Fishing, Sleeping, and the Predatory Edge
By Tom Chandler on Oct 10, 2006 in Fishing Report, Fly Fishing, Upper Sacramento
It’s definitely fall on the Upper Sacramento. The colors are breathtaking, the October Caddis are flying, and the water is cold as hell.
Brightly colored leaves wrapped around a dead branch in the water. Looks better than it sounds.
The last couple weeks have found me fishing in a lot of places that - technically speaking - aren’t anywhere near the Upper Sacramento. This tends to leave me feeling a little disconnected from my home river.
I step in the water and all the rocks are in the same place, but the fishing’s completely different.
Monday night I hiked a fair distance down the railroad tracks, hoping to scare up a few pocket water fish like I did a couple weeks ago. Sadly, that bite just wasn’t working for me, and I ran into two other anglers in the process.
A couple small fish later, I headed back upriver (stopping to shoot a few “fall color” pics along the way) to a stretch better suited to rising fish.
There were a few working, and I’d love to tell you a story about my brilliance in catching and landing the biggest fish in the run, but the final tally was a half-dozen smaller fish on a mish-mash of bugs.
About the size of things on Monday night. Note the frozen red fingers.
The October Caddis were flying, but as is often the case, the fish seemed far more keyed in on the #18 PED spinners or the #14 Yellow Stone that was flying by.
In truth, I should have tried a handful of different flies in a desperate attempt to crack the code, but I was feeling lazy and tired and simply lacked the Predatory Edge. That’s the thing that gets you staring at the water, sneaking around like a heron, and trying different flies until you find the one they eat every drift.
Instead, I stared at the trees, snuck around like a hippo, and tried exactly three flies, all of which got eaten on an occasional basis.
Still, don’t assume a level of disappointment that doesn’t exist; I didn’t crush ‘em, but I saw some monster fall color. Since I get to fish again tonight, it’s enough…
[tags]october caddis[/tags]
Insane | Oct 11, 2006 | Reply
I too have been guilty of being lazy on occassion. It’s not a very difficult thing to do when the beauty of the surrounding area is enough to keep you occupied. I think that’s what sets fly fishermen apart from other modern day fishermen. To me it’s the solitude, scenery, and companionship with old and new friends alike that gives me that sense of accomplishment regardless of remembering how many fish I caught and what size.
Good luck on the rest of your trip!
Tom Chandler | Oct 12, 2006 | Reply
Good points. Sometimes I fish to catch fish, others I fish to surround myself with the things that don’t hassle me, edit my work, or pay me late.
For me, that’s the beauty of fly fishing; the world recedes…