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.