* West Feather River - August 19th
Seven year-old Makayla Eckert with her first fly caught rainbow trout on her brown hackle peacock that she tied with her grandpa (Tom Eckert). She and grandpa were fishing the West Feather River with Peter Purtscher, Aug. 19th. Mak landed 4 fish out of 19 in a one-hour wade up the river. Part way along the river, Makayla screamed, "grandpa, I dropped the net!" I got us out of the river in time to watch the catch and release net go over a fall and cascade down the river. We had to go up the hill to get down the river about 100 yards. We dropped back down to the water but couldn't see any sign of the net. She was very upset and it was fast putting a damper on a great fishing experience. I told her "don't worry about it. It was just a net, not us". She sat on the bank as I waded out to make a cast. I was getting very intent on watching my flies drifting through the hole when Makayla screamed again. "Grandpa, the net is floating behind you". I grabbed it and looked up to see the biggest smile on my granddaughter's face. It turned out to be her best story of the trip. Granddaughters are priceless! - Tom Eckert
* Upper Truckee River - September 5
Sunday September 5th was a beautiful day to hike and fish a short section of the Pacific Crest Trail.
My son Ian, his friend Mike and I threw on our day packs and vests and headed out from the Meiss Lake Trailhead off Hiway 88 near Carson Pass.
Our destination was Shower Lake, about 4 miles away, where I hoped we'd find Lahontan cutthroats in the outflow stream as it entered the Upper Truckee River.
Four miles of beautiful scenery and multiple bone dry stream beds later, we were disappointed to find the outflow stream from Shower Lake insufficient to sustain any fish.
Changing plans over lunch, we decided to hike back to the car and try another spot.
Half way back to the car, I spotted what might be a small pool in a brushy stream bed.
Approaching cautiously, I could see 4 small trout darting back and forth near the bottom of the pool. Backing up, I thought "Why not?" and rigged up my rod, tying on the Parachute Hopper that I'd tied the night before using the pattern Tom Hogye had e-mailed me two days earlier.
Crawling back to the pool and kneeling to cast, my first cast was a little short. The second cast placed the hopper directly over the center of the pool and as the hopper descended, either slightly before or just as the hopper landed, a gold colored missile launched, wrenching the fly violently downward , bending my flyweight bamboo rod into an archer's bow.
A minute or two later, a beautiful 10" Lahontan posed for a quick photo. Ten minutes later its 9" cousin did the same for Ian and few minutes after that, the youngest brother cooperated with Mike.
Fully satisfied with our one released fish apiece, we headed back for the car and home. - Tom Dwyer
* Tampa Bay - September 10
We connected with a guide from C&B Outfitters in Sarasota, Captain Roy, who took us out in the pre-dawn hours to fish for snook. The snook gather at the private, lighted docks of the pricey waterfront homes along the bay, attracted to glass minnows, and all headed toward the current, which brings their food to them. It's a very weird experience to cast in pitch dark into the pools of light, and then have a fish grab. I caught what I thought was a big snook, but when I brought it up to where we could see it, it turned out to be a nice-sized redfish. The guide told us he'd been trying to put his clients on to redfish all week without much success, so he was very happy that my beginner's luck got us one.
We caught loads of ladyfish, who, while small, fight like crazy, but when they are on the bite, are completely indiscriminate about hitting a fly pitched into their midst. John caught one small snook, and we both caught several cute speckled sea trout. John caught a small Jack Crevalle, too.
We were going to go out again on Saturday, but it was pouring buckets, and lightning was flashing furiously, so we called Captain Roy, who seemed relieved. We caught up with him later on Saturday to settle up, did some shopping in the store, and promised him we'd be back. It was a unique experience for us westerners, one that we'd like to repeat someday. - Pat Steele