From Hero to Zero to Hero: It’s Fall Fly Fishing on the Upper Sacramento

You know BWO weather when you see it on the horizon, which is when the serious pleading bargaining starts. You want to hit the early afternoon hatch, so you promise God you’ll work twice as hard after you’ve been fishing, a lie even though you believe it when you say it.

Fortunately, I had the excuse of having started work at 4:15 in the morning, so by 2:15, I’d already put in a full day. Down to the Upper Sacramento River I went, fly rod firmly clutched in my sweaty hands.

 
A 17″ Upper Sac Rainbow Trout awaiting parole.

Waiting for me downriver was a light, overlapping hatch of #20 BWOs, a #18 PED, and what looked like a few #16 PMD spinners. Also waiting was fairly nice weather — a little drizzle now and then, but it was nicer downcanyon than it was in Mt. Shasta, where it rained and hailed.

(The Moral? Go fishing whenever possible, and let the hail fall on those who foolishly stay behind and work. At least I think that’s the moral.)

Hail upcanyon, but intermittent drizzle and sun downcanyon (along with BWOs).

A lighter hatch than I experienced last Sunday, it was still enough to get the trout working sporadically. In fact, a 12″ rainbow ate my #20 emerger on my second drift, so the skunk smell was already gone, and I knew my bug choice was at least in the ballpark.

Naturally, a long dry spell followed the fast start, but eventually even a fly fishing blogger can figure this stuff out, and I landed six fish, including one in the neighborhood of 17 inches (that’s a pretty good neighborhood for this river).

This one’s 15″, and damned colorful.

Two were in the 11″-12″ range, with the rest falling between 14″ and 17″. My best fly was a Sully-tied “Sno-Fly” emerger, and I’m gratified to announce that Sully has agreed to become my fulltime fly tying gillie (and free too) after he retires from feeding at the government trough his job next year.

Indeed, it’s a great day for the Underground, especially since I’ve learned the utility of summarily making announcements about the futures of others without actually asking them first. This is easy. 

The gearheads among my readership should know I fished an 8.5′ 4wt Diamondglass fly rod — a rod perfectly suited to fishing small bugs on light tippets to big fish.  

 
A #18 Quill body parachute did well later — when the PEDs grew more numerous.

It’s definitely not a thunderstick, but a little hassle in the wind fades into insignificance when a big trout is shaking his head and that nice, smooth, fiberglass rod is absorbing every bit of the shock.

I didn’t see any October Caddis downcanyon, but they’re not very common down there anyway. They are making their presence felt upcanyon, and anyone planning to fish the Upper Sacramento River over the next month will have some interesting choices to make.

This BWO/PED hatch was already underway when I hit the water (about 3:00), but ended abruptly right at 5:00. Nice hours if you don’t have to work.

For those who haven’t fished here, it’s the time of year where you’ll be punished if you show up without fleece pants, warm socks, fingerless fleece gloves and the whole cold-weather catastrophe.

There are plenty of nice days left, but it’s fall in the mountains, so you never know when those days will appear, and they can disappear in a matter of minutes.

Right now, the mornings in Mount Shasta are all about freezing temperatures, and the high yesterday (in Shasta) was 48 degrees.

Fleece? Don’t leave home without it.

See you on the river, Tom Chandler

[tags]fly fishing, fishing, upper sac, upper sacramento river, rainbow trout, blue-winged olive, bwo, dry fly, fly rod[/tags]