Never judge a man by the sort of his stick nor the package he carries. Just as any experienced woman could tell you... it's neither the type nor the size of the gear he sports but rather in the way that he uses it...
I headed out to the 'crack-pipe' today (my Mark-ism for a spot below the Nimbus Hatchery where people go to get their fishing (if you can call it that) fix.
They hover like pack dogs over bloody meat at a man-made spillway which they've 'enhanced (actually ruined) by constructing a cobble wing dam to further entice the fish in to a 5x10 ft. area to which they neither drift nor swing but rather plunk, sweep, line, and often snag fish that they usually see before they hook.
The greatest offenders foil their lack of fishing skills behind a fly rod, which of course is attached to a 9-ft leader, two skin-piercing hooks and an indicator (bobber) to let them know when one of their two flies has found itself ensnarled in the head, back, belly, fin, ass (tail) and/or an occasional mouth of a steelhead believing it has found the freshet (pipe) in to which it will travel and eventually spawn.
In the words of a man who has fished the American River since 1949 and who to this day still catches steelhead ye ole-fashioned way (with a 12-16" leader and a wad of roe)...
"If Bill Schaadt were alive and he saw this... he'd come down here, snatch up every one of those rods... break 'em over his knee and toss 'em in the river" That aint' fly fishin'... That's trule dippin'!"
A fly rod in hand doth not an angler make...
And I am NOT rippin' on (legitimate) fly fishers by any means. There are many fly dippers, drifters and swingers on the AR who actually read and fish the water... who cast, who mend, who drift their flies to willing grabs and takes from fish. These ladies and gentlemen employ wisdom, experience, skill, and ethics in their angling and wouldn't be caught dead standing on redds at Sailor Bar, sight fishing above the spawning gravel adjacent to the hatchery nor site-fishing, lining, 'tule-dipping' at the 'crack-pipe'.
I try and split my time between fishing the lower stretches of river where one has a slim but possible chance at an up-runner, bright adult and fishing in the upper river where 90% of the winter fish in the system are concentrated and where, lately many of the newer, spring fish have also decided to venture...
Will I fish the pipe? HELL YES! but there are vast differences between the way my friends and I fish it versus the way the tule-dippin' pack dogs do it...
Just two weeks ago, the only redeeming quality I saw in a float (bobber, dink) was that it didn't weigh my vest down nearly as much as my bag of pencil lead...
My first bobber-down experience which yielded a nice little steelie changed my attitude and made be a believer in the float... I've since progressed from believer to strong advocate...
Low clear water, spooky fish, countless dead (actually very much alive when you tangle up in one...) lines deposited on the river bed (courtesy of the long-lining, snagger majority) has made bottom bouncing a thing of the past.
Enter the float... it allows one to dead drift roe, worm, egg, or other offering in the zone without dredging the bottom. It allows nice, slow drifts in 6 ft., 4 ft., 2 ft., 1ft., or even 6-inches of water without much worry of losing terminal gear. And since reeling, sweeping or jerking the line would stall the float, upset the drag free drift and in most cases... spook the fish, it makes for a clean-presentation method with an extremely low to zero probability of foul-hooking a steelhead. Two other factors make snagging fish while float fishing pretty much non-existent:
1) I typically run a leader length of 8-14" and 16-18" when I feel the need to get down a bit deeper. Keep in mind that I'm fishing a veritable creek of a river which normally runs at an average CFS of 3000-5000 in the winter but this year runs at a 'skinny' (CA term) or boney (WA. lingo) 750 CFS...
2) Regardless of leader length, I stagger split shot evenly between my float and my hook so the leader presentation is always vertical and never horizontal (for more than the 8-12" between my lowest, BB split shot and my hook.
I got down to the river at around 0900 this morning. the 'usual suspects' were there with their 7 WTS taking turns at the crack-pipe-holding-pen... I made a few drifts. I was afforded most of the run there because the dippers were pretty much plunking flies at their feet and just waiting for the bends...
Three passes, no fish, time to move. I worked my way downstream but not very far so as not to end up floating over and disturbing spawner salmon and steelhead on redds... Heaven forbid... I wouldn't either wish to disturb the 'fly flinger' who sat their perched, making short cast after short cast over and through said redds...
I backtracked 100 yds. upriver and made several unanswered passes in front of the willows before my float suddenly stopped and sunk. It UN-sunk faster than I could say BOB and faster than my reflexes could tighten the connection between a sunk float and a suspecting fish...
On my next drift, I walked slightly behind and alongside the float keeping line and shadows off the water but no amount of stealth can yield a bite where there isn't a fish so I reeled up and went back to my original spot just west of the dippers. I traded my wad of saggy, wet roe for a small bundle of bright, glowing, uncured eggs all stitched up in a small sack of "spawn net" (nylon). I hadn't much faith in 'the sack method' on our little river of late but it looked great under dark, cloudy skies.
One cast, one drift, one stopped heartbeat and one scrappy though fairly fast, single-handed fight later... I realized that hungry hen steelhead aren't put off by nylon mesh when there's 'eggs for breakfast' to be had...
I took a couple photos...
I thought about the encroaching 25-40 mph winds and thunderstorms and about the fact that I myself had not eaten breakfast... I thought momentarily about how the fly guys would think their judgments about my killing a hatchery brat despite that they have no problem lining and snagging their penned-up fish over and over... I saw the many line imprints across the fish's laterals and the hook scars on her head, shoulders, back and belly... and then I took note of her body cavity... distended yet firm beneath her all white but slightly-graying head and chin. Her cloaca just breached her vent so she'd be at least 2 if not 3 weeks out from dropping any eggs. Down to less than 1/2 a skein of roe in my 'bait tank' I knew it was time to dirty my report card.
Looking at the tail of the fish, I could see no caudal V-clip so this girl had never been up the hatchery ladder and likely was a more recent (early spring) arrival.
I held a moment of silence, gave thanks to the grand provider and then pulled gill arches out from inside 'er. I told the others to enjoy the day as I left to go have breakfast, a hot shower and to cure some much needed roe.
I'm proud to be a harvester and not a hoverer...
Give a girl somethin' tasty...
and she WILL BITE!
M
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