The Scenic Trout

A few weeks ago we spent a few days in the sierra fishing dry flies to willing trout.  The trip started out with a hiccup as Chul was required to work longer than scheduled as a result we didn't get out as soon as we wanted.  Once we arrived to our location, we found out that all campgrounds were at capacity.

Forcing us to make camp roadside, we made claim to a nice spot just off the road along the river.  With only a few hours before sundown, we rigged up after setting camp.  The evening fishing was excellent with a strong PED hatch.  With headlamps on and visibility to a minimum I broke off on a hog that ran me upstream before calling it quits.

The next morning we decided to head downstream and check a section I've yet to fish.  After a what seemed like an eternity, about an hour or so, I was finally able to get some fish to rise in the morning.  For whatever reason the first hour or so no fish wanted to take my fly despite a strong PMD hatch.

Chul on the other hand had no problem getting fish to come up.  After we began fishing together, my luck turned and fish finally started coming up and hook ups became commonplace.

Fish were taking flies so easily it was starting to get boring.  But as the heat started to set in fishing slowed but fish were still willing to come to the surface. 

None of the fish were spectacular most ranged from dinks to 12 inches.  With the dry fly fishing slowing Chul switched to a high sticking nymphs and I tried my luck with streamers.  I had two solid hits on my articulated fly but not hook ups.

We fished the evening but the hatch was less impressive than the night before.  Fishing was acceptable but hardly stellar.  The next morning we decided to forgo fishing mostly due to the winds but also so we could get out early and avoid the Sunday crowds going home.

Watchbuys Roadshow Irvine July 29, 2016

My laptop crapped out on me a couple weeks ago, so I am catching up on posts.  Watchbuys finally hosted their first OC roadshow in Irvine last month on the 29th-31st.  I think most OC folks (and some San Diego folks) are quite relieved that they no longer need to drive to Century City or Pasadena to interact with the watches and guys at Watchbuys.  Since one of my old business partners has decided to get into watches I invited him along as my guest.  For whatever reason, maybe it was because my buddy with me, I didn't take as many pictures.  Nonetheless here are a few interesting pieces I've not seen in person before.

Sinn:

Some small independent watchmakers:

Hanhart, one of my main focuses on this visit.  Sadly I was slightly disappointed.

Nomos:

Junghans.  I've been wanting to take a look at these watches as they tend to be very thin:

PreHeat Carpin'

Woke up this morning with a hankering to fish, so I hit up the local brown water before the temperature reaches close to triple digits.  Water is murky and sight fishing was limited to the edges.

Into The Backcountry

The original plan for this trip was to head out Friday late morning, hike into the canyon and fish the last few hours of light.  But things don't always go as planned as my fishing buddy was forced to work a few more hours than normal.  This forced us to hold out for the weekend traffic.  It also meant we'd be hiking in darkness and making camp well after midnight.  Even that didn't go as intended.  We only made it 80% of the way before pulling off the road and uncomfortably sleeping roadside in the truck.  

Saturday morning we awoke and left around 6am to our destination.  We hiked down the mountain and made camp and then breakfast before hitting the water.  By then it was already 10:30 and the heat was on the rise.  Having slept very poorly the night before, I was not on the top of my game.  It took no time for fish to rise to my dry fly but I simply could not connect with any as my reaction time was impaired from the lack of sleep.  On one run, I casted to an area I thought most likely held fish, as the current dragged my retrieved line toward me it got hung up on my net that was attached to my sling bag.  While clearing it, a football shaped 14 incher attacked my fly.  Of course with all that I was dealing with I could not set the hook.

Growing increasingly frustrated we moved upstream.  There I found an area partially covered with shade and there I finally hooked up on a decent fish.  It fought hard and it was smart enough to use the current to it's advantage.  I did finally manage it into the net.  Afterwords we eat lunch and decided to head back to camp to rest up and take it easy during the hottest part of the day.

After a long much needed nap, we started to fish again around 5pm.  This time we decided to head downstream to an area that has in the past produced some serious evening dry fly action.  When we reached it it was already occupied with a spin fisherman. 

So we moved further down.  The evening proved very good for me and I produced a fish in every hole I thought I would.  Fish ranged from dinks to 11 inches.  All but the dinks were respectable healthy fish.

Moving upstream now we fished well past 8pm before calling it quits.  We headed back to camp for supper.  Not long after the meal we dove into our sleeping bags.  Exhausted from the lack of sleep and the heat of the day, I never realized I pitched my tent at an angle.  My feet were slightly elevated from my head causing my nose to stuff up preventing me from falling asleep.  Too tired to reposition my tent, I had to figure out a way to fix this problem.  After staring at my tent for what seemed an eternity, moaning about not wanting to re-stake the tent, I decided to lift the opening of the tent somewhat and kick pine needles and dirt under teh tent around the head area.  I entered the tent to see if that helped and it did and I was down for the count no time.

The following morning we decided to fish briefly so we would not be stuck climbing out of the canyon in the heat.  I gave a half hearted effort at fishing while Chul was trying his best to get a decent fish for the trip.  He missed a stellar fish and after that it was time to get out of there. 

It only took us a hair over an hour to get back to the truck.  The trip was not quite as we planned and we missed out on the Friday evening hatch which I believe would have been spectacular if the next night's fishing was any indication of what we could have expected.

This trip produced no great slabs like it did last year but we did see a number of large fish hugging the bottoms.  None of which wanted to take a fly this weekend.  I feel slightly cheated by the whole experience and want another crack at them soon but with only hotter weather forecasted in the future it maybe unlikely.

Last Day of the Trip

Having gotten more than enough fish the previous days, the last day for the most part was a travel day.  I did wet my line early in the morning near camp just to see if I could get on to rise.  No luck as it was still to cold.  After breakfast and some packing up we made our way out but not before checking out the meadow area.  The conditions were sorry and water low and all I saw were fingerlings.  I did see two fish rise that I casted to but considering I was fishing a size 12 and 5x tippet it was futile.  The water here was barely moving and a long 7 or 8x may have been more appropriate.  My gear still in the truck, having only grabbed my rod, I decided to call it quits.  I figured the fish were not big enough for me to bother rerigging.  Additionally we wanted to get out of there as soon as possible so we could avoid the Sunday traffic.

Day 2 Slump Busting

Over half the year has past and my fishing buddy had yet to catch a fish and not from a lack of trying.  This trip was intended to be a confidence boaster and a slump buster.  And it sure was with fish readily willing to take a dry.  I can't speak for him but I easily had 100 fish to hand.   Fish ranged from local mountain sized dinks to fish in the 12 inch range.  My Sage SLT one weight was the perfect rod for this trip and made each fish quite sporting.  Saturday was the water quite busy, more so than either of us had experienced on this water.  Also it was a lot hotter than expected which caused us to stop fishing and take a midday siesta until just before five.  By then all the fishermen had quit and returned for supper.  This gave us the run of the river.  I looked for my "glory hole" from the day before in the hopes that that foot long golden had returned.  My initial hike to it, I overshot and missed it.  When I realized I'd passed it, I decided to backtrack but not before casting into a run with some rising fish.  Here I managed my best brown of the trip around a 12 inches.  After a few here I headed downstream to find my trophy.  I found it and made my cast into it and had a solid 10 inch golden take.  While nice, it was not the fish I wanted.  No other would take after that ruckus.  So we moved upstream heading to an area of slower water where huge fish could be seen in the submerged grass.  It was all but impossible to make any good drift to these fish and so we continued.  At the beaver dam I stopped to cast to rising fish.  From here we had no shortage of willing fish and we only added to our fish count.  Exhausted we headed back before dark to prepare dinner.

Huell Howser Country Day One

Ever since the Sherminator introduced me to golden trout well over a decade ago, I've shared his quest to land one at least 12 inches in moving water.  The foot long marker is an easy feat in our high country lakes but pretty tough in our rivers and creeks.  The closest he ever came was 10 inches.  I managed to reach the foot long goal only to have the fish escape my grasps while I waited for the camera to focus on the fish.  The above picture was a conciliatory fish of about 10 inches I caught moments after losing my trophy golden. 

We started our trip Friday late morning hoping to beat the weekend traffic.  Of course with Southern California that's hit or miss.  This time it was a miss and getting out of the IE was slow.  We managed lunch in Adelanto but we needed to eat outside in the 100 degree weather because Chul had brought his pup and we couldn't leave her in the truck.  After deciding on Rubio's we waited for our food in the patio area, one without any shade.  Being in the high desert high winds picked up it blow my cup of water and salsa cups right in my lap.  As if I wasn't already annoyed with the traffic as well as agitatied from seating in the heat without shade, now I had a lap full of salsa verde and I look like I just pissed my pants. This is one hell of a start.

After rushing through my lunch, as all I wanted to do was get out of the desert heat and get into the air conditioned truck, we made our way north.  After elevated somewhere around 10,000 feet, we made camp.  The only campsite left on the river.  By this time it was sometime just before 7pm giving us about an hour and a half of light.  It did not take long before my one weight was being bent.  I managed several dink goldens and a handful of respectable browns.

I reached a small pocket that required me to make a curve cast so not to hit the fallen log behind it or the overhanging branch in front of it.  I made the perfect cast and was rewarded with a strike.  With the rod bent to the cork it felt heavy and I had to gingerly coax it away from tangling itself in the overhanging branch I just avoided.  Once landed, it was my trophy golden after all, I held it waiting for the camera to focus before I clicked the shutter.  In that time he gave me a squirm and was away before I could document it for the Sherminator.    I can hear it now "Pics or it didn't  happen."  Damn, what next salsa in my pants?  Oh wait...To Be Continued.