On Thursday – in only 90 minutes – the stock market dropped nearly 1000 points because somebody can’t type, and oil continues to flow toward the some of the world’s richest fishing grounds like something out of a B-grade 50s Sci-fi flick.
My week has been consumed by work, teaching, and a really ungratifying series of computer hassles.
And people wonder why we fly fish?
The Weather
Up here at Trout Underground/Man Cave World Headquarters, the forecast high temp is only 65 degrees – and it’s falling over the weekend.
With only a couple days above 70 degrees so far this spring – and most of our above-average snowpack still squatting on the surrounding mountains – you don’t have to be a Wall Street trading program to know what lies ahead for the Upper Sacramento.
A long, long runoff event.
Normally, It’s a Race
Usually, the season opener (in late April) becomes a race between warm weather and the calendar.
If the calendar wins, the warm water doesn’t show up until after opening weekend. (The happy fishermen frolic and rejoice in their good fortune.)
If the weather wins, we typically get highs in the 70s and 80s, jump-starting the snowmelt and high water a week or two before the opener.
(And the happy fishermen don’t rejoice until the runoff ends.)
Not This Year
This year, we still haven’t seen warm weather (and won’t for the immediate future), yet the river’s been quite high.
With many, many feet of snow in the hills, most of the alpine lakes might as well be 5,000 below the ocean’s surface.
And many of the small streams? Unreachable – some for another month.
Yet I know of one stream that may just be fishable. Plans are being made. Equipment being readied. And negotiations begun over timing.
And while the Upper Sacramento may not be in prime shape, reports suggest the McCloud, Pit and other rivers are going big guns.
So there’s still plenty of room for rejoicing.
See you on the river (finally), Tom Chandler.
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