My work is slowly returning back to normal. I'm hoping to get more opportunities to get on the water in the next couple of weeks. As a matter of a fact, just yesterday, I skipped out for a long day on the American in Sacramento.
The goal was to try and catch some Shad. Unfortunately, they didn't get the memo. Mother nature must of also missed it and supplied me with a day of insanely bad conditions.
I arrived at Elmanto around 6:30am, quickly geared up and hit river. I immediately noticed that the water was much higher than it was last time I was out a few months ago. Later in the day, a regular verified my suspicion and let me know that they raised the water level over night. Perfect timing! I'm sure the sudden rise didn't make the fish any more eager to bite. Not to mention the incredible amount of debris floating down the river. It was almost like an obstacle course. I spent more time cleaning the hook on my flies than anything else. Not to mention the amount of caught branches, leaves, and huge logs.
The day started off windy and only got worse as it went. I'm not sure how many MPH it was gusting, but I would have a feeling it went past 40 or 50 mph part of the day. It was insane. No wonder I was the only one fly fishing in the area.
After feeling a little uncomfortable with the water level and wind, I went down river past the clay banks. On my way to that sharp left turn, I fished the holes and shallow runs, and actually everything in between. I was rigged up with a variety of bright flashy flies and a few sink tip lines. The strong wind made it difficult to cast very far. It was hard to really cover much of the river. Lucky for me, I had my switch rod and because I wasn't casting over head, it made the wind a little more manageable.
As time went on, my goal became less fishing oriented and more about finding a location that was a little less breezy. That never really happened, so I made the most of the day and pushed on. Around 1pm, I decided to go back to the car and get some food. As I entered the parking lot, I immediately noticed that the guy next to me had his car broken into. I'm told this happens a lot here, I'm just lucky that it wasn't mine that got hit. That was close enough, I decided to go elsewhere.
I arrive at Upper Sunrise a few minutes later and paid my $5 access fee. The wind was even crazier here and because the water was so high, I could barely get my fly out into the current. What a rough day. Next was a drive down to both Watt and Howe to look. I've never been to this area and was curious what I was missing. It didn't look terribly inviting, so I once again drove back to where I started in the morning.
After parking in what seemed to be a safer place, I headed back to the river and tried again. I did actually see a trout that was at least 30 inches. Probably more. He was about 12 feet down, right along the clay banks. I put my line in and managed to get my fly down far enough, but he didn't bite. He did check it out and the other 3 flies I tried. However, that was it.
Now getting close to 7pm, the wind was just getting even crazier. It was easily pushing past 50 mph. I mean, I could barely stand. It wasn't worth the effort anymore. Even if fish were finally starting to break the surface for food. I put in a good 12 hours of fishing and that was enough.
Skunked!
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