Celebration

Upper Owens River 12-29-12

I've spent countless hours this year on the quest to fulfill my fly fishing fantasies.  Hundreds if not more flies tied, lost and stolen.  Driving into the cold dark highway at odd hours to be on the trail  before the break of dawn.  I've fly fished in three states besides California this year, and I'd have to say the Sierra is still my sweetheart.  However, the Owens rivers have always left me with a bittersweet ending, and I wasn't about to end the year without one last fight.

Snowfields stretched across the upper Owens valley into the horizon.  It was COLD, well below frost point.  Surprisingly, I wasn't the only one crazy enough to embark on this arctic quest.  By noon it looked like the usual spots were already combed through, so I took my time.  I made sure Erika and I were layered for comfort, and secondly I made sure every fishing knot was tied with care.  We let the fishing pressure cool down and began our descent into the snowfield.

The snowpack was deep enough to bury my feet.  It was also deep enough to make hiking significantly more tiring.  It was a good thing we ate that pastrami sandwhich at Mahogany Smoked Meats in Bishop.  Erika took the first run and I hiked slightly upstream from her.  Within 15 minutes I detected a strike and I was on.  My line whipped off the bank and peeled line off the reel.  I applied downstream pressure and took control of the fight.  I walked the trout downstream where I could land it without breaking off the 6x fluoro tippet.  It was a one eyed specimen in the 18inch range.  Erika named it Cataract Jack as she took a photo for me.

Another strike shortly after...  The first one took the Kern Candy, the second took the SJ Worm.

Moments later I drifted my flies through a large pool and missed at least half dozen strikes.  It seemed like they were pooled up however I failed to connect.  Erika on the other hand managed to catch a leech infested trout with a inflamed anus and deformed gill plate.  I didn't even know leeches lived in the upper Owens.

Erika drifted her flies in another section and connected with a nice brown.  I was surprised to see it take a egg pattern.

The fishery turned off after 2pm and not a bump was felt until we decided to leave at nearly 4pm.  I knew there were larger trout in the river, yet without a snow mobile they were most likely well out of reach.  The temps were dropping and the fear of frost bite was real.

 

 

A group of Japanese fisherman were the last men standing, truly the way of the warrior.  Congrats to them for their persistence and strong will.  Surely one of them must have caught a trophy.

The sun was setting quickly and a soft glow reflected off the snowfield as we drove out.

Celebration at our favorite brewery.  It was definitely a good day in the eastern Sierra!


Lower Owens River 12-30-12

The ice cracked as I turned the dial of my Simms Rivertek Boa's. The lower Owens almost felt colder than the upper this morning.  Masses of clouds loomed up and over the crest of the eastern Sierra,  bringing waves of cold air into the valley.  Surprisingly, the cold weather didn't stop the crowds from crowding the river. The browns were somewhat cookie cutter and all were taken with a size 20 z-midge.  I noticed prolific green caddis larvae in about a hook size 20-22 while pulling up algae.  Anybody going up should give them a try.  Thanks to everyone who has followed me along my fishing adventures, Especially Erika who has put up with every miserable condition known to man.  I couldn't have done it without her.  Hopefully next year I can share more back country adventures (Long trek into the upper Kern watershed) and more fly tying and gear reviews.  I also hope to get into Utah in the near future.

Thanks for following!

Winter Solstice

 

It's been a busy month.  I don't even know where the days went... the year is nearly over and I had to get on a creek to do what I do best.  If the end of days were coming, at least I'd go down with fly rod in hand.  The mountains were cold and icy.  A storm had just passed and left pillows of snow nestled between the stones.  Erika said were fishing for troutsicles.  We managed to get a few and end the day warming next to a fire and pint of ESB. 

The water wasn't as low as expected for this time of year. 

The brown trout were being especially selective.  No dry flies today.

3wt's and flicking flies on creeks has not lost it's charm.

The perfect end.  .

 

Fall Fly Fishing on the Owens River

Finicky Browns were abound on the Lower O.

Lower Owens
What does a fly fishing addict do when one gets a four day vacation from work? Drive far from home with a 4x4 loaded with fly fishing gear, beer, and food.  Yes, I'm going to say that's the order of importance. 

Made it to the Lower Owens river the day after Thanksgiving.  It was as busy as Disneyland during Christmas.  I was given a roughly drawn map by the fly shop guy to try a lesser fished area of the lower O.  It was a narrow 4x4 trail that gave my paint job some new battle scars... however it led to a prime piece of water that had some eager browns rising for emerging blue winged olives.  My first trout took a size 18 midge emerger, this trout was impressively strong and looked to be roughly 15".  It gave me a few hard runs and unglued at my feet.  Several more were caught on small robo PT's.  Nothing large and spectacular, however they were all highly selective.  It was technical and rewarding. 

Lower Owens River, CA

Upper Owens
The Upper river was packed! I drove the trail upstream for miles before I could find somewhere to fish.  Surprisingly the wind was calm and the day was warm.  Around 1pm a BWO hatch persisted until approx. 3pm.  Only a few fish were rising in the section that I fished.  Most fish caught on dry flies were dinks.  Some giants from Crowley Lake were scattered in the upper river (I spooked several).  I had a few rainbow trout take a tungsten teddy fly and a size 24 z-midge.  At the end of all our hard work, Erika and I had beer and lunch on the tailgate of my truck, overlooking the river.  That alone was worth the drive to get away from the socal madness.

Upper Owens River, CA

The Pacific Northwest

 I've held off on writing about my trip to the Pacific Northwest for a few reasons.  For one, I did not have much to write about in regards to catching.  Secondly, I've just been tired.  Steelhead were supposedly making their migration into the lower Deschutes river.  Reports told legends of steelhead rising for October caddis skating across the river.  I tied at least a dozen October caddis pupae and adults, in hope of a rising steel torpedo to explode on my fly.  Well... none of that happened.  I gave it all my heart and rigged my heaviest rod at the time (Sage Flight 690) with my self tied "Octobercator" with a giant October caddis pupae dropper.  The lower D is a much larger river than anything I have fished in the past.  I was intimidated and wading the giant river looked like suicide.  With all my hard work, I managed to catch a decent redside trout and a somewhat large mountain whitefish.  However, I did connect with a fish that seemed to have the power of a locomotive.  It overpowered me and broke my 8lb tippet in a blink of an eye.  I'd like to say it was a steelhead.

Fall River, OR

Lower Deschutes River, OR

 Native Redband Trout Caught on Lower D

Mountain Whitefish Caught on Lower D

Metolius River, OR

Mt Ranier NP

Waterfalls and Creeks were abundant.  No fish were harmed here..

The Mountain Ash and Huckleberries were showing off for Fall.

Tying Like a Machine

 It's been too long since updating some fishing reports. Since my last outing to the upper Kern river, I have fished several rivers in central Oregon, a local stream and the lower and upper Owens river. Those reports will come out soon...

I've been tying flies like a machine over the past few weeks. Primarily bass flies since trout stocking has commenced in my local lakes. I had finally got around to filling my Cliff bugger Beast fly box with articulated rainbow trout flies, shad, blue gill and a variety of bugger and clousers. And guess what? They are all gone.

Tuck and I finally got out to fly fish. We decided to meet at MVL since it was convenient and I've managed to get some strong stockers to take streamers. I brought my 8wt and all my bass flies to offer the large mouth pigs that inhabit the lake.

A few LMB took our wooly buggers with Tuck getting a nice one that muscled itself into the weeds. After a few hours the rain began to really come down and my urge to use the restroom became unbearable. My mind turned off and left my fly box on top of the restroom trash can. Some lucky guy or gal now has a nice fly box full of bass flies. Good luck.

The past few days I've been tying like a mad man. I literally lost every bass fly I owned. At least now I have a starting point.

Kern River - Wild Trout Section

A toothy hump backed KRR. 

It's been hardly a month since I last posted a fishing report, yet it feels like years have already passed.  The summer heat has been brutal and has forced me to finally stay put and tie flies.  With my upcoming trip to eastern Oregon just around the corner, my itch to cast a fly to wild fish has become increasingly unbearable.  With my west slope sierra Nevada fly box complete and my steelhead fly box nearly full, I was ready to return to the water. 

This time, I returned to the Kern River's wild trout section with Tuck and Joseph.  The day time temps were still in the low 90's however night time temps dropped drastically into the mid to high 30's.  The river was slightly off color (green), which may have benefited our cause.  We backpacked into the wilderness mid-day and arrived on the water just as the temps were beginning to drop. 

We quickly setup camp, hung our hammocks, pounded a few cold ones and hit the water.  My first run produced a quality KRR as shown above; Tuck helped land this fish for me since I may have died otherwise.  I fished a hoppicator with two nymphs the entire afternoon.  The first rainbow took a size 18 Flashback PT.  The first dropper was a size 12 yellow BH SH Kern Emerger.  Both flies produced many fish to the net, even the hoppicator was hit several times by some large trout.  My eagerness to set the hook on the hoppicator is still problematic... Joseph on the other hand successfully had a 15incher bang the hoppicator in the middle of a fast run.  Fishing was phenomenal for everyone.  I even got my first ever double on two nymphs at one time.  I will let the photos tell the rest of the story.  Tomorrow I leave for Oregon!

Rigging and... unwinding.

Tuck and I lost two LARGE trout in this run!

Joseph's first KRR.

Awesome pocket water. 

My first time sleeping in a hammock.  I kept waking up with my legs hanging out the end.

Tuck and Joseph on at the same time.

The next morning I decided to sling a single dry fly.  This is one of many caught on a yellow sally.

Tuck fighting a big one. 

We stopped at Mcnally's for cheeseburgers and shakes on our drive out.  While driving downstream along the roadside section, we just couldn't help but stop to put in a few last casts... Fishing was terrible, Nevertheless still fuel for the addiction. 

Season of the Hopper

Our first glimpse of the north fork of the Kern river.

I've been studying maps of this wilderness area for well over a year now.  Since it has been nearly a year since I have completed the heritage trout challenge, I was now in search of some truly mighty Kern river rainbows.  Most of the heritage trout that I caught were rather small, with the exception of a Kern river rainbow in the 16" class caught further down the watershed.  It was now time to return for some big fish during the season of the hopper.

As we descended down the steep canyon side of the Kern plateau, the clicking of hopper wings nearly followed us to the waters edge.  Hopper's in size 10-14 were abundant and colors ranged from yellow-orange.  The air was dry and warm and the distinct smell of pine forest welcomed Erika and I to the river.

The first area I stopped to fish.  We setup base camp on the right side of the bank.

We arrived riverside about 10:30am.  It was already getting hot and there was no obvious hatch to match.  Hopper's were everywhere so I started with a size 12 rubber leg stimulator that I tied to match a golden stone or hopper.  I started with no dropper, just a single dry fly. I connected after just a few casts along the edge of the seam.  It was a strong trout in the 14" range that gave several hard runs, while fighting the fish on the reel it leaped out of the water and came undone.  This was a re-occurring theme while fighting these trout.  I had two more takes in this run and failed to connect.  My senses were becoming dull from the heat wave and dehydration.  Erika and I forded the river to setup camp so we could relieve ourselves from our backpacking gear.  I setup the tent and made myself at home.  We had some light snacks and re-hydrated before we trekked upstream with lighter gear.

There was already some stone seats and a fire ring established at our site.

 We headed upstream about a 1/4 mile and found some nice pocket water, I missed at least a half dozen rises in this stretch, connected and lost a few, and landed one.  It seemed that these fish were escape artists.  Erika still seemed to be struggling to connect with a trout, I told her to head upstream from me and fish a section just below a riffle.  Almost immediately she connected although it came undone as it leaped.  I cast my fly in a deep section behind the riffle and I had a explosive take and miss from a large trout.  What the hell, I'll give it another shot.  Again, the rise was aggressive and the fish was on.  The trout pulled my line hard and I was on the reel in no time.  I let the trout run upstream and suddenly the line flung back at me.  Inspecting the line, I noticed it broke off at least a few feet above the knot.  The line must have caught the edge of a rock and severed.  I tied a surgeons knot and re-rigged with the same Stimulator pattern and a size 14 Guides Choice Hares ear dropper.

First trout to find it's way to the net. 

I should have tied more of these.  Barbs were crushed before fishing.

Guide's choice hares ear was the most productive nymph. 

The dry dropper combo was red hot.  I had three trout take back to back in the same run, yet they all came undone during their notorious three foot leap.  It seemed the King's river trout were all diggers, while these upper Kern river trout are jumpers and tail walkers.  Erika and I were both getting tired and we took a break in the river and swam in one of the slow moving pools.  It restored our spirits and re-charged our sore backs and legs.  I re-rigged my line with a giant hoppicator  with two split shot and two nymph's.  As Tuck would say it, "It's time to get weird".  The size 8 hoppicator looked pretty ridiculous with its neon green afro and I thought for sure the trout would just laugh at it.  I dropped a size 18 flashback PT about 8' from the hopper and a size 10 twenty incher about 18" below.  Even with all the foam and antron yarn, the hoppicator was drowning under the weight from all the tungsten. 

I tied the hoppicator with a big wad of antron yarn.  It could have used more to support heavy nymphs.

This run looked at least 6' deep along the wall.

  The first drift down the run, I noticed some enormous trout inspect the nymphs and watched them follow downstream.  I waited for the nymph's to swing and lift, the anticipation of the trout to take fueled me with adrenaline.  Finally as the nymph's lifted to the surface, the trout made the take and we were on for merely a moment.  The trout flashed it's side and disappeared.   I moved upstream a few feet and made another cast. This time, a head the size of my fist emerged and hit my hoppicator. I ripped the hopper out of its mouth and lost yet another big KRR.  Working the run a bit upstream, I landed a few average rainbows on a size 12 golden stone nymph (twenty incher was changed out due to it's heaviness with my rig).  The sun was setting and we were out of steam and returned to camp.

Sun setting on the Kern.  I wanted to return to camp and fish a mouse pattern.

I didn't rest long with the sound of rising trout in the backround. 

We setup camp for dinner and it wasn't long until I got distracted with the sound of rising trout.  I tied on a size 18 PMD emerger and hit the water.  It was going to take 12 min for the pasta to boil after all...  After just a few casts I was on with a trout and again, it escaped.  Worked a section further up and connected with another large fish, and this time it stayed on.  It gave me some hard runs put me on my reel.  Since I left my net at camp, my photo came out blurred due to the low light and squirmy trout.  

16incher getting away.  This is about what my vision looked like from hard fishing and lack of sleep.

Erika found a scorpion while I was in fish mode.

I tied a size 6 hemorrhoidal mouse that I wanted to fish in the early evening, however I fell into deep food coma once I  scarfed down two servings of creamy chicken pasta.  We crawled into the tent and I was out of commission until the morning light.

I crawled out from where I crawled in.  Among the best night of sleep ever.

Fire and morning coffee.  It was surprisingly chilly outside.

We woke up and drank some coffee and ate some oatmeal.  Packed our gear and headed downstream to fish a few hours before leaving.

People come all the way out here to use powerbait?? This section is fly and lure only.

An interesting geothermal area.

A pale morning dun says goodbye to Erika as we leave this beautiful river.

Really cool volcanic post-pile geology is evident throughout the canyon.

Vibrant lichens are growing on the volcanic rocks.

Goodbye Kern canyon.  360 view from trail.

I was craving a bbq tri-tip sandwich big time.  We drove by the sierra smoker on the way up and it as been on my mind ever since.  It made my mouth water as I was pushing myself out of the canyon.  On the way back we even passed up McNalley's burgers which was a big mistake... Upon arrival to the sierra smoker bbq shack, the worker informed me they were all out of bbq! Utter dissapointment! we settled on mexican food at El Jacalito... It did not fit the craving to say the least, just an upset stomach and bad gas which will probably last for days.