1-29-2010

Went to work this AM and late in the morning got a call from some friends asking if I would take them out on the local flow for a few hours. I would rather do that the work any day. We popped over to the river and it was gin clear. Water temp was 43 so it seemed logical to fish a dry. My friends readied their sink tips on and led the way. We fished carefully through a couple of nice pools that have AWESOME structure. By the time we finished I just could not believe we didn't pull a Steelhead out. One more pool. Walked 30 minutes into a place which is a mile long bar but really 4 breaks. I have always done well here in the transitional areas between the breaks. Here you need a cast of about 70' downstream at 45-50 degrees and right up against the bank. The little fiery brown caddis was waking it's heart out saying EAT ME. In the second transition right where I would expect there was a nose and a blink and fish on. After a few minutes I was hiding 24" of pure silver. She was a beautiful chrome fish with almost no hint of pink on her sides. The odd thing is I could not place her. I know these fish and I know the different runs in this flow and this fish just did not fit. Could be a stray, could be a different spawning trin from which I have not seen a fish before. Oh well, she was AWESOME

1-28-2010

Another terrific day. No rain, overcast, cool. Today the water is crystal clear all the way to the mouth. Decided with the low water to walk down a ways to a huge bar below a boat launch. With an 80' cast here you can reach a nice slot of holding water against the far bank. We fished it long and hard. Pool fished like a dream. The problem was when the fly swung back over the bar there were so many Dolly's you could hook 2 or 3 on every cast. I have not ever seen so many in one place. These were not colossal ones we sometimes see here but man were there a lot of them. Went to 3 other pools and fished carefully both wet and on top but not even a pull. There is always tomorrow.

1-26-2010

Another lovely day, water in the low 40s and almost clear. Good flow and no fisherman. We fished a variety a great pools. Having no one else on the water makes it awfully easy to high grade the water. The pools fished great. The dry stone chugged and chugged. Fished sinkers in a couple of pools. Even tried a smaller caddis dry. Nothing. I will be back.

1-21-2010

Another lovely day. Water here is 4' lower than a week ago and just looks terrific. We started in a pool where we have had some success this year but at the lower water level I do not think it is as attractive as the far side in front of the creek. Fished the new Caddis dry carefully and it did all it could without attention. . Moved down to the run you see here. That place is ACES! As you can see a little in the pic the thing is just one little scalloped bay after another. Even in low water it is 5-6' deep and the bays create one soft spot after another and the fish load in here. Water at 41. Decided to go with the S1/2 belly and a Duncan's. Got into a nice rhythm working around the trees and laying out 70' with a left handed single. Nice fishing. The water is clear and with this belly the fly is about 12-18" down. Down the run a ways a shattering take, line off the reel, nothing. WOW. How can a fish hit that hard and take line off the reel and not get hooked? With heart pounding I back up 40' and continue on down. Fish carefully all the way to the bottom but nada. Heart is still pounding! One more pool, a delightful place which is a walk to get to and a wading nightmare but worth the effort. Here I stick with the 1/2 but switch to an old school Sol Doc Spey with the tented wings a friend gave me. Seems like a perfect fly. Work carefully down the stretch but find no one at home. The fly looks just FANTASTIC in the water. Went across the river to visit with Mike and Bert for a bit.

1-18-2010

The rain fell lightly to Earth as the day began. Eagles and Dippers went busily about their work, no different really than when we go to the office. But today my office is here. At a river teeming with fresh Steel. In the last 1o days over 100 have returned to the hatchery and that does not include the lovely wild fish. With anticipation running high I hit the first pool. Water temp 42 and almost clear skies. What else but a Winter Stone? Went carefully through with no action but saw a drift guy on the Island below hook one. At the next pool I switched to a sink1/2 belly and swung a smaller Duncan's tube. Almost immediately at the top I was into what turned out to be a lovely resident trout. One that by this states rules and regs would be considered a Steelhead without ever tasting the salt. A lovely wild fish. Further down the run another resident of smaller size. NICE. On to another pool and again the Winter Stone. The fly looked pretty enticing swimming through the run but did not coax up any love. Did see a 1" long lovely cinnamon brown caddis, I will start tying brown bodies on some of the stones for sure. Off to the last pool of the day. As you can see in the picture the light is perfect, the day is perfect. The Stone bobs and weaves it's way through the water in an irresistible manner. All good but no love. I will be back Thursday

1-12-2010

A lovely day. A thin layer of fog lay over the water all day. The water was almost perfectly clear and 43 degrees. A logical day to fish dry again. In the first pool I started in the middle and near the bottom had a slashing take on the dry. Turned out to be a dolly but a MONSTER of a dolly. This one was over 6#. Not double digit or anything but a terrific fish nonetheless. I am so happy this year to see the Dollies back in good numbers and in such great shape. This says a lot for the state of the watershed. My partner fished down to the bottom and had 3 more and one was over 3#. No Steel yet but cool enough. In the second pool I again started mid pool and almost immediately had a terrific yank and 8# of solid silver. I am really starting to like this Winter Stone I can tell you. When I went to the top I fished down a ways and on the outer seam had a nice head and tail rise. Again about 8# of beautiful Steel. Not only that but we got 4 more Dollies out of the pool after that. All fish today for both of us were on floating lines.

1-9-2010

Fished a few pools today with a dry. The big Winter Stone was looking really good. On the last pool I started in the middle and fished to the bottom and got on medium Dolly. Then I went to the top and started fishing the stone down from there. About 20 feet into it there was a nice head and tail rise from some lovely steel but the fish did not even try to take they fly. Bummer. I tried a couple of other wets and then the stone again but nothing. Then back to the top and down again but no love. My buddy even put a sink tip through with nada. Oh well, one fish rolled is better than being at work!

1-8-2010

A super day. Popped in to a local flow which is not much more than a creek. The good news is it has a decent run of fish for a couple weeks every January. Remnants of both hatchery and wild fish from great runs in years past. It is pretty much just big pocket water so I took the single hander and a floating line with a weighted tube. The fly has to fish immediately here to have a chance so it is very precise fishing. A really nice place to walk a ways along the bank and just fish the small pockets and pools as they come. About 20 minutes into the fish the fly hit the water and BAM. The fish went airborne many times and hunkered down in the rocks and then jumped again. After 10 minutes of madness the beauty came to hand and WOW. It was 34" of solid chrome! Lucky Lucky!

Lazy Caroline

For years the Lady Caroline has been one of my 'go to' patterns. It has an amazing ability to move fish when other flies will not. Over the years I have taught a lot of classes to help folks learn how to put one together. I continue to hear the lament of how hard it is to find good materials and how hard it is to set the wings right. I have been toying for a while with a reduced version but would not stop until I had one that contains the same fish moving magic. This is it.
Thread Red
Tag and rib - copper
body - brown olive dubbing
hackle - long ringneck rump followed by gape width red golden pheasant, a turn of each
wing - small clump of bronze mallard

Tying Video

1-2-2010

Fished many hours today, much on the lower river. Clarity down low was 3-5' so I was using a size 2 Siren. Water was up and the runs fished had lies in really close to the bank. Pretty much fishing in the trees the whole time it was nice and easy but found nobody home. Move upstream to some clearer pools to fish the dry. The fly looked so inviting in the overcast and light rain and despite the cool days some bugs started hatching. On the last pool some dollys started rising to the mini bugs and also loved the buggy looking spiders were were using and we caught a bunch. Several over 3#.