It’s rare that I run a fishing report 2.5 days after the fact (usually I just give up and move on). Given that the fishing conditions are of interest to a portion of the Underground’s tiny sizable International audience, I’m putting in the extra hours. Don’t say I never did anything for you.

The by-now standard TU fish portrait.

The by-now standard TU fish portrait.

Wednesday afternoon, I went fly fishing. Wally the Wonderdog – eyeing the waders and fly rods as they came out of the Man Cave – wormed his way out a barely-open sliding door, and took up residence right in front of the truck’s driver’s side door.

Point to the Wonderdog.

Heading to the river in the Brown Bomber (my centuries-old Bronco, which has deteriorated to the point the Wonderdog’s muddy paws actually improve the interior), I figured the fishing would be good.

And potentially great.

Every once in a while, you hit the Upper Sacramento when all the big fish are looking for the big dry fly, and while that happens only a couple years every decade, we fly fishermen basically live in an Statistically Unreal Parallel Universe of our Own Making.

You know: the fly fishing was drop-dead great five times out of 300 trips, so odds are it’ll be that way tonight.

At least that’s how the inner conversation goes.

Even if the fishings only good, the wildflowers are out

Even if the fishing's only good, the wildflowers are out

The reality?

I had fun, but few big trout. Right now, we’re experiencing the kind of fly fishing where – if you really bear down and you have some game – you will tap into a few of the Upper Sac’s bigger trout.

Or you can tie on a big dry, shove the drooling family pet into the truck, and just fish along the river, enjoying the challenge of making good drifts.

If you’d done that Wednesday night, you’d have experienced double-digit numbers of trout eating your dry fly, with the biggest being only 12″ or so. That’s a good evening by almost any standard, but one or two big fish short of “notable.”

The Wonderdog, however, suffers from no such size issues, and every trout is to be celebrated (and sniffed, and potentially eaten).

In fact – ever since the episode where Wally lunched on a brown trout that apparently fell from the sky – I’ve learned a net is an essential part of any fly fishing trip that includes the Official Sausage-Shaped Mascot of the Trout Underground.

In one gripping action sequence, where I was slowly fishing my way up a run to the sole working trout, Wally the Wonderdog saw the splashy rises, and – grasping the fact that I might want to catch that trout – sprinted up the opposite bank, perched on a rock, and then dove into the river after the next rise.

He did not catch the trout.

Neither did I.

Only a second before his Leap Into The River

Only a second before his Leap Into The River

After his attempt to retrieve a trout. He doesnt seem sorry.

After his attempt to retrieve a trout. He doesn't seem sorry.

The Facts

Because I was tired and basically craved the big dry fly experience, I hauled out my 8′ Raine Upper Sac Special – a rod similar in action to my beloved 8′ Phillipsons, though just a bit stronger (this is the first, solid-built version – not the same as the hollowbuilts currently being built).

Because I live in the same statistically unreal parallel universe my readers do, I was hoping to land a couple of 14″-17″ Upper Sac rainbows, and wanted a rod capable of making it more “interesting” for the trout than it did for me.

The often-empty parking lot was overrun with cars (including someone in a black Ford Focus rental who parked me into a corner), though that was related to yet another train derailment, this one just above Cantara Loop.

Alert Underground Reader A.M. said the machine used to un-derail the train cars woke him up later that night, and while nothing was spilled into the river, it’s an excellent reminder the Upper Sacramento lives with something of a sword hanging over its head.

The Fishing Forecast

With two days of on-and-off rain falling between Wednesday and now, the Upper Sac’s flows have swelled a bit, though not beyond the fishable range.

Reports from others are somewhat spotty; a couple guides said the fishing was generally good, though not always easy.

One tattered rumor suggests a lucky local stumbled onto a very brief Green Drake hatch, though on this river that usually means fishing working the emerger instead of the dry (hint: bring your Green Drake cripples, just in case).

Shucks on an Upper Sac rock. Interesting...

Shucks on an Upper Sac rock. Interesting...

Simply put, it’s not a bad time to be fly fishing the Upper Sacramento.

See you on the river, Tom Chandler

p.s. – On Friday, I fished the year’s first alpine meadow stream. Report coming Sunday (though no pictures – I forgot my camera)

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