I Fly Fish. I Catch Fish. I Save Wally the Wonderdog From Certain Doom. Another Day on the Upper Sacramento River.
By Tom Chandler on Feb 19, 2007 in Fishing Report, Upper Sacramento
Those familiar with the saga of Wally the Wonderdog know the Trout Underground’s Official Sausage-Shaped Blog Mascot is not so much burdened with cunning animal intelligence as he is plain lucky.
He was rescued from the pound the day he was to be euthanized and found his way to our house (Life #1).
In the last six months, he narrowly escaped death from a 600-foot plunge down a rocky mountainside, then barely avoided drowning at the paws of a pair of pissed-off raccoons (Lives #2 and #3).
Today he took an ill-advised swim on a rapid part of the Upper Sacramento River, narrowly missing being swept into the rapids.
(For those still counting, that’s Life #4).
One can only guess what’s next. Near miss from a meteor?
Fishing When the Fishing’s Not Great
Despite the fact that the weather was clear, cold and windy - and the fishing likely poor - I felt the need to get out of the house and renew my acquaintance with nature.
With the L&T Nancy working all day (on a holiday no less), I thought I’d take the Wonderdog with me, tiring him out so he’d sleep all night.
I don’t fish with the Wonderdog that often; like most dogs, he’s not entirely clear on the concept of sitting quietly on the bank while I’m trying to catch a trout, but he’s entirely too clear on the idea of retrieving one after they’re hooked.
Still, I wasn’t so much bent on catching lots of trout as I was taking a walk and field-testing a new graphite rod [gasp].
Around 1:00, I hustled down to a stretch of the Upper River, rigged a single nymph, and - Wonderdog in tow - hiked a mile down the tracks.
There I proceeded to catch a pair of 10″-11″ trout, looking up from the second in time to see the Wonderdog plunge into the water from the far bank.
Driven by the thought that Nancy would probably kill me if her dog died on my fishing trip, I tossed the rod on a dry rock and ran downriver, where the Wonderdog - apparently unclear on the concept of fast-moving current - was inching closer to a brutal dunking, if not worse.
After falling once, I arrived just in time to nudge his buoyant, sausage-shaped body into the calmer water at the edge.
Whew.
The good news is he survived. The bad news was that I was stuck slinging 85 pounds of fat, sinew (and bare minimum of neurons) back across the river.
This little job consumed another 45 minutes of searching for the most appropriate crossing, and then urging, luring, shoving, pushing and carrying him to the far side.
Total Time Spent Not Fishing: One hour.
Not Sleeping on the Couch Because I Killed L&T Nancy’s Dog: Priceless.
The Wonderdog’s actually a lot of fun in the outdoors, but he’s unfortunately plagued by either intense stupidity or a death wish.
Both tend to interfere with the fishing, and I’ll probably limit his exposure to moving water in the future.
The whole outing was over by 3:30, but any fishing trip where your waders get wet and your dog survives should probably be considered a success.
UPDATE: Dogs aren’t wholly useless in the backcountry. This Black Lab is credited with keeping several people alive through a cold, wet night on Mt. Hood.
Speaking of Fishing
The river’s in very fishable shape right now, though the recent cold front likely slowed things a bit.
Still, I caught a couple pretty quickly, and of course, I have little idea what’s happening on the lower river or just before dark.
The forecast for the coming week suggests some good BWO weather, but I’m unlikely to tumble for that ghost hatch again; the olives have just not appeared in numbers this winter (with a few exceptions), so the few rising fish I’ve seen are typically concentrated in small areas.
As always, more fishing (and Wonderdog drama) when it happens.
Mount Shasta and clouds. Never gets old. Never.
Technorati Tags: fly fishing, upper sac, upper sacramento river, wally the wonderdog, nymph, trout
Jim Webb | Feb 19, 2007 | Reply
Wally is clearly put on this earth to keep you from hogging all the fish. Consider him a gift given to you for that purose. Looks like a pretty fine hound to me. And, obviously, a good buddy.
Bamboo Addict | Feb 20, 2007 | Reply
Jim Wally is a great dog, but remember to keep one area clear from him when you vist Tom, or he can hurt you real bad with his head. Tom hope you find some hatches this week, I will be packing fly tying gear, and trying to figure out what rod to take with me over to the coast. The Fly Fishing show is in Redsport this weekend and I will be tying there Sat. but then I have three days to look around for some coastal cutt. water or maybe some sea runs.
David
michelle | Feb 20, 2007 | Reply
Ahhh…the Wonderdog, at it again. He must have over heard us talking about his lives 2 and 3 the night before and thought “oh boy, I still got me some lives, let’s go fishin’”. Don’t you know that sausage is buoyant?
Tom Chandler | Feb 20, 2007 | Reply
Then again, a black lab (Wally’s half lab, half Basset) is credited with helping keep three people alive on Mt. Hood through a cold night.
Matt | Feb 20, 2007 | Reply
Tom,
I always enjoy your writing.
Are you Wally the Wonderdog isn’t half cat? Using up lives at that rate makes me wonder?
Clay | Feb 20, 2007 | Reply
What beautiful scenery! Beautiful dog, beautiful life!!! Tom, I also enjoy your writting and I was just kidding about the free fly rod thing. You guys are spoiled over there in Cali, I’m just jealous.
Jim Webb | Feb 20, 2007 | Reply
Half Lab, half Basset, Tom? Well, of course, that conjurs up some images. Does he sing like a Basset? I can’t tell from the picture, but he doesn’t look that low to the ground, and David’s post suggests that he isn’t. Fine hound dog, nevertheless.
kbarton10 | Feb 20, 2007 | Reply
Half lab, half basset, means he carries no brandy…
If memory serves the TaunTaun that saved Luke Skywalker was an unwilling participant - especially after Han Solo split him from breast to arse with a lightsaber. I assume the labrador suffered the same fate (the news being too polite to mention he was a meal).
Wally Positives:
Large Pink tongue (usually moist)
Wally Negatives:
Dumb
No Brandy
I’d say Wally has outlived his utility, and 85 pounds is a lot of Chow Mein.
Jim Webb | Feb 20, 2007 | Reply
Wally positives: Best friend. I rest my case.
Tom Chandler | Feb 21, 2007 | Reply
Wally the Wonderdog carries no alcohol and often plunges ahead when a bare minimum of neural activity would suggest otherwise, but you’d be hard pressed to find another 85 pounds as filled with the joy of life as these.
Besides, he’s in the running for the position of Official Canine of the Trout Underground, and it would be hard to explain to readers how our only candidate became dinner.
Jim Webb | Feb 21, 2007 | Reply
He gets my vote.
kbarton10 | Feb 21, 2007 | Reply
I figured TC would err on the side of political correctness, as he has to comfort the grieving widow - and his 9 Rules hit counter would suffer accordingly…
The rest of you guys is scared of PETA.
The Official Canine of the Trout Underground was reserved for a canine of superior character and moral fiber. TC’s biography of Wally suggests he is merely a doglike object.
That oxygen would be better served nuturing 423 large trout.
Tom Chandler | Feb 21, 2007 | Reply
The couch, kbarton. No one likes sleeping on the couch.
Jim Webb | Feb 21, 2007 | Reply
Ok, Ok. So the dog is actually a sausage, and the pink tongue thing is something dreamed up down here in La La land. I isn’t afraid of PETA. I just like the dog, er, sausage. Of course, I don’t have all this background on any other dog of superior character; nor do I know of the nature of the relationship suggested by Tom in his couch post. It all depends, I guess. If the couch is big enough for you and the dog…
C4CRaine | Feb 21, 2007 | Reply
Around here having a person, or dog, to do the dumb stuff before you do is the way it’s supposed to be (assuming you both learn from the experiences and survive them). The difference is up here on the hill we call them four degrees…tells you a little about my life huh? Anyways, I support Wally and his happy-go-lucky but near miss capers; seems like he makes up for dull days on the river?!
Jim Webb | Feb 24, 2007 | Reply
Ya know, I was just thinking. Maybe you could teach Wally to go on point for trout. “Wally, the trout pointer”.
Megan | Feb 27, 2007 | Reply
Wally the Wonderdog (which thrills me that you call him that since I call my dogs Wonderdogs!) may be dense, but I would take him over a human any day. Go Wally!
Jim Webb | Feb 28, 2007 | Reply
“What kind of dog is that?”
“He’s a trout pointer”
“Trout pointer? I’ve never heard of that breed.”
“Yeah. There’s only a few of ‘em around; they’re pretty rare.”
Tom Chandler | Feb 28, 2007 | Reply
Wally’s only interested in trout after I hook one, at which point he becomes keenly interested in retrieving it for me.
Lately, of course, there’s been little risk of that. But it could change…