A Mental Health Break: Fly Fishing a Small Alpine Stream
By Tom Chandler on Jun 25, 2007 in Backcountry, Fishing Report
I won’t lie. I was a pretty cranky guy most of last week, culminating in a temper tantrum on Friday when I couldn’t find my 3wt reel.
A meadow, a cliff, a stream, and a fly rod. Tough place to go? Nope.
Losing a reel (given my somewhat haphazard organizational style) isn’t exactly earth shattering, but it is a good indicator that I’d better go fishing somewhere. Anywhere. Soon. (And that I should pick a rig where I haven’t lost the reel.)
Local guide Steve Bertrand called, suggested a stream I hadn’t fished in three years, and we were off. Simple as that.
I brought my 8.5′ 4wt Diamondglass rod (I knew where my 4wt reel was), and we got to work. For purposes of not being too cute, I’m just going to call it Stream X — a small alpine springer running through an absolutely beautiful part of the country.
The browns in this small, alpine stream are brightly colored. Check the red spots.
Populated mostly with brown trout, it’s one of those streams I should fish far more often than I do. I can’t explain why I don’t, being as I’d suggest it’s the kind of thing I love to do.
Yesterday, I finally did.
It’s not the easiest stream to fish; even though Bertrand and I had both been here multiple times, finding it amidst the maze of dirt roads involved a bit of “Braille pathfinding” — that process where you try a road because it looks like might be the one, get lost a little bit at a time, and then backtrack as soon as it becomes clear you were wrong.
It’s not big. It’s overgrown (this is an easy stretch) and tough to fish. Still, brown trout. Hmmmm, brown trout
Once you’re on the water, you find yourself crawling over and under seemingly miles of deadfall, fighting your way through tall weeds and hooking our flies on every possible obstruction (many times).
You gotta be sneaky. These fish run at even a hint of weirdness.
Due to the mild winter (I think), the browns were a teensy bit bigger than I remembered, and I caught way more 9″-11″ fish than I thought possible.
Both Steve and I landed browns in the 12″ range, but the big fish of the trip was a butter yellow 14″ specimen.
We don’t get a lot of Brown Trout around here, so even the small ones look cool.
It’s not refined, elegant fishing — you’re doing pretty much whatever it takes to get the fly on the water, and once you do, you’re faced with the problem of a hookset (and whacking your rod tip against a limb).
And all that assumes you were sneaky enough to get near ‘em in the first place. Fish that grow up in small, shallow creeks don’t forgive shadows, splashes or loud approaches; marching up to this little stream is a useful exercise, if only because you get to see how fast fish can swim.
Once you realize that you’re a predator — and that you’d better start acting like one — things get a little smoother. Still it’s also humbling when you don’t spook the trout, hook one that runs through the pool that just stumped you, and see a dozen trout flush from cover.
Predator? A pretty poor one.
Once you’ve actually hooked a fish, the trouble’s just beginning; the fish seem determined to throw the hook or wrap your leader in a downed tree, grass, or tree roots in undercut banks.
And don’t think it only sounds like fun. Hell, it is fun, and it gets to be even more so when you hook what can only be described as a Bonus Fish (The Official Char of the Trout Underground):
Yep. A Brook Trout. Hmmmm, brook trout.
We both caught a single brook trout. We have no idea where they came from, but the existence of a brookie in a spring creek only an hour or so from my door means plans have been hatched, though execution remains uncertain.
The details aren’t particularly important (#14 yellow stimulator), but the overwhelming sense of being largely free of the pressures of everyday “real” life was definitely reviving.
This week, I plan to fish one (or more) of the local lakes. Naturally, you’ll be among the first to hear about it.
See you on the road to mental health, Tom Chandler.
Technorati Tags: fly fishing, fishing, spring creek, brook trout, brown trout
David Knapp | Jun 25, 2007 | Reply
That first brown is awesome, nice colors, big spots…great job!!! Those small brushy alpine streams are fun…
Will | Jun 25, 2007 | Reply
So I’m confused, where EXACTLY were you? Please give detailed maps, topographical if possible, and separate GPS readings for both where you stood and where your fly landed in the most productive spots. I just looked for an hour, and there is no “Stream X” on the map! It’s a trick!
I’ll write something less silly soon when I get some time. Gotta run.
-Will
Tom Chandler | Jun 25, 2007 | Reply
David: Thanks. You shoot a lot of Browns yourself. Out here they’re a rarity, and the version stocked in the lakes doesn’t have a lot of color.
Will: How was your trip out? Sorry I missed you.
C3C Raine | Jun 25, 2007 | Reply
Tom, I’m letting the cat out of the bag…because I want to see if I’m right - XXXXXXXXX [ED: No names, you traitor] ….not like anyone will be able to find it anyway.
And in more recent news, Tear Gas is wonderful - you should try it sometime. It cures sinus problems, head colds, eye irritation, and chronic bitching. Good stuff.
isaac roman | Jun 25, 2007 | Reply
i also have been touched by the beauty of the stream. steve and i had hell with the mosquitos. how was their bite. rumor has it there are a few fish holding lakes in the area,behind locked gates. one may still have a few grayling from early plantings. haven’t heard of grayling any where else in nor cal. were the flows ok or low nice to hear of a 14″. thats a trophy for up high on the water. i hear down stream is pretty good too. time to take the newborn fishin.
C3C Raine | Jun 25, 2007 | Reply
I tried folks…but it’s the trout underground - if everyone knew all the secret holes it wouldn’t be so underground. Looks like I was right though; Tom, you dropped too many hints, readers could discover it by just asking the right person about a stream with such traits. I forgive you though.
david roberts | Jun 26, 2007 | Reply
Great shots as alway TC did you have to use a wide angle lens to get Steve in the picture? It has been way to long sense you and I fished stream X. Will catch you later heading up later to see if I can hook up with the damn steelhead I farmed on Monday.
David
Will | Jun 26, 2007 | Reply
Looks like I’ve come down squarely on one side of the more anglers/less anglers debate from a few posts back. I brought my friend Dylan, an absolute beginner, to the Upper Sac a few nights ago, and I’ll be damned if his first fish caught on a fly wasn’t “Fish of the Trip” (at least of the fish we caught).
The fishing was exciting and confusing, as June can sometimes be. The water was boiling with active fish, a bunch of different flies were coming off - stones, pink mayflies, PMD’s, caddis - and we ended up trying over a dozen different imitations. Many of them worked, but none of them worked consistently.
After Dylan’s fishless first night (I’m not nearly as good as a guide, but I’m a LOT cheaper), he got into a fish the second night that turned out to be about 14 inches with some of the most beautiful colors I’d ever seen. When I pulled it out of the net, he said in a whisper of boy-like wonder: “Wooooowwww.” I decided right then that my future kids WILL learn to fish whether they want to or not…
So there it is: I support measured but persistent evangelism for fly fishing, and the promotion of fly fishing as an avenue to a meaningful connection with nature which future generations are going to need.
We saw some larger ones, including a broad-shouldered, wild specimen that surfaced like a dolphin right next to me en route to some obviously important errand downstream. When I describe the girth on this fish in person, I make two arcs with my hands that aren’t touching - but maybe that’s just how fish stories go.
OK, I’ve written too much for a guy with no pictures - Dylan may have a few, I’ll have to see. Cheers, Will
Dan Hayes | Jun 26, 2007 | Reply
Those are some beautiful browns in a wonderful setting! As a transplanted easterner, I miss them. Did spend a week in old Pennsylvania in May. Mayfly hatches didn’t quite occur as I had hoped but caught enough buttery yellow browns to get a “fix” until I return again in September. The best of everything to you and your pals who enjoy stream X. It is my sincere hope that it will remain “undiscovered” for the next millenia.
Dan
Jack Cook | Jun 26, 2007 | Reply
Picked up a bow, two beautiful brookies and a picture perfect brown in a campground, hint, not anywhere as far as your pretty spot. How did the brown get there?
Tom Chandler | Jun 27, 2007 | Reply
Just to be clear, Stream X isn’t exactly a secret, but it is a small stream, which we don’t have in abundance around here. It’s not easy to get to and in the past, the mosquitoes have reduced me to a whimpering, whiney child, but it’s fished enough that the fishing improves markedly the farther you go from the campground.
Every fly fisher should have a place like this tucked away, and if they do, they shouldn’t tell everyone about it…
Will: Sounds like a real adventure. You and your lovely wife still in Iowa for the foreseeable future?
C3C: Tear gas, hmmmmm, tear gas…
Dan & Jack: I’ve already caught more brown trout this year than in any prior year, and I’m guessing more brookies too. My “Year of Diversity.”