leverage. Just as you would on a spey rod.

If I had realized the value of the extra grip prior to buying a rod, I probably would of bought a "switch rod" instead. For those of you not familiar with this hybrid, it is a cross between the flyrod and a spey. It includes a grip for your second hand and they are usually longer, ten feet or more. The extra length and the grip give you the ability to load your line more and really get it out there without the need for a back cast.

Many of the rivers that I fish have a lot of trees and brush along the bank. Learning how to cast with these techniques have been a blessing, not to mention feeling more graceful than simply performing a roll cast. With that fighting grip and what I've learned over a few trips out, I can get line out pretty darn far without worrying about what is behind me.

Trip Report: Calaveras River

My goal last summer was to visit as many new rivers as possible. I wanted to see what was out there and do a little exploring. For me, half the fun of fly fishing is to be in the outdoors and visit new areas and see new things.

Somewhere along the way I was sidetracked by the Lower Stanislaus. The proximity to where I live and the population of trout was hard to resist. My exploration seemed to stop. I’ve been trying to make a renewed effort to visit new places.

Just a couple of days ago I forced myself to get out of the Lower Stan groove and fish a new river. The Calaveras, right beneath the New Hogan dam is just as close as the Lower Stan and made for a great day on the water.

I arrived around 8:00AM and parked my car in a day use lot just off Silver Rapids Road, just downstream from the dam. You can literally walk just a few steps to the water, but a short walk upstream was necessary to find something more trout friendly. The trail runs right near the river and access couldn’t be easier. This worried me, because what requires little work means that fishing pressure is high. It just wasn’t high today because I saw a total of only one other fisherman before I left at 6pm.

With my new and hardly broken in Reddington 8-weight rod in hand, I was hoping to hook a large steelhead. In reality, the action was pretty slow at first. Once again, as has been the case the last few months, I didn’t see any fish and had no bites for several hours. The river was running low and clear. Not exactly the best fishing conditions. I’m sure the fish were hiding and finding deeper lanes to feel safe from predators and fisherman alike.

The Calaveras is a small river. The width in most fishable places upstream of the Silver Rapids Bridge is 20-40 feet. Trees and brush line the river and back casting is not an option in most cases. No worries, this gave me more practice with my latest spey casting technique obsession. My new rod is excellent for this and I can even use two hands thanks to the nicely sized “fighting grip” on the butt of the stick. I no longer get frustrated when there are trees and brush directly behind me.

Just a little while later, I realized I was focusing so much on casting, that I forgot why I was there in the first place. To catch fish! I laughed to myself and continued upriver to see what I could find. As I got closer to the dam, it became evident that there was a pretty good hatch going on. Trout were rising to eat bugs off the surface! There are fish in the river afterall!

Unfortunately, I left my dry fly box at home. So, I continued with soft hackles just under the surface to try and see if I could get a bite. The skunk continued despite the fish eating around me. I was now near the dam and the river resembled a lake more than anything else. Still water is not my bag, it is something I’m trying to get better at, but moving water is where I’m able to catch fish. So, I left the surface eating fish do their thing and walked back downriver to find some moving water.

This time, I looked closer at all the places I passed by. There was a nice section of water moving at a walking pace that seemed to be 3-5 feet deep. This looked excellent. After a few casts I noticed some fish eating on the surface below me. I took my size 10 soft hackle (pictured here) and cast it upstream of the feeding fish. The point was to let it swing where they were and try to entice a strike.

After four or five casts, a large trout nailed my fly with some real force. It startled me as I was about to pull my line back for another cast. The fish quickly jumped out of the water and shook like a wet dog. Fish on! A big fish too! After landing back in the water with a huge splash he ran upstream towards me and as I stripped back in like a maniac, I worried that he would get off the barbless hook if I let the pressure subside.

I saw the bright white fish streak past my position and he was big! At this point I was really excited. Did I finally catch a real steelhead? Not just one of those 16” rainbows that are classified as one, but you know they haven’t been out to sea. The guy turned back down river and started taking line back. He didn’t take me to my backing or anything crazy like that. But he did put up a good fight.

After it was all said and done, I had the fish at my feet and grabbed him by the tail. Yes, technically he was a wild steelhead. While I can’t prove that he has been to the ocean, he still had his adipose fin intact and was pretty bright and silvery with a very faint pink line running down the side. I put my rod down next to him to get a measure and was happy to see that he was 24-25 inches in length. This is the biggest fish I’ve caught in a while. I don’t like the idea of keeping the fish in my hand very long, so I released him quickly and he swam out of there the first chance I gave him.

While walking the river banks, I noticed a dead wild steelhead resting on the bottom of the river. I’m not sure how he died, but have a gut feeling that someone caught and either played him too long or was rough with him. Even when you practice catch and release, if you don’t take an effort to release them quickly, they can easily die a few minutes later. This is why I don’t take a fish out and bother taking a picture. By the time I fumble around getting it ready, the fish is getting stressed even more. The time you take to do so, or laying him in the dirt for a photo op is just increasing the chance of it dying after letting it go. This dead steelhead was about 20 inches in length with a nice girth. What a shame.

The rest of my day was slow. I went through a dozen or more flies, but didn’t get much action. I walked the river from the dam to a few hundred yards downstream of the bridge. I did manage to hook one other fish that was very large. He was close to being as big as the one I caught, but could have easily been bigger. I’m not sure of course. I didn’t see him very long, he grabbed my soft hackle on the last few seconds of a swing and he snapped off my tippet where it connected to the leader. Basically, he busted an 8lb line in about ½ a second after grabbing the fly. In that split second I did see him breach the surface. He was big.

The day was wonderful. Weather was warm, the sun was out and the river was beautiful. Maybe not as pretty as some of the others in this area (there is a rock quarry right next to the river), but definitely worth the trip.

Thanks Calaveras!

Fly of the Week #17

I became somewhat inspired at the Pleasanton Fly Fishing show. Seeing all of those tyers creating some really nice looking patterns kicked me into a frenzy. I've probably tied a couple of dozen flies, most of them different from the previous. As I go fishing and discover what works, I'll duplicate those that produce.

(click for a larger image)

This fly was tied on a size 12 hook using more of the webby portion of a feather for the hackle. The dubbing is olive with wire wrapped around for a little flash and weight. Dry fly hackle was put on as a tail.