Trout Season Finale (33 days)

Trout season finale(s) happened some time before the official last weekend but of course more fishing will be had before it is all said and done. Both of my last two trips were incredibly beautiful fall weekends, so although a puppy leg emergency left me in SF for the official last weekend, I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful scenery. I forgot my camera for the Feather river (which I have to say is officially my new favorite water for the season) but the Sonora and Yosemite pass translates some of the amazing fall foliage we have right here in the Sierra's. I don't really have much to say that can enhance these pictures- armed with an electric blanket for sleeping in Joe, the camping was uneventful. The Sonora pass closed the Sunday we went back through yosemite- so our timing was perfect and since most of the campgrounds were closed- we were mostly alone. Looking forward to some Steelheading this winter and plan to hit the Upper Sac area for trout in the coming months. Here on the right I am contemplating a good day of fishing on the East Walker from a view on the Pacific Crest Trail right off the Sonora pass.

Here is Hilary Lorenz of NYC who was game for a weekend camping, and yes- a whole day fishing. She was a great camper partner and loved the Sierra's. This is a picture from Tioga pass with Half-dome in the background. Although the first part of the pass was crowded with cars and people- the valley floor was even more crowded- note to self, hike near the Eastern entrance !








Here is a view from the Yosemite Vernal
Falls trail- looking up it seems like a big tree





And then you start looking down from the top of the falls and it's a tiny stump...






























View of the Owens river valley (below center) where the Fall colors are spectacular for the Morning sunrise.


Finale shot of the big boss- El Cap (El Capitan) from the valley floor- you may can see it but someone is camping about half-way up- a tiny dot on the far left- not sure they made it to the top before the storms hit.


And of course, some gratitious fish porn- a nice Brown from the East Walker




Sunset over the Sierra's

RMNP (Rocky Mountains) 31 days

I must confess first that I have been fishing since July, although not as much as I would have liked. Knee brace wait time per dr's office- 1-2wks, actual wait time for said brace- 6-7 weeks. Finally received the brace in time for the trip to Denver, more specifically Rocky Mountain National Park (or RNMP as locals call it) but not in time for my trip to Caples Creek off the Silver Fork (below) of the American river or the John Nutting memorial Stanislaus disaster trip.

Caples creek trip was a quick one, just Claude and I, and except for slipping on a rock (see boulders in above picture, very slippery) and spraining the already injured knee (see the note about no knee brace above) and slicing my thumb open which required about 3 hours of driving to Tahoe urgent care to get the thing glued back together) overall it was a great trip, short and sweet with 2 days of fishing for little wild rainbows and lots of action from Claude, who this trip was actually a great fishing dog- he sat on the bank, didn't run off or jump into the water and scare the fish and of course had to lick/kiss the fish I caught like the sweet baby boy hims is ! he is studiously following the fish in the water below...
Camping in the truck was easy, weather cooperated and we had two nights of camp fire which I miss sorely now...!! Stanislaus was another story, John Nutting was in town (allegedly AFTER the san bruno explosion, although at the end of the trip we decided he probably was responsible for that too) and we (Dana, Claude, John and I) decide last minute to "borrow" a friends cabin (technically I did send an email to ask but Mary was in Puerto Vallarta with no email access) in Arnold which is right off the Stanislaus. I had my new knee brace (which didn't fit) and we stocked up at whole foods (they took 40 mins, I took 5) and headed out into Bay Area traffic at 6pm on a Friday. We were supposed to arrive about 8pm but due to a hazardous spill on the freeway, we had a two HOUR delay. Needless to say the next day I needed to a) be on the water and b) catch some fish- which did happen but not without some video footage (look-it's a fish, brilliant direction and narration by John Nutting) which was right before Claude fell off a rock into a big pool of water.

We head back the next morning, leaving about 1 extra hour for John to sit at the airport only to once again get stuck in over an hour delay on the 101 because a drunk driver lady was driving the wrong way and then walking on the freeway, then a man stopped his car to try and help her and then they both got hit and killed by a limo heading to SFO. Needless to say, this was obviously all John Nuttings fault for even thinking about moving to SF- his initiation into Bay area traffic intersected with my nice fishing weekend- ce la vie...onto the real trip...

I arrived in Denver Thurs night and headed to Estes Park on Friday where Rowdy met me along the Fall River. I got great suggestions from Kirks fly shop and some great flies and tried my luck on the Big Thompson which this time of year isn't very big (nor was the Roaring river roaring) but I forgot my license in the urgency of having to get onto the water, so the second cast out I headed back to the condo. We had a great evening catching up and a very big adventure (read, unexpected very strenuous hiking up to Fern lake which ended up being about a 1k elevation change in about .5 miles) the next day where I caught some little browns and greenbacks on the Big Thompson. Unfortunately I had my floating line only, so once we got to Fern lake I had some fish on my streamer but since the fly was practically floating, no takers. The hiking was fun, the Aspens are turning already and Rowdy even casted a few in between crocheting and chain smoking on the bank while I fished.
I have to say that after having spinal cord surgery and two spinal blocks, he actually did a great job of making it literally up the mountain and not complaining- I know very few of my friends who would do this hike and not make me pay :)

The next day we enjoyed a lazy morning and I hit the Roaring River which I fell in love with, again not the time of year for Roaring water, so mostly little greenies but it was gorgeous, I saw only one person over a two day period, the views were spectacular and the hiking was much easier than the Fern lake hike.
I did see some bigger fish (bigger for RMNP which was 14-16) but was not able to catch the big guys despite having tried: every fly in my box, stealthful approach on my hands and knees, having no TIPPET (not just leader) in the water- precariously balancing the fly on the water high-sticking even the dries, getting more flies from the fly shop...so needless to say it was frustrating to get the average size fish but they fought and I had a great time....one particular large fellow that had my eye I believe lucked out only because big rain thunderstorms were headed my way from two directions, so needless to say he's the one that got away. I just couldn't fish on slippery rocks in the rain and of course a 4mile hike back downhill on a muddy terrain (after 3 days of fairly difficult hiking) my knees voted to head home early. So I called the airline, changed my flight, re-packed all my gear, showered at a gas station (ok, used some wet wipes in the bathroom) and watched the SF debacle against the Saints until the 4th quarter to end a perfect long weekend.

Now the Rocky mountains are pretty cool, I did notice there was a lack of Deryls- I didn't at any time worry about my belongings in the car but there were lots of older white folks watching Elk from the side of the roads (thus impeding my progress to my much needed dinner) and the park ranger gave me about 10 minutes of crap because he didn't like the way I signed my $40 annual pass to RMNP. Now I guarantee I won't be purchasing said pass again, although I like to do so because I like to financially support the national parks. I also think in terms of spectacle, RMNP has nothing on Ansel Adams wilderness and our golden trout but there is nothing like your home waters and I am sure the fly-fisherman in RMNP feel the same way.

Gratitous fish porn

Golden Trout (21 days)

There are lots of things that I can't think of right now. The ride up to Clark's lake (9k ft) was spectacular and the ride up to Alger's (10.3k ft) lake was even better.
The ride back was worse on my knees than I thought but well worth it. This is the view from Algers lake #3 which is well above 11k, almost 12k. Air was thin and I was getting dizzy so I didn't make it all the way up- no one knew where I was so I hiked back down. The lake with all the ice is where I caught about 20 golden and golden hybrids which are golden and rainbow hybrids. Golden's are unique to the Eastern Central Sierra's and are identified by the golden color on their body and near the gills as well as the lack of spots on their body and fins. The golden trout has nothing but golden flanks with a red, horizontal band along the lateral line and 10 dark oval marks, called "parr marks", on each side. Dorsal, lateral and anal fins have white leading edges.

The Golden Trout species came into existence over 70,000 years ago when the ice age caused the Kern River system and the northern Sacramento basin system (containing Red-Band Rainbows) and the ancient ancestors of the Golden Trout, to join. The trout populations were also likely influenced by occasional influxes of Coastal Rainbows thru the San Joaquin River link. As the ice age withdrew, and tectonic plate movement and earthquakes continued to uplift the Sierra Nevada Mountains, populations of Rainbow Trout were isolated in the Kern system by naturally occurring barriers of warm sections of water and waterfalls. Over thousands of years these rainbows evolved into the current day Golden Trout. It is commonly believed the Golden Trout developed their bright red and yellow colors in response to their natural environment. The substrate of many of their native streams have granitic stones stained in light yellow and reddish hues of volcanic origin. Some speculate the goldens adapted to this background color. Another theory is that ultraviolet light may have had an influence. It seems likely that fish in the shallow, exposed, high elevation streams where goldens evolved would be more vulnerable to this solar light source than those in more shaded waters at lower elevations. Usually, goldens found in the former situation are more brilliantly colored.

Instead of writing about the trip, I think providing quick profiles (in no particular order) of my fellow horse pack gang is the route to go for this log. Here is the group shot at Clark's lake. We were smart enough this year not to wait until the last day to take the group shot. From the left- Annette, Kate, Mark, Chris and me.

Mark H- "When the mountain lion grabs my dog- don't worry about me- I am on my way to the pound. I'm not saving my dog." After I said I would fight the mountain lion to save my dog. Mark is a lawyer for Facebook and by far the most clever and funny guy on the trip. He has three kids, some of the flies he was using (and were working) were tied by his kids which was really cool. He is however very anti-Oprah Winfrey (who doesn't love Oprah, COMEON) and Al Gore but we got along anyway :p He and I spent some quality time on Clark's #2 and Algers #3- Clarks however was only fishing for brookies and the swarms of mosquito's were worse than in Port Arthur or anywhere I have ever been- they bit my face through my buff (you'll see pics below of my buff pulled up over my face for sun and bug protection. I finally gave up on Clark's #2 since brookies are abundant, eat anything you present and are over-populated in most areas. Mark was also sensitive to fat jokes although you can tell from his picture- he's not fat :D

Irene- "I have never seen anyone puke over mule shit" She said this after I was dry heaving because my mule wouldn't move and had just taken a huge crap and there was no wind, this was the first 5 minutes of the trip. She had me pegged. She was 66 years old, has lived in Long Pine her whole life and been voted "Top Chef" for back-country camp cooking. Her food was better than any food camping and better than anything in any nearby restaurants. I am that selfish that I want her again next year even though she retired technically two years ago. She also lead us (as in was the wrangler, lead the trail, got off and checked everyone's saddles, etc...) up to both campsites at Clarks and Algers. We had pancakes and bacon, biscuits and gravy, eggs, bbq ribs, lasagna, delicious salads, quesodillas, steak, corn, better eating than what I bother with even in SF. Her stories of course cannot be parallelled and she has great jokes !! I hope to be walking when I am 40 and this lady is packing trips into the back country at 66- what an inspiration for us all !!

Ang (on the right) is the fly shop host and a fly-fishing fiend almost as dedicated to fishing as I am...although she has been fly-fishing for over 40 years (which is amazing since she's only 39 :p ) and is an amazing caster. She mostly assisted the folks on the trip but came close to out-fishing me our last couple of days on Hot Creek (which she hasn't fished in over 20 years) and the Owens. She worked in the outdoor industry and has the "Prada" of ALL camping gear to prove it. Although she lost a rod/reel (again, I might add) in Algers- but she also caught the largest fish (not a golden I don't think) of the trip in Alger's and had see been fishing the whole time, would have caught more fish than I did :)



Kate (right) was the swimmer/fly fishing PHd of the crew. She was often off enjoying the water and took a daily bath (which I didn't take a one, but I was busy fishing during "daylight" hours) so she was the best-looking one who had coordinated outfits and earrings, so needless to say an anomaly for the rest of the crew. An experienced horse-rider, she made me nervous when she galloped close to my slow and steady mule but more importantly she caught a lot of fish and even gave streamer fishing a try.


Annette (left) is the fly-fishing rookie of the group. She recently retired from SFPD (San Francisco police department) and was part of the mounted patrol, so she was mostly going for the scenery and horseback riding. However, she did fish quite a bit and even managed to land a couple of fish. I can't imagine going "for the scenery" but to each her own. I was very grateful when on the part of the trail where Alex (the cowboy wrangler) had to get off his horse and check the trail (because there was so much snow on a very very steep incline) that she didn't want to "try" it either, so we went a different route to the San Joaquin river. Our feeling was that if you have to "check" the trail, we did not want to be on that particular trail. The rest of the gang was disappointed but better safe than sorry !!

Speaking of cowboy's here is Mr Alex, our fantastic wrangler who probably worked as hard as Irene did. He was up every morning before sunrise(except the post-tequila one) taking care of saddling and after feeding and watering the horses and mules he was usually the last one to sleep. He also had to pack all our gear everyday and the kitchen three times to move camps.
Although only 27, he is a Kentucky trained farrier- this is a person who is a specialist in equine hoof care, including the trimming and balancing of a horse's hoof and the placing of shoes to the horse's foot. A farrier couples a subset of the blacksmith's skills (fabricating, adapting, and adjusting metal shoes) with a subset of veterinary medicine (knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the lower limb) to address the care of the horse's feet. (p.s. I started just stealing from wikipedia, figured it's easier to just cut and paste than insert links to information :)) Anyway, he was super-cute, great attitude and lead us on our daily excursion to the San Joaquin river on a fairly intense trail but one that had magnificent views- below is a shot of the Minarets in the middle of the Ritter range- a camera cannot capture the beauty !!



Now, I have to be honest- this is actually a nice part of the trail so needless to say we couldn't take pictures on the really tough parts of the trail but again for the fishing- it was well worth it !!

Last but not least was Chris who was by far the quietest of the group. He works in shipping (of something I didn't really understand but it involved radioactive and other sensitive packages) and lives in Los Altos. He wasn't super-experienced fisherman but did catch some fish. He is from North Carolina and carries the accent as well as the propensity for enjoying evening festivities where he occasionally piped into the conversation. He probably thought we were all looney-toons but oh well :D


Finally, I have to add in some gratuitous fishing pictures (we call it fish porn, yes they each a different fish) and scenery pics that words can't describe. I have to admit this part of our gorgeous country makes me consider teaching school so I can go be in the Ansel Adams wilderness all summer which is exactly what Irene did, she taught school for over 30 years and about 10 of that was teaching Agg.

Ants Don't Drown- 13 days

Nevada here we come- fishing the East Walker- home of the trophy brown trout and all-season goodness !! So this trip was all the way to Nevada- just across the border. This is the place we were in the fall when the mountain lion was 4' from me- stalking us apparently- so I did this camping with some trepidation but of course it was for naught ! I am armed with my glock and tetanus shot for all the rusty barb wire on the makeshift fences. This is private water again, so I saved money by camping but spent some money to be alone on the water. Considering it was Father's day weekend, it was a good call. I arrived at Ken Sporting Goods to check in for the private water (after weeks of Denny waffling about going or not- should have told him not to go) to find our reservation was for Friday and Saturday, although I had confirmed for Saturday and Sunday. Luckily they let us fish anyway and of course on Sunday the fish were down and not eating but I don't want to jump ahead. This is the fence that separated me from a mountain lion (below) Friday evening about 6pm I arrive to the ranch- which is a real working cattle ranch with cows, sheep, chickens, horses, rabbits, snakes, just about every animal you can imagine. It's a pretty nice property, not far from the Marine's training center for mountains (i.e. Afghanistan mountain terrain) so you hear helicopters throughout the day when they are on manuvers. This is an excerpt from a course description "Students are taught Tactical Rope Suspension Techniques (TRST), Assault Climber skills, animal packing, survivability, bivouac, mountain patrol techniques, tactical considerations, weapons employment, fire support considerations, the necessary skills to plan, organize, and lead mountain/cold weather operations; to plan/lead cliff assaults; to plan/lead long range patrols on complex ridgelines for overwatch, reconnaissance, or to control fires; to train their units for mountain/cold weather operations; " Needless to say, I don't qualify but it is cool to see them and know they are there (doesn't make sense, I know- its not like this is a hotbed for terrorist mountain activity but I suspect the tolerance for local deryl's is very low !!).
Anyway, I am alone on the ranch- the owners are out of town, so its me and the animals. I am really pretty busy though setting up camp to get ready for the next day so I can get up and get on the water. This involves unpacking the back of my truck, getting the coffee ready for the next day, stringing up my rods, picking out my flies, going through my fly boxes, changing my mind about the flies, reorganizing my fly boxes, then of course changing out my flies one more time. I notice while making my bed in the back however that my truck smells, so I decide to burn some Sweet Grass (not it isn't that kind of grass !!) incense inside my truck and in the meantime I also have a bonfire outside in the fire pit when I realize that in 100mph winds this is not a good idea, so I disperse of the fire and hit the hay. I had a pretty good time, the fire at night- just sitting out there (me and my glock 19 of course) relaxing and watching the sunset and then the stars, just amazingly peaceful. I have a hard time falling asleep, usual in a new place, but I wake up the next morning to a loud thud- I know its an animal and the sun is actually rising but was shocked to see a big ole Horse face literally one foot from my face with his face pressed against the glass. I then notice the other two horses who are running around my truck and alternating between nudging and licking my truck. I assume they think I am going to feed them and go on about my day- coffee, oatmeal and head to the water.
Its a nice day, not windy, nice mayfly hatch coming off, I immediately throw some streamers with no success and then on my nymph I catch a nice brown trout (my favorite trout) which stupidly I don't take a picture of because I assume I am going to catch many browns.

Of course I caught several rainbows and a squaw fish (left) that I thought was a carp and no more browns. Denny comes with Charlie a bit later and he caught some footballs per usual and I caught some medium fish (16-18") all on nymphs, there were no fish rising and little bug activity most of the day. About 4pm we head into Bridgeport to eat a late lunch/early dinner, I am telling the story to Dennis about the horses and of course it dawns on me that the horses were after the Sweet Grass incense I had burned- who knew !! I also had an incident with an ant- I had been sitting on the ground to tie my flies only to get up and start fishing and feel a sharp pain on my leg. Of course I am fishing and don't want to be disturbed, I am already in the water up to my knees, so I brilliantly decide to just duck my butt down into the water- we've been wet wading all day (its about 80 and the water is pretty warm) which means we don't have on waders just regular camping quick-dry pants and of course as soon as I come up out of the water I remember I had left my truck keys in my pocket so the key remote is soaking wet and in the meantime I feel a really sharp bite AGAIN !! So I dig my hand down onto the back of my legs and smush the very large red ant that is attacking me. As I am telling the story to Dennis he of course says "Ants don't drown" which of course I find out the Hard Way !! but that's why Dad always called me "HWH" for hard way holly (see left) !!
The next day I hike past the border and find some really nice water- I miss exactly 3-4 fish on 4 different dry flies (could have been one fish that many times but usually not and it wasn't in the exact same spot) because either I wasn't fast enough, or too fast, or they just came up to the fly and decided not to eat it- you fish long enough you realize that one person will say one thing, the other will absolutely swear on their dog's life that what the other person said wasn't true and is in fact the exact opposite, so you just really never know what to believe- its mostly about having patience, faith and low expectations- some days one is enough (quote taken from a guide named Mike). My rainbow on a copper john (left)

Speaking of which, the second day I come back and eventually find Dennis about 3pm, he's already drinking a beer (which means the fishing must be really bad) and I was having a pretty hard day, I mean landing a Squaw is sort of supposed to be embarrassing (secretly I was thrilled having never caught one) but anyway I see that Charlie is completely soaking wet because he's had about 3 baths. Like his friend Claude, he decided roll from head to toe in fresh Horse and Cow shit and then run with the horses in the fields. On the 4th Charlie bath Dennis loses my brand new camp soap, so needless to say we call it and head into town to eat dinner. In honor of Dad I actually even ate a few of Denny's chili cheese fries- which after all day fishing, were de-lish.
The drive wasn't bad coming back and on my 2nd trip, I was able to park, get unloaded, put everything away, shower, get my coffee ready and be in bed in one hour, which last trip it took me about 3 hours, so I have a pretty good system. Joe goes to the electrician this week to get the extra battery, lights and speakers, so he'll really be ready for my next trip and of course we will post some pics once its done.
Hope you all had a great Father's day weekend !! I am heading to Austin next Wednesday and then San Antonio for the International Conference. I actually cried on the drive back in just thinking about the last 15 years, all the people who mean so much to me from completely different parts of my sobriety- Chris and John, Lisa Mac, Lynette, Peggy D, Mike and Larry, Rowdy in Colorado, Diaamah in Chicago, Stacy Heath in NYC, my Houston buds, my Austin buds, my SF folks- how amazing my life is, that I get to live so close to the most beautiful mountains and wily gorgeous trout, living in SF- just very grateful, wouldn't have thought it when I moved to Houston in 1995 but hey, it's never too late to learn something new like Ants Don't Drown !!

McCloud Memorial Day- 10 days

Well here it is, a week late, but it's ALL denny's fault (this will become a recognized theme to all) because he took the pictures but in his infinite wisdom was more worried about buying a house in Texas, visiting Austin and travelling for Visa to Denver- I mean priorities. Helloooo ! But anyway, gonna post about the trip and use my woefully inadequate pictures.
Trip started out with a cancellation the previous weekend due to the minor motorcycle issue, so I decided to brave the crowds and try to camp at one of the most popular camp sites on the McCloud river over Memorial day holiday. This picture is all my recently acquired camping gear which easily fit into ole Jo. I was able even to create a little kitchen bag using a make-up travel bag that has all the essentials for cooking including 3 kinds of olive oil, my Penzy's spices, salt, pepper, Nick's cajun seasoning, oregeno and red pepper.

I was able to leave on Thurs night and get to Redding with all my camping gear and Claude for a very early departure on Friday morning. Stayed at the Gaia again and slept well, got up and grabbed some starbucks but decided to skip the grocery store (error #1) in favor of getting to Ah-di-na early enough to get a campsite. After passing 5 police (going the speed limit thanks to my radar detector) I was able to get there by 9am, stopped at the Chevron to get some gasoline and while buying the last two cords of wood- was informed by a local I could get a permit for a fire down the road- now this is about my 3rd fire for which I have never had a permit- who knew ?

So I went to the ranger station and secured said permit AFTER waiting almost 20 mins with Claude in my truck while the one woman "working" was on the phone talking about mushrooms. Turns out that mushroom picking is a very large revenue stream for the locals and causes many issues with people buying them with no permits or picking certain varities with no permits and even threatening the woman that they would get their ticket dismissed. Learned more about mushrooms than I ever wanted to know but once she was off the phone, the free permit took less than 30 seconds to secure. So we were legal, unfortunately the 20 mins could have been spent sleeping earlier but oh well, what can you do.



Headed to Ai-Di-Na which is about an hour and a half drive from the city of McCloud. Was able to secure a campsite early on and got some gear unloaded, registered the site with the tag (key thing we learned from July 4th at Lakes Basin AFTER we had setup our entire camp only to find out that there are papers where people reserve or post their registration- and thus had to break and setup camp twice) but anyway, got a great site right on the river and I headed off to fish. Not sure what time Dennis would be returning, I headed up to the Nature Conservancy and tried my luck with a walk-in tag- there are only 10 rods a day on this water- as a side note this is a great organization (the conservancy) and was able to get in, fish and meet a really cool camp host who showed me some great spots. Of course I was worried about Claude being in the truck for the first time but of course upon return he was fine...I met Dennis back at the campsite (he recongized my taco bag first, the paper bag with my name on it afterwards) and we enjoyed our first night outdoors.

Of course I had forgotten the grocery items which I had texted for Dennis to pickup, luckily he brought a huge ice chest of food (as I was packing I realized I had food for 2 nights and was staying 3-4 nights) but even worse, I had forgotten to have caffeine and had a raging killer monster headache. After dinner we hit the sack- Denny in his Toureg with Charlie and me and Claude in the back of Jo. It wasn't that late but everyone was tired. About an hour later, I realize that the sleeping bag and thermal coat are in the backseat of the truck and I am gonna need them- the temperatures dropped below freezing- so Claude and I were cold, my head was hurting and I couldn't fall asleep. In true Milton fashion- I decide right then and there that the truck is going to roll off into the river during a huge earthquake and if it doesn't I am going to quite fly fishing all-together and sell my truck because I just can't camp. Needless to say, it was a bit of an overreaction and once I got the sleeping bag- we were able to sleep.

The next day we have a good breakfast, I drink more coffee than usual to catch up on my caffeine deficiency and we head out to fish. The weather warms up, the McCloud is just a gorgeous river and we find plenty of water to fish. I may not have to quit after all. We don't have spectacular fishing but a couple of fish will do and we once again have a nice dinner, light a fire and enjoy the outdoors- the dogs of course are having a ball, they are getting to romp and explore and nap together, so its all working out. We head to bed the second night and fall asleep no problem and have a great nights rest to prepare us for some tough fishing the next day.
We decide to try some new water, after having a bit of tough time fishing the McCloud on the Pacific Crest trail access, we head to the Upper McCloud where I once again confuse our respective fishing direction and we both proceed to pass in the night after many hours of hiking, fishing and zero catching- I didn't see bugs, fish or even have a bite while access was super-difficult and many animal poo droppings made the hiking a bit scary. I was however able to get cell phone service for the first time in two days and called baby MEG who is now 16 years old, if you can believe it ! Didn't get a hold of her but wished her a very happy birthday which I already know she's having since she got a car !!
We head once again back to the Conservancy to see if anything is going on there- we saw many amazing hatches but no boils or fish rising, so we just couldn't win for trying.
On my way out of the conservancy I meet a guy who is dressed in regular clothes (i.e. no fishing shirt or cap) and is carrying a bag, so I inquire if he was out picking mushrooms (thinking he might think I am a clever local) but of course it turns out he is staying in the cabin ON the convervancy which is pretty much reserved for very large donors and CEOs- so I immediately sort of insult him but he takes my inquiry well and says that no, he is in fact staying at the cabin and is a big fly fisherman. After a brief talk and he helps me pick out some flies to try, he says that I should join him for a trip to Zimbabwe in the fall- to which I reply I have already been and in that conversation we realize he knows Arden (from Houston who now lives in Boston), he knows my friend Marcy Fraser in San Francisco (does non-profit work and goes to my women's meeting on Thurs) and his best-friend is a woman I met at a party once from Visa...Now what are the odds that he would know 3 people from very different parts of my life- uncanny. Anyway, it was fun talking with him and I am hoping his work with restoring Coho salmon runs worked out, he was leaving for the Klamath the next day.

I head back to camp for what turns out to be the last night out, we have a fire and have hot dogs (all beef organic of course) as Dennis continues to very patiently help me with understanding the essentials of building fires and such. We have a great chat by the fire, the dogs are at this point beyond exhausted and ready to go home. The next morning I awaken to rain and since the fishing hasn't been spectacular, decide to break camp and head home. Denny peeks his head out and asks if I know it's 5:30 in the morning- to which I reply no, I don't wear a watch but I want to beat traffic and we pack it up and head out. I get to Dana's around noon to drop off Claude and on my way from her house to mine the SFPD pull me over. Turns out my registration sticker from CarMax was incorrectly sent with January as the month instead of December, so the very nice policeman lets me go with no ticket but again, to drive about 6 hours only to get pulled over in SF- classic.
Anyway, Jo was perfect and my fly fishing obsession is still in tact. Hoping to go this weekend but probably gonna have to wait, heading to Nevada week after next to private water.

Hat Creek Private waters- 7 days

So you may have noticed but I am counting the days I fish in each post title, from the Spring season opener and on...last year I logged 52 days total all without a 4wheel drive of my own and dedicated fishing only from June through November. Hoping to do more this year without losing my day job :)

This was Jo's maiden voyage and not sure if it was the fish or my ride that made this the best trip ever. Jo found a good buddy at the local Redding Wal-mart which square footage wise was about the size of Port Arthur and still they were out of the ammo we needed. That's alot of ammo sold to Deryl's but I digress.

Back to the fishing- this was my best fishing weekend. Ever. Epic. This property on Hat Creek is a peppermint farm and private water nirvana. Except for the fact that the fly shop didn't get our materials to us and we were supposed to bring our own towels and sheets- this would be my favorite place next to the McCloud conservancy. They have three large ponds or really two medium ponds and a large reservoir. No Deryl's in sight (remember Deryl's short for derelicts) and no Gore-tex hatch on any of the water- my only competition for the water was Denny and some very large beavers? wolverines? hard to say they were so large.

Anyway, we got in Friday night for the evening hatch with some really nice boiling water (meaning bugs hatching and fish coming up to the surface, it looks like boiling water but is actually a fish frenzied dinner time) on the first pond but I had one miss and nothing else. Denny was pounding some little guys on the creek but the wind picked up and we headed into town for some food. Unfortunately there was a power outage in Burney but we were lucky enough to find some pizza. Got up the next morning and hit the creek behind the house. Of course we were off like turtles (one of our favorite expressions because fly fishing is not a fast action kind of sport unless you count the hook set or how rapidly a tree eats a fly) and so after some time we spotted some pods of fish.

Denny was the first hook-up on his new bamboo rod- I was unable to cast that noodle effectively but I followed up a bit later with a really nice 20"+ rainbow. This is not large body of water- Hat Creek, so we were suprised at the size of these fish.

We were able to catch quite a few more before we spooked them for the afternoon and headed out to the reservoir. The afternoon was followed by Denny landing some very large pond monsters on some streamers from the reservoirs- I landed a few smaller guys on some dry flies (smaller meaning about 16") .

Overall these were some picky fish, I threw about every dry fly I had in my box only to watch them come up to the fly and turn right back around- there are so many fish in this reservoir I can't even tell you...We eventually resorted to a canoe but that was a lost cause with the wind, currents, two people fly casting- I had a monster for a few seconds but couldn't jerk the hook set without tumping us over, so I lost another shark...but it was fun regardless.

We then headed off to the other pond where I managed to kill it with rubber legs, just good ole rubber legs- brown. Fish after fish after fish, I stopped counting- good fights- good size. what I live for really. The next day it was more of the same although the fish were not biting at Denny's reservoir but we did manage to catch a few more at my sweet pond.

We headed out towards Mount Lassen to fish the Hat on the way back but it was really blown out and Deryl population was high- we managed to hike in and find some good spots but not much catching. We paid homage to the Chevy's in Redding and learned a very valuable lesson about radar detectors- if your music is up really loud and you don't notice the christmas tree lights on the radar- you will see CHIPS in your rear view mirror- luckily we weren't pulled over and made it home safe and sound.

EPIC fishing, quiet, nice beds, all that water just for us.