One Cast. One Fish. Wonder Where the Other Fish Are.

I waded into the water amid a scattering of BWOs, saw a fish rise, put a nice cast on him, watched him eat the fly and lifted the rod.

Wow. I just caught myself a fat 18″ trout. My first thought?

It can only go downhill from here.

Yet another Upper Sac fish-in-the-net pic. Sorry, I don’t drag ‘em up on rocks to shoot ‘em.

Shirker. Shirker!

It was Friday, and I had a lot of work to do. Lots.

Decided I wasn’t going to fish (despite the overcast), but Chris called and told me Jim Reams was driving over from Fall River to fish.

Damn.

I often say that Jim’s the best, least-known bamboo rod builder in the country, but that’s getting only half true - he’s rapidly gaining a deserved reputation for his smooth-casting, lightweight hollowbuilt rods.

In the last six months he’s been on the receiving end of so many rod orders that if you tried to order a rod in the parking lot before we fished, you’d wait 1.5 years to get it (actually, you’d probably get punched for coming between Jim and a rising trout, but I’m trying to make a point here).

Jim fishes like he builds rods, which is to say he’s got a sharp eye for detail and he casts extremely well.

He catches spooky trout on some of California’s tougher waters on a daily basis (the Fall River runs through his backyard). It’s a very cool thing to see.

Jim Reams on the Upper Sac. See Jim fish good. See Jim catch fish.

It was cloudy in Dunsmuir and Mount Shasta, but just as the BWOs started floating downriver it got brighter. And brighter. And then downright sunny.

Chris hooked a fish right off the bat. And lost him.

The Jim hooked a fish at long range. And lost him.

Then I hooked my fish, and after a lengthy bout of hand-to-fin combat, landed him. He was a very fat 18″ fish who looked like he’d been eating too many slaw dogs. That’s good for him and me.

Then Jim hooked two more and lost them.

And then we basically stood around looking at each other while bugs floated by and fish didn’t rise.

Bad sun. Bad, bad sun.

Tomorrow’s Another Day

Snow is forecast for tomorrow, and if it looks good, I’m headed someplace cold and wet. Since my 8′3″ hollowbuilt 4wt bamboo rod performed so beautifully today, I’ll probably use it again tomorrow.

Until then, see you on the river, Tom Chandler.

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