Svend Tang-Petersen
October 14th, 2003, 09:19 PM
Did the 6 hour drive up past Redding with some friends this last
weekend. They had borrowed another friends cabine right next to Hat
Creek and the ClearWater House for the weekend and called to see if I
wanted to go. Left from their house in Los Altos at around 2pm and
arrived at about 9pm, so the traffic wasnt too bad.
Saturday morning we went past the shop at ClearWater House to get the
latest news: the Hat apparently wasnt fishing too well and there was an
FFF meeting in the area so we were to expect a bigger crowd. We wanted
to fish the Pitt that day so they recommended that we go a bit further
down the canyon and said
we were unlikely to meet anyone else there (and no wonder!!). When we
got there it took us about an hour to find the trailhead but the trail
was reasonable once we found it. However the river banks were nothing
but boulders so both wading and hiking along the river was slightly
difficult. Without the wading staff that my
friends lent me I would have been head-in a few times. The fishing was
ok, but you needed to add a lot of weight to get down, and we had been
told not to waste time fishing the slower water. Got a few rainbows on
the regular nymphs and a huge sucker as well. The fishing slowed down
around midafternoon and my friends switched to streams and had some hard
takes and landed a few nice fish. (the river was full of minnows,
craw-dads etc so pretty healthy and lots to eat). We hiked out just
before dark after a reasonable day and had only met two other guys.
Sunday my friends wife decided to stay back in the cabine and fish the
part of Hat Creek right behind it. We went to a section where it enters
a lake and is blocked upstream by a dam. According to the shop the
stretch in between held some decent fish but we never saw any. We then
went to a slower part of the river to at least fish some dries. The air
had been full off mayflies and a few smaller fish were rising and we
caught a
couple of those. During the day I noticed that about half of the duns
had fallen over on one side but once picked up they would take off
again. So blown-over duns certainly looks a good pattern.
We left the river at about 2pm since we had to go back and pack before
taking off. Turned out my friends wife had picked up a few nice fish
right out of the backdoor (typical!!). So we spend another 2 hours
fishing
a nice little run with good fish rising selectively, but basically got
skunked. I picked up a decent brookie but more by accident. He came up
to look at my dry and refused it. When he turned around he caught
himself on my trailing emerger, so that one really didnt count.
We left the area at about 4.30 and were back in the Bay around 11pm. So
a long drive but certainly worth it.
Debarb: this season Ive managed to catch myself twice. First time was
this summer at Hot Creek. I cant remember how but I ended up with a size
22 in my finger. The second time was this weekend. I was making a longer
cast and somehow fouled up the backcast. At least the line slapped me
the right side of the face and in reflex I reach up and touched the
upper part of my ear and discovered I had outfitted myself with a size
18 baetis emerger earring. One both occasions the hook was easy to pull
out since I either tie using barbless hooks or pinch it down before I
start fishing. The only embarrasment was that this weekend I had to ask
my friend to pull it out since it was in a place I could not see. So
hooks without a barb are certainly an advantage not only to release fish
but also when releasing clumsy fishermen.
This weekend: Eagle Lake with Jay Fair. Should be great.
--
Svend
weekend. They had borrowed another friends cabine right next to Hat
Creek and the ClearWater House for the weekend and called to see if I
wanted to go. Left from their house in Los Altos at around 2pm and
arrived at about 9pm, so the traffic wasnt too bad.
Saturday morning we went past the shop at ClearWater House to get the
latest news: the Hat apparently wasnt fishing too well and there was an
FFF meeting in the area so we were to expect a bigger crowd. We wanted
to fish the Pitt that day so they recommended that we go a bit further
down the canyon and said
we were unlikely to meet anyone else there (and no wonder!!). When we
got there it took us about an hour to find the trailhead but the trail
was reasonable once we found it. However the river banks were nothing
but boulders so both wading and hiking along the river was slightly
difficult. Without the wading staff that my
friends lent me I would have been head-in a few times. The fishing was
ok, but you needed to add a lot of weight to get down, and we had been
told not to waste time fishing the slower water. Got a few rainbows on
the regular nymphs and a huge sucker as well. The fishing slowed down
around midafternoon and my friends switched to streams and had some hard
takes and landed a few nice fish. (the river was full of minnows,
craw-dads etc so pretty healthy and lots to eat). We hiked out just
before dark after a reasonable day and had only met two other guys.
Sunday my friends wife decided to stay back in the cabine and fish the
part of Hat Creek right behind it. We went to a section where it enters
a lake and is blocked upstream by a dam. According to the shop the
stretch in between held some decent fish but we never saw any. We then
went to a slower part of the river to at least fish some dries. The air
had been full off mayflies and a few smaller fish were rising and we
caught a
couple of those. During the day I noticed that about half of the duns
had fallen over on one side but once picked up they would take off
again. So blown-over duns certainly looks a good pattern.
We left the river at about 2pm since we had to go back and pack before
taking off. Turned out my friends wife had picked up a few nice fish
right out of the backdoor (typical!!). So we spend another 2 hours
fishing
a nice little run with good fish rising selectively, but basically got
skunked. I picked up a decent brookie but more by accident. He came up
to look at my dry and refused it. When he turned around he caught
himself on my trailing emerger, so that one really didnt count.
We left the area at about 4.30 and were back in the Bay around 11pm. So
a long drive but certainly worth it.
Debarb: this season Ive managed to catch myself twice. First time was
this summer at Hot Creek. I cant remember how but I ended up with a size
22 in my finger. The second time was this weekend. I was making a longer
cast and somehow fouled up the backcast. At least the line slapped me
the right side of the face and in reflex I reach up and touched the
upper part of my ear and discovered I had outfitted myself with a size
18 baetis emerger earring. One both occasions the hook was easy to pull
out since I either tie using barbless hooks or pinch it down before I
start fishing. The only embarrasment was that this weekend I had to ask
my friend to pull it out since it was in a place I could not see. So
hooks without a barb are certainly an advantage not only to release fish
but also when releasing clumsy fishermen.
This weekend: Eagle Lake with Jay Fair. Should be great.
--
Svend