Wednesday is an odd day to post what amounts to the Monday Roundup, but those of us who are in tune with nature’s rhythms know that when the words appear (or the backlog of weird news stuff builds up), it’s time to throw it all up on the Internet to see what sticks.
First, the local […]

There’s nothing attractive about stoneflies, but what makes them pretty to fly fishers is how trout react to them - they eat them the way local fly fishers eat slaw dogs.

Stoneflies aren’t pretty… until the trout start eating them with abandon…

On Sunday I floated the Upper Rogue with guide Dave Roberts (the Puppet Master) and […]

It’s Friday morning, and for some reason I’m already done for the week. There’s work to do and clients to call, but I’m ready to unplug the phone, turn off the e-mail, and curl up in the fetal position. Wake me when Friday’s over.
Some fishing would be a nice change, and with the Upper Sac […]

My Ginko-eating readers will no doubt recall my desperate plan to visit “Longshot” lake, a can’t-fail idea I cooked up to fish an alpine lake where the trout would be plentiful and the water clear. Unfortunately – as this icy picture from Alert Local Guide Steve Bertrand shows – my plans were perhaps a little […]

It’s raining, so this must be Monday. Cooler temperatures actually dropped Upper Sac flows a little over the weekend, but you knew the runoff would hit the river as soon as the ground was saturated, and with the river now spiking towards 9,000 cfs, I’m guessing it’s happened.
That’s OK – we’re not the only fly […]

Work wrapped its sticky fingers around me yesterday afternoon and kept me away from the misleadingly named “Longshot Lake” (though with rain falling all afternoon, all evening, and most of the morning it’s not clear I missed a lot).
The river itself spiked over 8,000 cfs – an astonishing number for this time of year. As […]

It rained lightly last night, and river flows have actually exceeded the 6,000 cfs mark. With most local options looking grim, I’m staging an afternoon jailbreak and heading into the hills to what might best be described as “Longshot Lake.” This is little more than an opportunity to waste $3.21-a-gallon gasoline, but a long shot […]

The hot weather in the Upper Sacramento River Canyon is melting snow and driving flows ever higher – the river’s nudging an amazing 6,000 cfs (historical data suggest 1500 cfs is average), and the upward trend continues. Despite the fact the Upper Sac’s currently best suited for use by whitewater enthusiasts with a death wish, […]

The casual observer might assume that catching fish was pretty much the point of fly fishing, but they’d be several degrees off true North. Getting skunked isn’t fun – and more bigger fish is usually better than fewer smaller fish – but I love fly fishing for the places it takes me. Need a reminder […]

Due to overwhelming demand (and several thinly veiled threats from Dave Edmondson), Tuesday evening will find me hosting a Tennessee Slaw Dog cookout at the Trout Underground World Headquarters.

For those who can’t make it but wish to simultaneously participate in this homage to Eastern Tennessee gas station food, the equipment list for the original slaw […]

A quick 16 hours of travel, and I arrived back at Trout Underground World Headquarters late Tuesday night. When you live in a remote area, going anywhere usually involves at least a long travel day - travel being the thing where you drive a long ways, hang out with thousands of quietly desperate people at […]

I’ve only got a few minutes before I have to leave the happy little burg of Townsend for the Knoxville airport, beginning my seemingly interminable journey home on a tiny, buzzing, sealed flying tube with wings - powered by flammable-liquid guzzling engines burning at truly galactic temperatures.
I can’t wait.
Expect more on the great Slaw Dog […]