Fall Fishing is picking up but for the most part is still
limited due to lack of water and rain. There has been good fishing at times but
it is going to be short lived without some good rain…
Lower Sacramento River Trout: I have been spending most of
my time on the Lower Sacramento guiding for trout between Anderson and Jelly’s
Ferry. Almost all the guides are fishing between Posse Ground and Anderson
Chasing the egg bite/hatch. There is VERY limited numbers of reds and the few
that are around get POUNDED early and often. When I put in at Anderson this
week there was 20 trailers there taking out and I was the only boat putting in.
I had Anderson to Barge hole to myself…it was AWESOME. Now I only saw 2 sets of
reds the whole float, but the fish have to eat and are still feeding pretty
regularly in what we call bug water. There was a bunch of fish eating egg patterns on the few reds I
found but most came on rubber legs, birds nest, and Olive Amigos. Talking to my
buddies that fished the upper floats and chased each other down the river to redds
all day our numbers have been about the same….So I haven’t gone up above
Anderson in a few weeks and probably won’t for a while.
Lower Yuba River – River is still low and I tend to stay
away from it when it is below 700cfs…it is sitting at 686 cfs now with a water
temp of 55.6 so temps are good but flows are low. I have not been over there
personally but everyone I have talked to said fishing has been tough. To be
honest I probably won’t go over to the Yuba until the first big rain and the
water comes up a bit to give everyone a bit more room to fish. Below a 1000cfs
makes it tough for wade fishermen and drift boat fishermen to go exist.
Feather River – Feather has been decent. There is a fair
number of smaller steelhead up in the Low Flow and spread out in the high flow.
Things seem a bit late on the feather this year as salmon are still moving up
river as a few of my buddies have been salmon fishing in the high flow and
catching fresh clean kings. This river REALLY needs some rain and water to get
steelhead moving up it or it will be another year of those fish going up the
Sac. The Low Flow has been crowded as many of the Sacramento Area guides have been
coming north due to the conditions on the American and the Yuba so there is a
lot of guide traffic on the river.
Fly Tying…
I have made my big yearly switch from tying clousers to
tying trout flies over the last few weeks. This usually entails a big order of
the “newest” fly tying materials. One material company that I have been using a
bunch of material from is Fly Men…the are working some great tiers like Blane
Chocklett and a few others to create some really cool new products. The
stonefly heads they call Nymph Head Evolution Stonefly Tungsten Beadheads I
have been messing around with and I really like them…I must say I have not
fished them yet so I can’t say how they fish but hey they look cool so we can
only hope.
I also ordered a bunch of new material from Hareline. Some
new to me dubbings, new colors of 3 tone rabbit strips, new hooks to me, and
some other stuff that I will share as I use it and come up with some ideas.
Most of the new hooks and material I got from Hareline will be for striper flies
so it may be a while until I get around tying with them.
I also just finished up an article on fly design for I think
(not sure when it will publish) the Nov/Dec issue of Cal Fly fisher where I
talk about crossing over striper fly tying principles to trout flies so look
out for that if you are interested in fly design and tying.
Tunes…
I have been listening so the new The World is a Beautiful Place
and I am no longer Afraid to Die album Harmlessness…these guys are really cool.
I couldn’t even tell you how many people are in the band…multiple guitar
players, cello, violin, male female singers, drummers, horns, keyboards…all
melt into a very math rock, emo, catchy loud quiet mix on epitaph records. The
video below will give an idea…lots to digest.
The Irish…
Yes we beat USC…stressful week and game. I was feeling
pretty comfortable with a 24-10 lead and then in a matter of minutes it was
tied up and with in minutes after the half we were down 31-24…But man team 127
has heart and never gave up! Coming back to win 41-31 and sealing with win with
2 big interceptions. This team doesn’t quit man and is undeterred by failure
and mistakes, they just keep battling. Now we have a bye to prepare for Temple
who is 6-0 and is going to be a really big game for us. Atleast I have 14 days
before my blood pressure climes into the unhealthy range again.
