Tales of fishing outings, all true!
November 16 & 17 - Sacramento Delta
Tom McMillan and I set out once again, this time to the Delta where we experienced much greater success. Lots of fish in the 3-5 pound range with the largest to 8 pounds. Met up with Gil Santos, who surprise, surprise, had caught many more fish than we had. The Delta is fishing well right now and worth a trip. Dougald Scott
November 11th - Joseph, Oregon
Just returned from my annual elk walk. This time it was near Joseph, Oregon (named after Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Indians). I took a day off to fish the Grande Ronde river. This area in the northeast corner of Oregon is truly beautiful. I learned two things: first, of all the rivers he fished, this was Ernest Hemmingway's favorite river; and second, when the air temp is 22 and the water is 38 you are not going to catch a lot of steelhead! This area is out of the way, but is worth exploring. It looks like Montana. The guide told us that three weeks before, they had caught 18 steelhead in one day. Joe Bigas
November 9 - San Luis Reservoir
Tom McMillan and I fished the O'Neil Forebay (San Luis Reservoir). Apparently it rained all day in Santa Cruz, but we only had overcast skies and no wind. Fished in all of the usual spots to no avail... not even dinks. Finally picked up a couple in the 2-4 pound range where the water comes in from the aqueduct. It was slow fishing but a very enjoyable day. Dougald Scott
November 8th - Deschutes River, Oregon
My first steelheading experience was on the Deschutes River near Bend, Oregon, November 8 this year. I've heard steelhead called "the fish of a thousand casts" so I was pretty surprised that somewhere around 600 casts that day (just guessing) I hooked one! After a beefy, but all too short, tussle he managed to unbutton himself and I performed a perfect long-line release! What a rush! You can be sure I'll be trying that again! Kathy O'Hara
Mid November - Mokelumne River
I guess it's that time of year the leaves are changing colors, the sky looks different and the weather is changing to the holiday time. Up on the Mokelumne River with my daughter and Cecillia, taking time to see all that god has given me in my life such beauty and a calmness that we only get in these far off places of nature. Finding out how smart the fish are and how dumb we are. This trip was so wonderful it couldn't get any better than it was. Cecillia got a trout on this river which is a very difficult thing to do. As we fished this river we found it to be a great challenge, but worth it. Having my brother taking us around the second day was a blessing as he showed all who were fishing up. It was a pleasure to fish with the people and take the time to watch my daughter casting her rod for the first time with a great look in her eyes. Right then is when I felt the most blessed. And to top it all off, we even got our limit of turkeys. Perry Ralston