Bill Kiene semi-retired
10-22-2006, 06:58 PM
The big drought of the late ‘70s in Nor Cal was wild, special and sad too.
In 1975 I had just opened “The Fly Hutch” in Sacramento at Fulton and El Camino with partner Neil Bohannon of San Jose’s “Fly Hutch”. These were some of the real ‘hay days’ of fly fishing.
The draught of 1976-77 had a huge impact on my fly fishing career. A draught actually can be good for fly fishing in the short term but be very hard on fisheries in the long run.
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The lower flow (600cfs) on the lower Yuba River allowed two of my old friends, Joe Patterson and Wally Westlake, to discover a vast population of wild Rainbow trout and wild Steelhead that was masked by normal spring high water flows for years. They just decided to stop and give the river a try and found really good hatches in the early spring of stone flies and big may flies. Other friends like Al Perryman, Neil Hansen, Mike Zeim and Ed Littrell were part of the group who pioneered the fly fishing in that part of the river. We were catching Steelhead to 6 pounds in February/March on large stone fly dries. I don’t think many of those fish had ever seen a fly in those days.
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The small coastal streams like the Gualala River were very lower at that time causing abnormally good fly fishing conditions in their lower reaches. The water was backed up by the sand bar at the mouth causing the water to back up and create large deep pools for the Steelhead to hold up in. People used 15 foot and longer leaders with small #10 flies on 3x tippet for wild Steelhead that were held up in large gin clear tide water pools like giant trout. Coastal veterans like Walt Bennett, Joe Patterson, Al Perryman and Hal Janssen threw out the Steelhead rule book using very light tackle to fool these spooky wild giants. The late Andre Puyans actually used an indicator made of clipped deer hair to drift a small fly through the schools. Indicators did not exist at the time so it was really shocking to watch it happening.
__________________________________________________ ___________________
The Smith and Eel River were having the same phenomenon of large fish pooled up in clear tide water pools. In these larger bodies we used small prams that were 8 to 12 feet long to anchor as a casting platform.
In Oct/Nov it was King Salmon time and then in Dec/Jan/Feb it was Steelhead.
Joe Patterson, our Cortland Line Company Rep, had been calling on the Time Flies fly shop in Arcata and had fished the Eel River very successfully in its shallow condition. Joe said the Steelhead where held up in the lower 10 miles of the Eel River from the mouth of the Van Duzen down stream. Joe drew us a map on a brown bag and gave us a game plan.
Craig Ziegler and I were very lucky to have been taken to the lower Eel River by top fly fisher Al Perryman. At this time Craig and I were relatively new to tide water fly fishing for Steelhead. I think it was December 1976 and we were on Singley Pool below the Ferndale Bridge. Craig and I were both wading in Seal Dri latex waders on the north side and Al was in his pram right next to us. Al new where we were going so we were out there in the AM at “dark-thirty”. It was very cold and weird for us. It was a sand bottom with not much current. We were use to the American River with rocks and current. We were using slow sinking type 1 shooting heads so we would not drag the bottom. It was a little like lake fishing where you swing and strip at the same time.
We were all three casting and stripping in the dark. Al asked if either of us had had felt anything? I told him I felt some little taps like small fish. Al said that a friend in the CA DF&G told him there were about 3,000-5,000 Steelhead in the pool we were fishing. This kind of scared me. Al said the fish were all about 8 to 16 pounds and larger so he didn’t think any little fish were out there now. Al said for us to set up on everything we felt. On the next cast I felt another little tap tap and set the hook. That tap tap was a 15 pound wild Steelhead right out of the ocean. My Hardy reel started to wind up like a model airplane engine as the mighty fish headed up the pool. I could hear and feel it jumping in the dark. I heard a guy screaming as my fish nearly jumped into his anchored pram on the other side of the pool. In time I finally landed it in the dark. In a foot of water it was very cold feeling and very strong. We got the hook out and it took off like a shot.
Soon it got light enough to see what the area looked like. We were on a very large long shallow pool that looked like a lake with small boat anchored across from us. Steelhead could be seen rolling in schools as they swam up and down the large pool. We fished from daylight till dark for that day and the next and then drove all the way home to Sacramento. We hooked, landed and lost a lot of wild Steelhead. It was kind of surreal because we had never seen anything like that nor ever would again.
On the way home sleeping in the back of Al’s Ford Econoline Van I was awakened by a huge grab like electricity running up the fingers of my right arm. I think it was some kind of reaction to fishing non stop for two days in the cold.
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The next Fall I went back to the lower Eel River with Joe Shirshac. We had two 8 foot prams inside Joe’s Chevy Suburban. We drove out on the gravel bar below Singley Pool on the south side of the river and launched our prams in the dark. We rowed downstream through shallow water to the next big pool called ‘Snag’. We could see fresh Salmon running in 6-12 inches of water to get up to the next pool before sunrise. There were people already on the water that had been there the days before. There was a long depression along the high dirt south bank where the fish stacked up with prams anchored on the outer edge. Mike Monroe and Hal Janssen were at the top of the pool which is a hot spot where the fish turn around as they cruise up and down the 100 yard long pool. Joe and I dropped in below the last guys and started to fish. I could see that we were about a 100 feet from the action so I started looking around with my small binoculars. The water was like glass and down stream against the same bank I saw some water move and fins.
I pulled my anchors and rowed out and started going down stream. There was a subtle flow of the tide going out and it was still fairly early in the morning. It was foggy too which helped. I got down to the spot where I thought I saw something and anchored my pram. I had a yellow soft action 9’ #10 weight Lamiglas blank I made up into a nice rod. I had put a cork fighting grip above a nice Powell reels seat and fighting butt. I had a new Fin-nor II anti- reverse reel with a type 1 slow sinking line. I put one a #6 Boss fly and made some casts. I was a 100 yards or more below the other anglers and alone. Another fish rolled below me and I cast above it and as it swung downstream I did a slow strip. The line came tight into a 30 pound fresh run King Salmon that ran so far out into the shallows that I had to pull anchor and row after it. With the anti-reverse reel I was able to put the rod between my legs. This was the hottest and largest fish I had ever had on a fly rod so I was near crazy. I did finally land it. It was chrome like an ocean run fish. I caught about 6 more fish that day all by myself. Finally another person rowed down and joined me.
__________________________________________________ _________________
Joe and others went later that year to the Smith River but I could not make that trip. Jim Havstad and Don Childress, members of the Davis fly club, went to the Smith that year too. They had heard of all the large 40-50 pound King Salmon being landed on flies so they took off for the Smith. Jim came into my shop a week or so later to tell me of the trip.
He said they had never been there and did have a clue what to do. They launched in the tide water and rowed out and anchored with some other small boats in the AM. Jim said he caught about 6 fish that day, all 15 to 20 pounds and larger. He said they were very strong and even jumped. He was a little disappointed that they did not get any 30-40 pound plus Salmon. He was complaining at dinner somewhere up there about the small size but really nice salmon they had caught that day. Another local told him that the salmon were pretty much over because it was early December. He said that all those fish were actually fresh run Steelhead today. I guess some one had landed one over 25 pounds on a fly.
Jim just realize he had had landed several Steelhead that day over 20 pounds!!!!
__________________________________________________ _____________________
It seemed like that was the end of an era because the fishing on the coast after the end of that draught was never really good again. Between dams/de-watering, roads and logging I think that draught helped finish off the wild stocks of salmon and steelhead on the coast. There are still fish around on the coast but not like they use to be. When I am retired I will be over there myself.
In 1975 I had just opened “The Fly Hutch” in Sacramento at Fulton and El Camino with partner Neil Bohannon of San Jose’s “Fly Hutch”. These were some of the real ‘hay days’ of fly fishing.
The draught of 1976-77 had a huge impact on my fly fishing career. A draught actually can be good for fly fishing in the short term but be very hard on fisheries in the long run.
__________________________________________________ _________
The lower flow (600cfs) on the lower Yuba River allowed two of my old friends, Joe Patterson and Wally Westlake, to discover a vast population of wild Rainbow trout and wild Steelhead that was masked by normal spring high water flows for years. They just decided to stop and give the river a try and found really good hatches in the early spring of stone flies and big may flies. Other friends like Al Perryman, Neil Hansen, Mike Zeim and Ed Littrell were part of the group who pioneered the fly fishing in that part of the river. We were catching Steelhead to 6 pounds in February/March on large stone fly dries. I don’t think many of those fish had ever seen a fly in those days.
__________________________________________________ __________________
The small coastal streams like the Gualala River were very lower at that time causing abnormally good fly fishing conditions in their lower reaches. The water was backed up by the sand bar at the mouth causing the water to back up and create large deep pools for the Steelhead to hold up in. People used 15 foot and longer leaders with small #10 flies on 3x tippet for wild Steelhead that were held up in large gin clear tide water pools like giant trout. Coastal veterans like Walt Bennett, Joe Patterson, Al Perryman and Hal Janssen threw out the Steelhead rule book using very light tackle to fool these spooky wild giants. The late Andre Puyans actually used an indicator made of clipped deer hair to drift a small fly through the schools. Indicators did not exist at the time so it was really shocking to watch it happening.
__________________________________________________ ___________________
The Smith and Eel River were having the same phenomenon of large fish pooled up in clear tide water pools. In these larger bodies we used small prams that were 8 to 12 feet long to anchor as a casting platform.
In Oct/Nov it was King Salmon time and then in Dec/Jan/Feb it was Steelhead.
Joe Patterson, our Cortland Line Company Rep, had been calling on the Time Flies fly shop in Arcata and had fished the Eel River very successfully in its shallow condition. Joe said the Steelhead where held up in the lower 10 miles of the Eel River from the mouth of the Van Duzen down stream. Joe drew us a map on a brown bag and gave us a game plan.
Craig Ziegler and I were very lucky to have been taken to the lower Eel River by top fly fisher Al Perryman. At this time Craig and I were relatively new to tide water fly fishing for Steelhead. I think it was December 1976 and we were on Singley Pool below the Ferndale Bridge. Craig and I were both wading in Seal Dri latex waders on the north side and Al was in his pram right next to us. Al new where we were going so we were out there in the AM at “dark-thirty”. It was very cold and weird for us. It was a sand bottom with not much current. We were use to the American River with rocks and current. We were using slow sinking type 1 shooting heads so we would not drag the bottom. It was a little like lake fishing where you swing and strip at the same time.
We were all three casting and stripping in the dark. Al asked if either of us had had felt anything? I told him I felt some little taps like small fish. Al said that a friend in the CA DF&G told him there were about 3,000-5,000 Steelhead in the pool we were fishing. This kind of scared me. Al said the fish were all about 8 to 16 pounds and larger so he didn’t think any little fish were out there now. Al said for us to set up on everything we felt. On the next cast I felt another little tap tap and set the hook. That tap tap was a 15 pound wild Steelhead right out of the ocean. My Hardy reel started to wind up like a model airplane engine as the mighty fish headed up the pool. I could hear and feel it jumping in the dark. I heard a guy screaming as my fish nearly jumped into his anchored pram on the other side of the pool. In time I finally landed it in the dark. In a foot of water it was very cold feeling and very strong. We got the hook out and it took off like a shot.
Soon it got light enough to see what the area looked like. We were on a very large long shallow pool that looked like a lake with small boat anchored across from us. Steelhead could be seen rolling in schools as they swam up and down the large pool. We fished from daylight till dark for that day and the next and then drove all the way home to Sacramento. We hooked, landed and lost a lot of wild Steelhead. It was kind of surreal because we had never seen anything like that nor ever would again.
On the way home sleeping in the back of Al’s Ford Econoline Van I was awakened by a huge grab like electricity running up the fingers of my right arm. I think it was some kind of reaction to fishing non stop for two days in the cold.
__________________________________________________ _____________________
The next Fall I went back to the lower Eel River with Joe Shirshac. We had two 8 foot prams inside Joe’s Chevy Suburban. We drove out on the gravel bar below Singley Pool on the south side of the river and launched our prams in the dark. We rowed downstream through shallow water to the next big pool called ‘Snag’. We could see fresh Salmon running in 6-12 inches of water to get up to the next pool before sunrise. There were people already on the water that had been there the days before. There was a long depression along the high dirt south bank where the fish stacked up with prams anchored on the outer edge. Mike Monroe and Hal Janssen were at the top of the pool which is a hot spot where the fish turn around as they cruise up and down the 100 yard long pool. Joe and I dropped in below the last guys and started to fish. I could see that we were about a 100 feet from the action so I started looking around with my small binoculars. The water was like glass and down stream against the same bank I saw some water move and fins.
I pulled my anchors and rowed out and started going down stream. There was a subtle flow of the tide going out and it was still fairly early in the morning. It was foggy too which helped. I got down to the spot where I thought I saw something and anchored my pram. I had a yellow soft action 9’ #10 weight Lamiglas blank I made up into a nice rod. I had put a cork fighting grip above a nice Powell reels seat and fighting butt. I had a new Fin-nor II anti- reverse reel with a type 1 slow sinking line. I put one a #6 Boss fly and made some casts. I was a 100 yards or more below the other anglers and alone. Another fish rolled below me and I cast above it and as it swung downstream I did a slow strip. The line came tight into a 30 pound fresh run King Salmon that ran so far out into the shallows that I had to pull anchor and row after it. With the anti-reverse reel I was able to put the rod between my legs. This was the hottest and largest fish I had ever had on a fly rod so I was near crazy. I did finally land it. It was chrome like an ocean run fish. I caught about 6 more fish that day all by myself. Finally another person rowed down and joined me.
__________________________________________________ _________________
Joe and others went later that year to the Smith River but I could not make that trip. Jim Havstad and Don Childress, members of the Davis fly club, went to the Smith that year too. They had heard of all the large 40-50 pound King Salmon being landed on flies so they took off for the Smith. Jim came into my shop a week or so later to tell me of the trip.
He said they had never been there and did have a clue what to do. They launched in the tide water and rowed out and anchored with some other small boats in the AM. Jim said he caught about 6 fish that day, all 15 to 20 pounds and larger. He said they were very strong and even jumped. He was a little disappointed that they did not get any 30-40 pound plus Salmon. He was complaining at dinner somewhere up there about the small size but really nice salmon they had caught that day. Another local told him that the salmon were pretty much over because it was early December. He said that all those fish were actually fresh run Steelhead today. I guess some one had landed one over 25 pounds on a fly.
Jim just realize he had had landed several Steelhead that day over 20 pounds!!!!
__________________________________________________ _____________________
It seemed like that was the end of an era because the fishing on the coast after the end of that draught was never really good again. Between dams/de-watering, roads and logging I think that draught helped finish off the wild stocks of salmon and steelhead on the coast. There are still fish around on the coast but not like they use to be. When I am retired I will be over there myself.