When the walls close in, you go fishing…
By Tom Chandler on Aug 2, 2006 in Fishing Report, Fly Fishing, Upper Sacramento
It’s not as if my life is as stressful as your average air traffic controller’s, but at times the office feels like it’s growing bars on the windows. Still, if you’ve done it right, you live near a great trout river - and in those moments, you grab your gear and head for that river.
If your arrival on the river finds eight people from a company retreat - many of them with spinning rods - fishing the Upper Sac’s most technical dry fly water, then you simply pack up and move somewhere else (a temper tantrum wouldn’t help anyway).
Pretty blue beetle. He doesn’t look crazy with deadlines…
That’s how I ended up sitting on a rock next to Chris Raine, staring at a run I rarely fish, though because it came complete with a smooth tailout, nervous water, and fast-moving frothy water, it was wholly recognizable.
The cooler weather has brought some of the hatches out of hibernation; we hit a marginal PED hatch, and I happened to have the right Quigley Cripple in my box. When the water’s not frothy, it’s my go-to fly, especially on sparse hatches. It floats well (and when it doesn’t, you simply dust the front of it and keep fishing), and most importantly, it fools fish. Even picky fish.
Easy to tie, versatile enough to match any mayfly hatch, scales from #6 hexes to #22 BWOs… it’s become a classic, and with good reason. I like it enough that I’m going to try and interview Bob Quigley and get a few hints about fishing the thing. Stay tuned…
Last night’s chewed-up specimen. I appreciate chewed flies so much more than the fresh ones…
I ended up with one healthy 14″-15″ rainbow (you know the type), a couple in the 11″-12″ range, and a half-dozen other hookups with smaller trout. A success in every sense. By the time I arrived home, someone had even removed the bars in the windows - proof that fly fishing fixes most everything. See you in the mental health ward, Tom Chandler.
rriver | Aug 2, 2006 | Reply
There is probably nothing better than a well chewed fly at the end of a trip to the river. I’lve always thought I would save these as a reminder of what worked. I usually just show my wife, who god bless her, humors me.
I think an interview with Quigley would be great.
Kind of off topic, I just started reading The Longest Silence, by McGuane. Quite good.
My other gem to offer is that I moved all the pod casts from Fly Fish Radio to my nano and listened some on my drive down to San Francisco Sunday, where I am now. Entertaining, insightful and a wealth of information.
Learn the 3 c’s and the 5 things you can change in fly fishing.
How did we survive before blogs and pod casts? I can’t quite remember.
- rriver
TC | Aug 2, 2006 | Reply
There’s a book idea — “Well Chewed Flies.” We can have it ready in time for the Holiday season…
The five things you can change in fly fishing?
1. Your brand of whiskey
2. Your attitude
3. Your location
4. Your annoying fishing buddies
5. Your underwear
Let me know how close I got.
Glad to hear you’re reading The Longest Silence. The introduction alone was worth the price of the book.
rriver | Aug 2, 2006 | Reply
Pretty close:
1. Location
2. Time
3. Depth
4. Movement
5. Fly
The interesting part of this is once you are standing in the water you are down to 3 variables, though your additions may make Norm Albiston consider modification of the list.
- rriver
Heddon17 | Aug 2, 2006 | Reply
Yes an interview with Quigley would be great. I think he lives in Southern Oregon now.
I went to the Upper River on Sat and had similar results. Landed about a half dozen and hooked one about 15-16″ which shook the fly after a few seconds or so.
A size 16 PED Quigley Cripple worked well. Agree that a Quigley Cripple is a great fly for those sections of the Upper Sac that are not fast water.
Have you noticed any larger mayflies flying around there recently? Say about a #14 and gray? I’ve seen a few of these guys flying around the last couple trips and was wondering if anyone else has? When they’re out, a #14 Parachute Adams will get a few rises. I’m thinking of tying a couple #14 gray Quigley cripples and trying those this weekend if the gray mayflies make another appearance.
There’s not a lot of these bugs out there but at least enough to get the trout interested.
Brian
TC | Aug 3, 2006 | Reply
We didn’t see any #14 grey bugs. Chris has reported seeing some of the “paralets” which are more of a 16/18, though they do exemplify the “Adams hatch” very well.
As for the Five things you can change while fishing, I suppose it might be useful for beginners, but it seems a little like an attempt to “systemify” something relatively obvious to anyone who’s fished much.
As for myself, when I’m not catching fish, I change my underwear, and it works more often than not…