Finally a skunk busta on the Lower American

So far, 2009 has been an epic year for me. I have managed to catch fish on two consective occasions. The first time I actually caught a fish this year was at a local pond in my float tube. That day I was able to hook into an 8” trout and a Blue Gill. Yes, a Blue Gill. It’s all in your presentation

Then today, I went back out to the Lower American to try my luck. I went to an area that I have had success before. I was thinking that maybe I could get lucky during a break between the winter storms. I had a couple of hours to spare, so I went to my home waters with added determination.

I have been up & down the Lower American this winter & have noticed a lot of activity. I haven’t been able to catch any fish, but I was plotting & strategizing the whole time. I discovered that I needed to get my flies deeper into the water. Also I needed to find slow water. To me that is the most difficult thing to do, because in my mind the American River is so big and vast.



So as I was coming, I saw a Spey guy leaving. He said that the fish were jumping, but I had to see for myself. One thing I have noticed this year was that I have seen more two handers on the river this year. I guess I know what Santa was stuffing in the Chimneys this past Xmas. When I got to the water, there was about an hour and a half of sunlight left. I seem to have plenty of success in low light situations. Also, I have seen a lot of hatches go off at this time. Then you add the fact that the local skeetas are buzzing around at this time, so you can use some dry fly action. However, I wanted to be like Dandy Dan Marino. Just go deep!!!! So, I must say that was the best strategy that I have taken in my Fly drought to date. I was messing around a ripple/conversion area going to a slow part of the river. My thinking was there might be fish at the edges finding food. I took my time & made sure I wasn’t stomping around spooking fish. I can tell you times where I spooked fish & saw these monsters swim past me. Again, I was determined to get me a tight line. Also, I was changing my flies in a more constant manner. Usually I keep my fly on my line, until I broke it off or it was time to go home. At first, I tried a stonefly nymph looking fly. No Dice. Next I tried an Orange Clouser type of fly. Again, no dice. However, I did see something come up to the surface. Not at my flies, but around me, so I know there is some fish in the area. I thought I would try a nymph looking thing w/ some rubber legs. No Go. I was thinking I had about 30 to 45 minutes left, so I would try a wooly bugger, then a Crawdad imitation fly. I never got the chance to try the Crawdad imitation, because I think it was like the third or fourth cast w/ the wooly bugger, I had a strong tug on my line. Oh by the way, I was using my 7 weight sinking line. I had made some adjustments to this line, cause I felt the leader was too long. I shorten the leader a bit, in an effort to get my flies deeper into the water. My leader that I was using was about 3.5 to 4 feet long. I knew that I was getting down deep enough, cause I was getting snagged in the rocks.

Well, I knew this time it wasn’t a rock, cause I felt movement on my line. Then lo and behold, I saw a beautiful silver fish break the surface of the water. Again, I felt a strong tug. I was just hoping I could keep the fish on my hook, cause I always pinch my barbs. The fish went under & lucky for me, I had some drag set on my reel. The steelie took some line off and my line went limp. So I loaded my reel, by bring in some of the excess line & that baby was still on & made another jump to the surface. This tug of war went on for about 10 – 15 minutes, until I was able to get close enough to net the steelie


By the look of the steelie, I could tell it was wild, cause it still had it’s adipose fin on it’s back. You might be able to tell from this photo:


Sorry I didn’t get a better picture. I wanted to make sure I got the fish back into water to swim for another day. The fish did swim away from me. After a moment of thinking about what just had happened, I decided to call it the day. I came for what I was after and there was no reason of trying to duplicate it right then and there. The best part about this was that everything came together for me to catch the fish, but unfortunately I left the fly on the back of my car & drove away. I know the color of the fly and it was a very special fly, especially now that I know that it works. I might go back to that place in the morning to look for that fly in the place that I parked. I don’t know if I will find it, but I know what works now