To Our Fallen Brother

Although I have been away for a while and have a lot of fishing to report on I am going to put that aside for now. A couple of days ago I checked my facebook only to find a post that said that,  “one of our own had passed away.” After a couple of clicks I found out that it was my great blog buddy, Bryan Dale from the Rogue Outdoors. I can’t help but miss him as I write this and so I will now take some time to express some thoughts about our fly-fishing brother. 

In an age where people are taught to worry about self interests and making profits or promoting self, Bryan stood out as different. He seemed to do things because he cared for others around him, even if it meant going out of his way to do so. He was the kind of person that I trusted right off the bat. His e-mails and comments were filled with a genuine kindness which is rare now in days. This drew me to him. By looking at his facebook page I can tell this drew others to him as well. 

I don’t remember if I found his page or he found mine but I’m blessed to have known him. I always looked forward to his comments. He was encouraging and never withheld his angling experience from me. Not only was he helpful, but he was extremely generous. On a couple of occasions he sent me some great patterns of flies that he tied and when I tried to pay him, he refused. All he said in response was that “we as fly fishers need to support one another.” 

And thats the type of caring, generous, warm individual he was. Or at the very least thats what I learned about him from our correspondence. You see I never met Bryan in person. I never talked with him on the phone. I never wet a line with him. And even though all of that is true, I still was able to see all of this through our e-mails messages and blog comments. It takes a great man to stand out based only on online communications but that’s exactly what Bryan was; A Great man, a great outdoorsman. 

I never got to fish with Bryan. We talked quite a few times about fishing together in his neck of the woods or mine but unfortunately we didn’t get to do it. And although we only spoke of fishing together, his memory will now accompany me through my travels and he will be with me when I wet a line, go camping or hiking. Bryan’s memory will be with me as I explore the Rogue Outdoors. 

I finish this Post with some words from Norman Maclean and his timeless classic, A River Runs through it. 

“The river was cut by the world’s great floods and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. 

I am haunted by waters.”

530 Fly Fishing!

I have decided to create a Fly fishing facebook page.  It is called 530 Fly Fishing for now. One of my buddies made a “530 Fishing” page that has done very well so I figured, why not give it a try with fly fishing.  I love fly fishing, I’m dedicating this year to it, so now it’s time to solidify the Northern California Fly fishing community. At least the ones on facebook. This way I can also meet fly fishers in my area and what not. 

I already added some of you that are my facebook friends and Blogging buddies onto the page even though most of you are not from the “530 area code.” But no worries, there is method to my madness. I feel like fly fishing community is a smaller sub-section of the entire fishing community and it feels a bit more close-knit. I’m sure you guys are down to meet new fly fisherman and you’re my buddies so why not. Plus I figured that you guys can promote your blogs, sell your flies, and get to know folks. And if you guys one day decide to start a fly fishing page for your area, maybe we can merge them and make one big network of fly fishers and then take over the world!  Okay maybe not the last part… yet! 

Anyway, if you would like to join, here is the facebook address: https://www.facebook.com/groups/824199297646332/

"I Got the Hook-up, Holla if You Hear Me!"

 I have a lot of people who have asked if I tie flies since I fly fish but with the quality of flies available out there, I don’t see a point for the time being.  Especially when you have friends who have the hook up!

So first off, let me give a shout out to Justin from Carf Outdoors . Back in October of last year I purchased a bunch of flies from him and I just wanted to show you some pictures of those.

I ended up purchasing:

1 green and white minimum cowbell

1 blue and white minimum cowbell

1 green and white EP baitfish pattern

1 white and red  EP baitfish pattern

2 white damsels

1 red panfish fly which he threw in for free. 

These are some fantastic looking, well tied flies that I plan to use this spring and summer to get into some big bass on my 8 wt. 

Second, Bryan from over at The Rogue Outdoors HOOKED me up with some fantastic Sarge’s crappie Flies which I used to catch crappie last year. I realized I had a good fly on my hand so I asked him for a few more. I wanted to pay for them but God Bless him, Bryan wouldn’t let me. Instead he hooked me up with :

 

11 Sarges Crappie

2 Crappie Candies

1 clouser

1 zebra midge

Bryan is a class act! Hooking me up with all kinds of flies when all I really wanted were 2-4 Sarges Crappie Flies! 

Last, I entered a new Year giveaway contest over at Howards place and ended up winning a prize! I seem to have luck over at Howard’s blog. This is the second giveaway on his page where I win something! Well anyway, my original prize was a “Fiberglass Manifesto” T-shirt (I had never read TFM before I won a T-shirt of his). Fortunately, There weren’t any t-shirts in my size and I was sent some “swag” instead. I say Luckily because this is what I received:

 

2 Fly fishing Koozies

4 black TFM Stickers

1 red TFM Sticker

Those are two of the coolest looking koozies I have ever seen! They have flies on them, how cool is that?! 

Well anyway, I just have to say i have some fantastic fly fishing buddies who hook me up with some great stuff and I am glad to have them in my network of Fly Fishing buds! 

My First Time at Amador

I just realized that the fishing trip I am about to cover was on the second day of winter… I originally thought it was still fall. Oh how time passes. Looks like I owe you all a Fall wrap-up post!

 

Last Monday I took a quick trip up into the hills to try Lake Amador for the first time. I met Mark from Northern California trout in Martel, got some coffee and hit the lake. I have he

ard many stories about huge trout in Amador so I had some pretty lofty expectations for the lake.

The lake had a nice layer of fog around with fairly low visibility When we first arrived. A few minutes after we arrived, Yuki showed up and we started our fishing adventure. I put out one rod with a nightcrawler and the other 

Yuki started things off just a while after he arrived. I don’t care what mark says, that guy is okay! AND he isn’t as cursed as Mark says either because he drew first blood and beat the skunk.  After that all was quiet until the trout plant came! 

A truckload of trout was planted in the lake and I must say it was one of the most interesting experiences I have ever had.  The fish were breaking the surface every 10-20 seconds and on occasion even swimming right up to the bank!  One of the coolest things I have ever seen. Unfortunately even though we could see fish, they refused to bite our lines.

A while Mark got into his first and the last of the afternoon. It was a nice 2 lb football shaped rainbow that I was able to net up for him. That was pretty much it for the action on that trip. 

Unfortunately I was skunked but I would have two more attempts at getting over 300 fish in 2014! 

Total fish: 0 

The Sacramento River -- a Blog

I guess I’m in hibernation mode because I haven’t been fishing in weeks! In fact, I just realized it has been an entire month. Very Sad. Lately the rain has been picking up around yolo county and all of northern California. This of course is great news due to the extreme drought we have been having however I am less likely to fish in this weather. 

At this point I am at exactly 294 fish which stinks because that puts me just 6 short of 300 for the year. Pending the weather I have one more fishing trips set up with Mark in a few days and I am in the process of setting up a second trip at some point before the New Year so I will most certainly keep you all posted. 

With that said, I did want to promote a specific blog that I read all the time. The writer/ photographer is named Bill Paxon. His blog is called “The Sacramento river: A blog.” Bill drives along the sacramento River and visits various towns and landmarks throughout Northern California.  He documents his journeys with pictures and usually a brief history of the town or landmark.

As all of you know I was born and raised in Northern California so I grew up around many of these places. I love seeing a place or landmark that I know or grew up driving by, highlighted in a blog. And if I don’t know it, its always interesting to learn about it and if nice/cool enough, plan on visiting. 

Anyway, if you have questions on the Sacramento River, this man has seen it all… literally! He posts often and he’s quick to answer questions so please do pay him a visit whenever you get a chance!

As for fishing, I will be out fishing this Friday with Jeremy rain or shine. We will be trying to get into some catfish so I will let you know how we do.

The Mighty Green!

A Great day of fishing but a bad day of catching! I enjoyed every minute of the trip but we didnt see many fish, especially not at the end of our lines. Either way, I had a blast!

I scouted Putah two weekends with the hopes of fishing it soon. I asked Mark (from Northern California Trout) a few days ago if he was willing to fish it with me and he agreed. We met up in Woodland and were on the road by 830. We arrived at our first fishing spot in Putah at around 915. After we waded up we headed out to Spot #1 (spots are actually labeled this way). The first thing we noticed was how deceiving the bank was. What appeared to be sand was a soft yet thick mud that you quickly sank into as soon as you stepped on it.

At the riffle

As you can see in the video, Spot #1 seemed very promising and yet let us down. We were nymphing under indicators with barbless (pinched down) hooks on our flies. Even though It was a great riffle and a nice swift current, there were no fish to be found. At one point i was so caught up in just casting, drifting and waiting that I completely lost track of time. Honestly, I was just having a great time standing in knee high water, listening to the water run, hoping for a bite. 

Meanwhile Rob, a nice guy who we had met earlier, got into one fish at about 16". That's when we knew it was time to move to the next fishing hole and give that one a try. 

Great Scenery at Putah

The second hole (hole #3)  also had a nice riffle and looked very promising. The issue with it, and most other spots at Putah, is that casting area is tight. One bad cast and you end up picking your line out of the bushes (which happened to me twice). However, this was a good problem to have because it forced me to adapt. Prior to this trip I had only done a regular back cast but Putah forced me to practice my roll casts and also casting over my left shoulder. By the end of the trip I was so much better at casting. 

Mark wrapping up for the day

Well, even though we didnt get into any fish, I was able to bust out my brand new, unused waders, boots and vest that I got in December. That plus I was able to hang out with Mark who is always a good time to hang out with. 

Well, even though we left putah skunked, I felt I learned a lot. I don't ever want to leave a fishing hole  where I didn't at least learn. As for Putah, I have a feeling I will be returning quite often to figure this creek out. Every waterway has a combination and I WILL figure this one out! And when I do, Mark will have to make his way back so we can get our revenge on this creek.