Fly Fishing? Yeah, We Still Do Fly Fishing Around Here

My office is still a forest of unpacked boxes, there are deadlines to be met, and yesterday saw me investing a good six hours of my day into our Siskiyou County Natural Resource Policy — none of which bodes well for my cash flow — or my fishing time.

Still, I’ve had it with being “responsible” and I’m going fishing soon, and in the interest of letting others do my field homework for me, I called local guide Steve Bertrand, and heard the same story I’ve heard from others; the fishing’s not great and not bad.

You’ll get fish — and some of them could be good sized — but you’ll work for ‘em, which strikes me as a pretty passable compromise. You won’t be tuna boating 23″ hatchery raised trout, and you won’t have to pay $85,000 for the privilege.

Waiting, waiting…

The olives continue to hatch even on the sunny days, but typically, only the smaller fish will rise for them. I’ve spent plenty of fruitless hours on the Upper Sacramento watching rafts of BWOs going by, #20 parachute in the hook keeper, and no fish rising.

Some would suggest that’s not particularly smart, but then, investing scads of time and money to catch a trout and then releasing it doesn’t exactly peg the mensa meter either.

The river’s in perfect shape, and if one subscribes to the idea of “a vibe,” I’d say the fly fishing’s on the verge of getting very interesting.

The October Caddis are still out, we could be only one good cold snap from an epic “dying October Caddis” bite, and a cloudy day could mean killer BWO action. The question isn’t “if” or even “when.”

It’s where you’ll be when it happens.

See you there, Tom Chandler.

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