Smallmouth Heaven: Rucker Lake

The most successful outing for me in 2008, was a afternoon trip to Rucker Lake in the Tahoe National Forest. I was able to catch both Green Sunfish (they are just Blue Gills with Green Skin) and Smallmouth Bass. I was reading on Steven Ojai’s website, that there is Goose Lake Redband Trout in Rucker Lake. RedBand Trout are a native to the waters of California. The California Department of Fish and Game have been trying to strengthen the numbers of these fish. This fish used to be in greater abundance, but now are only in certain areas of California. I had to goto Rucker Lake, to find out if this trout still existed. Also, I wanted to make sure the Smallies were present at the lake. I didn’t have a doubt about that, but I did get skunked on my last visit to this lake. That was back in Late October or early November. I didn’t want to dwell on that experience, so of course I dropped cache.

So I didn’t wake up early in the morning to go. I stayed up the previous night thinking of a fly that might work there. I was thinking that there should be damselflies on the water now. Rucker Lake is only about 5100 feet in elevation. Also I heard a rumor that there was a natural spring in the lake that kept the lake warm enough for the fish to survive the Sierra Nevada winters. I didn’t have any bad experiences on the trip up. I stopped over to the Fly Specialities location in Citrus Heights. Grabbed some needed fly tying materials for the next fly swap I will be partaking in on FishSniffer.com. I guess this is a good way of my learning how to tie flies and to put a lil’ added pressure on me to make sure I provide a good product. So about 2 hours from leaving the house, I made it to Rucker Lake.

There were a lot of people there already. However, not many fishing people and the people that were fishing, where fishing from the bank. I had a good and fuzzy feeling about this trip already. I filled up my float tube with air & hiked down to the lake. Within the first 15 minutes, I was producing hits. No doubt it was from the greedy Smallies going after my flies. Flies that I tied. At first I was trying this Disco Damsel Fly creation I had came up with. It was awesome, but after a couple of hits, the fly was coming apart. This is something I need to work on at the vise – producing sturdy flies. After about landing 3 Smallies, I was taking notice of where I was producing most of my hits and success. It was in the weeds or tall grass that was on the shoreline of this lake. Hmm, did this mean I could try some poppers or some topwater action? Well, I wasn’t too sure, so I took out my intermediate line and tied on a popper. Wella, the technique that I had used for Largemouth in the Valley were working here. Except, I would be a lil’ bit more patient with the Largemouth. The Smallies here were going bonkers. There were bugs everywhere and there was damselfly hatch going on when I first arrived. Also there were a lot of high clouds to aid in my quest and some wind to help mask my presence. So you can figure out what kind of day I experienced. This was my most productive day of the year so far. I couldn’t believe my luck. The only bad thing that happened was the fact that a Smallie that I landed broke off my line, before I could take my popper out of its mouth. I guess this will go towards me learning how to make these awesome topwater flies.

I had some much success; I lost count of the fish I caught. After about two hours, I had a lot daylight left. I decided to go up the road to Blue Lake. Blue Lake is a beautiful lake, which had a lot of bug activity. However there wasn’t much fish activity. After checkout that lake for about an hour, I could see why there was no people up there to enjoy the scenery. Too bad my lens was wet; I thought I took some good picts. Well, now I know which flies work and which don’t for Smallies. Basically anything they can get their mouths around. I like Smallies, but I am starting to crave a trout bite. I am sure my next adventure in the Sierras will be that of a trout of some type.

Red Lake: Punked again

After watching the dvd, “The Underwater World of Trout Vol 1, I decided it was time to catch a Brook Trout. After visiting Red Lake last November, I have been licking my chops to go back there. I know there is some monster Brookies in that lake and now with the snow melting and the lake clearing up, I felt it was a time to get back up there to set my hook. Red Lake sites about 8200 feet above sea level. I am not sure why it’s called Red Lake, but the word is there are tons of wild brookies there. Then add the fact that last fall both when Caples Lake was drained for some work on the dam, some nice people took the fish out of that lake and transplanted them into Red Lake. Red Lake is not that big of a lake and there is not a ramp for big boats to be put into the lake. Perfect for the guy in a float tube or a pontoon boat to navigate and investigate the rumors of the monster brookies.

I was hoping that those monsters that I encounter last fall survived the winter. I could not sleep the previous night contemplating another excursion to Red Lake. I leisurely left the house around 11:30am, thinking I would like the place to warm up a bit. This way the fish would be in a mood to grab one of my flies. For me, I have to traverse the Mother Lode country in Amador County. I like to take Mormon Emigrant trail, but I was not sure that road was accessible yet. Going through Amador county can be a slow affair, but I take the back roads through the towns of Plymouth and Fiddletown. I had one crazy moment on Old Sacramento Road. After a sharp turn, I came upon a huge King Snake sunning on the road. I could not slow down fast enough, but I believe I was able to avoid the snake. After two hours on the road, I was at Red Lake.

Once I got there, I noticed no one was in the water with any type of water craft. I am starting to get a warm and fuzzy feeling about this trip, but I could not find my Okuma Cascade Arbor reel. I was thinking, “I’m ok, I have my Okuma Sierra reel”. I grabbed my Okuma Sierra reel and noticed that the arm which the reel fits into the rod was missing. Now I am thinking I am pretty much screwed. I started to smoke my victory cigar and bam, I broke that. Things are not feeling so good now. I packed up and started to head home. I was really in the dumps as I was passing Caples Lake, when I noticed my Okuma Cascade Arbor reel was at the bottom of my fishing vest. Ecstatically, I did an immediate U-turn & within minutes I was in the Lake.

Now for my first time that I can ever recall, I was fishing with snow on the banks of any body of water. This was a trippy experience for me. However, I grabbed my cajones and got my butt into the water. The water was cold, but I had my neoprene waders on. Cool right. Well no, cold. I say about one hour after kicking around, my tube lost some air. I sank lower into the water, causing the water to seep into my waders. Not a good feeling. However I tried to man it up. About 45 minutes later, the wind really starts to pick up. Man, I am getting cold now. My fingers start to become numb. Ok, I take a break. I goto the shore and tried to huff & puff and blow some air into the tube. Remarkably, it works. Now I change flies. I put this fly on my line that I tied might work. It was strange creation with Olive crystal chenille. I had a long olive marabou tail on it. I used a #12 scud hook.
I don’t have a name for it. I guess it’s a version of wiggly worm. Anyway, minutes after putting it on my line, I start to get some action. Also, I am hearing some splashes around me, for the first time since I was on the water. Still no really tight lines. I moved a bit closer to the shore, by this inflow creek. BAM!!! I felt a slight strike. I set the hook. I see a bit of movement on my line. I am thinking yes, finally. It was worth the trip. I pull hard and start to strip. The fish is not big enough to load the reel I think. Also, I feel that I need to get this bad boy up to the surface. A couple of more minutes pass; finally I can see the 12 inch brookie come up to the surface. A beautiful looking specimen. I am able to bring the fish up to my tube, but it is still fighting. I have a net, which I can put the fish. I start to fiddle with the net and for a split second I loose concentration with the brookie. That brookie, which had some girth to it, started to wiggle a bit more. I try to inch the net closer to the fish, but I have it dummy corded to my tube. That fish sees the net and makes one more dash for freedom. Oops, I watch the brookie shake the hook out of its mouth. Crap!!!! What can a guy do??? I tried again & got another bite, but instantly the fish left my hook.

Ok, again I did not net the fish on the end of my line. However, I do know where to find those fish. Also, I know my fly patterns are liked by the brookies. So it’s not a total loss, but I will return again to Red Lake. I feel that I will have my day there, where I catch that big brookie beneath the waves there. As I start to take off, I see a totally awesome sight. A huge Bald Eagle soars over me and circles the lake. I start to think that just that moment right there was worth the trip up to Red Lake. Getting a fish on the end of my line was just a bonus feature on the trip. Red Lake, I will return and I will net that big brookie…Mark my words!!!!

Thank God for Panfish!!!

I had to find a way to get my fly line tight, after dealing with the hassles of life. Work, home life just wears a good man down. Also, my roof needed to be resurfaced, so I had to get my dogs out of the house. The best way to conquer this situation was to head up to the Sierras with my best fishing buddies. There I could recon some smaller streams, hoping that they would not be totally blown out from the spring run off. All of the rivers in Northern Cali are flowing strong. The trick is the find a stream where a fly guy can get their fly down to where the fish are. I headed up to the Tahoe National Forest in search of such a place. The first stop was Sagehen Creek. The best thing that happened to me here on this day, was that I found some Eagle Feathers and some Rabbit fur for future Fly Tying. The flow from the creek was just too fast for me to have any type of success, so me & my buddies moved on. Our next stop was the Lil’ Truckee River. Again, with the high flows it was impossible to try to get your flies down to the level of the fish. Disappointed me & my buddies headed home, with memories of slack lines and missing flies. The next day I continued to have the urge for fly fishing and tight lines. Also, I wanted to test the state of my float tube. I figured that I could spend a couple of hours at Mather Lake to satisfy my urges. Hell, it is just around the corner and the previous outing that I had there, I believed I found where there might be a Bass friendly meeting place To make a long story short, my observations of that fishy area at Mather provided correct. The one thing I realized was that I needed to use a size 14 -18 fly. Poppers seemed to work the best. The one with the most success was this green lil’ popper that was given to me by one of my bros at the Granite Bay Fly casters For the first time in my fly casting life, I felt that I was out fishing the conventional anglers on the lake. They were using baits, spinners, or lures to entice a bite. Hell, to me using poppers is a lot like using a jig, but I had tight lines. The funny thing is that the smaller Blue Gills fought harder than the Bass. Oh well, chalked that as a lesson learned. And for the record, I tallied 8 fish that I was able to bring up to my tube (6 Blue Gills and 2 Bass). Also, I found out that the tube indeed had a slight leak. I figured that I will give those streams about a month in a half to two months before the flows slow down to acceptable levels for me to hook into some trout. Then I can provide more Sierra fly fishing tales

The Lost Outings

I know that I have been slacking as of late in updating my blog. I have been fishing about once a week, but I would like to do more. I have too many responsibilities that I cannot avoid at the moment. Still, a lot has happened since my last post. The biggest accomplishment that I have achieved at the moment is that I have taken up fly tying. I have been mainly concentrating on tying woolly buggers. I have attempted to tie the Cone head Silver Hilton and various Matukas. So far, I have had more success on the water with the Matukas and buggers. My favorite to date is this simple creation that I have named the Cream Bomber.
It is just a bugger with a chartreuse chenille body and olive marabou tail. Wrap olive hackle wrapped around the body, to finish the fly.

We had a good winter here in Northern Cali & our rivers show this, with the snow melt is flowing out the Sierras heavily.
Back in the beginning of April, I met up with one of my best fly fishing buddies, Foresthill Fly Guy (ok that is his handle on the internet)
We tried to fish on both the Middle Fork of the American river and the North Fork of Middle Fork of the American river. In both places, the current was too strong to fight in order to get out to where the trout are hiding. So I had to change the target species to Bass. I have been out to the Delta, Rancho Seco Lake, the ponds of Rancho Murrieta, & Cameron Park Lake.
I have had some success with my flies. Black Bass have aggressively hit them. The problem is how I get them into my net. Fishing is a lot like soccer. You have to put the fish\ball into the net for a score. I have lost a few flies to some hungry Bass, which have broke me off. However, I do believe I found a solution to that, use stronger tippet material. Of course with my luck my float tube has sprung a leak. I think I might have fixed the damn thing, but now I need to explore the idea of obtaining a better seaworthy vessel. So now that we are beginning to start May, I look forward in getting even more time on the water. Tight lines my friendly anglers!!!!