Tales of fishing outings, all true!
June 12 - O'Connell Bourdet Ranch
Bass fishing on the O'Connell Ranch...what a wonderful day Cecilia arranged for us. Rode up over the ridge with Elaine Cook and Coleman Segal and dropped down into the ponds. Got the float tubes blown up. It was Coleman's first time in a float tube and he did great. His grin as he caught the big bass was just tremendous. Of course when I hooked into that lunker everyone had left the pond for lunch...or is that just another fishy tale? Thank you, Cecilia for another amazing fishing experience. - Lee Fitzsimmons
June 1st - Santa Cruz
At the beginning of June Jim Lazarotti hit the jackpot fishing our local surf. He was out there at the crack of dawn searching for surf perch, of which he found a number of small ones. Then all of a sudden in a very small rip, he cast a fly expecting nothing, saw a swirl, set upÉ and wow, he was hooked up! His 5-wt. rod and 6-lb test were put to task. For 15 minutes Jim tapped his years of experience and carefully played and landed a 12 pound striper. So you ask, "what fly did he use?" See the "Fly of the Month." - Elaine Cook
May 30 - Owens Valley
The Hogye family headed east over the Sierra to one of our favorite spots over the Memorial Day weekend - Bishop and the Owens Valley. While the trip was mostly fishin' for mules and donkeys, I made it out for a couple hours of good quality time on the river by myself. Currently, the Owens is a picture of its slower meandering self of some eight or nine years ago when Mona and I first stumbled on this great river. Much less flow this year. I fished size 16 bead head hares ear, hooked eight nice brown's and landed four in just about an hour. I stuck a 15" fish in some faster water and then realized I left my net in my garage. Got a nice look at it, before the current would help me release the fish hands free! Later that night, we took some friends of ours and the kids out in the desert for fishing. Nothing happening until it was dark enough you couldn't see your fly. The hatch was on and the fish were rising. I threw a #16 Blue Winged Olive on the water and kept raising my rod tip every time I saw a rise until I finally hooked a nice 12" fish that all the kids had to get their hands on before I released it. For the most part I was like an alcoholic in rehab in a liquor store. Fishing all around me, but more time spent with my children and wife than fishing. It's nice to see at least the waters are still there waiting for me and the fish are getting bigger and the addiction isn't so bad after all! - Tom Hogye
May 29-30 - Deer Creek
Zeke and I fished upper Deer Creek, a tributary to the Sacramento River, on May 29-30 and caught many small rainbows. We were relatively near Barkley Mountain, in proposed wilderness on the Lassen National Forest. The creek was lovely; very little fishing pressure, cool riparian canyon, and no people at all, once the creek side trails end. The only hard part was backpacking while wearing waders! - Sus Danner
Klamath River at Copco (above Irongate)
For the 12th consecutive year Dick and I returned to the Klamath River to camp and fish the wild trout at the California-Oregon border. We join 7-8 families annually to fish "the stone and salmon fly hatches" that occurs generally at this time. This year due to the earlier hot days in April, we missed the hatch by 1-1/2 wks. The caddis, mayflies and midges were everywhere. There were some successful takes on yellow and orange stimulators by Dick, but I had more success and more fun with the Henryville caddis or copper Johns. We were fortunate one day to fish with permission on private land that offered us a perfect stretch of water. The riffles and slow waters were very productive. Trout ranged mostly 12 - 16 inches. - Cecilia Stipes