09-07-2009, 04:33 PM
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]Just got home from Baum lake.
Left SF at 2AM Saturday and drove straight up to the lake. Rigged and launched by 8AM. Caught 12 small (10-12") rainbows on one of Denny Rickards' AP emergers with a floating line on Saturday near the pumphouse and just off the launch ramp. Got 7 in the morning, went back to the motel for a nap, then went back and fished 4PM until dark and got 5 more. I didn't have an indicator so I am sure I missed a lot of strikes. I missed alot of grabs that I felt, too. But it was still fun, those little guys are plenty enthusiastic and really pretty colors.
The Humminbird 565 seemed to work OK, but the extreme weed growth kept working the transducer & bungee cord right off the end of the float tube. I kept tangling the fly line on the display unit too. Eventually I just stowed the transducer and turned the unit off, it wasn't really needed at Baum anyway, it's very shallow and choked with weeds. I was mostly just casting to rising trout. I'll work out an alternate way to mount the transducer and maybe put a net bag over the head so it isn't so snaggy on the fly line. The evening of the first day and the second day I just left the silly thing at the motel.
Early Sunday morning I called The Fly Shop and they were open, so I drove the 53 miles back to Redding to visit them. Man, what a super shop that is, and the older white-haired guy there told me not to fish the area where I had been fishing, but to go farther downcurrent for larger browns on an intermediate line. He even drew me a map. I bought Denny Rickard's "Stillwater Fly Fishing for Trophy Trout" book there too. Funny thing, when I opened it back at the motel, it opened right up to the section on fishing weed beds, which turned out to be prophetic.
I followed his advice and got one 16"-ish brown on an intermediate line with an olive seal bugger on Sunday farther down current by where the dead trees are laying in the water, but it was tough fishing from the tube with the weeds and strong current. I had bought an anchor but forgot to bring it.
Only got the one fish on Sunday, but I fished the wrong part of the day (about noon to 4PM). The current was so strong that in some places I couldn't make headway back upstream. I got my legs and fins snarled in heavy weed growth a bunch of times.
Finally a nice young guy in a sea kayak volunteered to give me a tow, and in some places even with him paddling and me kicking we couldn't make headway. I got back eventually by kicking really hard, getting about 10 feet, then purposely snarling myself in the weeds to rest, then repeat... really exhausting for me. By the time I got back my legs were so tired I almost couldn't walk. Went back to the motel and took a nap, too tired to fish the evening bite.
I have never seen weeds like that, it was really pretty awful. I'm not sure I want to go on the November GGACC group trip now, the float tube and all that current is just too much for me.
Anyway, it was a fun weekend in beautiful country, I'm really glad I went!
PS: I bought one of the Outcast insulated cooler bags for the bow area and man, is that a nice addition. I filled it with ice and bottled water and a sandwich from a deli and while I was fishing Sunday I backed myself into the branches of a fallen pine tree that was laying in the water and drank ice cold water and ate my cold sandwich. Turns out it has a small zipper on the top and I can just reach back there with my left hand and unzip that, pull out a bottle or a sandwich, and zip it back up. It works great, glad I bought it.
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Left SF at 2AM Saturday and drove straight up to the lake. Rigged and launched by 8AM. Caught 12 small (10-12") rainbows on one of Denny Rickards' AP emergers with a floating line on Saturday near the pumphouse and just off the launch ramp. Got 7 in the morning, went back to the motel for a nap, then went back and fished 4PM until dark and got 5 more. I didn't have an indicator so I am sure I missed a lot of strikes. I missed alot of grabs that I felt, too. But it was still fun, those little guys are plenty enthusiastic and really pretty colors.
The Humminbird 565 seemed to work OK, but the extreme weed growth kept working the transducer & bungee cord right off the end of the float tube. I kept tangling the fly line on the display unit too. Eventually I just stowed the transducer and turned the unit off, it wasn't really needed at Baum anyway, it's very shallow and choked with weeds. I was mostly just casting to rising trout. I'll work out an alternate way to mount the transducer and maybe put a net bag over the head so it isn't so snaggy on the fly line. The evening of the first day and the second day I just left the silly thing at the motel.
Early Sunday morning I called The Fly Shop and they were open, so I drove the 53 miles back to Redding to visit them. Man, what a super shop that is, and the older white-haired guy there told me not to fish the area where I had been fishing, but to go farther downcurrent for larger browns on an intermediate line. He even drew me a map. I bought Denny Rickard's "Stillwater Fly Fishing for Trophy Trout" book there too. Funny thing, when I opened it back at the motel, it opened right up to the section on fishing weed beds, which turned out to be prophetic.
I followed his advice and got one 16"-ish brown on an intermediate line with an olive seal bugger on Sunday farther down current by where the dead trees are laying in the water, but it was tough fishing from the tube with the weeds and strong current. I had bought an anchor but forgot to bring it.
Only got the one fish on Sunday, but I fished the wrong part of the day (about noon to 4PM). The current was so strong that in some places I couldn't make headway back upstream. I got my legs and fins snarled in heavy weed growth a bunch of times.
Finally a nice young guy in a sea kayak volunteered to give me a tow, and in some places even with him paddling and me kicking we couldn't make headway. I got back eventually by kicking really hard, getting about 10 feet, then purposely snarling myself in the weeds to rest, then repeat... really exhausting for me. By the time I got back my legs were so tired I almost couldn't walk. Went back to the motel and took a nap, too tired to fish the evening bite.
I have never seen weeds like that, it was really pretty awful. I'm not sure I want to go on the November GGACC group trip now, the float tube and all that current is just too much for me.
Anyway, it was a fun weekend in beautiful country, I'm really glad I went!
PS: I bought one of the Outcast insulated cooler bags for the bow area and man, is that a nice addition. I filled it with ice and bottled water and a sandwich from a deli and while I was fishing Sunday I backed myself into the branches of a fallen pine tree that was laying in the water and drank ice cold water and ate my cold sandwich. Turns out it has a small zipper on the top and I can just reach back there with my left hand and unzip that, pull out a bottle or a sandwich, and zip it back up. It works great, glad I bought it.
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