The Underground Right Now.
By Tom Chandler on Dec 11, 2006 in Underground Entertainment
It’s Monday evening. The wet, heavy snow has started falling again, and everything feels damp and cold.
The satellite TV succumbed to the snow a couple hours ago, but that’s OK. It’s a night to sip hot tea, sit down and write a little.
Of course - if you read Jim Troyer’s report from Baja - you know it’s also a night to wonder about a winter fly fishing commando raid someplace warm.
I love fishing the Upper Sacramento River in the winter, but after a few months of snow and leaden skies, the idea of getting towed around Baja’s East Cape by a big, strong fish has me checking the online booking sites for flight information.
Ian & Charity are running a bonefish trip to Belize in February, but I’ve got unfinished business in Baja, and with the L&T Nancy along, only a moron would eschew romance to fish every day.
While I’m at it, I find myself running ticket scenarios for another May trip to Tennessee. No decision yet, but only the most tightassed fly fisher wouldn’t at least look. (Under $400 round trip.)
Talking, and Talking Back.
I also wanted to check in with the Undergrounders. It’s been a little quiet around here lately. Traffic keeps climbing so I know you’re out there, and I figure Holiday Madness might be stampeding us all just a little bit.
A blog is a community, and everyone should feel welcome to leave a comment whenever the mood (or the post) strikes them.
What’s New at the Underground.
You’ll notice I added Amazon.com to my affiliates links. I like Amazon, and now - when I rave about a book that you absolutely, positively must buy overnight - I can include a link right to the title.
If you’re like me, you like books. A lot. Periodically - usually when I move - I take the opportunity to pare back the collection, but my existence is still buoyed by a ton of books.
I can count on the fingers of both hands the books I truly regret buying, and the good ones get read over and over.
I get a small percentage of every sale you make when you click through the Trout Underground links - all of which goes to support the site (and perhaps my travel fund, though we’re a long, long ways from that point).
Adding a little advertising is a distinct possibility in the future, though my goal is not to disrupt the experience at the Underground.
See you on the river, in Belize, Baja, Tennessee, and behind the keyboard, Tom Chandler.
Technorati Tags: amazon, belize, winter, fly fishing
ijsouth | Dec 11, 2006 | Reply
I can sympathize…even here in balmy south Louisiana, the weather can 86 the best laid plans. Here, it’s the wind - one day, it’s light and in the right direction (Southeast), the next day, howling out of the Northwest, and all the water is blown out of the marsh.
However, there are always alternatives…I too have “discovered” the Smokies, and I was able to get away for a few days over Thanksgiving. While the fishing wasn’t fast and furious, at least it was fishing…I hope to make a repeat trip over New Year’s. I’m lucky - it is exactly 9.5 hours from the house to the Tremont area of the park.
hawgdaddy | Dec 12, 2006 | Reply
Nice pic. I like playing with Photoshop’s filters, blurs, and such to see what I get sometimes.
ijsouth,
I’ll be in the Smokies over the New Year’s weekend as well. I’ll only have one day to fish (it’s a family gathering), but I’m planning to take full advantage. Good luck,
hawgdaddy
Larry Swearingen | Dec 12, 2006 | Reply
Since you brought up Amazon.com and fishing literature:
Absolutely the WORST piece of fishing related writing I
have ever read is “In the thrill of the NIGHT” Fishing the Michigan Hex. by Dan Catau.
Brook Trout Publishing.
You have been warned !
Larry S
Kevin | Dec 12, 2006 | Reply
Rainy weather means I’ll probably be alone on the American this afternoon, hoping our bigger steelies are starting to show. I’ll likely never have a chance to live on the Sac (you lucky son of a gun) but the American is an acceptable compromise.
Tom Chandler | Dec 12, 2006 | Reply
Rain’s OK. As long as it doesn’t blow out the river. Work’s harder on my fishing than weather ever is.
I don’t own Photoshop. I use a free piece of software called PhotoFiltre. I’ll get around to Photoshop some day…
I’m trapped in the office for another 1.5 days, but hope to fish this week. That’ll be nice.
hawgdaddy | Dec 12, 2006 | Reply
Got my copy off eBay for around $100. Older version. Paint Shop Pro used to be a really nice inexpensive alternative to Photoshop, but I haven’t used it in a few years. A friend of mine likes it better than Photoshop. You can find it for around $70 brand new, probably through that nifty Amazon link you have on the right side. No need to thank me for the free plug,
hawgdaddy
C4CRaine | Dec 12, 2006 | Reply
Ya, I got a comment - what’s the deal with recycling pictures, even if they are ‘altered for fun.’ I expect a little bit of entertainment when I navigate over to the Underground. If you were reading one of your books and the author wrote the same chapter twice in a row, but using a few different words or a different tense I don’t think you’d enjoy it either!….wow, that really sounds like I’m angry, I apologize - I do like the effect, hope that you can find somewhere to fish, how has the snow affected the flows?
rriver | Dec 12, 2006 | Reply
I tied with Dave Roberts on Sunday in his new tying room. More materials than any fly shop I have ever been in. I learned a few new things and was reminded of a few old things. He had tied quite a few soft hackles, so I tied a few while eating lunch back home, basic unweighted PT nymphs with a partridge collar in size 16.
I went out with the new bamboo, freezing, but there were midges and a few mayflies coming off. I finally figured out where the fish were (inside edges in slack water next to a riffle), and hooked a pretty good one and popped it off. Did the same thing a few casts later.
Then I could not get a strike, it got dark and I was really cold. I reeled in and saw I had no fly. Hmmm … Probably happened on the second fish. Note to self: pay attention.
Still not a bad day. I learned how to split tail fibbets only swearing a little.
- rriver
Capt Gordon | Dec 12, 2006 | Reply
You are making a HUGE mistake if you don’t come out to the NC Coast to fish for redfish when you come east!
Bamboo Addict | Dec 12, 2006 | Reply
Dave, it was a ball having you over for the first one to visit the new tying room. Its so much fun to tye with others. TC you have a new BWO pattern to try just get your @$$ up here. Will be down at the kid’s for Christmas so if you are in town we might sneek down to a couple of runs down river.
David
ijsouth | Dec 12, 2006 | Reply
I’ve heard the reds were pretty good in North Carolina, but I guarantee Louisiana has the most numbers of fish…when you hit them right, you can literally catch 100 a day; big ones, too - in fact, the complaint this year was that too many of them were TOO big - in Louisiana, you are only allowed 1 over 27 inches.
Tom Chandler | Dec 12, 2006 | Reply
@rriver: Dave doesn’t so much need a fly tying room as much as he requires a Fly Tying Warehouse. In the event of global thermonuclear war - and the USA’s Strategic Fly Tying Material Reserve is exhausted, I’m heading for his place. Really, it’s a matter of survival.
As for you Redheads, the L&T Nancy and I have been giving some thought to a mid-winter Baja trip, though Redfish in the gulf are also a possibility.
Life is full of hard decisions.
ijsouth | Dec 13, 2006 | Reply
To be honest, I would go to Belize - you just don’t know what sort of weather you’ll get here on the Gulf in late Winter/early Spring. Usually, though, you can count on wind, which turns our shallow water the color of cafe au lait; forget sight-casting then. I would wait until May - by then, the winds settle down and the weather is dependable - of course, it’s dependably hot.
Mark Latham | Dec 13, 2006 | Reply
Tom,
My recent upper sac trip was cool, to say the least. It started out cool and got colder. Just like last year. I was surprised to see that Sims, my campground destination, was closed early for the winter. Chickens.. At least they left the gate open after the hosts left last year. I tucked into a ’secret spot’ down the road and went fishing. Had the whole place to myself for a couple of days. Yes, there are fish there. Nice ones, too. I spent some time trying a triple fly set up. Needs more whisky, I think.
I keep forgetting to put silicone on my weather strips for winter. I think it was warmer in the river. 11/25- I worked my way up river and went fishing with good old friends. We got our fishing in the last day before the snow started. I think that the last time I got all three Raines in the river at the same time was 5 years ago. Look around my album, I got a pic in there somewhere. No pic of Mike with his new rod, though. Everybody got a fish. The big stimulator was still working, on the young ones.
I had a dilemma on Sunday, because it started to snow about 5:30. I thought that I might have a fishing partner at 11:00, so I popped over to the Lucia house for a quick visit and waited. I couldn’t get Mike out of the Lay-Z-Boy, and I wanted to get a couple more hours in the river.
The snow didn’t let up, so I thought I might be able to get under it if I fished some spots down the canyon towards lake shasta. Rain can be warmer than snowflakes. It was still snowing at Lamoine.
The Hi-Lo trailer did well in the snow conditions. I think I won’t be able to tow it through more than a foot of snow, though. The snow starts to pile up in the undercarriage. The truck does fine, but the trailer would need snow ski attachments for the wheels, which would be a handful, or maybe a lift kit !
As soon as the storm cycle gets into full swing, I’ll plan another trip north. That’s probably at least a month or so out. If I time it right, I’ll need snowshoes to get to the river.
Regards,
Mark
rriver | Dec 13, 2006 | Reply
The Rogue is blown out, for those you might want to know. As I look at my office window it looks like the Mississippi. The hydrograph shows the peak will by around Friday at midnight, but this is never accurate.
If you want to fish the Rogue, the Holy Water or the run just below the Cole River Hatchery are the best bets. I don’t know why I’m saying this, but this stretch fishes extremely well in high water. Its best done with spikes, a staff and a spey rod.
For the Holy Water, you need a bamboo rod, a flask, a 12 foot leader, and Holy Water midges, rs2’s or soft hackles, nothing bigger than size 18.
- rriver
Tom Chandler | Dec 13, 2006 | Reply
The Upper Sac is running 2000+ cfs. Of course, I listened to it rain all night so I didn’t really need to check.
There are still places to fish the thing, but I’d suggest the 7x/BWO hatches won’t be at the top of their game.
It’s all academic. Unlike that slacker RRiver, I’ve gotta work today and won’t be able to fish. Like that slacker RRiver, I’m a big fan of fishing the holy water with a bamboo rod, flask and tiny flies, though I always wondered why so many people insisted on fishing sinking lines and leeches through a perfectly good hatch.
Confused in California.