The Upper Sacramento continues to fall, and it's conceivable we could be fishing reasonable flows in another 1.5 weeks or so. As it is, Wayne Eng and Steve Bertrand are finding rising fish at their better high water spots, and you can bet that I'll be running in that direction soon.

Still, my Monday experience on the upper river suggests it's not all wine and roses out there, and whenever you hear about some of the local sticks hitting fish, you've gotta realize those fish are typically the payoff for a lot of time spent on the river. Simply put, those might not be your fish or mine.

The Trout Underground's Slaw Dog frenzy is apparently spreading like a virus to other fly fishing blogs; Guy at the immensely popular, constantly updated Fly Fishing Yellowstone blog offered his "stupid food" alternative, though not one this weight-loss hopeful is going to try:

Slaw Dogs: our neighborhood stupid eating tradition is simple; grab two of Marie Calendar's frozen key lime pies and 3-4 pounds of Nutter Butter cookies. Great for a break. No need for silverware, just dip out the pies with the cookies. Wash it down with some good Maderia from V.Sattui. [editor:
No silverware? You have to admire the eco-friendliness of it all...]

We leave you today with a couple links. The first isn't a fly fishing link, but concerns a 15 pound cat treeing a black bear. Don't miss it, and the next time your fishing buddy starts bragging about facing down a bear at a hot fishing spot, let him know that "hell -- even a common housecat could do that..."

Then there's an informative article about fishing wet flies on MidCurrent, which is always worth a visit. Wet flies are easy to fish, but have been largely forgotten by a sizable portion of the population (I'd like to believe I haven't forgotten them and carry a box full of soft hackles, but don't fish 'em as often as I should). Good reading! See you on the river (soon), Tom Chandler.