2010 Fishing Season Opener- 4days

Denny fishing the Pit at Big Bend
This trip has long since passed but hey- figured it might as well catch up while laid up from a minor motorcycle spill on the 101. Bike is fine, body is fine but Sergio Rossi boots- pretty scuffed but back to the fishing.

April 1-4th :: First trip was to Fall River Mills to fish the Pit and Baum lake. We left on Thursday night and stayed at Gaia in Redding which is probably the best fishing accommodations ever to be had- eco green, modern, quiet, comfortable, new and friendly staff- oh and more importantly less than $100 a night. Next morning after enjoying a nice brunch we head to the Sundial on the lower sacramento which had some great fishing reports the previous couple of days but a heavy rain was falling and we weren't deterred considering we both had new gear- G-Loomis MAX GLX and Abel Super-6 while Denny was throwing his new Winston Boron IIX (don't remember the reel but probably abel knowing denny). After about 4 hours in a texas like downpour we headed to Chuys- wishful thinking but of course it was Chevy's. There were about 5 drift boats with guides around us and we watched only 2 fish come in, since we hadn't spent $400 on a guide- we were feeling pretty good. The gear felt good and Denny's margarita was cold (my diet coke was a pepsi but oh well)....

After Chevy's we headed to Fall River late in the afternoon on Friday and of course a couple hours in there was a blizzard- lots of snow, not looking good for our fishing exploits but we carried on to Burney. In Burney we had the lovely experience of getting my gun license from the friendly folks at the only Fly and Tackle shop- Vaughn's, Denny bought a 22" rifle and we both got a wealth of information about the new Pit construction including the woman who wants her name on a plaque saying she restored the Pit to its historic flows (seriously, why??) to who in SF County has a conceal license to carry since there are only 7 permits issued currently (we can start with one is not for me, and not a surprise- it's all politicians) and of course California Groundling Squirrels. These little guys apparently eat the alfalfa intended for California's large cattle population (I probably have that wrong- remember my brain is a sieve from which sometimes information stays but often it falls through) and so these folks get sent out with a days worth of ammo and sit in chairs while taking out hordes of these squirrels.

Anyway, after about two hours we left the shop and checked in, had a warm meal at the lovely Fall River Mills hotel. Next day, we got up and headed to Big Bend- we really wanted to fish closer to Pit 5 powerhouse but the road wasn't plowed so we hiked into Big Bend- Denny had some bites and I landed a little 12" on a March Brown but the river and creeks were pretty blown out. Come to find out, the Pit isn't "as" affected by snow melt versus the claim by said fishing partner that the Pit isn't affected by snow melt but I digress- important point is that the first fish of the season was on a Dry ! its gonna rawk !!

Little Bow on a March Brown (above)

We headed to the Baum to see what's doing over there after a pretty crappy time at Big Bend- which we get to Baum and Denny's left his Simms jacket with his camera in it (about $500) so he leaves me with his glock (in case of Deryl's which is short for derelicts who like to steal fly fishing gear) and goes back (about an hour round trip) to find said jacket which gratefully he did recover. Ang had lost her brand new G-Loomis Max GLX and Abel reel last time we were at Big Bend- so we agreed no need to go back- too many lost things and really tough access and mediocre fishing- we can skip it, especially since I hadn't lost anything yet. Next day, Denny goes to church- it's Easter and I sleep in with Charlie dog. We head back again in a blizzard and then really hard rain- but hey, I caught a fish :)

The Baum

April 13th Steve Santucci Striper trip where many many fish were caught- mostly keepers and a couple of bass, crappie, etc..but nothing as gorgeous as that little guy on his March brown.

See you on the river...