It's great to feel the sun again, but the warm temperatures are melting snow and pushing Upper Sac flows to pretty dizzying levels. We're approaching 5,000 cfs, and the trends don't look good. Fortunately - at least for those of us fishing Tennessee next week - the flows back there are coming down nicely. It could turn into a stellar fish fest, assuming I don't break something getting off the plane.

But enough taunting. Here's something rarely seen on the Underground: detailed "how to catch trout" information. We don't often offer how-to because there are a bazillion magazines (running identical articles) to handle that job, and besides, asking me for advice about Czech nymphing is a lot like asking Ken Lay to balance your checkbook.

Still, to prove the Underground is flexible and looking to meet the somewhat tawdry needs of our readers, we're going to break with tradition: here is our First Annual, Extremely Valuable, Pre-Opening Day "How-To" issue. First...

How to avoid speeding tickets

The CHP have been running massive enforcement patrols around Mt. Shasta and Weed - on Wednesday I saw four cars pulled over in a ten mile stretch, with more CHP units looking for fresh sources of revenue. Unless you enjoy speaking the words "Yes officer," set the cruise control...

How to avoid starvation

OK, it's not great food, but it's available early; the Dunsmuir Opening Day Pancake Breakfast. It's an opening day tradition, and hell, nobody's died yet. Starts 6:00 am; Dunsmuir Fire Department building.

How to catch fish on the Upper Sac at 5000+ cfs

First Hint: stay alive. Second Hint: remember all those neat little slots you waded out to and then just hammered 'em? Well, forget those. You're going to be fishing the edges, and recent experience suggests you can catch fish in much shallower water than you think. My recollection is that opening day flows are typically closer to 2000 cfs, so blindly running back to your opening day standards might not fly...

How to take great pictures

Hell, we don't know. But rather than going to all the trouble of creating your own killer pictures, you could maybe just copy these:
BBC's Photographer of the Year. Very cool stuff...
By way of the always-interesting Moldy Chum, Jeff Stine's Web site...

Finally, the Trout Underground has suffered its first comment spam attack, and while I'm sure you'd all love the opportunity to meet hot Ukranian nymphos or to refinance your house at 3.2%, I've installed some anti-spam and anti-spambot software. It shouldn't interfere with your "Underground Experience" but let me know if it does. See you around opening day...