The reports from the Upper Sacramento haven't been great. People have been catching fish, but -- in guide parlance -- they've been "working" for them, and the trout have been a little on the small size.
It's a bad sign when I've got time to shoot pictures like this.
Even though it was Saturday night -- and I tend to avoid the Upper Sacramento on weekends -- I gambled and headed for an upriver section. Word was there aren't many fishermen on the river, and -- hot damn -- I found this stretch empty.
It was also barren of rising fish, and surprisingly murky. This far upriver, the water's typically pretty clear, but a brown-green murk obscured the bottom. Not a promising start.
I did what I always do on slow-moving, rise-ring-free water -- I tied on a terrestrial to see if I couldn't scare up a trout or two. Sometimes it works, and this time it worked to the tune of a single, 10" trout. That's better than a sharp fly rod in the eye, but after a while, I decided to sit back, watch the water, and let the evening unfold around me.
The temperatures were perfect, the sky directly overhead was overcast (first we've seen in a while), and the whole thing was almost unbelievably peaceful. If you can't sit on a rock and enjoy a green, calm, slow-moving kind of evening, check your pulse -- you could already be dead (or you're a glamper , in which case you're doomed).
The hatch never really got going, and I had to settle for two more small fish, and a handful of missed fish (it happens).
The details aren't particularly important, except that -- after a very hectic, kinda nauseating, low-energy week -- I got to sit on a rock and just groove on the concept of my home waters.
That ain't bad.
I also put a few more miles on the field test of the Orvis Helios rod, and I'm writing up a review of the thing now. It wasn't bad either.
I'm also considering writing "A Duffer's Guide to Fly Fishing the Upper Sacramento in Fall" -- an article which will reveal the truly important details, like where to head when you get off the water late and you're out of beer.
You know, the critical stuff.
See you at the beer cooler, Tom Chandler.
fly fishing, fishing, upper sac, upper sacramento river, trout