5 days in Norcal

**Trout Thumb** · 07-03-2009, 11:46 AM

I grew up roaming the wilderness of my northern Utah back yard. Our town had something like 1200 people in it, a harsh winter, a lively spring, a hot summer, and an autumn that will take your breath away. We had a lake, 3 ski resorts (some world class), forest and countless streams and rivers all within minutes from our front door. I believe I was taken there mostly to realize a lifelong dream of my Stepfather who wanted to live and raise children in such an area. Being one of those children, it framed the environment that would foster my life long dreams. Each person in my family took different things from the situation … and for me, it brought with it a deep rooting in nature. Exploring, discovering, roaming – rain, snow, or shine. This enhancement in my life is something that has never revealed its teachings so much as when I started fly-fishing. And more specifically, until I became proficient enough in fly-fishing to sort of: let go, where enough of the mechanics and science of fly-fishing are second nature to allow it to start to feel like a dance rather than a bulldozer – where I have let go of the science enough to get back to the things I discovered as a child, and to pick up where I left off in a place where I often had not a care in the world.

This trip was a celebration of my 30th birthday, the plan was to float twin lakes for a day with Raider and Gang, renezvous with Bullethead in Bakersfield, head north to fish a coastal river for two days, A Shasta Tributary for two days, Floating Eagle Lake for a day and heading home. Well to make a long story short – My actual birthday was spent dealing with a blown headgasket in my pick-up… come on guys, you know these trips never go off without an adventure unplanned. It took all the maturity of my 30 years to accept the demise of the day, and thanks to the hospitality of a forum member living in bako … I had a place to land and ended up forgoing the Mammoth Float as a result of having no choice.

So the first quest was for Coastal Cutts on a river near Crescent City. Here are some pics from along the way.

Our first day on the river

The first catch on the trip – A huge one, took every bit of my 10’ 7wt rod to pull this bad boy in. (NOT)

Other pics from the first spot we threw in

Bullethead at the second spot we fished:

This was a cool spot to fish, I was sitting on my ass catching fish with all the cover in the world. Kinda cool.

A yellow belly / yellow finned little one

A beautiful river

at our first campsight, Here is Bullethead – a true gentleman and a scholar. Well traveled and a pleasure to be around.

the next morning, up at first light and set out from camp to catch fish and caught this fish.

Now we go inland to the Winni-mem.
Here are some of the shots as we were getting there:

You can see the original bridge and then after a while (I guess the train drivers couldn’t keep their hands on the steering wheel and deviated off into the river – this destroyed the fishery due to a spill) So they put Bumper rails to make sure that the train stays out of the river. Innaresting sight

Wild Orchids

**Trout Thumb** · 07-03-2009, 11:48 AM

On our way to the tail water of this reservoir:

I somehow muster a smile in this terrible, torturous environment:

You want to try it????? COME ON! YOU KNOW YOU WANNA TRY IT....

My first fish on this shasta headwater

The next fish: BREAKING MY PERSONAL BEST THIS IS THE BIGGEST FISH I’VE CAUGHT… WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO

;D

Bullethead kicking back in the hammock after a 5+ mile roundtrip to the farthest allowed waters. This is a man who just went the distance. In fact I believe he caught a special fish that morning – I’ll let him tell you about that one.

Other than the fish:

**Trout Thumb** · 07-03-2009, 11:49 AM

Then we headed to the Upper:

Where I caught this nymph on a little BWO (hey if your not pulling in fish, you might as well fish for the bugs):

Caught this guy on the upper (heratige trout i believe - we'll see)

If you've never seen the nets of the netbuilding caddis here it is (this net is about half the size of my hand)

And on to our float destination:

That little speck floating the water is bullethead:

We had a beautiful crossover with the sunset and the moon... great moment, (that's Clark floating):

I guess this guy didn't run his plan by the law enforcement, so he got himself a visit ... but not before he already set flight, this was after he touched down:

And heading home:

And we just had to hit this creek that we passed, between us we caught 26 fish in about an hour (IMPROMPTU STOPS, NOW THATS A FISHING TRIP):

**Trout Thumb** · 07-03-2009, 11:50 AM

Out of light means going home for sure:

and with a little help from Mike the AAA driver, My Truck made it home too (YES, that's a beer in my hand):

I'm one of those eccentrics who fish not just to catch the fish, but to basque in the regal omnipresent nature which holds the fish, I fish to reach out to the past, and perhaps through these two things: to touch the hand of God. Catching fish, yes – it’s certainly not impossible as they are not as much intelligent as they are habitual, where over time, our left-brain can pin down these habits. But going for more than just that by getting deeper and deeper into the landscape, and finding yourself in the mindspace where the boundaries of all that you know of the present time become fuzzy, and the natural history of the canyon begins to reveal itself. Your fish-like soul spooked by our current reality, holding large and deep within, begins to surface from your deepest of depths and feeds on all that has occurred throughout the entire span of the rivers existence. And in this dance you eventually might hear the noises of the Wintu Indians who had many tribes along this river only 3/4 of a century ago, roaming their Winni-mem (or middle river) in the very place that you are standing, and beyond just the Wintu, hearing and feeling what existed there for all of time. Like the Medicine men of tribes past; who discovered the ways to use plants not through the left brain science of trial and error, but through your right brain intuition. Maybe after a lifetime worth of visits to the river you might actually decipher clues that unlock the past through your right brains intuitive abilities. I cannot honestly say that I have yet unlocked any unknown clues, but I can say that the quest gives me the energy to keep on fishing even when it's hard - this river was very physical.

On my last evening on the MC, just after it was already to dark to tie on another fly – where you’re employing all the carefulness in the world to keep the fly you have on the line going as long as you can… the fish were surfacing unabashedly, and there were some obviously bigger fish up against a virtually unaccessable bank lined with foliage. The bug activity is stunning because there are caddis, mayfly, and stoneflies all around – yet the fish are still very selective based on the time of day … and being new to the area, and new to such rich and numerous bug-life you can bet that I wasn’t sure exactly what they were keyed in on, but I had it narrowed down enough to be catching some fish…

I was standing in the middle of the river, and I knew that I only had time to pursue one more fish before getting out of the river would be to dangerous due to the approaching darkness. There was a good size fish surfacing within casting distance beneath the large leafed plants that grew up out of the river and leaned inward from the bank creating a safe haven overhang under which the bigger boys were surfacing in water that would be over my head. I casted out some of the most gentile casts/landings I could muster and watched intently as my fly dead drifted with an enrapturing spook through the open sky, underneath the reaching foliage, and over the exact spot of the surfacing fish… he ignored it …several times – and I cannot tell you why. I myself almost dropped my rod and dove mouth first after the fly. I thought maybe he was keyed in on something else and I looked up to consult the arriving dark sky, there was time for one more cast – last cast of the day. Same drill, the fly lands about 10 feet upriver, its extended well enough that the tippet is not wound around the fly as can easily happen with the simplest gust of wind or miss on my part, rather it is dead drifting perfectly. The river sounds are mesmerizing filling my ears with the music it knows so well, the gentile breeze creating a pleasant harmony with the flowing river, the pressure and chill of the cold water against my entire lower half sending a lively spark through my body, the intensity of the hunt, the fly enters the lane under the plants, going, going, please, going, going, I said Please, not yet, not yet, no, wait, it’s too late, it’s passed the fish up, my heart sinks in what seems like an eternity, and I begin to accept the end of the day… BAM, he hits it OOOOHHH THANK YOU, Fish on, I can tell he’s around the size of the biggest fish I caught the day before (a personal best for me), and I land the fish.

He had the MR redband in him and was just beautiful. This was the last fish I landed on the river that I most looked forward to on this trip… The reward does not always come, but when it does come it’s incredible, and when it comes at the end – almost as if to say “good job hunter, thank you for your respect, thank you for your appreciation of all that makes up this river, thank you for your efforts and Here is your reward” there enlies the most satisfying end to a year of reading and dreaming about this river and dreaming of the encounter. And for all that I have said, I assure you that when I let him go, I certainly felt I had touched the hand of God.

Enjoy Brothers.

Cris

**Fat Lurking Brookie** · 07-03-2009, 08:18 PM

Dude, thanks for reiterating why many of us do this. Awesome. Nice pics. Keep posting.

**Trout Thumb** · 07-05-2009, 12:07 AM

Thanks, I got some good advice through PMs off of this forum. The least I can do is share... I actually spent some time up there with a guy who'd catch his fish and by 2pm was in the car waiting!!!! It was very foreign to me to see someone flyfishing with what seemed to me like little or no similarities in approach...

TUG TUG.
Cris

**David Lee** · 07-05-2009, 10:45 AM

Killer report !!!

What a great eye for Nature !!!!!!!

David

**Bernard** · 07-05-2009, 10:48 AM

Wonderful stuff. That heavily spotted fish is really unique. Any ideas?
B

**Trout Thumb** · 07-05-2009, 04:01 PM

Originally Posted by David Lee

Killer report !!!

What a great eye for Nature !!!!!!!

David

Glad to share, thanks for the Kudos. I'm going back in October, and I'll gladly share it again. There is nothing better about posting a report than hearing other people enjoying it. brings it full circle.

Cris