Fly fishing in spring is a pretty hit or miss affair out here; the water levels surge about the same time spring fever reaches untenable levels. Fortunately, we’ve got choices – one of which Wayne and I exercised on Saturday.
"What are you looking at? Think emerging's easy, what with all the fish trying to eat you? Go away."
Wayne’s a guide, so part of his spring drill is to look for fishable water, which at this time of the year is a crap shoot.
I’m not going to spill the beans on the fishable water we found (do that after a scouting trip and you’ll never go fishing with a guide again), but I will say the Upper Sacramento and Upper McCloud rivers weren’t great options, and that we visited a couple other places that also didn’t look promising.
Most rivers were running high (Upper Sac’s yo-yoing between 3000 and 7000 cfs), so when we ended up on what amounted to a freestone-style spring creek – one where salmonflies were just starting to make an appearance – you could say we savored the experience just a little.
Hey look - some dolt left a fly rod on a bridge.
The fly fishing was steady, though catching only stocked trout was a teensy bit less than inspiring.
I under five minutes, I “limited out” on rubber trout from a single medium-sized bucket (hint: you can’t quite see it in the picture above). Later, we hiked up the stream a bit hoping that between the salmonflies, olives, and what appeared to be Pink Alberts coming off, we’d find rising fish (we didn’t).
And yes, there were rumors of Brook trout in this stretch, and the Underground’s poor, overworked heart would have soared if I’d manage to land one, but alas – like Romeo & Juliet – it was never meant to be.
Some of the stocked trout were still damned pretty (despite not having fins)
I briefly considered altering a rainbow trout photograph into a Brookie photograph using image software – a Pyrrhic Photoshop victory at best – but realized the beauty of things left undone is the excuse they provide to go back and fish a creek, stream or river.
We catch trout and let them go, so there’s really no sane reason we have to fly fish anywhere (though I’m clearly willing to invent one).
We saw what looked like two different-sized bugs
The good news is the stoneflies are starting to get active, though the trout weren’t on them in any concerted way. All my fish came on the small nymph I cleverly dropped off the back of my dry fly, though Wayne was later able to scare up a few grabs on the big dry.
The Gear Stuff
Wayne & I continued the Underground’s extensive Rubber-Soled Wading Boot Testing Program, switching boots midday to see how they compared on the same stream.
Frankly, on the uneven volcanic rock, both boots performed admirably, and in fact, this might be one of those applications where rubber outperforms felt.
I left the Simms boots with Wayne, who will be giving them further testing over the next couple days, once again illustrating the lengths to which we’re willing to go make your life better.
I fished a Diamondglass 8.5′ 4wt fiberglass fly rod that was frankly perfect for light nymphing, though I had an 8′ 5wt Raine Upper Sac Special bamboo fly rod in the truck in case we got on the stonefly bite in a big way.
Wayne fished another Underground Fave rod – an old Sage 389LL that probably should end up in the Smithsonian in the “Things Are Perfect As-Is And Should Have Been Left Alone But Weren’t” exhibit.
I also wore my Patagonia Insulator soft shell jacket, and found it (once again) perfect for the job on a drizzly, upper 40-degree day. And yes, I will try to get that final review written soon.
The River Stuff
The rivers aren’t looking all that grand right now; water levels are fluctuating rapidly (links to local river flow gauges can be found here), and yes, it’s raining as I write this. Our finally green lawn loves it, but it appears fly fishermen have different needs. Who’d have guessed?
See you on the river, Tom Chandler
Once more, with feeling.
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