A couple years ago I wrote that the river reflects a fly fisher’s mood back to him; fish angry and the water rages. Fish relaxed, and the same river flows over the same rocks like a zen master.
Fittingly, when Wayne Eng and I stumbled into our gear and tried to wade across an Upper Sacramento River backwater, we found no water flowing at all:
Two feet… with two feet of water under them. Separated by 3″ of ice.
Fittingly? My brain feels as if it’s been stuck in molasses the last couple days, but the picture also speaks volumes about the recent cold snap.
I’ve walked on water before, but never Upper Sacramento River water. Fortunately, where there’s current there’s liquid, flowing water.
On that water we saw a few BWOs and no steady fish. And while it’s hardly surprising I couldn’t sucker a trout on a nymph, it was surprising to discover Wayne couldn’t either.
Sadly, Wayne and I did about as well if we’d drilled holes and fished the iced-over backwater.
Wayne wading through flowing water, wondering where the damned trout are.
It’s at this point that I’m supposed to say that it was great just getting out on the water, marveling at the beauty of the river and timelessness of the sport, but I’m enough of a brat to admit that I wanted to catch a few trout.
It’s not that the trout aren’t catchable. It’s that the winter patterns that served me the last two years are in a holding pattern, and it’s time to find something new.
Complicating matters is this fact: I’m stubborn.
Wayne’s stubborn too, but that only bought him one fish on the “home stretch” of water in front of his house.
In layman’s terms, they weren’t bitin’.
It’s been that kind of winter. Cold, but with little rain or snow, we haven’t seen nearly the BWO hatches (even on perfect days) that we did the two prior winters.
Still, a pair of ideas are banging around my head, and the bottleneck isn’t desire as much as time, pure and simple. I’ll find some time this week. And some fish. Bet on it.
See you on the river, Tom Chandler.
Reflection of me. (photo Wayne Eng)
[tags]fly fishing, fishing report, upper sac, upper sacramento river, fishing, bwo, [/tags]
Looks a little cold…. I don’t know what’s worse, the ice up there or all the rain down here!
Insane
Insane(Quote)
Nice post Tom. 3″ of ice greatly increases the Zen. Just stand there – on the river.
opax(Quote)
What is this “ice” you speak of? Here in Michigan we do not even have “shelf ice” yet. Another sign of global warming? Well either that or the appocolypse. Fish on young man!!!
Clay(Quote)
Did you guys get all our snow too? Last winter was warm and wet. This year it’s cold and dry. You’d think the fishing would be better this year, but it’s not.
Not yet anyway.
Tom Chandler(Quote)
We just got dumped on in Michigan, It has been unseasonably warm up to this week. Are you guys ice fishing Tom??? Isn’t it a pain to cut that long strip of ice so you can cast?
clay(Quote)
The lakes are icing, but the river still flows fine. It’s been unusually cold, unusually clear, and very, very windy – none of which spell “success” for winter fly fishers.
After a couple of grueling work weeks, I’ve got a chance to fish today – and the wind’s blowing at a rate on a fast 8wt could handle. (and yes, I’m thinking about it).
Tom Chandler(Quote)