There's nothing attractive about stoneflies, but what makes them pretty to fly fishers is how trout react to them - they eat them the way local fly fishers eat slaw dogs.

Stoneflies aren't pretty... until the trout start eating them with abandon...

On Sunday I floated the Upper Rogue with guide Dave Roberts (the Puppet Master) and Underground Reader Kent Schick, who foolishly allowed me to freeload my way into the back of the boat. Kent probably expected a serious fly fisher with a bent for single malt scotch and bamboo rods, but of course, what he got was a smartass who fishes rods way outside his tax bracket and casts them like he was a beating a rug. He also got a front row seat to the Tom Dave show, where Roberts and I basically tease, threaten and torture each other until a sane observer would simply open fire on both of us.

To his credit (or perhaps the opposite, who am I to judge), Kent fit in with the program just fine, and seemed to have a great day fishing. The fish only partially cooperated (it's been too cool to really get the stoneflies moving), but he's back out there again today (Monday) hopefully enjoying the fruits of warmer weather.

There were plenty of stoneflies in the bushes, and in the afternoon, the females would land on the water to lay their eggs, which was when the trout would start to get interested. Very interested. We caught plenty of pretty trout, and we did so by casting big stoneflies on nice bamboo rods, so only a real whiner would complain. In terms of a day spent out of the house at a time when the local fishing has been a little tight, it was a real shot in the arm. (I [heart] stoneflies.)

Caviar anyone? This female is ready to find the river and release her egg sack...

The "One That Got Away" award goes to a steelhead that blew up on a couple of stoneflies and then finally rolled on my fly. Sadly, I only felt the slightest hesitation when I lifted on him, but the good news is I know where he lives, and I have a feeling he'll eat that stonefly again.

Interestingly, the cool weather has brought the Upper Sac flows to 2300 cfs, a surprisingly reasonable number given the 8000 cfs moments we experienced a short time ago. Will it stay that low? I hope so, but as the weather warms, I wouldn't be surprised to see flows jump a bit.

Our Special Edition Memorial Day Underground Entertainment Section
includes some interesting links. First is the Fly Fishing Yellowstone blog, which includes a memorial to Jerry Galvan, a man known to many Upper Sac fly fishers.

Fly Fishing Walkabouts finishes off his series of posts about saltwater fishing, and the Carp on the Fly blog posts a lot of pictures of trout/carp/catfish/others from a recent trip to Minnesota. Finally, there are some nice new pictures from Urban Flyfishing the Kelvin - across the pond in Scotland. Sure, they fish with a strange accent over there, but it's still fun to see it happen. Our final pointer is to MidCurrent, who throws huge props my way. I wanted to make sure and point it out so my mother would catch it. Thanks, Marshal. See you where the stones are flying... Tom Chandler.

Aw shucks. Stonefly condos on the Upper Rogue.

Dave Roberts and Kent Schick. Marginally better looking than stoneflies,but lots more fun.