Fleaflicker
07-19-2011, 10:30 PM
Just wanted to acknowledge a job really well done by Rob Anderson and Doug Ouellette with their Stillwater Clinic last weekend up at 5 Dot Ranch near Susanville, California. The fishing at the privately owned reservoir located on the ranch was simply the best two days of fly fishing for chunky rainbow trout that I have enjoyed anywhere, and these two knowledgeable guys along with a friendly group of about a dozen clinic attendees made the trip truly memorable.
My brother flew up from San Diego on Thursday evening and we packed up the minivan that same night in anticipation of an early Friday departure for the six-hour drive from the Bay Area. We left home at dawn and swung through San Francisco to pick up my 28-year old son, arriving at the ranch in the early evening after making a couple of stops along the way to check out some of the free-stone streams near Lake Almanor. Most of the North Fork Feather River drainage appeared to still be a bit too high for effective fly fishing, but we did find some surprisingly productive spots that provided us with a good warm-up for the two-day clinic to come. I’d like to express my appreciation to the guys at the Lake Almanor Fly Fishing Company in Chester – they steered us to a couple areas with lots of willing fish that I don’t think we would have found on our own.
Arriving at the 5 Dot Ranch gate early Friday evening, we followed the map provided by our hosts and drove along ranch back roads into a nice but primitive camping area carpeted with pine needles, set back into the forest maybe one hundred yards from the lake shoreline. A half dozen of the folks we would be fishing with the next couple of days had already set up their camping rigs and invited us to join them around a campfire ring, feeding us dinner along with lots of great stories, some of which could well have been true. The occasional big swirl visible out on the nearby lake gave us high hopes that we might get into some good dry fly fishing the next morning, although that didn’t quite turn out to be the case.
The clinic officially got started early Saturday morning with an introductory “class room” session at a picnic table near a designated boating launching area close to the dam. Each attendee was presented with a few special flies and a booklet put together by Rob and Doug intended to condense a wealth of information into bullet-point format, including all kinds of tips and tricks specific to fishing trout stillwaters. After Rob outlined the intended schedule of events for the next couple of days, Doug gave an excellent presentation and series of demonstrations emphasizing dry fly fishing situations in lakes (how often have you watched a flycaster turn over two flies on a 25-foot leader into a fair breeze?), following that up with a review of the essentials of fishing sinking lines. This latter information proved to be the most relevant for the rest of the weekend, starting at mid-morning when we were turned loose on the lake to put into practice some of the techniques that had been covered.
No one felt crowded on the 400+ acre lake, with folks quickly scattering to check out the fishing in various shallow flats and along weed beds as well as in deeper waters near the dam. I had brought along my small canoe and a pair of float tubes, planning to take turns with my brother and son, fishing out of them during different sessions on the water. Other clinic participants were equipped with an assortment of prams, pontoon boats, and float tubes. Rob also made available his own pontoon boat, which I borrowed part of Saturday afternoon to compare with fishing from my canoe, while my son spent much of his time in a float tube on loan from Doug which rode a little higher in the water than the second one we had brought along.
The full group reconvened for a lake-side lunch of grilled sausages, potato salad, and fresh fruit around noon after a couple of hours on the water, comparing notes on what had worked and what did not. The consensus was that Rob’s scouting report from his own time spent on the water the day prior to the clinic was right on; those who did best were fishing in 15 to 25 feet of water and finding fish at 5 to 15 feet deep, fishing sinking lines and mostly dark-colored weighted flies. Doug then gave us another “chalk talk”, going into detail on some more advanced tactics for fishing sinking lines and various retrieve strategies. Back on the water by mid-afternoon, catch rates really picked up as our group concentrated on fishing the lines and flies that had been found to work best.
Both the fishing and the catching were really good. 5 Dot fish apparently are mostly planted small, some time prior to the open fishing season. but they acclimate quickly and attain real size in the fertile lake during their holdover years. Every single clinic participant reported catching more than a few good-sized trout. Rob and Doug cruised around the lake providing advice and assistance as needed, making sure everyone was having success and encouraging us to experiment a bit. My son, my brother and myself did not count individual numbers but each caught several colorful, healthy rainbows right about 20 inches in length that must have been between 3 and 4 pounds in weight. The majority of the fish we picked up exceeded 15 inches, and we did not catch anything under 12 inches. The experience was a huge confidence booster for my son in particular, since he is a relative novice to fly casting.
On Saturday night there was a group barbecue with our hosts providing a hot grill for the clinic attendees to use and loads of tasty side dishes. The event turned into one of the better potlucks I’ve ever attended, with nobody retiring before they were stuffed. A couple of the group headed back down to Susanville to stay overnight in a motel and re-join the clinic in the morning, while most stayed on around the campfire to be entertained by one remarkably talented guitar-playing singing fly fisherman. (Thanks, Evan, your Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash songs were great!)
Sunday morning started off pretty laid back, with most folks sleeping in a bit (including my son), but my brother and I decided to take the canoe out on the lake shortly after sunrise to take advantage of the early glassy conditions. That was a good decision – the fishing started off very good again and we had the entire lake to ourselves for a couple of hours. Unfortunately a strong wind begin to kick in shortly thereafter, which pretty much blew us straight back to the launch area and put a crimp into the fishing plans for much of the rest of the group. After breakfast, Doug put on another “class room” session at lakeside, going into detail about some little-known European lake tactics and his own unique approach to “extreme flyfishing” with soft fiberglass rods. It was interesting stuff, and I was more than a little impressed with Doug’s collection of rods used with some of these specialized techniques.
After another great shore lunch put on by Rob, the wind was still roaring but started showing hints of slacking off. Although several clinic attendees decided to not wait out the conditions and left, the rest stayed on to wrestle with the more challenging conditions. Flies worked 10 feet and more deep remained productive. My crew packed it in about 4:00 PM for the drive back to San Francisco, but Rob and Doug stayed on with a few of the diehards that looked like they were going to stay on the water until dark. I’m guessing they continued to have good luck on the water since they were in no hurry to come in!
The only disappointment of the trip was that with the windy conditions on Saturday afternoon and most of Sunday we did not have the opportunity to sample the great dry fly fishing that occurred on the lake just a couple of weeks ago. But missing out on the dries on this trip provides a good reason to plan to revisit the place again (soon!).
Simply put, this was a fun weekend. Rob and Doug did a good job making sure that every fisherman caught fish and learned something new, individualizing their approach in recognition of the wide range of experience level among the clinic participants. 5 Dot Ranch looks and feels a lot like some of my favorite parts of Montana, but honestly the fishing at the Ranch was better than anything I've experienced there. If you have a chance to join in one of these clinics some time in the future, don’t hesitate, you won’t regret it.
My brother flew up from San Diego on Thursday evening and we packed up the minivan that same night in anticipation of an early Friday departure for the six-hour drive from the Bay Area. We left home at dawn and swung through San Francisco to pick up my 28-year old son, arriving at the ranch in the early evening after making a couple of stops along the way to check out some of the free-stone streams near Lake Almanor. Most of the North Fork Feather River drainage appeared to still be a bit too high for effective fly fishing, but we did find some surprisingly productive spots that provided us with a good warm-up for the two-day clinic to come. I’d like to express my appreciation to the guys at the Lake Almanor Fly Fishing Company in Chester – they steered us to a couple areas with lots of willing fish that I don’t think we would have found on our own.
Arriving at the 5 Dot Ranch gate early Friday evening, we followed the map provided by our hosts and drove along ranch back roads into a nice but primitive camping area carpeted with pine needles, set back into the forest maybe one hundred yards from the lake shoreline. A half dozen of the folks we would be fishing with the next couple of days had already set up their camping rigs and invited us to join them around a campfire ring, feeding us dinner along with lots of great stories, some of which could well have been true. The occasional big swirl visible out on the nearby lake gave us high hopes that we might get into some good dry fly fishing the next morning, although that didn’t quite turn out to be the case.
The clinic officially got started early Saturday morning with an introductory “class room” session at a picnic table near a designated boating launching area close to the dam. Each attendee was presented with a few special flies and a booklet put together by Rob and Doug intended to condense a wealth of information into bullet-point format, including all kinds of tips and tricks specific to fishing trout stillwaters. After Rob outlined the intended schedule of events for the next couple of days, Doug gave an excellent presentation and series of demonstrations emphasizing dry fly fishing situations in lakes (how often have you watched a flycaster turn over two flies on a 25-foot leader into a fair breeze?), following that up with a review of the essentials of fishing sinking lines. This latter information proved to be the most relevant for the rest of the weekend, starting at mid-morning when we were turned loose on the lake to put into practice some of the techniques that had been covered.
No one felt crowded on the 400+ acre lake, with folks quickly scattering to check out the fishing in various shallow flats and along weed beds as well as in deeper waters near the dam. I had brought along my small canoe and a pair of float tubes, planning to take turns with my brother and son, fishing out of them during different sessions on the water. Other clinic participants were equipped with an assortment of prams, pontoon boats, and float tubes. Rob also made available his own pontoon boat, which I borrowed part of Saturday afternoon to compare with fishing from my canoe, while my son spent much of his time in a float tube on loan from Doug which rode a little higher in the water than the second one we had brought along.
The full group reconvened for a lake-side lunch of grilled sausages, potato salad, and fresh fruit around noon after a couple of hours on the water, comparing notes on what had worked and what did not. The consensus was that Rob’s scouting report from his own time spent on the water the day prior to the clinic was right on; those who did best were fishing in 15 to 25 feet of water and finding fish at 5 to 15 feet deep, fishing sinking lines and mostly dark-colored weighted flies. Doug then gave us another “chalk talk”, going into detail on some more advanced tactics for fishing sinking lines and various retrieve strategies. Back on the water by mid-afternoon, catch rates really picked up as our group concentrated on fishing the lines and flies that had been found to work best.
Both the fishing and the catching were really good. 5 Dot fish apparently are mostly planted small, some time prior to the open fishing season. but they acclimate quickly and attain real size in the fertile lake during their holdover years. Every single clinic participant reported catching more than a few good-sized trout. Rob and Doug cruised around the lake providing advice and assistance as needed, making sure everyone was having success and encouraging us to experiment a bit. My son, my brother and myself did not count individual numbers but each caught several colorful, healthy rainbows right about 20 inches in length that must have been between 3 and 4 pounds in weight. The majority of the fish we picked up exceeded 15 inches, and we did not catch anything under 12 inches. The experience was a huge confidence booster for my son in particular, since he is a relative novice to fly casting.
On Saturday night there was a group barbecue with our hosts providing a hot grill for the clinic attendees to use and loads of tasty side dishes. The event turned into one of the better potlucks I’ve ever attended, with nobody retiring before they were stuffed. A couple of the group headed back down to Susanville to stay overnight in a motel and re-join the clinic in the morning, while most stayed on around the campfire to be entertained by one remarkably talented guitar-playing singing fly fisherman. (Thanks, Evan, your Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash songs were great!)
Sunday morning started off pretty laid back, with most folks sleeping in a bit (including my son), but my brother and I decided to take the canoe out on the lake shortly after sunrise to take advantage of the early glassy conditions. That was a good decision – the fishing started off very good again and we had the entire lake to ourselves for a couple of hours. Unfortunately a strong wind begin to kick in shortly thereafter, which pretty much blew us straight back to the launch area and put a crimp into the fishing plans for much of the rest of the group. After breakfast, Doug put on another “class room” session at lakeside, going into detail about some little-known European lake tactics and his own unique approach to “extreme flyfishing” with soft fiberglass rods. It was interesting stuff, and I was more than a little impressed with Doug’s collection of rods used with some of these specialized techniques.
After another great shore lunch put on by Rob, the wind was still roaring but started showing hints of slacking off. Although several clinic attendees decided to not wait out the conditions and left, the rest stayed on to wrestle with the more challenging conditions. Flies worked 10 feet and more deep remained productive. My crew packed it in about 4:00 PM for the drive back to San Francisco, but Rob and Doug stayed on with a few of the diehards that looked like they were going to stay on the water until dark. I’m guessing they continued to have good luck on the water since they were in no hurry to come in!
The only disappointment of the trip was that with the windy conditions on Saturday afternoon and most of Sunday we did not have the opportunity to sample the great dry fly fishing that occurred on the lake just a couple of weeks ago. But missing out on the dries on this trip provides a good reason to plan to revisit the place again (soon!).
Simply put, this was a fun weekend. Rob and Doug did a good job making sure that every fisherman caught fish and learned something new, individualizing their approach in recognition of the wide range of experience level among the clinic participants. 5 Dot Ranch looks and feels a lot like some of my favorite parts of Montana, but honestly the fishing at the Ranch was better than anything I've experienced there. If you have a chance to join in one of these clinics some time in the future, don’t hesitate, you won’t regret it.