The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

Man, I hope all you other anglers had better luck than I did. Fished Saturday and this morning, and only got a couple of nibbles. Same with my pal Lefty. We fished in vicinity of Sims, then today downstream from Dog Creek. We pretty much kept switching between small nymphs and small dries.

The river's in great shape: not exactly low, but easily fordable; clear and cool. Algae isn't too bad, we had pretty good footing. We saw a variety of bugs, some of this, a few of that, but not enough to really bring the fish up. Weather was perfect, cool in AM and night, shirtsleeve temp. during the day. Breezy in AM.

Had lunch in Lakehead at the Basshole Bar, Grill, and Bait Shop. Watch out for the Basshole burger, it is enormous, but delicious. I'm still full and won't need dinner tonight.

We spent a couple of nights in Sims, at Best in the West Resort, in a very nicely refurbished cabin. A bit pricey at $65 a night, but quiet, very clean and comfortable. I give it 4 humpies out of 5. This place has got a lot of personality.

I haven't taken a fall in a long while, but I slipped on some elephant ears yesterday, and ended up on my side in the drink. I took a couple of minutes to see if anything was broken. Not too much damage: dislocated a guide on my rod, tore a hole in my waders, got a nice bruise on my side (it'll be lovely shades in a few days), and felt pretty sore today. It sure don't take long to fall three or four feet, but the effects will linger on.

How'd you other fishermen do?

Anglerboy

I fished it the week previous after the rains and had a tough time also. The rain had made it slighly off color Sat. Sunday was fine but the fishing was tough\crappy and I left that afternoon. I did snag a couple on the bottom with a Oct caddis thang but I have never seen a trout rise to one, did'nt get a sniff on top. The tail-outs had fish rising mid afternoon but I was too clumsy to catch any. How'd Dale treat you ....Best in the West used to be $35\night

I'm heading up there tomorrow, probably to Sims or Conant area. I'll be on the river in the PM, then back to Redding for a drift trip on Wednesday on the Lower Sac. Weather here in the valley calls for occasional rain and/or thunderstorms today and tomorrow. Hope that doesn't screw up the river up north.

Thanks for the report Bruce, I hate falling on the banks up there...my "slip-n-fall" experiences (not in the water) on the Upper Sac always seem to include sliding through patches of poison oak! The stuff gets on your waders (even if it doesn't have initial contact with skin) and you get exposed when you get out of the waders...!@#$%^&*()+_)(*&^%$!

Paul

Fished it Sat the 20th from 1 till 5:30 and had a great day. Size 14 prince early then a dark bodied caddis 16 with an emerger about a foot behind it as they started surface activity.
Try between Gipson and Pollard.
Rich

Obviously, rates have gone up! $65 was supposed to be the "off season" rate at that. However, I have paid $50 for one crappy motel room with an asthmatic air conditioner. Our money got us two bedrooms, three beds, a bathroom, rear deck with BBQ, nice little kitchen, comfy living room with tv (and six--count 'em six-- satellite channels), wood stove with plenty of wood and kindling, and more charm than you could shake a stick at. As I said, recently refurbished, and many of the improvements homemade. I call it a bargain. (We considered the option of a $35 room in Lakehead. With the proviso that Best in the West is sort of pricey, but considering its central location on the river, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the place.)

Anglerboy

PS--The two-storey unit has a painting of a couple of "working girls" leering out an upstairs window. That is, some high school fantasy of working girls. They certainly looked happy to be there!