All Fall, All the Time on the Trout Underground

With the days sunny and warm and the nights right around freezing, the fall colors just keep hanging in there. Soon we’ll get a cold snap and the hard frosts that follow, dropping the leaves and killing off the October Caddis in droves.

That’s when the spent-wing October Caddis patterns really work, but everybody’s gone by then (I’m fine with that).

For now, the upper half of the river just keeps looking like this:

A river runs through it, and the river has fish, so why am I shooting instead of fishing?

Yesterday (Friday) was my chance to hit the river, though the usual combination of work stuff kept me in the office two hours later than my planned 1 pm escape.

I was concerned because the river’s hosting a lot of fly fishers right now, so I was planning a pretty serious hike top clear the crowds. Of course, when you’re hiking you’re not fishing, and when the skies are dark at 6:15 and the walk out is long, getting on the river late really squeezes you…

Close Encounters of the Dry Fly Kind

On the way down the tracks I stopped and talked to a very nice fly fisher who said he’d had a tough day nymphing. This is where the sport’s current focus on nymphing really hurts fly fishers, and I’d encourage many to read this next sentence carefully:

Even if there aren’t a lot of bugs on the water, that doesn’t mean you should automatically start nymphing. Pocket water dry fly fishing is a very productive way to go, and - unlike three split shot and a fright-wig indicator - you can actually cast the dry. (It’s fun, eh?)

Another 13″-14″ Upper Sacramento Rainbow - one of three last night.

What are they bitin’ mister?

Last night’s 2-hour tally came to 10 hookups, eight landed. Three of those were healthy beggars in the 13″-14″ range, while most of the rest filled the 9″-11″ slots (the footlong fish were apparently on strike).

In a little bit of reality that should surprise no regular Trout Underground reader, I caught more fish (and the bigger fish) on a #16 yellow stonefly than the monster October Caddis dry I also threw.

This kind of thing happens all the time; the skies above the river will be clotted by October Caddis, and yet the fish are eating something much, much smaller.

Last night, I had a lot of splashy rises on the October Caddis from small fish, but the big fish in the current tongues ate the yellow stone with a calm assurance.

I won’t even bother to write a “moral” to this story.

Off to Bamboo Land

Chris Raine’s hosting the Great Western Bamboo Rod Gathering in Dunsmuir, so I’ve gotta gather up a few of my better-casting rods, grab a shower, and head down I-5.

Expect a short report, and maybe a few pictures of an exotic grass…

See you on the casting pond, Tom Chandler

Technorati Tags: upper sacramento river, october caddis, stonefly, bamboo