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!

Trip Report: Truckee River (day 1)

While most of the day was spent at Milton Reservoir in my float tube, I was forced to flee the area when attacked by killer mosquitoes. I drove back to Truckee to fish the river with the same name for the remaining hours.

I only had about an hour of daylight, but I needed an ego boost. So I found a nice little pullout on Highway 80 and walked down to the river. For those of you interested in finding this same spot, after crossing the river the second time on Highway 80 going East, immediately pull onto the shoulder and watch for a turnout on the right side. Being a weekend, there were several fly fisherman here. I found an empty spot and within a few minutes, caught a nice fat 15 inch brown as a light rain began to fall. I got a few stares as some others later told me they weren't catching anything over 9 or 10 inches. Good old soft hackles. You can't go wrong!

Soft Hackles strike again!
This was the pattern that worked this evening.

Walking further downstream, I found a nice area with several seams that looked like they could hold fish. I cast in a few times and hooked a very big one. He took my soft hackle on the swing, ran down current and ripped some line off my reel. It was such a rush. I could feel me heart speed up. I tried to maneuver the guy into slower water so I could recover some line. He was at least 60 feet away from me at this time. My rod was bent over pretty good. I didn't want to apply too much pressure in fear of breaking my tippet. I was waist deep and slowly started backpedaling, after getting into shallower water I started jogging downstream in a not very graceful manner over the slippery rocks. All the while, I was reeling in excess line as fast as I could. The fish was darting from rock to rock and heading up and downstream trying to get that thing out of his mouth. I saw a glimpse of him and he was big. I fought him for more than three or four minutes and suddenly it was over. He broke himself off. I was within 15 feet when it happened and this guy was one of the bigger if not the biggest fish I've ever hooked.

I nervously laughed it off and decided to call it quits. It was dark and I had a full day of fishing tomorrow. It was a good start on the Truckee.

This is part 1 of the report. Part 2 will be of a full 14 hours exploring several Truckee River access points.

Trip Report: Milton Reservoir

The first ever Float Tube Navy outing has come and gone. It was a beautiful day at Milton Reservoir with very little to no smoke from the fires that are lighting up California. The lake was surprisingly quiet for a weekend, with very little fisherman.

I finally made it down the bumpy road(if you can call it that) to the lake at around 8:30am. Put the float tube out in the water and started to throw the line. Before arriving, I knew the number of people attending would be small. In fact, there were only two of us. Not much of a Navy, but it was an enjoyable day, none the less. I'm not sure he wants his name mentioned, but the guy who showed up was very nice and he shared some tips for still water fishing. Something I desperately need.

Unfortunately for us and everyone else on the lake, the fishing was difficult. I saw and heard of one or two fish caught the entire day by everyone I talked with. Needless to say, I was skunked. Sure, I got several bites, but nothing actually got hooked. I still have a long ways to go figuring out the whole still water fishing thing, but I feel a little more comfortable now that I've been out with someone and could absorb a little information.

As my fellow float tuber headed off for another lake, where he planned to spend the night, I decided to explore the river that feeds Milton. It was a small creek that was quite fun to walk along and explore. (I didn't catch anything, nor did I actually see any fish.) The time was between 5 and 6pm and the mosquitoes started to come out. And they were on the warpath! They swarmed me like I've never experienced before. I had probably 15 on me at once. It was awful. Of course I forgot my bug spray, so I frantically wiped them off me, almost ran back to the car and threw my rod in and drove off! Whew!

This was only part of my weekend of fishing. Two more reports are on their way!

Fly of the Week #22

Keeping with the theme of steelhead flies, here is another attempt at one. The hook is covered with a tinsel and yellow thread base. Over that we have hot orange spey hackle in back, yellow marabou in front of that, and a guinea collar. There are a few strands of flashabou tied in as well.

Click for larger image

This fly has already caught a fish. Not a steelhead, but your average rainbow latched on to it. Swung through the river with some tugs here and there to pulse the marabou seemed to do the trick.

N. California Float Tube Navy

This coming Saturday, July 12th, I'm organizing the first ever Northern California Float Tube Navy. Bring your fly fishing gear and your float tube and join us at the Milton Reservoir.

Park where you can.
The road lines the northern edge of the lake.
We will probably be fishing in the marked area.

Date: July 12th
Time: 9am (or when you arrive, find us out on the Lake)
Place: Milton Reservoir

Google Directions from Truckee:
http://tinyurl.com/4pjpcd



I hope you can attend!

Trip Report: Lower Stanislaus

While I enjoy exploring new water, there is something about the Lower Stanislaus that keeps drawing me back. It is safe to say that it is my favorite river. Partly because it is so close, partly because the fishing is so good and the river is so accessible.

Yesterday, I went out once again to the Tulloch Dam Rd and Two Mile Bar for another day of fishing. This time, I brought my switch rod and was able to access sections I've never been able to access before because of difficult casting situations. Needless to say, the day was productive. A total of 6 fish caught with hook ups on more than a dozen fish and numerous bites. One thing that I've noticed with my 10' 8" rod, it is harder to land a fish than my 8 or 9 foot fly rods. This explains why I had such a high hook up rate and low landing rate. Those dozen fish should of been caught, but escaped just out of my reach. By the end of the day, I had the problem more or less solved.

I arrived at Tulloch Dam Rd at 6:30am. Gearing up, I headed straight down to the stream and fished right where the gravel meets the river. The water was higher than ideal situations, but lower than I've seen it on other days. It was at a good level. For an hour or two, I worked my way downstream hitting all the good looking areas. The temp was warming and I decided to head back to the car and remove a layer of clothing. After eating and refilling with water, I went upstream to the second pool and worked my way downstream to where I started in the morning. The two fish that I caught were both under 11 inches and one took a size 18 red sparkle attractor nymph, the other took a size 10 hare's ear soft hackle.

Around noon, I decided to travel down to Two Mile Bar. Not a soul in sight. Well, at least not anybody fishing. One of the first things you notice when walking to the river are all the bright red and yellow ribbons hanging from trees and bushes. I had no idea what they were for until someone later told me they marked fish habitats. It seems that they are in the middle of a fish survey and these markers were part of it. Also of interest was something that happened while I was fishing a quiet section of the river minding my own business.

See anything strange?

While casting, I was focusing on the line and out of the corner of my eye saw something moving in the water. It was big, but I couldn't figure out what it was. The mass was moving towards me and eventually it became clear that a guy in snorkel gear was swimming his way upstream along the banks towards me. He and another fellow were counting fish! He stopped to talk with me and I asked him the questions you'd expect me to ask someone who has been floating up and downstream looking for fish. "Where are the fish and how big are they?" And yes, he did answer me. He let me know where the biggest population of fish were hanging out and their size. I reveal a lot on this blog, where I go and where I fish. Sometimes to a point where people get irritated. I believe sharing information is wonderful and I wish more people did it. However, this information will remain with me. I had no idea that they even counted fish in this manner. To top it all off, these guys looked like they were having fun. Floating down river through the riffles/rapids and then swimming back upstream.

After the excitement wore off, I covered both shores and the various islands of Two Mile from the flats near the wooden bridge down to the rapids a mile downstream. Fish were caught on a variety of flies, mostly size 10 soft hackles. The biggest fish of the day was only 15 inches. He was caught on a size 6 bright green marabousteelhead fly. I swung it in the current and gave it some life by yanking on the line. He took it near the end of the swing. This seems to be the way the Lower Stan works for me. Fish caught on the dangle or right at the end of a swing. Nothing new.

At the end of the day as it was getting dark, there was some sort of hatch coming off. Fish were jumping all around me. They were mostly small fish under 10 inches, but I couldn't resist. I put on the smallest (18) soft hackle I could find and played around. I caught several small fish (that I didn't count as 1 of the 6) before realizing that I was catching too many small ones and not any of decent size. No need to stress out the little guys. So I packed up.

All in all, another 14 hours of fishing on my favorite water. I saw one other guy fishing the entire day. I practically had the river to myself. Except for the snorkel guys, of course.