Become one with the chum
Sierra and Tahoe Area
The joys of Licensing
Feb 3rd
I am starting the process of purchasing all new licenses for the upcoming season.
Officially, my Nevada license does not expire until the 28th of February. Since they are normally available for sale on Feb 1, I grab it at that time. At $41 for the season, it is the least expensive of the annual licenses and can be done online. There will be no gap in my legal fishing status in NV.
California is a bit different. Since I have to purchase a non-resident license, it is both costly and a pain to get. More on that in a moment.
What started this thought process was the hoops that i just went through in Colorado for a simple day tag for my day on the South Platte. When I arrived in Deckers and went into the fly shop, they only accepted cash for licenses. Having just spent some good cash the night before, I was paperless in a paper only store. But no fear, you can order your license over the phone…yes…phone. After a fairly quick and simple info gathering process, the phone agents reads you an EXTREMELY long (27 digit) code and you are supposed to write that code on a piece of paper and carry that as your license. Wow! A fishing license on a post-it note! My question on this system – how does the warden verify that the code is valid and not just some long 27-digit code someone wrote on a piece of paper?
Back to California, my most expensive annual tag. Not only is the state that brought us Silicon Valley still using an antiquated paper system, but they do not allow licensing agents to charge appropriate fees, making it a loosing proposition for them to sell licenses. Getting a license becomes a cash only transaction. I know that they have a new online system this season, but you still can only print a temporary and they still mail you an official paper license, and they tack on extra convenience fees (which agents are not allowed to charge) making an expensive license that much more expensive. No thanks on the electronic system at this time. I go give some cash to my local fly shop and get some additional supplies at that time as well.
In contrast, my annual Utah license is half that of California, all electronic, and they allow me to print my own. They even have me saved in the system from previous purchases, so typing in my DL number brought up my info for a quick verification. Easy and simple is my opinion of their process. Why get an annual UT you ask – well I fish there enough days each season to justify the expense, and in most years it saves me a few ducats over paying for days a la carte.
Who knows what other licenses I will acquire in 2010, but so far I have three in the pouch and we are barely into the second month of the year.
October Caddis Time!!!
Oct 7th
Anderson's Bird of Prey October Caddis
October Caddis are popping up in the northern stretches of California – Upper Sac, McCloud, Pit – and in the Sierras – Truckee, East Carson. It’s great because trout go stupid for these big bugs.
West Carson River – 06/30/09
Jul 4th
I was able to sneak break away for an hour after work and hit the West Carson for an hour. My wife and daughter came along for the ride. Knowing that I was going to have to maximize the fishing with minimal movement and wading, I chose to hit up the Gauging station section. You have this section of rivers two best holes within sight of the gauge itself and there is a nice “beach” area as well.
The weather was perfect, about 80 degrees, and no clouds or rain. Water temps are warming and levels are almost all the way down to pre-runoff levels. The bonus was that even though I took some drastic anti-mosquito tactics (wore waders and slathered on the juice), that proved unwarranted as the pests were non-existent this evening.
There was good bug activity on the surface, so I decided to start off the evening with a Royal Trude, my searching dry of choice on this river. I was not dissapointed with this selection. Almost immediately I was into a small fish. He was able to shake off, but a few drifts later and I am release the first of several fish of the evening. One tactic that works very well on the lower hole is to present your dry fly with a downstream presentation. The upshot to that method of presenting the fly is the difficulty in setting the hook when you have 60 feet of line on the water all downstream of you. Practice makes perfect!
Since a picture speaks a thousand words I am going to end this post with several pictures that my wife took throughout the hour that we fished.
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- Hey! Let me go!
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- Don’t squeeze me
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- The gauging station hole
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- Fishing the lower hole at gauging station
West Carson River Fishing Report – June 19
Jun 24th
Headed out to the West Carson for a quick 2-hour evening session. Figured that I would check out my ole’ favorite, the gauging station. Upon arrival, I noticed a truck belonging to one of the guides who works for Tahoe Fly Fishing, so I headed downstream. After about a 10 minute walk I am at one of my favorite spots and am rewarded by seeing fish flashing around and eating.
Weather was nice, winds were light to moderate and flows have been steadily coming down for several days, so this is an ideal evening. For anyone who fishes these canyons, they know that the winds always play a role here, and by late afternoon they can be howling down-canyon. Guess I lucked out. Bug activity was light and I cannot immediately assess what bugs are present, but being the impatient sort, I pick one and hit the water.
Started off with a yellow and orange Stimmie. Figured that I would tie on an attractor dry and do some searching. My second drift rewards me with a solid hookup. It was a smaller fish in the 8-10″ range, but a beautiful native no less. A few more drifts and some half-hearted refusals and I determine that it is time to tie on a proper dry to match the bugs coming off the water. There are a smattering of light colored mayflies hatching, but for the sake of visibility and flotation in the still-runoff-laden waters, I tie on a cream Elk Hair Caddis. Bingo! That does the job and I am rewarded with another nice native. About 6 more drifts and I concede to the fact that this particular hole is probably spooked.
I head downstream to a section where the river splits. There is a very nice flat just above the river split and having a dry on, figured that I should look for, and fish, calmer waters. Second drift in the new hole rewards me with another nice native. I work this hole to the tune of 3 more fish, all under 10″ and notice that it is now 7pm and the sun is edging behind the canyon lip.
I start the walk out as I have no headlamp with me that afternoon. I hit up several more spots on the way out, but do not grab any more fish. Guess I should have changed up to a nymph rig since there were no more bugs on the surface at this point in time. One thing I love about fishing my little local rivers is that they are an easy read and I always catch fish.
A quick trip to the West Carson — River off-color and cold
May 3rd
Spent a short hour on the West Carson with a good friend of mine. It was pretty brutal fishing. River was running high, off-color and cold. The only fish I saw, flashed one of my nymphs and then hit the deck. A fishless day, but a very serene day with the mist and clouds swirling around the mountains.
I met one of my buddies at the bridge at Picketts junction. On the drive up the canyon, not only did I notice that the water was chocolate milk colored, but the slight drizzle had not deterred any of the weekend crowding. At least the wind was slight.
I strung up my 5-wt XP for some power in case the wind whipped up. We decided to hit the meadow right there at the bridge. First order of business for me was to take the water temp and turn over some rocks to see what kinds of nymphs I could find. First reading registered 39 degrees….hmmm…that could not be correct, the water was 46 degrees earlier in the week. I submerged my hand and held the thermometer about a foot below for about 30 seconds. Hand was frozen after that exercise. OK. The new reading was 38 degrees. Note to self – trust the thermometer. The fishing was most likely going to be s-l-o-w. With warmer water temps and clearer flows, I would have been ecstatic about an overcast day. As to turning over rocks, it seemed pointless as the water was raging pretty good. Plan of attack – pound the banks and no sense in wasting time hitting anything but the slack water.
You have to give us credit for trying. We walked from Picketts to first bridge, made about 200 hundred drifts, saw a total of two fish, and had a great time talking and catching up. More to come later this week.