Tales of fishing outings, all true!
September - Alaska
We were fishing a small river in Alaska last month. I was using a glo bug fly, plus a dropper of the same type, but different color. The rivers there are full of "humpies" (pink salmon), but we were after the coho (silver) salmon. Snagging the humpies is a big problem, plus occasionally we snag a coho. I got a big Coho on my 10 wt. fly rod and was really excited, but it didn't feel right. You can usually tell if you have snagged a fish instead of catching it clean and legal by the feel. However when the fish broke water I confirmed it was a Coho hooked in the mouth. By the pull I knew it was a big one. After fighting a few minutes, it was some distance out, I could see it clearly, when "poof", it became a 14 inch Jack Salmon. (A Jack is a Coho that returned the following year instead of waiting 3 - 4 years.) I was totally confused, landed the jack and threw it back when I realized what happened. I had two fish on at the same time. That is why it "felt funny". Sam Bishop
October 14th - Feather River
Harry Petrakis and I fished with guide Andrew Harris (September's speaker) on the low-flow section of the Feather. The day was warm, but smoke from Sierra forest fires kept the temperatures moderate and even fooled the Baetis into thinking it was overcast. When not in the boat, wet wading was the order of the day. This section of river was running at 600 cfs and loaded with spawning salmon. We nailed 11 nice steelhead in the 3-5 pound range, and missed several others. The fish were hitting glo bugs fished right behind the salmon redds. Our nymph patterns were ignored. Harry hooked a high jumper on a dry fly, but it became long-distance release. The lower section, below the Thermalito Afterbay outflow, did not have many spawning salmon and we did not have any steelhead action there. Andrew said this section would fill up with salmon in the next few weeks, and where there are spawning salmon, the steelhead will be right behind them. The Feather River is a great steelhead opportunity that is not too far away. Dougald Scott
October 16th-17th - Delta Fishout
It's been a long time for me and I have to say thanks a lot to my fishing buddies Dennis Belville and Carrie Kojack for one of the most enjoyable fishing trips that I've had in long time. A laugh every minute. First of all we go for stripers and the first thing the rope for the anchor breaks. No more anchor, oops. Well we all laughed and moved on with the fishing trip, always looking for something to use as an anchor. We found this monstrosity we called an anchor. I'm still cleaning the debris out of my boat from that anchor. I took so much guff over the anchor I couldn't wait to buy a new anchor with a new rope. I found one all shiny and new and got it tied up and ready to use. So the next day we go fishing and we got into fish. So I set the anchor, but the boat kept moving. My new anchor fell off the rope, and no more anchor. But my fishing pals made sure I knew who tied the anchor on. All I have to say is make sure your anchor is tied on. We also got fish. The food was great and we all had a good time. Dennis Belville caught his first stripers. It was great to have two friends like this to fish with. We should all take lessons from them. Perry Ralston
October 16th-17th - Delta Fishout
On the Delta with Perry and Dennis: Perry's boat is a Livingston, it is easy to maneuver, comfortable and open, nicknamed "Psycho." It was a very windy start on Saturday, but turned nice and sunny later as we kept up with Ed Marcillac and company. He took us to several nice fishing spots. Some areas had bridges, barges and other interesting watercraft, others were overgrown with vegetation and full of wildlife. We stayed overnight and went out on Sunday also, and even though it drizzled, and the waves kicked up, it was our best day fishing. Perry hauled up one after another, it was fascinating! - And all from the bow of his boat! I had many strikes, and was really happy to catch a nice striper on my own fly. Dennis caught lots of stripers also. He was a great sport - always encouraging me and ducking when I needed to cast. I enjoyed visiting the club members at Russo's and sharing our stories over a Mexican dinner in town. Carrie Kojak
October 16th-17th - Delta Fishout
Went over to Bethel Island and Ed Marcillac's fishout last Thursday. Listened to all the rave reports from Elaine and Betty. My partner, Doug Haut arrived the next morning around 11am. We put in immediately and headed to Mildred's. Doug was the first to land a stripper of size with a 6 pounder to the net. Five minutes later he was visited by the resident "Hog" and lost his fly as the 15 lb leader wasn't enough to bring in the estimated 12 pounder. Twenty minutes after Doug was again able to breath, I hooked a 6 pounder and Doug regained his form by tagging onto my fishÕs brother. We had a double hook up and landed the two 6 lb fish. We were both using smallish, chartreuse flash clousers. Had a fun dinner that night with the crew. Saturday was windy and blown out with only a hand full of dinks coming to the boat. Tim Loomis
October 22nd - O'Neil Forebay
Weather was sunny to partly cloudy with only a gentle breeze all day. Absolutely hammered the stripers with probably 30 fish caught and maybe a half dozen in the 5 lb range. Makes up for all the days I've been skunked or blown off the water and also makes missing the club outing to the Delta a little easier to tolerate, (got the wrong weekend off). Chartreuse over white clousers with leadcore. No surface activity seen. Marc Shaw