Hitch Hickers

Sunday Stripers

Got a bit of a late start as I had some much needed boat work to do. My plan was to detail my Bass Boat and at the very least pull my skiff out and give it a quick clean up. After the first boat was cleaned and organized I said, self , do the skiff another day and go fishin. It's been months since I really dug into rod lockers and deck storage. I must have found 150 bucks worth of stuff I have purchased since. Not staying organized can be costly.

Got on the water about 11am. Light winds and few folks on the water. I hadn't been on the water looking for reservior Stripers since July. Water levels have dropped about 20ft since then and I noticed a pretty bad Algea bloom goin too in some areas. Spent some time just looking around graphing shallow and deep and settled up on some sparse bait and a few marks I though might be Stripers. Cought fish pretty quaickly, size was on the small side so we  moved on.

Air temps were right around 100 on the water. When the wind completely died it was scortching. Fishing continued on and we scratched 8 or 10 fish.  Got out of there about 5. A fun but short session.

Milton hooked up

Baby Strip

Summer Carp'n

This has been a great summer with the higher than normal water and rich flooded grass flats. It's been fun so far. I didn't see as many today but the quality was decent with one fish in the 10lb class. Air temps were in the high 80s, low 90s and the fish I did see were busy.  They also seemed to be bunched up a little and tailing in pairs up to three or four fish.  Fishing should remain good right on thru the end of November. After that, its really hit and miss unless we get a two or three day stretch  of nice warm weather. With our really mild winters in this area, I had pretty good fishing the first week of January this year so if there hasn't been a bunch  rain, it always pays to look in the winter months.

The other gold..

It was great to get back out and chase some Carp. It's been a couple of weeks..Fishing was solid with 5 fish for 3 hours on about a dozen shots. Nothin big..4-6lb class. I had some cool grabs this afternoon that made the day..The first was a fish that caught a visual of movement and charged the fly from 2-3ft. No mistake there. I couldn't have pulled it away if I wanted too. The second was one where the fly hit the water almost on top of the fish just behind the gills and she spun around and pounced. This fish felt the fly and was on the money..The third was a  a very shallow(less than foot) lazy grazer coming toward me (my favorite) and I put the fly about two feet in front of the fish. It seemed like 15 minutes before the fish caught up with the bug. I popped the fly, the fish stopped and just barely showed a quick pop motion and sucked the bug up. Good to get back out.

Golden trout

Arguably the most beautiful trout in it's wild form. I only had three days for a solo high country trip this time. I felt a little rushed and one really needs 4 or 5 days up there to slow the pace down a little. With that said, I still had a great time and will try and make one more short trip with a certian two lakes in mind and concetrate on those excusivly, we'll see.  With the window rapidly closing in on the high country fishing for 2011 i'm glad I went. My target was Goldens mostly, but I caught lots of small rainbows and delicious Brookies along the way.

Weather over all was perfect with highs around 70 and lows in the nights in mid 40s, clear and windy as hell. No storms at all. The stars were amazing at night. It was almost like a planetarium effect they were so thick and clear.  Fishing was a little slow as it usually is in mid August. The lakes with Brookies and Bows were silly for small fish on dries but above, the goldens were really keyed in on tiny midges. Very tiny midges. There isn't much bug life up above 10k. I did see the odd caddis or even hopper if tundra was close to the waters edge but they wouldn't touch any for me.  It was tough to get them top go the first day. I just cant see those small dries. The first lake/day i blanked on the Goldens. I did notice the better quality would cruize in loose schools and appeared to be looking for fry.

Back at camp, I was racking my brain and going through fly boaxes looking for a small fry pattern and I remembered I had brought along my carp box (just in case) and I had some very sparse small bonefish flies I occasionally toss at clear water Carp that are on tiny fry. Also works great for Lohanton Cutties when they are cruising tight. That was the ticket! Target the solo cruising fish. Spot and lead with really fast strip to get a reaction. Other than a few on a tiny dry before first light and late, that is how I targeted them all day once the wind picked up a little. It was slow but visual and that was fine with me and a lot of fun. If everything went right and they didn't bust you, they would go crazy looking foir that bug and give you multipule shots if they missed it the first time. Still a good amount of ice fields to navigate up high but overall I cant complain and had a great trip.

Random fishing..

 Lots of Bass, a few small Carp and Squawfish have been the only thing captured recently. For those not familiar with Squaws, they are native to all of the west coast and I believe a strain is also in the Rockies if i'm not mistaken. Depending on the the situation they can be pretty fun. If you grew up around Squaws that were competing with and consuming Trout, you were schooled at a young age to kill em on sight. I'm not down with that now and have mustered up some respect for Squawfish aka (Sacrameto Pike minnow) if they are native to that particular watershed. They were a main staple for Native Americans between Salmonid seasons on the west slope rivers of the Sierras for 1000s of years. To me they are an interesting Native Fish.

Small male Squawfish

Toulumne River

These flowers are  incredibly sticky and line the river banks.
They jack your fly lines and cloths.

Hometown VFW hall. Erected 1860. 

If I can sight fish Squaws with light fly tackle, I will give them my attention, but blind casting for them can be a little un interesting I will admit.. There best atribute has to be that they crush dries better than most Trout, and raelly love streamers. There eats are voracious despite the fact that after the initial over the top grab they dont have much stamina and tend to give it up. Where I target them in clear water, they are pretty fun to sight fish nd it can go on all day fi there is enough around. Like I said, not the best fighters after the initial grab and first run but the bigger fish are bullish. This might possibly be the only Squawfish report I'll ever do so there you have it.  Ha!

My Truck is loaded and i'm heading out in the morning for a few days for something different. Golden Trout. Wild  Goldens are stunningly beautiful and fun to hunt and I really look forward to this every year. I will be in AK later in Sept so this is my only window to get up there before the weather turns in the high country. This year will be solo as is most years and i'll base at about 10k and have 3 or 4 lakes and adjoining streams to day hike out too at around 10.5 to just under 11k. They love small dries and cruize the shallows on the small lakes. Usually I wont see to many anglers, mostly folks hiking the Pacific Coast trail. It kicks my ass everytime getting to them but thats half the fun. A little lower in Elev the same area also has some really nice Brookies and Bows too.  Here is a Golden from last year. I'll post something about this trip when I settle back in. Now go catch something!

More Carp'n

The story is the same. Lots of smaller fish but the fly rods are getting bent often so it's all good. I'll be off doing other fishing the next couple of weeks so I put in a good solid day today and will try and sore lip a few more during the week. I ended up with 20 or so landed for an 8 hr day. They are really keyed in on fry & polywogs so black was key. I had a shot on a real nice Channel Cat that was tailing around and actually got him to eat but came up empty when I came tight. I would have liked to have stuck that fish.

Carp'n

This has been the year for numbers so far. Especially juvinal 3-7lb carp. Bigger fish will come.  The good news is the water levels are dropping a little and we have a year round Carp on the fly fishery so there is plenty of time. Until then, the youngsters are gonna have some sore lips.

This is Fly Magazine

Go check out the new issue..The huge brookies and ridiculous Triggers were some highlights for me. Link is on the side bar.

I went and watched some fish this afternoon. Didn't cast on em. I hammered them pretty hard yesterday. I just wanted to swing by watch em for a while and plan my next move. Hell thats half the fun! This area is tough. No access on the far side you see in the photo and the good side leaves you high in the open to clear water fish. Saw several good fish layed up in the afternoon sun. I broke two off yesterday to concrete that were excellent quality. It's a rich enviroment and grows some beautiful fish. Some unsusual hybrid fish as well, with a few true Koi in certian areas.  Hit another place and stuck one pretty little fish pretty quick. Pretty dead there over all though. Had only three or four shots in a couple of hours ending up with the one.