Trip Report: American River

My parents have been visiting from out of town, so this report is long overdue. Since my trip up to the Cowlitz in Washington, I've been hitting the American River a few times. I know, I swore I wouldn't go back to this place. However, the proximity is sometimes hard to ignore.

I can't go into details, because frankly, I don't remember any. Next time I need to write about it as soon as I get home. Not a week or two later.

One thing that I do remember, the weather was HOT. Around 100 degrees or so. That didn't stop me from doing a little more exploring outside of the Rossmore/El Manto area. I found some great water all the way from Watt to Upper Sunrise. Although fishing was slow, I caught a few half pounders in the 17 inch range. I used a variety of flies including soft hackles and smaller steelhead flies. All of the fish were caught on the steelhead patterns. Whether they were hairwings or speys.

I don't normally see other fly fisherman using two handers in my neck of the woods. However, I did see quite a few over those days. One of them proceeded to low-hole me on Upper Sunrise. Come on guys, use some common sense!? The other two were friendly and more interested in sitting around and drinking beer than fishing. Which was fine. At least they didn't jump in below me!

While wading around Watt. I found a revolver in about 4 feet of water. I opted to not reach down and grab it. I didn't feel like soaking myself, so it was left there. I called the Sacramento Police Dept, who referred me to the Parks Dept. I described where I found it and I'll assume they went and got it. On a later visit a few days later, I looked for it again and couldn't find it. Hopefully the authorities got it and not some hooligan.

Next week, I'm going to head up to the Lower Feather or Yuba. It will be one of those last minute decisions. I've got a new pair of waders to keep the water out! When the day is over, I look forward to having dry clothes underneath!