A Big Fish on a Tiny Dry: The Underground Gets All Happy and Stuff

Once or twice each year, you get a shot a really nice fish, and when things are really perfect, you get to catch him the way you want to, which in my case means little dry flies.

It’s not something I necessarily plan for, but when it happens, it makes me grateful I chucked it all and moved to the Upper Sacramento River, where going fly fishing demands little more than a couple free hours and a working knowledge of where you left your car keys.

The rare Underground Hero Shot: 21″ of Upper Sac rainbow; in the net, lift, one frame, and home he goes.

With clouds and light rain in the forecast, Steve Bertrand and I headed downriver, looking for the fall BWO hatches you sometimes find.

On sunny days, you won’t find many fish working those hatches — and damned few big fish — but add a few clouds and a little rain, and the odds start looking a lot better.

Crummy pic, but that’s a #20 on the tip of my wading staff.

Without going into every gory detail, I’ll summarize thusly; I mucked up pretty seriously on the first spot (speed set on two takes, missing them both), did better on the second, but the first fish I landed was the 21″ specimen, followed by four smaller fish (11″-14″).

By contrast, Bertrand seemed stuck on a steady diet of 16″-18″ trout (the poor, suffering bastard), but all our fish came on tiny dries and light tippets, and I’d say that none came easy.

Bertrand looks more ho-hum than I would with a 17″ trout on the line.

Here’s a different 17″ rainbow Bertrand caught later.

My killer fly of the day wasn’t the standard #18 parachute I was flinging early in the day, but a #20 parachute tied by none other than Sully – the Trout Underground’s Director of Odd & Small Flies. He thoughtfully provided a pink wing post for those of us whose razor-sharp fishing vision went the way of the dodo years ago.

I’d love to create some kind of heroic mythology around the fish — and it wasn’t the easiest cast or drift I’ve ever made — but like a lot of big fish, this one took so quietly that I set the hook with more question than authority.

The fish didn’t immediately “rip all the fly line from my reel” or “tailwalk across the pool.” Instead — in a manner wholly unsuited to modern fly fishing journalism — it just sat there, and came pretty quietly until it saw me, which is when it started bulldogging.

We both pulled hard, but being a tool-using biped with opposable thumbs, I had the upper hand, and Steve netted him a few charged minutes later.

Was it the biggest trout of the year for me? Only a fool would say it was, thereby eliminating any chance at all for a bigger customer to come along (no, we’re not superstitious over here).

The Gear Part

I was test-fishing the new Scientific Anglers Sharkskin line, and while it performed nicely (it’s brand new, and all new lines perform nicely), I will say the bright yellow color would eventually drive me to throw the thing away.

Of course, it’s a test line — and if you bought the thing you’d get to pick the other, drab color — but here I was, purposely wearing drab clothing, crouching low to avoid being seen, and just generally slinking around like a politician with a penchant for making friends in men’s rooms, and I was casting a bright yellow fly line you could see down in Redding.

That little rant aside, I did get in a nice test session, and while I normally would have fished a bamboo or glass rod, I wanted to test the line on a rod more like the graphite stuff used by most modern fly fishers, so I packed along the prototype 8.5′ 5wt Orvis Helios mid-flex.

I’ll write a bigger report later, but suffice it to say the Sharkskin did pick up off the water very, very cleanly, but that the “whirring” noise it made through the guides took a little getting used to. If you couldn’t (I barely noticed it by the end of the day), you’d probably take a machete to it halfway through a fishless trip.

The weight forward taper felt a little front loaded, but the thing did shoot line very nicely. I’d have to test it on one of my low-modulus rods to get a real sense for its delicacy (or lack of it). More to come on this one.

See you on the river (again), Tom Chandler.

[tags]fly fishing, fishing, blue winged olive, BWO, rainbow trout, orvis helios, sharkskin fly line[/tags]