With the general trout season opening in less than 24 hours, the Underground’s Fly Gear Readiness Department is busy dulling hooks, jumbling fly boxes, nicking leaders and pinholing my waders in preparation for tomorrow’s opener.
In truth, catching trout on opening day is more an observation of a tradition than a pent-up need to fly fish, […]

Ever since the Upper Sacramento River opened to year-round fly fishing, Opening Day hasn’t carried the import it used to.
Don’t get me wrong; I love fishing this river in the fall and winter, but opening day has largely became something that happens to other people’s home waters.

This year, things feel different. The Upper […]

For a couple days, daytime temperatures exceeded the 75 degree mark, which means the grass at the Trout Underground/Man Cave World Headquarters was turning green and the flows on the river were spiking to 2,000 cfs.
Two families of deer were making regular appearances and eating the blooms off our flowers, and even though you know […]

The L&T Nancy is back from her weeklong trip, which basically means it’s time to stop gouging dinner directly from the peanut butter jar.
Yes Undergrounders, the influences of the much better half are already being felt, though a fishing trip with cave men fly buddies Dave Roberts and Chris Raine doesn’t exactly reinforce most […]

After 15 miles on cross-country skis, my brother and I were a little punchy.
Proving that madness has a genetic basis, my brother and I (Scott) skied up the South Fork of the Upper Sacramento canyon, and predictably, it looked gorgeous.
It’s a little-fished stretch of the Upper Sacramento River above Lake Siskiyou, and if […]

Fly fisherman don’t experience hope as a powerful emotion as much as a permanent character pathology.
Though the fly fishing’s been slow, we all know it could turn any minute, and if things pop into high gear when you’re at home and someone else is on the river, you’ll suffer the indignity of knowing you’re […]

The reports about the Upper Sacramento have been uniform; it’s tough sledding right now, even if you stumble across a decent hatch.
Of course, something’s always happening somewhere — a lesson I learned in my bass fishing days, where boat after boat would return to the dock with empty livewells, but somebody always hammered the […]

Fly fishing the Upper Sacramento River in spring could mean strong BWO hatches, but also uninterested, spawning fish.

I need one more big project to clear the boards before firing up some fly fishing time, but instead of a Wonderdog-driven afternoon walk, I heaved the sausage-shaped mammal into the truck and reconnoitered a couple of spots on the upper river.
The gods Wonderdog is pleased, my friends. That means […]

Chasing a March Brown hatch based on a thin rumor is like chasing ghosts in broad daylight; the odds for success are slim, and the opportunity for drama almost non-existent.
Still, when you’ve spent the last couple weeks staring at the several feet of snow outside your office window, chasing a ghost hatch is as much […]

The Upper Sacramento’s flows are yo-yoing up and down, and we’ve entered the stage of winter where uncertainty turns fly fishing into a local’s game.
The flows ran well over 6,000 cfs after last weekend’s warm storm, and while they’re down below 3,000 cfs, we’ve still got a lot of low-altitude snow just itching to melt.

Morning […]

Fly fishing the Upper Sacramento River in winter isn’t always about the bugs.
In the middle of a gray, snowy winter, the phrase “making hay while the sun shines” acquires a patina of meaning that simply doesn’t exist on your average warm, summer day.
I don’t know if an itch to go […]