Tales of fishing outings, all true!
Addendum to the Roostercomb Trip
This was my third trip to Rostercomb ranch and each time has been better than the last. Kudos Cecilia!!! For all the work and energy you put into making this a fun trip for all. This year was hotter and drier then in the past but the fish were biting and water in the ponds was high. I teamed up with Pat Murray and Elaine Cook. They both were catching bass in the 17 and 18 inch range. Of course, I am grateful for the 14 incher that I caught. The bluegill were in splendid color and as feisty as ever. The poppers we made in Popper Class were very popular. Who knew that the one with the white belly with orange spots and red eyes would really catch a fish or six!! - Lee Fitzsimmons
May 10, 2004 - Jones Hole, Utah
John and I were privileged to fish this stream with our friend and guide, Doug Burton. We parked in the federal hatchery parking lot, then hiked down into a canyon, the walls of which were decorated with ancient petroglyphs. We then stowed our shoes under some brush, donned our waders and continued to walk downstream for a bit. The rainbows in this little stream are very wary, so we had to creep upstream carefully, and the overhanging vegetation made for tough casting, but I hooked one feisty rainbow who shook me off, and John caught a couple of nice ones. - Pat Steele
May 13-16 - Davis Lake
Coolish, overcast weather, mixed with some sun. Damsels and blood midges just beginning to show. Fishing was good, but not great in terms of numbers for those in our group, with catch rates of 2-7 fish per day. But size was very good. Got about 6-7 fish each day, 3 in the 19-20" range. Several 16-17" and only two dinks. I used a full intermediate type II line and dark colored damsels (dark olive or dark brown was the color of naturals) and green stillwater nymphs with good success. Folks fishing from shore at shallow points and coves using a floating line and damsels did about as well as tubers. Flashback beadhead hare's ears produced my largest fish. Cool weather forecast for last two weeks of May should mean that damsels will be in full swing around the first week or two of June. Lovely lake, nicecampgrounds. - Betty Rentz
May 12-14 - Clear Lake
My friend from Mt Shasta, John Harris, and myself fished the South Warner Wilderness area. It was wonderful, but we did run into snow one day. We fished Clear Lake because Lost lake and Blue lake were closed due to logging. A while ago we had a speaker who told us this area was great and he was right. - Joe Bigas
May 15 - White River, Colorado
After leaving the Green River at Flaming Gorge and visiting the Dinosaur National Monument, arrived in Meeker Colorado with a couple of hours left to fish. Entered the river at the public access point about four miles up river from the town of Meeker. Water was a bit colored due to runoff, but fishable. Started with a hopper and a Bird's nest dropper. On my second cast, I managed pull the hopper out of a gaping mouth without even touching the fish. A little later I caught a beautiful 19 inch rainbow on the Bird's nest. Switched to standard nymphing rig and caught numerous whitefish. Even managed to foul hook a couple of monster suckers. No more trout but this is definitely a river to return to. - Dougald Scott
May 23 - Shad Fishing on the Sacramento River
This was Walt's first day of fishing since September, and turned out to be one of those days where you can't do anything wrong. After spending the night in Willows, we met the guide at 6:30 AM at Ord Bend. The water was swift and required Hi D or # 6 lines to get the flies to the correct depth; one in our party even attached a 10 foot length of lead core to his Hi D. The most effective flies were pink and chartreuse. The buck shad were running 2-3 lbs. while the hens were 5-6 lbs and required much effort to get in. Walt scored a 20 + fish day while the others were at 8 to 15 fish for the day. - Walt and Lois Robinson
Zabesi River, Zambia
Sam Bishop reports that he is just back from Tigerfish fishing and game safari in Zambia. The fishing on the Zambezi River is rather exciting; you pretty well are restricted to fishing from a boat, as there are elephants, buffalo, baboons and probably lions watching you from the bank. Waders and float tubes are out of the question, as the hippos and crocodiles pretty much own the water. Nothing quite as memorable as laying a fly about 6 feet in front of an elephant standing at the bank of the river, ripping up a tree to eat. Tigerfish are about the size of bonefish, but have teeth that are 3/4 to 1 inch long. Steel leader is required the last 4 inches. Very bony mouth, so I was happy that the rule is "catch and release", because most of the fish threw the hook and released themselves! - Sam Bishop