The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

I'm up on my home water, the Upper Sac... grandma is around, daughter went down for nap and I headed to the river. It was/is raining and cold-ish and a Monday. That meant no one at the Prospect parking lot. Saw Octobers in the air, put on an Oct. dry and a #14 Eng Theng dropper. It was lovely. High sticking pocket water with the dry/dropper yielded the predictable results on my favorite run on the entire river. Didn't rain too hard, the fish didn't mind. Only one fish on the dry, all the rest ate the Eng Theng, which gives me a warm fuzzy as this is Wayne's home water too. All things in their proper places.

There is just something about fishing in the rain like that... I enjoy it very much... probably better than on a sunny day. Makes me feel like I've earned it a bit.

Earlier in the day we saw fish stacked so thick that, honestly, in some places their backs were out of the water... of course this spot was the Mt. Shasta Hatchery... my daughter enjoyed feeding the fish very much, along with her dad and grandpa.

B-

Nice Bjorn!

Do you tie your Eng Thengs "old school" style with the longer shank hook and prominent tail, or do you prefer the way Bob Grace has been tying them with a shorter shank and more of the bomber profile?

Hmmm... I don't know that it is either... not a long hook, nor too large a tail and I don't think it looks very bomberish... On mine the bottom half looks like a PT, it has a green flash back and burnt orange biot off the shoulders.

The pic is pretty old, I think... I tie the bottom half a little bit fuller now so it is normal instead of skinny.

Thanks. That fly is deadly everywhere. Turned Dirty Ernie on to it for the Lower Sac a few years ago (Wayne liked hearing that). It also proved to be the go to fly for us on the T a few weeks ago.

Thanks. I do love that fly, and Wayne is just one of the nicest guys you could hope to meet.

Once, back in the early days of my fly fishing and my early participation on the board I was fishing the Calevaras river. It is the only time I had ever been there. I was having a good day. I met another angler on the river and we were talking about the fishing. I told him I was having good luck with my Eng Theng.

The other angler asked "Is your name Bjorn?" Funny that someone knew me from my choice of flies.

Fished today for a couple hours on the Upper Sac... only landed 6, with 5 coming in a flurry late. It was cold, gray and a little wet. Fish were off the bite in a big way for me.

B-

I met Wayne once on the Upper Sac. After chatting for a while his name finally registered. I had heard about the Eng Thing for some time, probably from you. He ended up graciously giving me several. Been using them ever since. Class Act.

I completely agree Bjorn...fishing in the rain is peaceful. Can't say I
always catch fish in the rain, cuz I'm typically targeting steelies,
but it's a cool experience.

Hmmm..maybe I need to try fishing the Pit this winter in the rain?
Just a long way to drive from Sac to the Pit.

Have you tried the Pit in winter since the regs changed?

Eric

Ya know, I have not fished the Pit in ages. Kind of burnt out on it years ago and have not been back. Might be good though. I saw a fishing show on TV fishing the Pit in winter. Looked equal parts cold and fun.