THE IRIDEUS The Newsletter of the Grizzly Peak Fly Fishers Based in Kensington, Serving the East Bay & Environs since 1982
Looking Around An Old Timer’s Wisdom
An Upper Sac Primer Part 1
By Kirston Koths
By Michael Malekos
MAR
‘20 GPFF.ORG
CLUB MEETINGS 2727 Milvia St, Berkeley, CA Every second Wednesday starting No meeting in July Social Hour - 6:30pm Business Meeting - 7:00pm
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FEATURES
Departments
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Trout in the Classroom 2020
03 From The Editorial Desk
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Looking Around
03 BOARD
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Exploring california trout fishing destinations An Upper Sac Primer Part 1: Winter
04 CALENDAR
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05 CONSERvATION Conversation 06 NEWS, NOTES & RANDOM CASTS 08 Fishing Throwbacks 17
GPFF Battle Creek Outing
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From the Editorial Desk You may notice something a little different this month as Brad asked us to put together a letter from the editor instead of the usual President’s Message. So we put together this little message as a way to get to know your editorial staff better and how we somehow (read miraculously) put together each issue of the Irideus for you every month. Starting this past September, you’ve noticed a big change in the way the Irideus looks as Zach Wong joined up to help our long time editor Doug Hale to spruce up the place. With a few adjustments here and there, clearing away the occasional cobweb, we’ve put together a much more polished newsletter for you to peruse through. Though it may not be up to the standards of American Angler or The Drake, it’s our very own thing that this club can be proud to call it’s very own. Every article you read each month comes to us from our dedicated members who always enjoy sharing their stories, wisdom, anecdotes, and sometimes their services in casting help or fly tying. But all this content is dependent on you, our members. You don’t need to have wisdom to spare or fantastic new insights to contribute, even photos and a little write up of your trip helps to add a sense of camaraderie into the Irideus just as much as you like to read about what others are up to, they would like to know what you are up to too! We encourage you to send to us, articles, letters, news items, comments, or if you don’t like to write, submit awesome photos from your trips and they’ll make it into the Gone Fishin’ section or even the Cover for all to see. Deadlines for submitting items for the next month’s Irideus is every sunday the week before that month’s GPFF meeting.
Your Editors,
Doug Hale & Zach Wong
Executive Board OFFICERS
Brad Gee President
Eric Larson Secretary
Mike Lippman Treasurer
PROGRAM CHAIRS & BOARD MEMBERS
Josh Genser
Julie Haselden
Mark Likos
Douglas Hale
Dave Garfin
Zachary Wong
Program Chair
Education Chair Trout in the Classroom
Conservation Chair Newsletter Newsletter
NON-BOARD CHAIRS
Lee Hahn
Bob Marshak
Bob Fabini
Mike Leong
Webmaster
Membership
Librarian
Todd Pond
Membership
Outings Coordinator THE IRIDEUS
Douglas Hale Editor-In-Chief
Zachary Wong Asst. Editor
PHOTO CONTRUBITORS THIS MONTH Cover............................................................Linda Freidman Table of Contents........................................... Zachary Wong Calendar......................................................... Zachary Wong Conservation.........................Tom Christensen (CC License) News Notes & Random Casts............USGS, Linda Friedman Fishing Throwbacks............................... Library of Congress Trout in the Classroom................................... Julie Haselden Looking Around.............................................. Kirston Koths Explore California .......................................... Mike Malekof Upper Sac Primer......................... Mike Malekof, Jasperado Battle Creek....................................................... Josh Genser Back Cover..................................................... Zachary Wong We are always looking for photos! Submit your photos to Zachary Wong at craigwong810@gmail.com or Doug Hale at drhale@gmail.com Your photo could be featured on next month’s cover, table of contents, Calendar or our Back Page
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Upcoming Events March 8
Fundamentals Casting Clinic
March 11
March GPFF meeting - Michael Malekos
March 28-29
Lower Yuba (UC Property) Sign up on the GPFF calendar!
April 8
April GPFF meeting - John Rickard on the McCloud
Past Events February 15 Eagle Canyon Trout Lakes
February 11 February GPFF meeting - Mike Folden, American River Shad
January 20
MLK Jr. Shoreline - Conservation Outing
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C
onservation onversation
With Julie Ruth Haselden
Free Bay Currents Talk Tuesday, March 10 Leveraging Bay Area Technology to solve National Scientific Problems
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ow can remote DNA detection, drones, real-time sensing, artifical intelligence, and other new technology help to meet environmental challenges? Dr. Jonathan Stock, Director of the US Geological Survey’s Innovation Center, tells how the USGS is parternering with Bay Area scientific and technological powerhouses to deal with risks from earthquakes and floods, to extinction and pollution. Bay Currents talks on Bay Area natural history and environmental issues, with emphasis on positive solutions, are on the second Tuesdays, January-April. and September to November at St. Alban’s Parish Hall, 1501 Washington Ave. (At Curtis, one block north of Solano Ave), Albany. Refreshments 7pm, talks start at 7:30pm. See this link for full spring schedule.
Point Pinole - Image reuse courtesy of Tom Christensen under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license. https://www.flickr.com/photos/rightreading/42882579985
Earth Day! Saturday, April 18 Point Pinole Regonal Shoreline 8:30AM to 12 Noon Join park staff for Earth Day 2020 to help remove invasive plants, and help to restore native diversity to the area. Be sure to wear comfortable, weather-appropriate clothes and closed-toe shoes. Registration on-site is required. Be sure to remember to bring your own gloves, and a refillable water bottle. Snacks, water, tools and gratitude provided. Meet up is at Point Pinole Regional Shoreline 5551 Giant Highway, Richmond, CA 94806 Contact Julie at jhaselden17@comcast.net
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News, Notes & Random Casts Sign up Now! Lower Yuba River Sat-Sun, March 28-29
time, grab your own rig to bring to practice, do so! If you come straight from work, no worries, Mark will have a few club rigs for your use.
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Linda Friedman’s Trip Report
ob Woznicki and Charlie Kobata will be the fishmasters for this infrequent opportunity to fish the University of California’s stretch of the Lower Yuba river. You can sign up for either one or both days at: https://grizzlypeakflyfishers. org/event-3625432 Charlie and Bob will give a Yuba River talk a couple of weeks before the outing, most likely at Fish First in Albany. They will talk about the best approaches, gear and techniques. Also, charlie will give us a last-minute review at the river the day of the event. Sign up now, this event will definitely fill up. All registrants will be emailed the date and time of the lecture. Casting Practice with Mark Likos Wednesday, March 11
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oin Mark from 5:30 to 6:30 just a short walk from our monthly meeting at Sports Basement at 2727 Milvia St. in Berkeley for casting practice for any club member who wishes to participate. Measured targets will be placed at multiple intervals (much like you see at the Oakland Casting Ponds). If you have
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F
rom the Grizzly Peak Fly Fisher’s February 15th Eagle Canyon Lakes outing: Below is all the proof that good casting makes all the difference. Reminder! Free Casting Lessons Oakland Casting Club 3rd Saturday March, April, May, June & September
The Oakland Casting Club offers free public casting lessons on the 3rd saturday of March, April, May, June and September. Lessons start at 10AM and typically last 1.5 to 2 hours. All lessons are held at McCrea Park in Oakland (Carson at Aliso Street, Just off Highway 13). Check the OCC website (oaklandcastingclub.org) to see a map. Sign up is required and you can do so by emailing Henry at oaklandcasters@hotmail. com. Either bring your own fly fishing outfit, or borrow one of theirs.
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Linda and the Monster! - Image courtesy of Linda Friedman
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FISHING THROWBACKS
This month’s throwback comes to us from the Library Congress’s Biodiversity Heritage Library. Published in 1883, Fishing with the Fly featured exerpts and articles written by various fly fishers of the day and peppered with illustrations featuring flies offered by the Orvis company. Salmon flies from the plate above: 1. Prince William of Orange, 2. Butcher, 3. Jock Scott, 4. Silver Doctor, 5. Fairy, 6. Silver Gray, and 7. Curtis.
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Trout in the Classroom 2020
By: Julie Haselden
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n February 25, 2020, Trout in the Classroom (TIC) coaches and support folks waited in a Berkeley Marina parking lot for delivery of fertilized rainbow trout eggs. This year, Eagle Lake Rainbow Trout eggs were transported from the Silverado Hatchery in St. Helena. There were packets of 50 eggs, chilled and wrapped in wet cheesecloth, for each classroom. I collected 4 packets of eggs for my 4 kindergartens. I took my precious cargo to each class and placed the eggs in each classroom’s chilled and aerated aquarium. The kids were so excited! It was a great opportunity to talk to the kids about SCIENCE (learning about our world), life cycles, habitats, skeletons, and what each life needs to live. So many things to talk about!
Above: Julie ready to pick up eggs in her rainbow trout hat and little cooler Right: 50 packets of trout eggs Both Images courtesy of Julie Haselden
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The enthusiasm about TIC is important! Each class will nurture the new trout and learn about the value of healthy wetlands. Fantastic program! Thank you to Grizzly Peak Fly Fishers for your support!
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Looking Around: r An Old-Timer's Tips fo Catching more Fish
By: Kirston Koths
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recently began re-reading a fly-fishing classic; John Gierach’s memoirs entitled “Standing in a River Waving a Stick”. This eminently amusing book is also studded with nuggets of old-timer’s fishing tips, such as in the following passage: “When I first started fishing, I noticed that a lot of the older guys would do this: Instead of wading right in and starting to cast, they’d hunker down and study the water for a while…so I started doing that, and it wasn’t easy at first, but I eventually realized that it can take ten minutes to spot something like the subtle rise of a nice trout in the shade of the bank – a fish you can spook without ever knowing it was there, if you’re too eager. Those old fishermen: they’re slowmoving, and sometimes talk to themselves, but they catch trout. I may not always catch a lot of trout, but just last month I was accused of talking to myself. I said, we all talk to ourselves,
we just don’t all move our lips!” Well one thing that got me talking to myself, years ago, happened while taking a class from the late and great angling legend, Andy Puyans, on the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River. He had set up his chair on the bank of this wide and deep spring creek and had instructed his three guides and their six clients to not cast a fly for a full 30 minutes. He just wanted us to look around, even using binoculars to identify rise forms and hatches. Some of the younger guides and most of the clients were grumbling. I didn’t fly out to this class just to sit around, griped one well-heeled angler. But Andy was right, of course. After 30 minutes of looking around, we knew where the biggest rising trout were feeding, that they were taking Trico spinners and caddis emergers, and we had planned out the best approach for an effective presentation (in my case wading into the center of the river and casting back
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to the bank). Henry’s Fork trout are perhaps the world’s hardest trout to catch, and I am convinced I would not have caught a single fish had I ignored the “look around” rule. Over the years I have added a number of other things to the checklist for Looking Around: 1. How will the wind affect my all-important first cast? 2. Are there live insects in the streamside spider webs that will help me with fly selection? 3. What is the size of the average nymph on the bottom of the rocks in this run? 4. What’s in my one-minute surface net sample?
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5. What do the paths along the bank and the scuffs in the streambed tell me about how the average angler has fished this pool? I may want to cast from a different location to fool the most experienced trout in the run. While I probably won’t spend a full 30 minutes Looking Around (unless I find myself on the Henry’s Fork again), I have never forgotten Andy Puyan’s advice. And if it helps me to catch more fish, don’t be surprised if you see me on the river some day, talking to myself! After some very careful observation, a Henry’s Fork rainbow is finally fooled into eating. Summer, 2002.
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Explore California Trout Fishing Destinations With Mike Malelos
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or March’s meeting we welcome Mike Malekos. Mike’s presentation will profile several Northern California blue-ribbon trout fishing destinations that all Grizzly Peak Fly Fishers should try for themselves. He will share his insights regarding essential gear and tactics for fishing these waters. This will be fast and fun; Mike is expert in bringing fly fishers up to speed quickly on how to fish new waters.
Mike is also the Founder and Administrator of the Casting A Rise foundation. Casting A Rise raises money for charitable, educational, and nonprofit organizations through fly fishing. Please take a look at www. castingarise.com and consider supporting this impactful 501(C)(3) organization.
Mike is a contributing Columnist for California Fly Fisher magazine. His “Snapshot” articles are short, informative pieces discussing how to fly fish various fisheries within our state. Through his commentary Mike shares how to get there, how to fish there, and most importantly, why he fishes each body of water the way he does. Among other things, Mike touches on the area, equipment selection, and how he found fish to behave.
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An Upper Sac Primer: Part 1 - Winter The Basics on doing well here By Michael Malekos
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fish the upper Sacramento River hard in the winter. The river is open to angling all year, after all. My wife’s family offers me the use of their weekend home in the town of McCloud. Each day, I rise early, pull on my waders, and proceed in darkness to different access points along the river’s northernmost sections. A favorite destination is the river accessed at the Cantara Loop. Whenever I fish there, I seldom come upon another angler. Perhaps because the memory of a part disaster lingers. In July 1991, a Southern Pacific Railroad train derailed at the Cantara Loop, where the tracks curve nearly 180 degrees at the bridge over the river, and a tanker car spilled metam sodium, a soil fumigant and herbicide that forms a toxic liquid and gas. Interstate 5 was closed, residents from the town of Dunsmuir and south to Castella were forced to evacuate, and both the fish and the insect populations of the upper Sacramento were decimated all the way down to Lake Shasta. Seasoned anglers I’ve spoken to who fished there before the accident remember this area as a good place to catch trout in the 10to-12 inch range. A 14-to-15 inch trout was an exceptional fish there. Today the river appears to have rebounded and has once again become quite
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a fishery. The area is scenic and provides easy access to excellent fishing opportunities. My guess is that if the anglers who fished here before returned, they’d find the trout living in this nutrient-rich water to be much larger than before. Additionally, similar to other fisheries that follow strict catch and release than before. As in other fisheries that follow strict catchand-release practices, upper Sac trout live longer, grow larger, and get smarter, and thus catching them becomes more technical, at times requiring fly fishers to fish smaller fly patterns. The trout I have caught and released here are vibrantly colored, healthy, and are incredibly strong fighters. One thing I have learned by fishing the upper Sac is that when bugs are coming off, an angler can be fishing and catching trout in a spot where the bugs are hatching while another angler, not far away, sees no insect activity and is not catching a thing. Snapshot: The Cantara Loop
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early three decades have passed since the derailment poisoned the river. The upper Sac at Cantara has relatively clear, clean, highly oxygenated water. The clarity, water level, and temperature are regulated by the amount of rainfall and weather conditions throughout the year. Like most freestone rivers, the shallow
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Upper Sacramento near the Cantara Day Use Area - Image Courtesy of Mike Malekof
water provides easy wading to likely trout holds – pocket water, runs, and deep pools. Anglers should be prepared and able to fish confidently and comfortably any type of water they encounter. On the upper Sac, a 9-foot 5-weight fly rod with floating line is perfect. About a thirty-minute walk downstream from the day-use area at Cantara, the water flattens. There, flows move slowly and wading is much easier. My experience has been that the bigger fish tend to occupy these waters. Cast to them along the banks, targeting the undercuts.
flat water. The riffles provide fish with plenty of structure, allowing them to hide and escape the current. The Cantara section’s fast water isn’t deep, but it is swift and choppy on the surface, which means anglers can get fairly close to a fish without being spotted. In this fast water, there is no reason to cast anything longer than 7 feet of line tied to a 7-foot leader. I tend to fish where there are signs of underwater structure or target the pocket water behind rocks.
However, I’ve observed anglers walk and at times run to the flat water to begin fishing. But river trout come to the riffles to feed. So begin fishing the riffles, then make your way to
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Fishing the Entire River: Winter s the seasons change, water levels change, and so should the methods anglers employ for catching trout.
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Winter is the time of year when you don’t see a lot of bugs coming off the water. I caught fish this past winter, but not by casting Blue-Winged Olive dry flies, as I’ve read many anglers suggest – not even during and occasional afternoon BWO hatch. My best results were achieved nymphing. Effective winter nymphing patterns to use include red Copper Johns, Zebra Midges, Micro Mayflies, size 16 to 18, and dark rubberleg and stonefly patterns, size 6 to 8. Size 6 brown sculpin streamers work well here after heavy rains raise the level of water and make it offcolor. Fish this pattern until the water clears. At best, like many trout fisheries during the winter months, catching fish can be sporadic. Despite the cold weather and even colder water, there is an upside to winter fishing the Upper Sac. I enjoy the changes in nature and solitude winter fly fishing provides. I’m alone, but not lonely. When my wife and kids accompany me, I balance fly fishing with family activities. I said “balance” – not “forego.” For example, I may fish the upper Sac for several hours in the early morning, then return to gather the troops and head over to Mount Shasta Ski Park for an afternoon of skiing. This continually proves to be easier said than done, if I’m into fish.
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One of the highlights of fishing the upper Sac during winter is the October Caddis hatch, which this year took place closer to December. This is the final opportunity for trout to gorge themselves on large insects before the winter rains turn to snow. If you’d like to visit and fish the site of the Cantara Loop derailment disaster (which is not in plain sight), get on to South Old Stage Road, which is near the freeway and can be accessed from the community of Mt. Shasta, from the Mott and Azalea areas, and from Dunsmuir if driving north from that community on Mott Road. Turn onto Cantara Loop Road (left if coming from Dunsmuir, right if coming from Mt. Shasta, and then drive a short distance to the day-access area located on your left at the bottom of the hill, just before Cantata Loop Road ends. Park along the river. There is additional space for parking at the end of the road. Everyone assumes the dayuse area is heavily fished. As a result, nobody fishes it. Editor’s Note. This article is essentially the first half of Michael’s An Upper Sac Primer. I have extracted from his original article with Michael’s kind permission. Part 2 covering Spring, Summer and Fall will appear in the April Irideus.
Cantara Loop in the 1940s - Image Reuse from Jasperado under Creative Commons License 2.0 Link
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price is higher. All proceeds go to the Club.
GPFF Battle Creek Outing! June 12-14
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t is once again time to be thinking of where we’re going to fish come spring and summer, and where better than on two miles of private river in Northern California, where there is no competition for the trout and the trout are not so jaded as to ignore your fly? That place would be Josh and Elaina Genser’s property on the South Fork of Battle Creek.
Getting to the property is a four-hour drive, not including stops to eat, use the restroom and get gas. To get there requires a real fourwheel drive vehicle, because the last four miles are cross country. We have at least two vehicles with capacity for 13 people, so you can come even if you don’t own your own 4WD. There is no cell phone service, but we have running water, hot water, a shower and a flush toilet. I must warn you, though, that hiking up and down the creek can be challenging. If you have mobility issues you probably should not come. But everyone else should try it at least once. Two years ago, GPFF member Luong Tam went on this outing and he created and posted this beautiful video: https://www.dropbox. co m /s/ 9 q c s z1 k i5 t4 g l vg/ B att l e Cre ek- 3 . mov?dl=0. Tight lines!
This is also the Grizzly Peak Fly Fisher Club’s biggest fund-raiser of the year. A place on the trip costs $200. Now, that’s a lot more than any of the other GPFF trips cost, but a lot less than you’d pay to stay and fish at any other fishing resort, including the two that are on Battle Creek, the Fly Shop’s Battle Creek Ranch and Oasis Springs. The trip will be June 12-14, 2020. Sign up on the GPFF web site just as you would for any other outing, except that the
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