* Delta Striper Fishout, Bethel Island, Oct 20th - 22nd
Fourteen SCFF members attended this fishout. The fishing was good some days, tough on others. But that's the way the delta is. Fish come in to the tract in waves, and some days are better than others. Most everyone caught some, and Dan Firth gets the award for most big fish. Dan caught some really nice fish, of which two went over 10 pounds. In one wonderful flurry of activity, Ed Marcillac and his partner Sam Nigh, and Jim Hall and your intrepid fishmaster got into a nice pod of fish out in the middle of the tract and picked up about 20-25 fish in a 1 1/2 hour period that were all 3-8 pounds. Sam Nigh caught his first striper ever---a nice 7 lb fish. We camped at Beacon Harbor---mainly because there was a huge bass tournament over the weekend and they completely took over Russo's. Next year's planning will try to choose a weekend without such a big tournament (over 150 boats!!!). All those boats stirring up the water probably didn't help our cause. The company was great, the dinners (provided by ye olde Rusty Porthole restaurant) were fine and the weather was fair. All in all it was a good fishout. - Fishmaster Betty Rentz
* Mt. Shasta/Upper Sacramento River Fishout, October 26th - 29th
Hunting for Grandpa: Autumn was brilliant on the Upper McCloud. Clear blue sky, pine forest and gold of the sunlit oak leaves were the perfect setting. I caught five dinks below Middle Falls, drove downstream to see that the pool below Lower Falls had to be heavily pounded. I saw someone casting further upstream, but found what appeared to be three remote controlled, battery operated, life-sized Orvis mannequins mechanically casting into unproductive waters. In a beautiful pool further upstream, a small one came to my nymph. As I released it, something caught my eye midstream several feet below the surface. Finning quietly in front of a large submerged boulder, looking like a Where To Find Trout diagram was the biggest fish I'd seen in these waters. It was at least a foot long, obviously older and wiser than the others to've grown that much bigger. I called it Grandpa. All it did was glance at my fly one of the times it drifted past. I'd decided that fishing for him would probably be a waste of time. But at dinner that night, Bruce Dau suggested that a micro-mayfly could work.
My chances of catching Grandpa were slim, but if I didn't try, they'd be none With the micro-mayfly Bruce had given me, I headed back to the McCloud.
I approached the pool where I'd seen Grandpa from downstream, with as much stealth as I could manage. After a minute my pulse quickened when I spotted it in front of the same submerged boulder! Stuck between wanting to get closer to make a good cast and staying out if sight, I told myself that at some point I had to stop dithering and do something.
My first cast was OK, except that the indicator was too small and everything slowly sank. With a bigger indicator, I cast again, too short. The third was better, the drift looked good, headed straight for Grandpa!
Either the slowing or sinking of the indicator triggered a voice in my head, "set the hook." Whoa! Resistance was followed by wide flashes of silver back and forth in front of me. It streaked for the surface but didn't break it. Was it Grandpa?
It was a challenge to keep the strong fish away from the undercut bank and under some kind of control without breaking the 6X tippet. Once in the net, I could see it was Grandpa! It was the one of the strongest looking and most beautiful rainbows I had ever met. It measured 15". On return to the water, it quickly swam for cover. Though still exhilarated and with time to fish the rest of the pool. I thought better of it and headed back.
What a fantastic experience! Without Bruce and other experienced members of the Club who freely and patiently share their advice, flies and laughter with us less experienced club members, this never would have happened. - Tom Dwyer
Beside Tom and Fishmaster Bruce Dau, the other participants were Sam Bishop, John and Elaine Cook, Tom Donovan, Kent and Sharon Hull. Sam Nigh, Howard Power, Chris Walters and his dad. In addition to the McCloud, several fished the Upper Sacramento, Lake Siskiyou and several smaller ones, the Trinity and Klamath Rivers, all with success. As usual, it was a great Bruce Dau Production. - Kent Hull
* O'Neill Forebay Fishout, Nov 3rd - 5th
We camped at Medeiros alongside the forebay. Over the three days, about eight folks showed up. The fishing was challenging. Not sure why it was, but the weather front moving through over two of the three days probably didn't help. Perhaps it was a little too late in the season. Who knows? But a few stripers were caught, with Jim Hall pulling in the most. For a distraction from our main quarry, fishing for largemouth bass with poppers along the shoreline was really fun at times. There's lots of area to explore here, and even more in the main reservoir. It's close enough to home that day trips are possible. Worth further exploration. Oh, yes, the food, as always, was great! - Fishmaster Betty Rentz