My epic weekend of firsts

[Scott V]

The weekend started off like any other weekend with plans to fish 4 bodies of water for 4 different species. I was able to get 3 species and Charlie G. and I got our butts handed to us by stripers in the American. But on to the good stuff.

I started out by fishing Silverfork just below Silver lake, I was on a quest for my first brown trout. You need to remember that I have been fly fishing for just 1 year. So I decided to go alone and do some real hiking, little did I know I would be rock climbing also. As I worked my way down stream I was having no luck, so after a few hours of looing at some beautiful views and my favorite some real nice waterfalls, I decided to head back up and try my luck in another spot. I walked the Silverfork all the way to the highway when I happen to see a trout take a bug off the top of the water. He was going to be my first, I threw a dry fly down and next thing you know I have my very first brown.




My first brown


Then Saturday evening was spent on the American River with Charlie Gonzales, but we had no luck. We did get the joy of some tweaker yelling at us form the bank and then showing his butt to us. this guy went on for over 1/2 hour saying he got one of our hooks in his thumb and called us all kinds of nasty names. Oh how I love certain areas of Sacramento, not!

Sunday morning Ed shows up at 6:00 and we grab our mountain bikes and head for Lahontan country. Sweet, my first cutthroat in the middle of nowhere. 2.5 hours later we end up in the desert and no water as far as I can see, but Ed assured me there is water out there. So we start out on a "nice" 5 mile bike ride up hill. We stop along the way to drink form a natural spring, little did we know we were not the only ones at that spring. As Ed has his face in the water I look over and say "Oh look a snake, hey Ed there is a diamondback right next to you" It was about 4-5 feet long and my guess is about 12 inches from Ed's face drinking form the same spring. Needless to say all parties walked or slithered away unharmed. So like a fool I too bent down to take a quick drink then it was off on to the bikes again. Another couple miles and we are st the place. I am still looking around for water, I can hear it but I can not see it. So we start walking through this real tall grass and I can see a creek, but wait I also see a fish, not just any fosh but a beautiful cutthroat. form that moment on out it was cutties all day long, with the average size around 12 inches. and not just one or two, but lots of fish in this tiny little creek. So we fished til around 4:30 and decided that it was time to head for some brookies. so it was back on the bikes for another 5 mile trip out, I thought I was going to die. Then at the truck Ed starts looking for his key, a couple minutes go by and I am thinking were are stuck out in the miffle of nowhere, when all of a sudden he picks up his backpack and even I heard the jingle of keys. That was the happiest moment of the day. We get to our brookie spot around 6 or so and proceed to catch brookie after brookie. Ed decided to tie on a wolley bugger to see if that worked, well it worked on about every single cast.

All in all the best weekend of fishing in my life, I saw everything from waterfalls to rattlesnakes. Also got to watch a couple of dozen night hawks eating bugs out of the air.




Here is Ed getting up after I saw the rattler.



My first cutthroat


There really is water where Ed is fishing




Where is Ed going now?



And a little brookie to round out the trip


Many thanks to Ed, he has shown me God's country and I am very thankful.

[Jeff C.]

Hey Scott!

Great read! You must be one tired pup after everthing that you did. Did you guys leave some brookies for me? Just kidding, there are so many there that someone should be taking some home for the skillet. I was on-call over the weekend for work so I had to stay local but I did get a couple of wild half-pounders Saturday morning.

Jeff C.

[dtp916]

So you finally got a brown...and some cutts! Nice job, Scott!

[Ed Wahl]

Here's another view of our little desert excursion yesterday from my camera.

Starting out. Scott's noticed my estimates of distances seem to vary from when I describe the trail and when we actually start the trail. All innocent mistakes, I swear . Did I say 3 miles and mostly flat? I meant to say 5 miles and a lot of bike pushing. An honest mistake.

Starting out.


Scott either kissing the rattler or getting a drink.


There is a creek here. There's even a fish just downstream of the culvert.


.......And he's done it! First Lahontan Cutthroat! First of many.


Distance casting is not really a problem here.


C'mon Buddy, get that fly down through all the grass to the water.


Once you know what to look for, your in.


An unlikely looking trout destination, to say the least. Something about high desert though. When your up close and personal with it, there's just tons of life out there.


I can't really do justice to the spectacular views from this valley, but here's an attempt.








Forgot my camera for the Brookie segment of the trip, but Scott brought his so we're still good. We fished a series of beaver ponds that were just full of little fish. I'm still a believer in the power of Wooly Buggers over Brookies, no matter what size. Strip it like you're after stripers, 4 inch stripers,that is. Ed

[Phil Synhorst]

Hey Scott, congrats on the Browns and Cutts.

And don't feel bad about being suckered in on the distance up there for the Cutts. That S.O.B. did the same thing to me and his brother Dave a few years back...."oh yeah, it's not too bad, just a few miles in and kinda flat, I did it last year on foot, the bikes will make it easy".

Hope you and the wife are still up for next weekend, I'll get in touch with you soon.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Great Scott!

You are turning into a real commando fly fisher.

We use to fish like you when we were younger too.

It is cool you can run around with Ed and Charlie...........

Great report and cool photos....thanks.

[Charlie Gonzales]

I think Scott forgot one important first on his list......drunk, naked guy screaming at us while fishing. At least it was a first for me. Had a great time fishing with Scott, he's definately one of us.