Sometimes ya just gotta.... Fly fish

I'm what they call a 'gear guy'... but a legit' gear guy not a flosser, liner, snagger. I evolved beyond that long ago.

I've always been a proponent of using the best method for getting the job done.

The journey is much more the means than the end... but the goal is to hook and land fish. If the fish want bait, I'll break out the roe. If they want worms, I'll thread those slimy bastards up and use whatever variation (wacky, in-line, puff-ball, corky, half, whole...) I must to get the worm swallowed. Bait is messy, bait is cumbersome, bait is a process to procure, bait is expensive, bait involves killing animals, bait in some minds is cheating... but often times bait is the answer.

Spoons are simple... grab a box of metal, a hook sharpener, and some reliable snap or duolock swivels and you're good to go. Travel light, cover lots of water, no burden, no mess. Use a barbless single siwash hook and 99% of the time a hookup is fair and clean with no blood involved.

Our little American River, plagued by dams, water mis-allocation and three years of drought... has run at a mere 700-800 CFS for the past many months. Low and clear has been the norm through the crux of our steelhead season. The fish blasted upriver quickly and mostly held only in the restricted waters below the weir and above the USGS Geological survey cable below the hatchery... Yes there were fish caught above and below but not in great numbers and never for sustained periods of time. Those who would argue this point are those happy to catch spawners and downers and those who can't tell the difference between pre and post spawned fish...

As the water began warming up, late February/early March, some smaller, fresh fish came through the system. I decided it was time to take up the fly rod. I went to several downriver spots which traditionally hold fish later in the season. My timing was bad for taking up the sissy stick though as we got dumped on by two consecutive storms. The lil AR that never gets blown out (in the words of one self-proclaimed expert...) got severely blown out and had as little as 1 ft. visibility...

Still, I tried and not with tandem rigs nor tiny nymphs and little egg patterns which would be hard for the most aggressive fish to find and suck up... but with woolly buggers, coneheads, leeches and streamers.

In 5 days of pounding (or swatting as Benny likes to call it) the water with the fly gear, I realized that in the right conditions (low and clear) it could be very effective for getting down and in to water not as approachable with a float, bottom-bouncing gear or hardware. I also realized that it's a lot of work but the rewards are definitely there.

My rewards were: 5 hooked and lost steelhead and 4 hooked and landed suckers.

My first day out I hit up Sunrise below the walk bridge and above the new steelhead side channel. I awaited my turn since there were 4 guys and a Clackacraft drift boat fishing the tailout spot.

I ended up making some passes in the speed-bumps above. Yes, there were spawning fish below me but there were also some small, bright fish in and around them eating eggs so I worked the water away from the redds hoping to entice one of the egg-robbers.

At some point, a guy came charging up from behind and announced, "You know those are all spwaning fish right?"

Now, here was some ultimate irony...

I explained to the guy in a non-defensive tone that I wasn't doing any of the things I'm constantly harping on others about doing (walking on redds, sightfishing, lining, or otherwise targeting spawning fish). I also thanked him for his compassion and balls enough to approach a stranger on the river in defense of the fishery.

He introduced himself as Bill Lowe and gave me a beautiful black/gray spey fly I would several days later put to good use.

We parted paths and I drove and walked several more miles of river looking for opportunities. Hours later, a man with a spey rod came down to the river at Upper Sunrise and said something about being "...off work now so I thought I might do a little fishing of my own..." It took me a while to add up 2 and 2 and realize that it was MR. Lowe whom, I'd met earlier in the day. I told him of some nice fish I'd seen and spooked. I picked his brain for some info on swinging streamers and we talked about the thrills and woes of chasing steelhead in Metropolitan Sacramento...

Nice guy that Bill. He obviously is very passionate about fishing AND THE FISHERIES...

http://www.billloweflyguide.com/guide.html

M