June 2008 – Page 3 – Trout Bums on the Web

June 6, 2008June 18, 2008

West Carson River – 06/03/08

I got a chance to run up to the gaging station section of the West Carson river today for a quick 1-hour after-work session. You know that you have a section dialed when you can drive there, rig up, fish for 45 minutes, and get back home within a 75 minute time span. No thought required — just get in and go. I know that I sound like a broken record hitting the West Carson so frequently, but it really is the best choice when run-off is in full force and it is so close that it makes sense when gas is as expensive as it is. I am only a week or two away from having tooooooo many choices, including several sections of the East Carson, the West Walker, the Little Walker, not to mention several tribs that I will leave nameless.

Flows were up slightly (just slightly) and the water was just a hair tinted versus Sunday. Other than that, there were more bugs on the water and I could see fish (mostly stockers) swimming around. It was super windy, so I decided that a dry would be of little use, so i tied up a double nymph rig with a #14 BH hare’s ear on top and a #18 copper john as the dropper. I crimped on a single split and added my strike indicator pretty high up the leader.

I tossed the line in close to the bank for a few drifts, then tossed the line mid-stream for a few more, just to “clear” the water. I waded to the rock out-cropping mid-stream and proceeded to fish the deep slot against the far wall. It was not too long into my efforts when I was rewarded with a solid take by a nice fish. He immediately took refuge under a submerged log and I could not coax him out. It was a battle of wits patience game at this point, and having none, I gave a great heave to try to yank him out and broke him off. ROUND ONE TO THE FISH.

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June 3, 2008June 6, 2008

West Carson with the Family – 06/01/08

After Bailey’s excitement at the fishing derby, we just had to head up to the river to take her fishing for real. We decided to head to a meadow section known as the “Meat Cutter’s” section. This section requires an easy walk to the river and the meadow is easy to negotiate. This section is hardly crowded (fully how a 10 minute walk from the road will do that) and is always good for some small trout.

Upon arriving at the river, I noted that the water levels were average and the water was in great shape. The river looked very fishable. The air temps were a little on the chilly side, but not quite cold enough to require a sweater. I know that with the past week of cold temps, the runoff has slowed considerably. when it warms up again, the rivers will blow out while the rest of the snow melts, but for now, this is all you can ask for int he middle of runoff season….great fishing conditions on a little freestone river.

Erin and I knew that while one was fishing, the other would be “fishing” with Bailey. Erin hit the water first, so I put a real lure on Bailey’s ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ fishing rod and proceeded to help her do some cast and retrieves. This held her interest for about a total of 4 casts. She suddenly became more interested in throwing handfuls of mud and rocks into the water.

That left me with no choice but to string up my rod and toss the line out a few times, but not before I tried my hand at the SpongeBob rod. Funny how you forget to cast with a spinning rod when you have been fly fishing for so many years. I quite trying before it came back to me.

There were a few bugs flying around, so I tied on an Indicaddis as the top fly and a #18 Copper John as the dropper. I was able to get about 15 drifts into a section of water before it was my turn to watch Bailey again. We moved upstream to the center part of the meadow section, and Bailey and I commenced the rock throwing festivities while Erin fished a little further upstream. Erin was actually able to raise a few fish on a “big yellow grasshopper” but all her strikes were from fish that were most likely too small to eat the fly and hook themselves.

At this point, Bailey mentioned that she was getting cold and wanted to leave. Bummer! I did not get to fish my next turn. I did notice many flying ants in presence and actually picked a few out of the hair of our dogs. Hmmm..an observation that may help the next outing be a success.