Wed, 31 Oct 2007
Sometimes, you just have to laugh
It’s been raining on and off for the past couple of weeks and the river was green and full of silt. At first I thought that this would be bad for fishing. In fact, I’ve fished the North Fork of the American river the past 2 weekends and I couldn’t prove that there were fish in that river at all. It was just too green and thick to see any fish and I couldn’t see anything rise.
But at the Bear everything came together. While I was hiking in I could see hundreds of bugs in the late afternoon sunlight. As I got closer to the river I could see that the bugs were small white flies.
"This must be those pale evening duns I keep reading about" I thought. So I selected a small yellow and white fly that was a close match to the color and just slightly bigger so the fish could see it in the green water.
The water level in the river was a good 8 to 12 inches higher than normal. I’m glad I had a wading staff because I couldn’t see my feet. They say "Slow water runs deep." Well now that the pool I fish at was nearly a foot deeper it was moving noticeably slower. The water flowed into the pool and just went dead. There was almost no drift at all. I’d cast out and the fly would just sit there.
After a few cast I got a strike but I missed setting the hook. Several more cast didn’t produce any reaction but at least I knew the fish were eating. I could see little circular ripples all around me as the nearly invisible bugs touched down on the water. The bugs were there and the fish were there so I decided to just shift my position and keep trying.
I moved up to one of my favorite spots that I call my "for sure" hole even though I’ve never caught a fish there. I’ve had several really strong strikes from that position, I’ve just never been able to set the hook and land the fish.
As I’m roll casting out to an eddy behind a rock I notice a splash in front of the rock. I just happen to have exactly the right amount of line out and the line just happened to have finished drifting downstream so I was in the perfect position to let the water load my backcast. I picked up the line and flipped it a few feet in front of the rock where I saw the splash. The fly drifted about 2 feet and the trout hit it.
He was a small 8 to 10 inch brown trout that fought a bit but I could feel that I could just haul him in by hand rather than use the reel. Also I needed to keep tension on the line so he wouldn’t throw the barbless hook.
It was amazing to catch a fish so easily. I only started fly fishing this season and I get skunked more often than not (way more often in fact), but this fish acted just like they’re suppose to and hit the fly that matched the hatch just like in the magazines.
I let him go and made some more cast in front and behind the same rock to see if there were any other fish there. Then I heard a splash to my left just 5 or 6 feet away.
I literally said out loud to myself: "No way. He couldn’t be feeding that close."
I must have been very quiet and motionless to have not spooked him. The silty water kept him from seeing me so he was feeding just a few feet away from where I was standing.
I didn’t even have to cast. I just lifted my rod to my left and le the fly land gently on the water. It drifted about a foot when the fish hit the fly.
"You got to be kidding me! It can’t be that easy."
I didn’t even have to reel him in. I just lifted the rod to bring him to me and within seconds I had another 10" brown trout in hand.
As I removed the hook and let him swim away I couldn’t stop laughing. After months of trying to be stealthy not spook the fish I have one that jumps almost within arm’s reach. I just had to show him a fly and think "OK, eat this then" and he did.
So much of fly fishing feels like you’re doing battle with an adversary that doesn’t want to fight back that it’s a shock when I can catch a fish that easily. But I wouldn’t mind if it happened a little more often. Maybe as I become a better fly fisherman it will.
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[/ramblings] department
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Mon, 08 Oct 2007
Auburn Bluegrass Festival Video
It started Friday night when I had to phone in to do a radio interview for KFBK, the biggest station in Sacramento. Saturday morning I did another interview for KAHI radio in Auburn.
After a bit of disorganization and panic we got the Pickin’ & Fiddlin’ contest going. I was surprised at the number and quality of contestants. We had a tough time judging the winners.
Then my band, The Sierra Swing Conspiracy had to go play to open the festival. The morning was cold and we had absolutely no time to warm up. I literally opened my case on stage, checked my tuning and started playing. And those kids in my band started playing SO DANG FAST! Ok, we were excited and I probably started it off too fast. But somehow, even with a few glitches, we pulled it off.
Here’s the whole set. We opened "COLD" with Red Haired Boy
Then David Grisman’s "E.M.D." Check out Ethan’s solo on this one! That dude is fast!
Followed by Grisman’s version of Django’s "Minor Swing"
I was happy about my solo on this one
All of Me. I have to say that I like my solo on this one too
Another Django tune, "Swing 48" This is one of my favorite tunes to play.
Here’s a bit of a change. "House of the Rising Sun" played Tony Rice bluegrass style
And finally, the tune that’s become our theme song: "Douce Ambiance"
As the set went on we were warming up and it was sounding better and better.
After a half hour set that felt like more like 5 minutes it was time for me to do my mandolin seminar. We had a pretty good turn out. As I was teaching a reporter from the Auburn Journal came by to talk to us and take some photos and we made the front page of the Sunday paper.
Somehow, I found time to sit back and relax while watching at least one band (Sidesaddle & Company). Then it was time to lead a jam session. It always seems that when I go to a bluegrass festival I end up playing rather than listening to bands.
As it was getting dark the pizza decision was made and we all headed out to Auburn Pizza for dinner. After stuffing ourselves with pizza and beer we were ready for more Jamming. One of the new things we tried this year was to set up jamming at 4 local venues (Restaurants, coffee shops, etc). Each venue had jamming lead by one of the bands from the festival. We hung out with Sidesaddle & Co.
As the night moved on folks were starting to fade out and we decided to pack it in. Sidesaddle & Co. were saving money by staying at the homes of some of the volunteers so we had Lisa, their bass player, Lee Anne, their fiddler and Rob, the banjo player at our house. When we got home I built a fire in the wood stove and we all sat around and chatted for a while before bed.
What a day. It was an amazing time but I’m also glad it only happens once a year.
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