So, with fall going into winter and the holiday season life
gets pretty busy around my house… add a bunch of fly fishing and non fly
fishing related projects I have been working on and you have a FULL plate with little
room for blog posts…I am adding mandatory blog up date dates to my calendar as
part of my 2016 calendar so I just don’t up date my blog by “feel” or when I
“think” I need to update it….With all that said I hope everyone had a great
Christmas, or what ever winter religious or non religious holiday you
celebrate, and are looking forward to wrapping up 2015 with some fishing, fun,
and family this week. Here some fishing reports and other random information…
FYI - Beware I did not proof read this blog post...not that ever do really closely but I usually give it one or two read throughs. Sitting on the couch working on a blog post can only pass as "work" for so long as your wife takes down the christmas tree and all the christmas tree decorations.
FISHING REPORTS – We have had a ton of much needed rain and
snow over the last few weeks. All the local rivers and creeks blew out and I
had to cancel most of my pre Christmas guiding and fishing plans. I was a
little bummed but tough to be upset when we need a big winter to help alleviate
the drought.
Lower Yuba River – Flows coming out of Englebright are down
to 652cfs and have been stable sense early Christmas Morning. Water temp is
47.8. The flows came up to nearly 3000cfs Dec 22 which was a HUGE surprise.
Hard to believe that between Spalding Reservoir on the South Fork, Bullards
Bar, and Englebright there was water to be released but there must have been.
This should of moved some of the fish that I think were kegged up in the canyon
between the bridge and the narrows down river as Deer Creek peaked around the
same time at nearly 3000cfs as well for a total river release in Marysville of
nearly 4000cfs after water was pumped out at Daguerre. Deer Creek is now down
to about 26cfs and still dropping. I have not been on the river sense the big
flows but will in the next few days to get out and fish on my own. The river
needed a big flush and push of water to move fish around…hard to imagine that
we now consider a flow of nearly 4000cfs a “flush” when I remember many winters
fishing the river at 2500-3000cfs. Dec into February on the Lower Yuba can be
great fishing and I am looking forward to more storms that will push flows up
and add some color to the river giving us some great winter swung fly
conditions and the ability to fish off color water. I have had some of my best
days during Dec/Jan with high and off color water on the Yuba.
Lower Sacramento River – I have not been on the Lower
Sacramento River in a while as the lower stretches have been blown out for a
few weeks as all the rain blew out many of the tributaries. Now though the
river is fishable down to Cow Creek and even maybe below…not sure as I have not
heard. Fishing up top through Redding though had been good with the cloud cover
and warmer days there had been some great mayfly hatches. With the clear cold
weather not sure those will continue but winter fishing on the Lower Sacramento
is usually pretty good no matter what the hatches are. I love Dec-Feb on the
upper stretches as many of the guides are over on the Trinity and the fish see
little pressure. I can’t say we hook huge numbers in the winter but we
traditionally hook some really big trout and the occasional winter steelhead if
we fish down lower in the river.
Butte Creek – I have been spending most of my recreational
fishing time on Butte Creek as it has been years sense we have seen good flows
on the creek and high water events that are needed to move steelhead up from
its mouth to the Lower Sac. The creek has been coming up really fast and
dropping really fast as well so getting stable flows to allow for floating the
river has been tough but wade fishing has been decent and the ability to fish
dropping flows always gives a winter steelheader hope. Jan is the month to be
on the creek and with continued rains fishing should be good.
Sports News…
So it has been a while sense my last blog post so there is a
lot to talk about…I am going to hit the high and low lights to make it
interesting.
The Irish – Solid regular season I have to admit. Basically
two plays and 4 points away from being undefeated. Can’t complain. To be at the
Stanford Game over thanksgiving and to watch our playoffs hopes go down the
drain was painful to say the least. More along the lines of soul crushing. That
one took a few days to get over…actually a week or two now that I think about
it. I will say getting a New Years Day 6 bowl big against Ohio State is a great
accomplishment. The chance to beat last years National Champion and a team many
picked to repeat at the beginning of the season is a great opportunity. I
ALMOST pulled the trigger on going to the game, tickets and flights to Phoenix
are pretty cheap but I didn’t do it in my post Stanford depression I didn’t
think I could watch another close game or lose in person. I need to be home for
this one I think.
The Giants – Good pitching signings. PUMPED on Samardzija as
I loved watching him play football at ND and I think he is a good bargain for 4
years…Cueto not sure man, this is going to be a tough one. Big money and a Long
contract have not worked out for the Giants in the past. That said we had to do
something right and I read an article recently regarding the amount and length
of research that Righetti did during and after the season on possible pitching
signings. Bum, Samardzija, Heston, Cueto, Cain maybe is a pretty solid pitching
rotation if everyone stays healthy.
Music News – So there is two big events in music news…
1.
My band Royal Oaks is playing two shows with
Chuck Ragan coming up…We are pumped! Not only is Chuck one of my favorite
musicians he is one of my very close friends, a great guide, and a HUGE
supporter of Cast Hope.
Jan 8 - RENO
PB&J's
Psychedelic Ballroom555 East 4th StreetReno, Nevada 89509
Jan 9 - Sacramento Harlows Restaurant & Night Club
Harlow's2708 "J" St.Sacramento, California 95816
2.
I have entered the world of “vinyl”…yes I think I am one of the
last people on earth that is a music lover to get a record player. After many
years of my friends making fun of me for buying CDs my wife got me for Christmas
a really nice record player and a few albums to start my collection….Like I
need something else to collect. Between bobbleheads and guitar pedals my
discretionary income that I can spend on things that I tell myself will
appreciate in value but in reality are really just nerdy collections is thin.
That said I can keep this under control…I hope.
CHRISTMAS - So, christmas with a 5 and 7 year old boy is about as cool as it gets. This christmas was totally deja vu as both boys gifts were either Legos or Star Wars. It has been like reliving my own christmases from say 6-10 or so...I have been building lego kits, playing with X-Wings and Speeders for the last 48 hours...while listening to records. Not bad.
