Fishing Report

Tennessee’s on…

April 30, 2006, by Tom Chandler No comments yet

I wouldn’t say I was 100% (in fact, I wouldn’t say I was even 75%), but it’s close enough. Hell, I can always get better on the river. Plus there’s all that time spent relaxing in airports and airplanes to recover even more…

For the first couple days anyway, I’ll post reports. Stay tuned.
The local opener was tough; flows were in the 6000 cfs neighborhood, so there just weren’t a lot of places to fish. Even high-water expert Wayne Eng didn’t find trout at his usual spots, a rare event indeed. As for high flows on the Upper Sac? Get used to them…

And just a quickie for those those who fish the Yellowstone area, check out the Fly Fishing Yellowstone blog.

See you at airport security.

The whompin, stompin, opening day blues…

April 28, 2006, by Tom Chandler 4 comments

“Opening” day is fast becoming something of misnomer around much of CA; flows on the Upper Sac just topped the oh-so-unpleasant 5000 cfs mark, and yesterday, local guide Steve Bertrand sacrificed a few gallons of $3.21 gas to reconnoiter the McCloud. He reports water flowing over the McCloud reservoir dam like money through congress, and while the water’s relatively clear, it is up in the trees.
This LA Times article reports similarly high water in many Sierra rivers, with similarly tough sledding for fly fishers.

Interestingly, after my report of CHP traffic enforcement efforts yesterday, someone pointed me towards this post on the Norcal board which describes heavy enforcement in the Redding area. So wherever you’re going, consider going there slowly…

Those awaiting the outcome of Chris Raine’s Desperate Attempt to Build a Brookie Rod Before I Go To Tennessee will no doubt find the accompanying picture interesting. It’s almost there…

Finally, so as not to incite any more threatening comments from overly sensitive readers, I’m not going to mention my upcoming ~~Tennessee~~ trip, though I did receive an e-mail from a ~~Tennessee~~ nameless Southeastern guide who said he floated a ~~Tennessee~~ nameless Southeastern river with a couple clients and absolutely hammered them on caddis dries all day long, including a couple of 17″ fish. So with that in mind, I’ll see you in ~~Tennessee~~ a nameless place.

Upper Sac busting out

April 27, 2006, by Tom Chandler 4 comments

It’s great to feel the sun again, but the warm temperatures are melting snow and pushing Upper Sac flows to pretty dizzying levels. We’re approaching 5,000 cfs, and the trends don’t look good. Fortunately – at least for those of us fishing Tennessee next week – the flows back there are coming down nicely. It could turn into a stellar fish fest, assuming I don’t break something getting off the plane.

But enough taunting. Here’s something rarely seen on the Underground: detailed “how to catch trout” information. We don’t often offer how-to because there are a bazillion magazines (running identical articles) to handle that job, and besides, asking me for advice about Czech nymphing is a lot like asking Ken Lay to balance your checkbook.

Still, to prove the Underground is flexible and looking to meet the somewhat tawdry needs of our readers, we’re going to break with tradition: here is our First Annual, Extremely Valuable, Pre-Opening Day “How-To” issue. First…

It’s “Best of Sully” day…

April 26, 2006, by Tom Chandler 2 comments

The Trout Underground is happy to announce a new (and subversive) Montana correspondent, who we’ll refer to only by his code name of “Sully.” Today I’m reprinting a report he sent a week ago, because I was basically too lazy to post it earlier. “Sully” has fished all over the West, and was doing it long before “The Movie” was even a gleam in Robert Redford’s eye, so he has unique perspective on modern fly fishing. It’s even possible he’s got a few opinions about it.

Still, he’s first and foremost a hell of a fishermen, and I may have to dedicate an entire week’s posts to the epic he wrote describing last Fall’s weeklong fly fishing excursion. Today, however, it’s back to his local river for this…

Monday morning fishing furball…

April 24, 2006, by Tom Chandler 11 comments

It’s Monday – time for the weekend roundup of fishing rumor, innuendo and outright fabrication. What do I know? Not a hell of a lot, but what I don’t know I’m willing to make up. It’s the Internet…

Dave Edmondson bobbicated a couple of fish on the Upper Sac through town late last week, though success was limited and the water was still high. In fact, water levels have actually gone up a bit with the recent warm weather, so the snow’s melting and the river’s feeling it. (Probably a good time to go to Tennessee and fish.)

Tax this…

April 17, 2006, by Tom Chandler No comments yet

It dawned cold but largely snow free in Mt. Shasta, and the monster storm predicted for the weekend headed south. Jim Reams – a bamboo rod builder who lives on the Fall River – reported 14 inches of snow on the ground, an amazing amount for April.

That’s good for us (but bad for the Central Valley), and with largely blizzard-free weather forecast for the coming week, there’s even a chance at some fishing, though river flows will likely remain on the high side of â€œunpleasantâ€ for quite some time.