Swingin' Flies in the Pacific Northwest: American River

Nov 20, 2009

American River

As mentioned in an earlier post, I've decided to try and make my reports more helpful. Now, when I say more helpful, I really mean more helpful for me. This blog was originally intended as a journal I could return to, so that I could remember what happened and where. Problem is, after re-reading a few previous reports, I've found they aren't very helpful at all! Woops.

Access	Paradise Beach, William H. Pond
Air Temp	Low 38, High 64
Water Temp	~56 F
Flow	~1900 cfs
Time in/out	7:30am, 5:30pm
Leaders/Lines	Compact Scandi
	3.9 ips sink leader	Morning
	7.0 ips sink leader	Afternoon
	Intermediate sink leader	Evening
	12 lb FC tippet
Flies	Various soft hackles	0 fish
	3” black intruder w/ dumbell eyes	2 half pounders, 15-18 inch
	2" bead head black rabbit strip leech	nips/plucks
	Size 8 blue steelhead spider	1 half pounder
	Various hairwing steelhead	nips/plucks only

Arrived late due to the car accident mentioned in a previous post. Started at Paradise Beach and worked the area most of the day. Went to William H. Pond in later afternoon. Never before at this spot, had trouble finding good water. Next time, will park closer to foot bridge and work that side.

Later in the morning, I decided to try something I hadn't done before. Put a heavy and good sized fly (3” intruder with dumb bell eyes) with 120 grain leader/tip on the end of my 420 gr compact scandi line. Had always used a skagit line for something of this weight. Guess what? It casted as well, if not better than the skagit line. Much to my surprise, 70-85 foot casts were not a problem with great turnover. Next time out, I'm going to try 10 feet of T10. At 100 grains, it will be a slightly lighter tip, but grains will be spread out differently. Want to see how smoothly it goes. If successful, I'll keep upping the grain weight to see exactly where it all falls apart.

Overall, this was a decent day on the water. I was a little frazzled from the excitement that took place in the morning. Won't be fishing next week because of Thanksgiving. Hope everyone has a good Holiday.

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About Me

My interest in fly fishing began as a teenager in my home state of Missouri. After years of fishing rivers in and around the Ozarks, I moved to California in the early 90's. Life continued on, I happily drove hours around to various streams hunting trout. Then it happened. One rainy fall morning, I landed my first steelhead.

Game over. Buh bye trout. Hello steelhead!

Fast forward to 2011. My obsession with steelhead was out of control. I convinced my wife and family, that we needed to leave California and head to the Pacific Northwest.

Now, I'm able to happily fish for steelhead almost year around in both Washington and Oregon. My now home-water is a quick 10 minutes away. Within two hours, I can reach the Deschutes, Klickitat, Wilson, Sandy, Clackamas, Hood, Lewis, Cowlitz, Kalama, and dozens of others. Many of those are within a half hour. Paradise.

Although I started out with single handed rods all those years ago, I switched almost exclusively to 2-handed rods around 2005. I find them to be more efficient and less tiring over those long days. Initially reluctant to give them a try, I've rarely looked back.

This blog is my little spot on the internet to keep record of my trips, fly tying, and thoughts on fishing. Originally conceived as a personal journal to help myself remember where I went and what flies were productive- for whatever reason, I decided to make it public. Hopefully you will get something from it.