The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

Just got back from my annual Trinity fish-a-thon. Fished the week before Thanksgiving and then a few days after the holiday. In spite of the zoo you can sometimes find on that river, it holds a special place in my heart. I consider it my home water, although it's over a thousand miles from my house. Due to the huge flows earlier this year (11,000 cfs) the river has changed, and although I lost my favorite rock I think it changed for the better. It forced me to explore more, and I found fish in a number of spots I'd never hooked up in before. The pre-Thanksgiving crowd wasn't bad, but now most anglers and boats seem to be concentrated on the mid-river areas, which was where I fished. I couldn't get reliable info about the upper river. It was split about 80-20 with 80% of the fishermen saying they'd done poorly in the upper reaches. That was enough to keep me mid-river. Besides the physical beauty, it's the weather that I love up there. The dank early morning fog that often hangs around until 10 or 11 a.m. extends the morning bite a bit longer. The views through the mist can be awesome. I was following a friend so I couldn't stop to photo the bald eagle I saw perched on a tree top with a blurry background hidded by the mist. On my way back to Redding yesterday, I stopped at the hatchery. There were plenty of salmon spawning in the river alongside the hatchery and more steelies than I'd expected. Stopping there was definitely worth the detour and I'd recommend it, especially if you have kids with you. It's a real treat to see both species in the viewing windows at the fish ladder. Makes you wonder why you couldn't hook up more. I might make it back there around Christmas, but for now I've got to return to AZ for some work. By then, I'll be freezing my butt off every morning. It'll be worth it!

I get the feeling he's thinking, "Look at that ugly mother". Of course, what the hell does an animal with a brain the size of a pea know about anything? (yeah, I'll play the straight man for y'all)




no/msg

Good to see you again Bruce, so where's the real fish porn?
I went down to the hatchery over the w/e and watched the
Salmon for a while.....most Salmon I've seen spawning in
the river in quite a long time....must be cuz the upper
river is now a 50 mile long redd with all the gravel injections.
By the way...what did you say that fly was called
sittin' here tieing up a few myself....heaviest fly I ever tied. Look for you the end of the month.

Always good seeing you Mark when it's not about my vehicle I didn't want to say too much or post shots of fish, since the T is still in season. I like to just post general stuff. But, if you go to rock #4125...

Well at least the van was an easy fix, I went down river farther than usuall on Sunday fish a primo run it was loaded with rocks almost like pocket water full of trout but a little tough for them heavy flies...worked just the same

You took me there years ago, I think. I haven't been back since. I should check it out sometime. Yeah, interesting water.

I dont think so Bruce I rarely fish that far down but since I had to take Kayla back to Humdolt I fished my way home!
Here's a few of them heavy flies

I think it time to tie something a bit lighter

Mark,
Those are some nice ties. Just curious, what is the bead?

Hmmm, if it's THAT far, I guess we didn't fish there. Nice exaggerated beadhead flies (EBF's). That also happens to be my most successful color this past trip. I was thinking that next time I might fish EBF's in low light and go with flies in the brighter light. Hope to see you around Xmas.

hot melt glue ? No...My brother buys Owner Hooks,takes them to work at a
sawmill and molds the heads out of Babbit used for replacing the tips
on saw blades...enviromentally freindly since there is no lead in the babbit.
I then air brush paint them with vinyl paint in three steps, the first two are
the primer/color and the third is clear applied after tyeing..also doubles as
head cement.....I guess the "Jig" is up

That color scheme closely resembles the winter color of the crawdads
in the lower river....blueish purple...same color as my legs after
a couple hours in the river

Now, there's something I hope I never see...and I ain't talkin' about no crawdads!