Return to the Scene of the Crime...

A little under a year ago, at this exact spot on the creek, I lost what was probably going to be my first trophy trout (The Great White Buffalo!). After picking off small trout after small trout I had a huge one on the line and he ended up breaking my 5 lb leader because my drag was all the way tight. Obvious lesson learned, always check your drag before fishing. 

Large pond to the right

I took my wife with me to fish dry creek. I made sure that the creek was open to fishing and made my way out there. I know that the last time I was there I promised you guys a picture of what the place I’m fishing looks like. I figured I would break it down for you.

The breakdown

On the far left you can see the water coming out of a large pond (light green). That water funnels out through three little streams (dark green) that eventually come together (yellow) and drop into the main pond. Right where the water enters the main pond there is a steep drop (red) off but I’m not sure how deep it is. This is the strike zone. 

1 of 3 rainbows caught

Anyway, I set up a chair for my wife under a tree and took to the stream. I tied on a sloan’s paralyzer and first cast was a strike but it didn’t stick. I cast out a few more times and after a while I finally caught my first small native rainbow. Probably about 7 inches. I really wanted to get it released quickly so I tossed it back in quickly. A bit later I stopped getting bites and  switched to various other flies including a black wooley bugger, A san juan Worm, an elk hair caddis, a prince nymph, a hopper pattern, etc. but they weren’t biting anything except the paralyzer. 

My love and her bow

 

As the day progressed and the sun set over the mountains, the bite got better. My wife walked over and asked if she could try fly fishing. I gave her some quick basic instructions on casting and she started. She couldn’t see the fly when it was on the water but I sure could. One of her drifts was perfect and I saw a takedown that she didn’t even notice. I told her to pull the line with her hand and she brought in a small rainbow. I was ecstatic! She was happy but her first words were, “it’s just a baby.” I told her about the big one I lost right in this spot and she handed me the rod. She went back to sit down and said, “That’s a silly sport.” Lol Here I was thinking that she was going to love the fact that the first time she fly fished she caught fish and instead she calls it silly. Some people just weren’t made to fish. 

A bit later I caught one more rainbow and that was it for the afternoon. I would have stayed longer but my wife wanted to leave so we compromised and we left. 

Not the best day, maybe if I had stayed a bit longer I would have had a chance at some bigger ones. It was still great to fly fish for, and catch some trout! Have a month or so to come back before it closes for the season.

 Total fish: 3 Rainbow Trout

2013 Fishing Goals Report!

2013 was a decent year of fishing. It was the first year that I actually counted my fish so that’s a definite highlight. In 2013 I caught a grand total of 80 fish and I’m proud of that total! I worked hard for that total. I fished as much as I possibly could for that total. Part of me wants to say it’s not a lot of fish but it’s about more than just the fish, it’s about learning HOW to catch the fish! Its about always being a student of angling as opposed to being an un-teachable know it all.

My Personal best crappie - 12 in.

I am not an expert by any means but I now have 3 solid seasons under my belt. I would say that this third season has been the biggest learning year so far. That’s a huge milestone. In 2013 I learned how to fly fish, I learned how to fish for salmon, I learned how to set up a punch rig, I revisited and really learned how to use the slip-bobber rig to catch more panfish than I ever have. 

Fly fishing for the very first time

Out of all of these skills, my favorite by far is learning to fly fish. Ever since the moment I found out Mark would be teaching me to fly fish, I knew I would be hooked. So when I first held a fly rod in my hand, the moment I first tried to cast, the first fish I caught, the first trout I caught on my own rod;  all of those moments really confirmed that I would not forget about fly fishing and would eventually begin a lifelong pursuit of fly fishing. I will always remember 2013 as the year I became a fly fisherman. 

Below are the goals I had for 2013. Some I completed, others I will complete this year.

1.       Catch my first Salmon 

Incomplete. I didn’t catch my first salmon this year. However, my head is not down about this one. I learned exactly how to catch a salmon and the only thing missing this year was actually hooking into one. 2014 will definitely be my year for the king! 

2.       Catch my first Sturgeon 

Incomplete. Honestly, the weather has thrown my fishing schedule off. Usually around this time I would be trying for Sturgeon but the end of December and early January has felt like summer in Northern California. I usually wait for some rain to start salmon fishing but it hasn’t happened yet. All that to say I didn’t catch any salmon last year. Haha I will give it another go this year. 

3.       Catch my first steelhead

Incomplete. I didn’t really do anything toward this goal. I will however be going out for steelhead with they fly rod soon so hopefully 2014 will be the year for chrome!!

4.       Discover new fishing holes

Great spot on Dry Creek

Complete. I definitely accomplished this one! This year I found the bee hive, a salmon spot in Knights landing, A spot on dry creek for trout, and a great spot for catfishing at Ellis Lake. This year I will be on the hunt for more spots!

5. Catch more trout

PB Rainbow trout - 16 in.

stringer from New Melones

Complete. This goal wasn’t specific by any means but I have never been a trout fisherman. This year, I caught trout. I caught 14 total trout this year which was more than the single trout I caught last year. I also caught the largest trout I have ever caught which was a 16 inch planter. In 2014 I intend to catch many more. Its also important to note that 9 out of these 14 trout were caught on the fly. 

6.       Catch more smallmouth bass

My PB 24 in. Striper

Incomplete. I hardly even tried, but I will!!

7.       Break my striper record

Complete. This year I hooked into a hard fighting tuxedo bass that broke my old record by 2 inches. Even though I didn’t get into many stripers this year, I’m happy to say I got into my biggest so far. 

8.       Catch a double digit Largemouth

Incomplete. I hardly fished for largemouth this year and when I did get into them, they weren’t as large as I thought they would be. 

9.       More overnight fishing trips

Incomplete. I had a few camping trips but no overnight fishing trips. I need to put this goal back up in 2014 because I love al night fishing! 

10.   Do more fishing research than ever before!

Complete. I definitely researched more than ever. I think my tactic is different than in the past. Although I did do a ton of online research and video watching, I also asked a lot of questions to the experts like Mark with trout, Sean with Salmon and Russell with panfish. 

In all I met four out of my 10 goals. This year when I set goals I intend on focusing on those goals to get them done so I will choose wisely. 2014 Fishing goals are coming soon!

The One that Got Away… At Last!

You know how fishermen always have a story about “the one that got away?” Well up until Yesterday I didn’t. You see, I haven’t caught huge fish but I have caught decent size fish. I had one such encounter while carp fishing but it was a carp so it didn’t count (in my opinion).  I haven’t however caught a fish that put up a huge fight and that I ultimately lost. That is until Yesterday. 

So I fished Collins Lake this tuesday. I had the day off so I figured I would make the hour and twenty minute drive and try my hand at catching some planter rainbows. Word on the street (okay, not the street, just my buddy Russell) was that folks were KILLING the trout out there. He told me you could see hundreds of trout swimming past one specific area. So we made a trip of it and headed out to Collins. When we got there we saw people pulling out trout and imagined an epic day. And it was pretty epic, just not in the way that I had imagined. 

We got out on the water at about 10:30. My set up was a basic slip sinker rig with a ½ oz egg weight, a 2 foot fluorocarbon leader, a size 16 treble hook and some rainbow power bait. Russell Got his rod in the water using power eggs. Within a few minutes he had a fish on! I missed my chance at first fish but it was okay because in my mind we were just getting started. A few minutes later he got into another fish. A bit later another guy came, stood next to me and started fishing and he started getting into fish as well! Picture it: Ten feet to my left there is a guy catching fish, ten feet to my right is another guy catching fish and I am getting skunked!

I was so frustrated that I had to take a break. We had some lunch and a couple beers which helped me get into a better mood. I was ready to fish again and I was also ready to catch; only it didn’t happen. I switched bait, leader length, tactics and I continued being fishless as Russell caught more fish. I finally asked Russell what his set up was and it was a ridiculous sounding set up. The guy didn’t even have a leader; he just sort of rigged up his own monofilament line as the leader and didn’t have an egg weight, but simply used a small tear drop weight held in place by the barrel swivel. Well, I figured I tried my way, why not try his way even though mine seemed better, what with the fluorocarbon leader and egg weight. So I tied up his poor man’s rig and wouldn’t you know it, at 3:05 pm, five minutes after tying this set up, I got my first bite! I missed that one, put on another power egg and tossed it back in and again, I got a bite! I was beside myself! For whatever reason when I used a fluorocarbon leader the fish wanted nothing to do with it and when I used the mono they couldn’t resist! And this sure proved true at about 3:25 when I caught my first trout! 

I got a few more bites and probably could have caught more planters on a regular rod but at around 3:45 I decided I wanted to head down to dry creek and try for some wild trout at dry creek down below the dam. This is where things changed. I tied on a size?? (Mark?)  paralyzer that Mark at Northern California Trout gave me the last time we fished together. On my first dead drift on a riffle, boom! Just a strike but I didn’t land him. Then after about my 10^th cast and a few fruitless strikes, the bite died. So I switched to a black wooley bugger and then a Royal humpy I decided to go back to the paralyzer. I cast twice and on my third cast, I caught a nice little baby trout!

 I had very little time to fish since the sun was going down but I continued to cast and wouldn’t you know it, the bite picked up! A bit later I had another little trout and another and another totaling four small wild rainbows in a matter of about 20 minutes. That would include time to catch the trout, land him, net him, take a picture and toss him back in. Did I mention that I caught each trout, used a net to get them in, didn’t let them touch the ground, wet my hand to handle them and released them all safe and sound?  Yes, I have to pat myself on the back for that ;)

The sun set at around 4:50 but it started getting dark at around 5:20. It was getting harder to see my fly but I continued throwing it. At this point I noticed more trout seemed to be snacking at the riffle. Bites were plenty and I noticed the fish were getting bigger as it got darker.

This is when it happened. At first I thought it was a snag because my line just stayed completely stiff. I pulled line in with my hand and all of a sudden I felt it move! I reeled in and at this point I felt it struggle. When I reached down for my net I felt him take one last forceful charge and SNAP! He broke my 5x 5 lb tippet and swam away with my paralyzer. Now partially it was my fault that this happened, since I was only catching smaller trout, I didn’t think to loosen my drag and it was on all the way tight. 

After it happened I was crushed but at the same time I smiled. I was there to fish and what a way to end the day but by losing what must have been at least a 6 or 7 lb trout! Then I had a second thought, when is the next time I will be out here again, especially since stream fishing is coming to a close? So I put my head lamp on, squinted to see as I tied on another paralyze and threw a few more casts before the bite died and it got to dark for me to see what was going on. 

Perhaps I should have been sad. Perhaps I should have dwelled on my lack of preparation on setting the drag. Perhaps I could have cursed the fact that I didn’t get down there earlier or anything else but instead I dwelled on the positive. I now know that there are BIG fish in that creek, I know how and where to try to catch them and I now have a “one that got away” story to share until next season when I go back there and catch him and his bigger siblings!

Total count: 5 trout. That and an awesome “One that got away” story.

Goodbye Spinning Reel!

Collins in the morning Rain

In what will perhaps be my last camping trip of the summer of 2013 (and the start of the fall camping season), I had two successes that really made the trip. My main goal was to catch a trout on the fly rod. Another sort of ongoing goal was to help my nephew catch his first fish. This was my families last camping trip of the summer and I was ready to have a good time with them. 

We arrived at Collins lake at around 1:30 PM. We set up camp and by 3 we were on the water. Dry Creek is a tributary of the Yuba River that flows into and out of Collins Lake. Underneath the spill way is a pond where lake water spills in, a small water riffle (the spot that I really wanted to fish) and then another pond where the water eventually funnels back into the actual creek. All of this water is cold, even during the summer. 

the second pond

I know for a fact there are trout in there because we have caught fish there before. In fact, the first trout I ever caught was out of that pond. The problem with that pond is that there are bushes growing all around it which make it difficult and impossible for me to fly cast. I know this because I tried it out since there were two guys fishing at the water riffle that I originally wanted to fish. 

So I started the day at the second pond which is a deeper pond surrounded by rocks and a hill side. I started off with a black wooley bugger #6 and since I seemed to have lost my floatant, I would dry the fly off with my shirt and then toss it again. Sometimes I would just jig it around a little bit under the surface since the water is fairly clear. That’s when I spotted small panfish following my lure around. They bit at it a few times but apparently they were only biting the feathers. Next I tried a frog pattern bass popper and after a few casts, ad a few times hitting a rock, I noticed it wasn’t popping correctly. I looked at the popper and it was cracked right down the middle. Next I tied on a foam grasshopper and tossed it around but no takers. 

Then I went over to the first pond. I tied on a Para adams #10 but I ended up getting caught up in the bushes after a few tries so I gave up. I walked back to the second pond and walked by the water riffle hoping the two guys fishing there would leave.  Luckily after a few minutes they finally decided to leave. I quickly pounced on their spot. 

Just past the riffle

At this point I still had the Para adams #10 tied on. I threw it into the riffle and then let it drift into the pool below. I kept throwing it for a few but as it got wet it would sink. And then it happened, my first strike!  I was so excited but when I set my hook the line was slack. I tried a few more casts but nothing. I decided to tie on a black wooley bugger #6 and while I was tying, my nephew walked up and asked me to tie on a simple bobber rig for him. I tied it on and told him where to cast and I continued my mission. 

Fat Little Green Sunfish

I continued to cast but I wasn’t getting any bites and my WB kept getting wet and sinking. Next I tried a white bead head wooley bugger #6. When I bought this, I wasn’t aware that some wooley buggers sank. I later realized it was because of the bead. Well even though it sank, I figured the white color might attract fish as it floated down the riffle. I was getting frustrated with the sinking and the fact that if I got a bite, I might not know what it felt like. Just then my nephew says, “I caught a fish!” I dropped what I was doing and ran over to discover a fat dark little green sunfish on his hook! I was extremely happy and proud! I have been trying to get him into some fish for a while now and for whatever reason he had not caught one until that day! I shook his hand and congratulated him on his first fish ever! He was very happy!

Nephew's First Catch!

After a couple of pictures I was back at it. I kept tossing in the white WB and I was getting anxious. Just then I felt another strike, this one a bit lighter than the last but still a bite. I knew I was on the right track and after a few more casts, I tied on a black and olive #6 Wooley Bugger. I tossed it in, it floated but eventually got so wet that it sank. I just kept casting into the riffle and let it sink when it hit the pond. It was then that I got another bite but this time, I felt the fish take off to my left! It didn’t matter that I didn’t see the strike because what I felt was unmistakable!  I was trying to pull line in with my hand but the fish took all my excess line and was running so I used my reel (for the first time) and brought him into shore! This is how I caught my first trout on my own fly rod (I have caught trout before with Mark’s fly rod). I was nervous and excited and surprised that I had landed it so I didn’t try to grab it with my hand but instead put him on the ground (hence the dirt and rocks on him. my apologies folks! ) But I did try my best to measure him, take a picture and toss him back in as soon as possible. 

Beautiful 10.5" Rainbow!

After measuring him, I wet my hand, picked him up, took pictures and then moved him back and forth in the water. He was a strong one and darted into the water after I released him. He was a beautiful fish; a nice thick 10 1/2 wild trout. The pink stripe on his side was so dark it was almost purple. I’m glad I was able to catch him and release him safely. 

1st trout on my own Fly rod

With my nephew’s sunfish and my trout, we were ready to go. This took the pressure that I put on myself to catch my first trout on my own fly rod. I must admit, catching that trout was bad for my spinning reel fishing. It makes me want to fly fish more than ever! 

 With that said, I hope you guys have a fantastic week and weekend. I will be at a work conference this whole week so I might not be able to post. Hope you guys have a great weekend and as always, break that bank!

Collins Lake