Best of 2012

Grand Canyon NP, AZ 

March

The journey to the Grand Canyon was memorable in many ways.  The hike down blew my knee out and our hike out was in a impeding arctic storm.  I'll never forget getting snowed in at the Grand Canyon and fly fishing in a place so surreal.  This is definitely ranked amongst my favorite trout destinations.

Little Truckee River, CA

May

 I lost a giant here, however I did manage to get this fine fish on my last cast of the day.  

Truckee River, NV

 May

Erika out fished me here.   I was flat out skunked on the Truckee River on both the CA and NV side.  This may be her largest trout so far on a fly.  It was priceless to see her hook and land the fish all on her own. 

Kings Canyon NP, CA

 June

There are no words to describe the beauty of this canyon and the river.  The river takes on multiple characteristics throughout the canyon.  Deep pocket water for nymphing and riffles, runs and pools for dry flies.  Rainbow trout and Brown trout are the only two species I have caught here.  And for some reason, all these fish fight tooth and nail. I've never fought trout so powerful inch for inch.

Upper Kern River, CA

 September

Backpacking into the upper Kern river with Tuck and Joseph led us to one of the most productive days I've ever had fly fishing.  The nymph fishing was ridiculously good all day.  Foam hoppers were also extremely effective.  These native Kern River Rainbows fight as wild as they look.  

Upper Owens River, CA

December

Determination and willingness to brave the cold will bring great reward on the Upper Owens River.  Winter brings large migratory rainbows from Crowley Lake, however these fish are extremely wary and difficult to land.  Light tippet and stealth tactics are required to connect.  

Cliff "The Super Days Worth"

 It's been at least six months since I've purchased this fly box and finally I've had some down time to tie flies.  It's purpose is to be my general Sierra Nevada box.  Super days worth is a understatement.. this box is more like a super week's worth.   This thing is crammed with nearly everything on a trout's menu.  This box has been on backpacking trips into the Kern river this past summer, along with just about everywhere else I've been in the past six months. 

There are three main parts to this fly box.  A general dry fly compartment, terrestrial and streamer compartment, and a inner magnetized nymph compartment underneath the terrestrial page.  I'm not going to lie, this thing is a little bulky.  It is 1.5" x 4" x 5.5" in dimension.  Kind of big to put in a fly box pocket in a fishing shirt.  Although this box primarily lives in my hip pack, I have found a few problems that I wish Cliff would correct. 

First of all, this box is not water proof.  The Kern river is a slippery freestone, where even the strongest of anglers will be guaranteed to fall. Unfortunately I'm one of those anglers that frequently slips and falls, and gets wet.  This box has been submerged more than once, and water will find it's way in.  The inner nymph compartment is somewhat sealed by the foam liner, however water will eventually filter in.  I do not recommend this box for wading in deep water.  I have recently purchased a waterproof C&F box that will eventually become my new Kern box.

Pros:  Rugged build, large fly capacity, organized compartments, assembled in U.S.A, looks kinda cool.

Cons: not waterproof, on the bulky side.

This box has served me well, and will probably remain as my go to box since the box holds enough flies to cover most trout water that I fish.

Dry Fly Compartment

Terrestrial & Streamers

Nymphs

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.