I had to drive to Burney to interview a new prospective Wilderness Unlimited member, and made a reservation at Bidwell to kill some time.
Driving up it was stormy, Hatchet Pass was 50 foot visibility fog from Montgomery Creek to the summit and light rain. Luckily, I followed a CHP the whole way. On Bidwell Ranch, it was gusty 20 mph+ winds, 45/50-ish degrees at noon, with dark threatening clouds above. It was very dry up there, the fires from the lightening storms this summer somehow missed the ranch but really beat up the surrounding area and neighbors.
As I drove on the ranch, I drove across Lost Creek as it comes out of Pond #2, expecting to see a dozen or so 3lb. rainbows like always, and was surprised to only see one little 12" trout finning just above the culvert under the road (those of you who are members or have been guests, know what I mean). I parked, hiked a little ways downstream, saw nothing there either. Just leaves, sticks and grass floating on the surface blown in by the wind. I couldn't figure it out where the trout went, there is always were fish there. Maybe they were freaked by the storm, maybe the Bald Eagles or the Ospreys had figured out that spot finally.
I drove to Pond #2 parking, one other car there, two older retired guys fishing the pond inlet. One guy was releasing a fish as I walked up, the other guy was standing on the bridge quietly cursing to himself about missing hookups. There are massive weedbeds above the bridge, and as the old guy on the bridge hooked up on about a 6lb rainbow, I got interested and whipped out my iPhone to snap some action shots. Of course, just as I snapped the shutter, the fish broke off, as you can see the whiplash of the rod in the picture.
He went over to grab another fly from his buddy, I got on the bridge to look downstream. I found where all the trout went. There must have been 400 - 500 trout feeding in the current seams below the bridge, it was like going to the hatchery, throwing in a handful of trout chow and watching the fish slash in like Great White Sharks feeding on a hapless seal! It kind of looked like Stripers boiling on a bait fish school. I tried to get a good photo, but the iPhone isn't that great at action shots. I took 10 pics to get these two that weren't blurry. I took a hero shot of one of the guys with about a 5lb rainbow, but my finger covered most of the lens(doh!). That will teach me to take my camera out of the van. In the 20 minutes I was there, those two guys must have hooked a dozen fish, and landed seven. The indicators they were using must be the "senior citizen model", about the size of a Jawbreaker and blaze orange, actually looked like a Kumquat flying threw the air. I guess that is what I have to look forward to as I age. Unfortunately, those pics and the pics of the munching trout boiling on the surface didn't come out, but this one will give you an idea of what I saw.
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