Fly #28: Reverse Spiders

You've got your flymphs, soft hackles, spiders, and now reverse spiders. I can't remember where I first read about these, however, a month ago I decided to tie a few.

They are almost the same as your regular spider, except for the obvious. The hackles are tied forward. I doubt I'll make a habit of tying these guys. Not that they are difficult, but tying a knot on the concealed eyes while on the river isn't exactly easy. Below is one that has successfully caught a trout or two with.

Piercings

While on the Trinity last week, I was swinging a small fly downriver when it got hooked on a rock about thirty feet below me. I'm yanking on the line trying to dislodge it, when all of a sudden "doink", it comes free and the line and fly come flying back towards me.

Before I could duck, the next thing I know, I have a size 10 soft hackle stuck deeply in the INSIDE of my nose!! Immediately my eyes start watering as I try to gently pull it out. Not so easy to get my big fingers in there gripping a tiny hook bend.

For what seemed like an eternity, I'm pulling on this thing having visions of walking into the emergency room with a fly for a nose piercing.

I told myself just to grit my teeth and yank it out. I did. And it hurt! But the fly was out and I was back to fishing minus the embarrassment of having the whole world see my new piercing.

And thank God for barbless hooks.

Trip Report: Trinity (Day Two)

While it was still dark, I drove from Douglas City back to Lewiston. Because of the success I had yesterday, I decided to return to a spot a few hundred yards upstream of the bridge.

Once again, I was catching trout pretty regularly. They were in the 10-16 inch range and put up a decent fight. I really enjoyed this section because it has such a variety of water type. There is pocket water to precision cast into, then below a few nice runs to step/swing through. I hooked a few larger fish that broke off in the wider sections. Whether they were steelhead, salmon, or just a large trout, I'll never know. They were holding in both seams and behind rocks that lined the river floor.

Unlike the day before, I worked my way further down river past the Lewiston Bridge. The good looking water was difficult to get to, so I didn't stick around too long trying to find a way to access it. I didn't want to waste the best fishing hours. After a climb back to the road, I made my way to the car.

Driving up river, I got out underneath the Lewiston Dam to wade the section near the hatchery. I spent a couple hours here until the sun started to heat everything back up. Again, I caught plenty of fish under 18 inches. I could see both salmon and steelhead holding in the current as well as a few jumping out. Even caught a glimpse of a handful chasing my flies, but nothing more than a grab from any of the big boys resulted.

Realizing that I left my water bottle at the car, I had to get out of the water to replenish. It was now past 11am and the heat was already intense.

I drove up river past the Lewiston Dam all the way to the Trinity Dam about 12 miles away. What a beautiful drive. An excellent area for fishing slow water if you're into that. However, I made the drive just for the scenery, not for fishing. I wasn't disappointed!

My memory is a little foggy, but I believe I went back downstream and parked at another access in between the Lewiston Dam and the Lewiston Bridge. There was really only one access point I hadn't visited yet and this was by far the best place in my opinion to be. I'm sorry that I didn't try it earlier. There was access to a very long stretch of water that included riffles, wide broken surface water, and a little bit of pocket water. The whole stretch had very large fish jumping almost continuously, even during the heat of the day. I caught a few, but it was largely quiet for a long stretch of time.

The midday heat is a good time to practice casting. I find a joy in two handed casting that I never really had for overhead casting. Whether you are doing a double spey, single spey, snap-t, snake roll, or any of the other type of spey cast, there are so many elements that can be tweaked to increase distance, accuracy, or efficiency. The possibilities are endless and getting the proper moves committed to muscle memory makes it much easier when you are casting to actual fish. Besides, I'm a very technical person by nature, and I get a kick out of analyzing every nuance of something to try and improve.

During the this time, I decided to see how far I could cast across. While river left, I was pushing out almost 85 feet of line cack handed. I think I could of gone a little further, but my flies were hitting the trees on the opposite bank. The heat gave me an opportunity to focus more on my mechanics without worrying about catching a fish.

As the temp started cooling down, I transitioned from playing around to actual fishing. I saw no reason to leave the area considering this looked like the best water I've seen so far on these two days.

As evening came, the activity picked up as bugs started filling the air. I tied on a small winged wet fly and caught plenty of small fish. A few larger ones put on a decent fight, but nothing that really bent the rod over. As the evening wore on, the fish become even more aggressive and if I didn't catch a fish on every cast, I at least got a pull. There were times that the fish were attacking my fly line as it hit the water.

I swapped flies quite a few times trying to see what would work within this hatch and what wouldn't. Most everything small and white performed. Whether it was a soft hackle, a winged wet, or a dry. Everything comes full circle and eventually I went back to a winged wet which seemed to work the best.

I made a cast along a shelf into deeper water as night was fast approaching. The fly swung until it became hung up on something. Or was it? The line started shaking ever so lightly. Either there was a fish on or the current was making the line flutter. I pulled on the line gently and it seemed to be stuck on something since there was no reaction on the other end. I pulled harder trying to dislodge the fly only to find out it wasn't hung up after all. There was a violent shake and my rod bent to an almost 90 degree angle. Something big was on the other end.

Next thing I heard was my reel spinning at high speed as the end of the line shot down river. The fish stopped on his own about 50 feet away, I put a little more pressure on the line and before I could let out a “yeehaaw”, the line shot straight back at me almost hitting me in the face. The line snapped right where the tippet connected to the leader.

I cast out a few more times hoping that I'd somehow luck out and get his interest. Unfortunately, it was now so dark that I couldn't really see anything beyond my hands and decided this was a good time to end my two days on the Trinity.

All in all it was a great introduction to the river. I'll certainly be back. Actually, I'll be returning in the next few weeks as more steelhead push into the system. Although I didn't catch any monsters, I did catch more than 40 fish ranging in size from 5 to 17 or so inches to make this a very exciting trip.

Trip Report: Trinity (Day One)

This is the first post of two for a trip to the Trinity. As you'll read, when I visit a river for the first time, I like to go to as many fishing locations as possible to try and get a feel for the best water. This means less time in one area in favor of more locations. As you'll discover reading these posts, I literally covered miles of access points and river frontage. Next time I visit, I'll know exactly where to go.

I generally don't like to travel too far for a day of fishing. For that reason, the Trinity has always been skipped over. At 250+ miles in one direction, it stops making sense for a day trip. After hearing so many stories, I couldn't wait any longer and since my wife was out of town with our son, I took advantage of the time with a two day fishing adventure.

After driving more than 4 hours, I arrived at 4am to the Steel Bridge Rd access. It was so dark out that the stars were absolutely stunning. There were so many of them, something I hadn't seen in a long time. It was almost mesmerizing. Beautiful.

I started gearing up in the dark and was on the river with just enough light to keep from falling in. This was an early start to a spectacular two days of fishing.

The length of river I had available for fishing at this particular access was limited. I covered a section of riffles about 200 yards very thoroughly. Catching only a few rainbows under 10 inches, the action wasn't particularly noteful. However, something I did witness that is pretty rare at the rivers I usually frequent, but ended up becoming almost routine on these two days were the large fish jumping out of the water. Here we had one that kept proudly showing his length to be clearly over 24 inches long. He was pretty darn fat too. He could easily clear the water and made a huge splash on his return. I tried everything in my power and a box of flies to catch him, but it just wasn't meant to be. Eventually, after an hour or so, I gave up and went down river.

I found a few more places to get to the river downstream off of Steel Bridge before reaching 299. Literally in people's backyards, I was swinging soft hackles and winged wet flies on a three-fly-rig. In this one area that looked quite fishy, I was catching 10 inchers on every cast. So much so, it started to become annoying. I was trying to get the bigger fish that surely were out there. But these little guys were attacking my fly with vengeance. Time to leave.

The next planned access point was Poker Bar Rd. I didn't find any good spots to reach the river, so I didn't actually get out of the car. Upon reviewing my trip with satellite images, I must of missed the road I was looking for that paralleled the river. Oh well, maybe next time.

It was still relatively early, so I made my way downriver by car to Douglas City. The riffle underneath the bridge was nice looking water. Unfortunately, the hot part of the day had already begun. Fish were staying down and not interested in eating. I pulled exactly zero fish out of this section. Although nice looking, I'll skip over it in favor of better water on my next trip. Being right under the highway, it probably gets heavy pressure too.

The next few hours took me to the miles along Steiner Flat Road. This area has a lot of good water. Deep holes, long riffles and runs. Still being the hot part of the day, I still managed to catch some rainbows under 15 inches. It was somewhere along this stretch that I saw a dead steelhead floating in the water. He was more than 34 inches long! This only confirms what I found out earlier. This river holds big fish! This was one of the better sections and deserves more attention next time. Although accessibility is difficult in areas, it is prime.

There was some discrepancy whether the "fly fishing only" section of the Trinity was open or not. I could of sworn I read that it closed on August 31st. However, the local fly shop said that that was a typo. I was willing to travel the 12 or so miles upstream to find out. Upon arriving, I was happy to see that it was posted clearly that I had until September 15th to fish. No need to worry.

My first stop in this section was below the Lewiston dam. This section runs along the hatchery and although isn't the prettiest water you'll find, it is loaded with fish. A lot of big fish. There were trout, steelhead, and salmon sharing the water. Once again, big fish were everywhere. Some of the Salmon looked really worn out and I went out of my way to avoid them. The last thing I wanted to do was catch one of these guys. Not only was I successful at that, I was also successful in not catching much of anything else! A few trout here and there. Technically they were steelhead, but to me, steelhead means much more than the official definition you'll find in the DFG books.

It was now late afternoon and I decided to head downstream. Closer to the Lewiston bridge, but upstream several hundred yards. The river was incredibly beautiful in this section. I seemed to catch trout after trout. Mostly smaller guys around 10 inches that were caught on various nymphs and soft hackles on the swing or high sticked through the pocket water.

Once again, large 24-30+ inch fish were jumping from the water. I tried for a while to nab one, but I was given the cold shoulder (fin?). It really was humbling to see these fish. I don't think I've ever been on a river and seen dozens of very large fish jumping like this. In one particular pool, they were everywhere. Getting a good cast out to them was difficult and I just couldn't get it done to where they were.

The water below this pool deserved some careful casting to the dozens of little nooks and crannies that looked to hold fish. When the pocket water ended and the river opened up, I did the step and swing with soft hackles. By using various spey casts, I could cover this river thoroughly - even though my back was against the brush and the river was 60 or more feet wide. I was rewarded with a lot of catches. Mostly rainbows, some wild and some hatchery, but also caught a couple of browns.

The sun was coming down and I made a decision to head back upstream to the dam. I covered it more carefully this time, but the big fish continued to ignore me. Fortunately, I caught some 15-18 inch fish that fought hard. One quick hook up with a large fish did take place, but he broke me off after a few seconds. Was he a larger steelhead? We'll never know.

While perched on a rock, I bent down to brace myself as I scrambled down. My sunglasses, which were in stuffed into my chest pack popped out and into the river. They weren't needed at this point, since it was now getting dark, but what about tomorrow?! For someone with very sensitive eyes to bright sun (blond hair/blue eyes), this was a bigger deal than it should of been. In an effort to get them back before they disappeared forever, I shoved my arm into the water and submerged my upper torso to try and grab them. I missed. Not only am I completely soaked from neck to toe, some steelhead is sporting a cool set of shades.

I fished for a bit longer, before it got too dark. While navigating the river back to my car, I tripped on an unseen submerged log and almost dunked myself again. For such a hot day, it was now pretty chilly out and this certainly didn't help. I shivered myself back to the car to end my day.

Stay tuned for day number two.

Trip Report: Yuba

If you recall, I was planning to fish the American river on Friday. That was until I remembered that the Yuba above the 20 would be closed in a few days. So, my plans were altered at the last minute.

Arriving at 7am, I geared up and quickly fished the run just below the first bit of churning water, not far upstream from the bridge. Started out with a 3 fly assortment of various soft hackles, anchored by a colorful attractor soft hackle. The rig was held on by an intermediate sinking leader. This setup was the basis for my morning. The three flies were swapped in various combinations throughout.

There was barely any above the water activity, although a few fish did break the surface here and there. It didn't take long before moving upstream seemed like a good idea. If I remember, correctly I went to the first left hand bend and fished upstream of that and back to the bend. Again, nothing.

Eventually, I made my way upstream a ways along the left bank (looking upstream) and found a place to cross river. I hadn't tried to go this far last time I was here and didn't realize there was a somewhat easy place to cross. The river was wide and only waist/chest deep. Not much work, just a slow process on the slippery rocks. I caught a few smaller fish in this area.

Once across I moved upstream to the slow right hand bend, where there the river divides in 3 sections. This was my starting off point for a step-and-swing down river. Again, a few more fish were caught. Nothing to write home about. Maybe 12 inches max.

At one point, I was standing in the river and happened to look down at the right moment to see a 24-32 inch rainbow about 7 feet away from me. He was just hanging out, nibbling on nymphs as they floated down to him in about 4 feet of water. Quickly pulling in some line, I made a few casts to him before he disappeared. So, obviously the big fish are in there. I just wasn't able to nab this one.

While swinging/stepping down river I was met by a guy in a kayak from Fish and Game. We talked for a moment and then he continued down river. Nothing much for him to see here, that's for sure.

The day was getting hot. The high was supposed to be over 100, and I believe it. There were no other fisherman on the river, too smart to stand in the triple digits I suppose. Because of the heat, I eventually dumped the three fly rig and put on a sinking tip with various heavy (summer) steelhead flies. This lasted until the late afternoon and the fish started coming to the surface again.

I've got a lot to do this weekend, so I won't pour over every place I fished. Let's just say that pretty much the whole river was covered from where I saw that big fish down to the bridge. In one area, while perched on a rock, I could look out and see more than a dozen trout, all over 15 inches. The largest ones looked to be pushing 30. It was a crazy scene. They were deep down and it wasn't easy to access them with a fly rod. Although I tried for a while, I just couldn't get to them with the limited casting space and precarious position I had to get into. They were not all trout. Some of them were obscured by the surface ripples and made it hard to know for sure. Other than being huge, I'm still not positive what they were.

All in all, it was a sweltering day with a few decent sized fish. Overall, it was slow, as you'd expect for such a warm day. Next week, I'm hoping to take a two day trip to Northern California. Perhaps the Trinity.

Fly #27: Steelhead Experimentation

I'll be heading out to the American next week for a swing (pun intended) at Steelhead. I'll be taking along all those rather large and colorful steelhead flies that I've been tying up recently, but also be doing a little testing with smaller soft hackles too.

The colors are off in this photo, but what you should be seeing
is white marabou with an Olive soft hackle up front. Some extra flash
tied in, along with some green rubber legs. A wire rib gives it a little
weight to pull it below the surface.

I know that plenty of steelhead can be caught on smaller soft hackles and nymphs as well as the larger "steelhead" flies. After tying a box full of the larger guys, I've come to really like the movement you get out of the soft feathers. While at the Stan last week, I took advantage of the ultra clear water by really looking at how the flies looked underwater. The marabou gave it so much life, they billowed in the current.

A rather thick chunk of olive marabou hides a silver ribbing. The hackle
consists of a red guinea and a blue/green guinea in front of that. A bead gives it some weight.

Earlier in the week, I decided to mix up my love for soft hackles with my new affair with big marabou steelhead flies. The result are small size 10-14 flies that have a soft hackle up front with marabou underneath. I've done some really unscientific testing in a glass of water in my kitchen and indeed they have nice movement. Just like their big brothers. hat will the fish think? We'll hopefully find out next week.

Trip Report: Lower Stan

Last Sunday, I was able to take a rare weekend day off to fish. This was part two of the exchange program between Mr. X and I. He had already shown me Putah Creek on a float tube and now it was my turn to show him Two Mile Bar on the Lower Stan.

We met at 6am in the parking lot. After putting our stuff together, we walked down and found the river at a very good wading level. It was clear and cold. And interestingly enough, for a Sunday, it was pretty much empty. All day long.

This was my first time starting out at Two Mile. Normally, I begin the morning at Tulloch and switch locations in early afternoon. It was a nice change of pace. Upon arriving, we started at the top of the first riffle below the long slow pool coming down the canyon. Even though a hatch was on, it started out slow. I did my usual swing and step down the river while Mr. X stayed a bit in the slower water above the riffle. After making it to the island, I still hadn't caught anything. I covered a good portion of both channels until I started catching a few 10 inch rainbows on a small white soft hackle.

Traveling on the far side of the river from the parking area, we headed down river. I think I spent more time changing flies and swapping sink tips than I did fishing. At one point I even tied on a big old grasshopper as an indicator and a small nymph trailing down from that. That probably doesn't sound unusual. But for me, someone who rarely puts on a surface fly, and even more rarely uses an indicator, it was quite unusual. It should be no surprise that I didn't catch anything. I don't think I could of felt more out of my element. However, I'd like to broaden my horizons and try new techniques. Afterward, I switched to some of those big streamer flies on a sinking tip and swam them in the current below me as the water churned through some boulders. I may of gotten a bite or two, but that was about it.

We decided to head back up river to revisit some spots from early in the morning before making a move up the road to Tulloch. Once making the drive, Mr. X suggested we fish near the dam. A place I had never been before, at least not that close to the falls. Boy did that mist feel good on this hot day.

Fish were everywhere, but they didn't want anything I presented to them. And I tried a whole lot of flies. We gave it quite a while and then headed down river. After a little while longer, Mr. X decided to call it a day. At that point, I went back up river and caught a few more fish about a quarter way to the dam. Again in the 10 inch range.

I was getting bored with Tulloch, so I went back down the road to Two Mile. Fishing started out slow, but as the sun began to lower, it started picking up. For a while, I was catching a fish every 5 or 10 minutes. As you can guess, they were all in the 10-12 inch area.

This was a big day for experimentation. Soft hackles, nymphs, streamers, steelhead flies, dries, terrestrials, I tried them all. Only the soft hackles were producing for me. Mostly on the downward leg of the swing with a few coming during the dead drift on an upriver cast.

It was getting dark and I was about to throw in the towel when I hooked what felt like a large fish. I was quite surprised because of the constant supply of small fish. At first he didn't seem very big, but then he really pulled hard as he got within 15 feet of me. The fight when on for a little while, but the guy started to get tired and I could scoop him up pretty easy with my hand. I was actually surprised to see he was only about 15 inches. Considering the fight he gave me, I expected him to be a little bigger. Like some of the others during the minutes prior to dark, he was caught on a small size 16 wet fly. This one was a black winged wet. After letting him rest behind my leg, he sped off, full of energy.

As I was standing in the river, trying to catch a few more as it became almost pitch black out, I heard a siren blare in the distance. I didn't know what it was initially since it was echoing off the canyon walls. About five minutes later, it happened again. For a paranoid moment, I thought it might have been some kind of warning that the river was about to rise, so I quickly exited the water. Then reality set in and I remembered that I was supposed to be out of the parking lot by sunset. It must have been someone trying to hurry me up.

I got out of the river, dug out my flashlight and headed back to the car. Sure enough, the Sheriff was waiting for me. Woops!

All in all, it was a great day. I didn't accurately keep track of how many fish I caught, but it was somewhere north of 15. All of them except the one were in the 9-12 inch range (I'm not counting the few dinks that somehow opened their mouths wide enough to get hooked). The Lower Stan continues to be an ego booster.

Fly #26: Flies for the Lower Stan

In preparation for a trip to the Lower Stan, I've been tying a few flies. Some of those are pictured below. As always, click on the picture for a larger version.

This one is tied on a size 12 hook and has a red guinea feather for a tail, a partridge hackle up front and a feather palmered up the shank. I've used a similar fly on this river before with great success. This relatively light fly combined with the palmered hackle will keep him right under the surface.

This is a size 14 with partridge hackle up front and a dubbed body with wire ribbing giving it some weight. This basic soft hackle always gets attention on just about every river. The Lower Stan is no exception. This guy will sink at a good rate and will be fished a few feet down.

Another red size 10 fly. This is practically the same as the first except with a red guinea hackle up front.

Watch for a report in the coming days to see how they worked out.

Fly #24: Articulated Variation

Very similar to the previous fly post, this one mostly differs by the trailing stinger hook. The main part of the fly is tied on a shank that had the hook clipped off with wire cutters. That trailing hook is tied to the shank with heavy mono, with a small clump of marabou tied to behind some dubbing. The result is an articulated marabou fly meant for everyday trout.

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!