Fly Fishing,    Road Trip,    Underground Entertainment

The Weekend Update

By Tom Chandler 8/12/2006

The Trout Underground's Traffic drops significantly over the weekend, but since I'm going fishing early Monday with Dave Roberts (right here on the Upper Sac), I thought I'd throw together a post now.

Kent's Most Excellent Yellowstone Adventure
First, regular Undergrounders will recall our wall-to-wall coverage of Chris Raine's Road Trip with his son Jack. Now, Regular Underground Reader Kent S. is running from the law taking a road trip through Yellowstone, and while he's not sending me cell phone photographs like Jack Raine (only a teenager could figure out those newfangled phones), he is sending the odd taunt report my way. (For excellent fishing reports on the Yellowstone area, visit the Yellowstone Fly Fishing blog...)

A couple days ago Kent managed to snag hook a 17" rainbow on the Madison and landed it... using the 8' 5wt bamboo rod he built himself at a Chris Raine rodbuilding class. While we certainly hate applaud Kent for taking his vacation in Yellowstone without inviting us, we especially wanted to take notice of this momentus event; catching a big trout in on a bamboo rod you crafted yourself is definitely worth a tip of the old flask you bastard.

In other news...
The Blogfish conservation blog reports about the spreading "dead zone" off the Oregon coast. Not so much good news there. Then our old friend on Urban Fly Fishing the Kelvin (dedicated to everyone who wears chest waders on the bus) has just passed his driving exam, and now can drive his own car to Scotland's hottest fishing spots instead of riding public transporation. It's the end of an era....

That's it for now. I've been busy all day adding marketing content to my copywriting/marketing blog, and my nimble little troll fingers are flat busted. Early Monday Dave Roberts and I are headed to a secret spot on the Upper Sac - where we hope to rendezvous with several big, big fish. You'll be the 2nd or 3rd to hear about it... See you on the river, Tom Chandler

Chris Raine fly fishes the Upper Sac
This is an old picture that has nothing to do with the post, but hell, I had to use it sometime...
AuthorPicture

Tom Chandler

As the author of the decade leading fly fishing blog Trout Underground, Tom believes that fishing is not about measuring the experience but instead of about having fun. As a staunch environmentalist, he brings to the Yobi Community thought leadership on environmental and access issues facing us today.

8 comments
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There are some better caddis patterns as you mention. I have not tried a parachute caddis yet. I bought "Advanced Fly Tying" by A.K. Best from Chris Raine last time I was in his shop, and there are some beautiful caddis patterns in it. Also "Tying Flies in the Irish Style" by E.J. Malone has some exceptional sedge patterns. I caught a few half pounders last night on Caddis, the first so far this year. ... more Once those fish are in the river, the dry fly fishing can be very entertaining. They seem early, but this summer seems a bit off to me. I think my internal clock is wacky. - rriver
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A caddis pattern I tie which has worked most everywhere is basically an elk hair (sans hackle) with a body of hares ear type dubbing with LOTS of pearl angel hair chopped into 1/2" pieces. The body is tied using a dubbing loop and is pretty sparse. It doesnt float that great so for fast water an elk hair caddis is a better choice. A parachute caddis is a good one too. More time consuming to tie than ... more the elk hair though. I think the reason we don't see that many caddis hatches on the upper river is that the habitat really isn't that great for caddis flies. With the upper river being basically a pool and pocket water type system, the long, slow, low gradient riffles and runs preferred by most species of caddis are in short supply. This habitat is much more abundent from mid-river on down. The habitat from mid-river on down is similar to that of the Lower Deschutes River (on a much smaller scale of course) and the Lower Deschutes River is prime real estate if you're a caddis fly. Brian
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Congratulations to rriver for contributing to the globalization of fly fishing... 8-)
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I bought a Oasis Fly Factory bench with another HMH vice as a second tying station, but this one is portable, so I often sit it on the coffee table and watch televivison with my wife and tie 4 flies or so before the evening hatch. Since I usually have 15 - 30 minutes to pick materials and tie the flys she calls it the "Sri Lanka Fly Factory". Anyway, when she saw me tie an Elk Hair Caddis, her response ... more was "That's it?". I should show her an F-Fly.
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Ian's a huge believer in the x-caddis, which floats well and ties even easier than the elk hair caddis. But I know what you mean; even the x-caddis lacks a certain sexiness, though it's hard to argue with its fish-catching power. I did once experiment with a St. Vrain caddis pattern, which... I dunno. Didn't impress. Love to hear what everyone else is using...
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I love to tie and fish mayfly patterns and never found a caddis pattern that wasn't drab. The sections of the Rogue I am fishing now have blizzard hatches of caddis coming off. Mayflies just won't work, or will hardly work. I have had to stubbornly learn to love the elk hair caddis, whether I wanted to or not. I finally succumbed totally Saturday, and last night caught a number of fish, including ... more four really nice rainbows that hit a #16 caddis. These were bigger fish that I have caught in probably a month. I just wish I could find a better pattern. A fluttering caddis can be quite nice, but it just doesn't work like a plain jane olive elk hair.
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Brian; I'm ashamed to admit I haven't kick-seined the river at all this year. I think the mayflies on the Upper River are more significant to fish, or more accurately, they're more significant to fishermen who like to fish dry flies (like myself). I know of decent caddis hatches mid-river and below, but don't seem to hit them like I do the better mayfly hatches. As for the Quigley Cripples, I tend ... more to tie them with a "shuck" color (basically "cockroach brown") on the lower half and only vary the colors of the thorax (they're imitating a stuck-in-the-schuck mayfly after all). Until you get into the olives, one-color-fits-all is my approach...
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You guys had better be armed with Quigley Cripples in at least 4 colors as there were about a half dozen species of mayflies that came off in a two hour span last night. None were in huge numbers but enough to get the fish interested. Five of the species were what one would expect to encounter judging from some recent reports but I wasn't expecting species #6 and naturally that was the one that the ... more fish seemed most interested in. A light cahill would be the best way to describe it. Didn't have a quigley in that color so had to make do with a PED version. Did ok with it but would have done better with a light cahill version. That is going to change today as I'm tying that version now. Food for thought....... Are the upper sections of the Upper Sac (above Dunsmuir) more of a mayfly river than a caddis river? I can't speak for the lower sections of the river as I haven't yet spent much time down there, but the upper reaches of the river sure seem like it. The October Caddis are excluded from this of course :-) Brian
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