I'd been sitting on a cold rock on the bank of a cold river for the last 1.5 hours, and when that first blue winged olive tumbled by on the surface currents, I didn't feel as stupid as I had only a minute before.
Funny what a size 22 insect can do for a fly fisherman.
The Upper Sacramento's hatches are maddening; one day they're gratifying. The next -- despite perfect conditions -- they're nonexistent.
And yesterday's conditions were were damned near perfect.
So I was prepared to get wet for no good reason at all.
Happily, at 1:15, enough BWOs showed to pull a few trout to the surface, a handful of which I tricked into eating my Quigley Cripple.
It's a simple enough sentence, but fly fishermen read it and their pulse quickens.
Especially when the trout are, well... stunning:
Fall in the Upper Sacramento River canyon is easy on the eyes; half the trees are evergreens, yet the other half are turning red and yellow and orange, and those isolated riots of color stand out more than if they consumed the entire hillside.
The water is low and so clear it's as if the river bottom is encased in Lucite.
It's also a time when your hands sting every time you (foolishly) dip them in the water, and when the average size fish throw the hook before you can land them, you're secretly relieved. Later, when you look at the photos involving fingers, they'll be an almost angry red.
Our digits apparently are less enamored of fall than we are.
The Details
By the numbers? I had seven grabs, three of which turned into those "life the rod and feel them for a millisecond before the hook pops out" endeavors.
That leaves us with four hookups and three landed fish, all of which were in the 11"-12" range.
All that happened on a #22 Quigley Cripple (the scaled-down Ed Engle version), the trout having already ignored the #20 Adams Parachute I'd started with.
I was fishing the Raine 8'3" 5wt hollowbuilt I mentioned here, and as you'd guess, I kept pretty close tabs on its performance -- right up until the first good drift over a trout was ignored and I switched to vengeful angler mode.
The verdict? It's looking good, Undergrounders.
But more testing is needed. Lots more.
See you on the river, Tom Chandler.