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Delhi Dog
climber
Good Question...
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Oct 11, 2018 - 06:36am PT
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The Truckee is my "home stream" and though I'm not around much of the year that is gonna change soon. These images of October fishing just make me so homesick...but, thanks for sharing!
Timid, you seeing this?
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micronut
Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
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Oct 11, 2018 - 07:48am PT
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Nice bows and brown WTF!!!
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Oct 12, 2018 - 11:07pm PT
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micronut, try West Lake. Large Browns and Rainbows with some cutts too. Up the Green Creek drainage near Bridgeport. One day in. Some of my best days fishing in the Sierra.
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Cali
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Oct 13, 2018 - 11:55am PT
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Well Keesee and I got to the Roaring River! For about 2 hours. Damn but it is hard going! But it is one of the most beautiful rivers and had lots of fish of good size and we saw some big ones in there. Fished Sugerloaf Creek too and had a blast but nothing of any real size in it. We have a different plan if we go in there again. Start at the Roaring River ranger station and then work downstream. We fished just above the confluence of the Roaring and Sugerloaf Creek but the terrain is so rugged it takes forever to get anywhere.
The hiking was pretty bad. It snowed the second half of our hike in on Saturday afternoon so that is just kind of a blur of trying to make time. Then it started raining hard just before we made camp. Next morning was spent drying us and our gear out then hiked into a perfect campsite at the confluence of Sugerloaf and Ferguson Creek. Hiked out in one day - 10+ miles with 2,200 feet of elevation change. Got to the car just before dark. Took a couple days to recover from that slog!
A real adventure but sadly not enough of a fishing trip to be worth that amount of effort. Guy has some photos that maybe he will post next week.
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Stimbo
Trad climber
Crowley Lake
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Oct 14, 2018 - 04:40pm PT
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Hey Ruppell..... from the West Branch of the Ausable this morning. Thanks for the beta. Fun place!
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micronut
Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
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Oct 25, 2018 - 09:43am PT
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Not much time to post right now, but I just got back from three days fishing down on the Forks of the Kern. Two old high school buddies and myself, on our 24th annual October expedition. Three days of backpacking, camping under the stars, slaying trout and nipping on Scotch. Doesn't get much better than that. I will post up a more detailed report soon.
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ruppell
climber
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Oct 26, 2018 - 05:46pm PT
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Hey Stimbo
Glad you liked it. It is a great river. Hope the trips going well.
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Br3tt
climber
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Oct 29, 2018 - 02:55pm PT
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I'm headed up to fish the Kern for the first time ever - any tips/recommendations as to where I should go this time of year? I was told to just get on the Kern River Highway in Kernville and head north to Johnsondale Bridge, and between those two spots there would be plenty of places to pull off and wade. Google earth seems to back this up.
New to fly fishing and it's my first time fishing the Kern so any tips would be greatly appreciated.
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micronut
Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
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Oct 30, 2018 - 03:02pm PT
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Het Br3tt, I'd say that area is a pretty good place to check out for somebody new to fly-fishing. You can supposedly park right at the Johnsondale Bridge and fish up-river for the next several miles and this time of the year is ideal. I've never fished that section, and last weekend on The Forks of The Kern was my first time on that river ever.
It was awesome but the fish were picky. Here's what we learned overall.
Nymphing was more productive than dries.
Two nymphs, a large (size12-14)Prince Nymph and a small (sz20) bead head olive or pheasant tail flashback worked nicely
(set up small nymph, big nymph, small splitshot then indicator from bottom to top)
A stimulator orange or a brown hopper and a small nymph dropper also worked a bit but not as effective as just double nymphs.
The fish were pretty selective the two days we were down in there (The forks of the Kern eilderness.....not the five mile stretch above the bridge) but they were good sized....12-15 inches and fought heavy. Have a blast!
Scott
I'm almost always a catch and release guy but a couple of these beauties became backcountry fish tacos that night.
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F'ueco
Boulder climber
Peoples Republic Of Boulder
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Oct 30, 2018 - 03:49pm PT
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They can’t all be huge.
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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The arctic-air mass that is impacting the northern U.S. has lowered day-time high temperatures in Choss Creek into the mid-40's f. There were also winds in the 10 - 15 mph range here today, so of course I decided to go fishing.
I had one of my favorite spring creeks all to myself when I got there at 3:00 PM & the fish were quite active in the surface film, when I got to the first hole. Unfortunately my selection of emergers did not cut it with most of the fish, but after a while, I got a solid hook-up & immediately broke it off on last summer’s 5-x tippit.
After I put on 3-x tippit, I was once again skunked in the middle of a gaggle of cavorting trout. No emergers were coming off, no flying insects were around in the late afternoon conditions, but the fish were actively feeding & did their best to ignore my presentations. I finally tied on an 8-x wooly bugger & was ignored some more.
I moved upstream to a possibly less-frustrating hole & despite a couple solid hits, I fished on into sunset with numb fingers & zero fish subdued. I finally was starting to shiver & I said to myself, 3 more casts & that's it. On the 2nd cast I got a solid hit again, & said OK, 3 more casts.
On my next to last cast I hooked a decent rainbow, which looked around 20" on its first jump. It then ripped out line like a much bigger trout & played me hard. I rationalized that I was fishing with a 5 weight rod & I normally catch bigger fish on at least a 6-weight rod.
I like to get fish to the bank as soon as possible, so I don't exhaust & kill them, but this trout played me for at least 5 minutes. I didn’t try to measure it on my rod, but it wasn't a lot longer than 20". Note the body of the wooly bugger, which is 1 ¼” long, for scale. However the fish was thick with muscle & likely weighed around 4-5 lbs.
Slightly warmer, I went back to the first hole I had fished & the damn trout were still cavorting in the surface film. In 10 minutes, I enjoyed a couple light hits & started shivering again. The hell with it, I went home.
Damn those trout!
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Stimbo
Trad climber
Crowley Lake
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Great job Fritz! Getting that rainbow to hand was worth it.
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Stimbo! Thank you. It's always frustrating when the fish are keying on something obscure & I can't figure out what it is. Today, there were no obvious clues, other than a bunch of feeding trout in the surface film.
I confess: that very stout trout saved the afternoon for me, although I have been skunked on spring creeks before.
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Stimbo
Trad climber
Crowley Lake
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Pyramid this weekend and hopefully I get to fish with Stimbo Wednesday on the mighty Truckee.
I cannot wait, hopefully this will work out. And if not, there will always be the mighty 'mid. Have a good weekend! Brrr.... 12º this morning. We're going to head to the Meadows and bag a peak. Cheers!
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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WTF! Thank you for the tip on catching small insects in the water. When I was fishing more I used to carry a small aquarium strainer for the same purpose.
I may have to find it again.
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Nov 15, 2018 - 07:30pm PT
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WTF! My sympathies on getting skunked, but it looks like your mentoring another fisherman worked out great.
Things have warmed into the balmy low 50 f. range during the day here & I ventured out to the same spring creek again today. As I approached the first fishing hole, I flushed a couple hundred ducks & a blue heron off the water, so things were a little slow at the start. I immediately noticed a size 18 - 20 brownish midge on the water, but since I had a wooly bugger tied on, I tried that for a few casts, while the fish calmed down from all the bird commotion.
On my 3rd cast I caught a fat 12" rainbow & shortly after that, the fish started rising to the midge hatch.
I tied on my smallest matching fly, a size 18 parachute Adams & fooled none of them. After a few minutes I moved up to the next hole, & finally rolled a couple small trout without firmly hooking them.
I went wet again with a size 14 rubberleg hare's ear & I started catching 6" - 9" trout & a few minutes later, it caught me a fat & hard fighting 12" bow. He must have liked me, since after I released him, he hung out with me for a while. (my boot-tip at bottom left)
After a few more small fish, the sun mostly set behind trees & I tied on a size 8 wooly bugger & soon hooked a big trout. It looked like a 20" fish, but fought like a 12" carp. I soon had it up close & indeed it was around 20" & 3 or 4 lbs & I grew concerned it was a tired old spawner, & that I needed to release it as gently & quickly as possible.
Note the hooked jaw, a good sign of an older spawner.
Unfortunately, it had nearly swallowed my fly & although I carry a set of forceps with a long jaw, I didn't want to chance the hook ripping out of a gill & my trout "bleeding-out." I cut the leader & during the process the fish revenged itself with nipping my hand.
My new wooly bugger lacked the magic of the old one & although I caught a couple more small trout & saw one in the 25" - 30" range rolling, I was getting cold after an hour waist-deep in 58 f. water.
I moved down to the next hole & after a couple more small trout, hooked the last fish of the day, a nice 15" trout.
It was nearly 5:00 PM & it was time to punch out, sit on the bank, smoke something & have a drink. Unfortunately, I don't smoke & hadn't thought to bring something to drink, so I took a couple scenic photos, consoled myself with having caught 18 trout in 2 hours, & drove home.
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F'ueco
Boulder climber
Peoples Republic Of Boulder
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Nov 15, 2018 - 07:53pm PT
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Another tiny brown trout from Boulder Creek. Not much to look at, but wet wading in a creek with ice on it made for some mid-November fun last night.
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limpingcrab
Trad climber
the middle of CA
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Nov 22, 2018 - 09:58pm PT
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Alright turds, I got tired of hearing about my brothers weekend on a 29 million dollar private fishing ranch in Colorado, my friend’s special access below pine flat dam to catch even bigger fish than my brother, and all of your outings so I had to scratch the itch.
Loaded the gear, put on the boots and knee pads, left the wheelchair in the driveway and drove down the street to get at close as I could to the Kings River. It was a lot of work for one fish but it was worth it! I’ll be going back for sure, but I might have a neighbor or friend give me a piggy back ride.
The best part was the guy standing by my car and watching me crawl around the bank behind rocks and bushes. He thought I was really committed to not spooking the fish so he stayed back the whole time I fished and didn’t know I couldn’t walk until I crawled back to the car.
PS: I’m actually enjoying living vicariously through your great posts on here, thanks!
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Nov 23, 2018 - 06:41am PT
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Impressive suffering LC! I was fishing upstream towards camp in early evening on a blue ribbon stream in Idaho about 20 years back, when I noticed a fly fisherman's rod sticking out of some willows just upstream.
As I watched, the rod made active fishing movements, but it seemed like I should be able to see the fisherman over the willows too. After watching for a few minutes, I walked out of the water & then upstream on the bank to where I could see a guy in a wheel-chair fishing.
I was curious enough to chat him up & he was quite friendly. He was paralized from the waist down, but had the strengh to wrestle his large-tire wheelchair through sand & gravel to river banks. And yes, he was fishing solo, 30 miles from the nearest town, with no cell phone service. I try to remember his dedication, whenever I think of reasons not to go fishing.
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Stimbo
Trad climber
Crowley Lake
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Nov 25, 2018 - 08:06am PT
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Limping Crab -- With your current setup, how will we get you atop a ladder at Pyramid Lake? I am very impressed with your motivation. Way to get after it. Perhaps we should modify your name (temporarily) to Groveling Crab?
Hang in there buddy!
jim
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