FISH LONG & PROSPER !!!

Topics
Fall Hatches

Have you met Elmer?
Upper Sandy River
Consignments
Spey Rod Test

All pictures are "mouse-over".


Fall Hatches Spark Trout Fishing
In the fall most anglers are fishing for steelhead & salmon.  This leaves a lot of unmolested trout water.  Trout that have been feeding on the prolific hatches of the summer are fat & strong.  Trout grow fast in the warm water of summer and are still growing & fattening through the fall months of September & October.  They are strong & can be very aggressive.  Tiny mayflies, midges & blizzard hatches of several species of caddis can produce tremendous dry fly fishing throughout the day.  Fishing caddis pupa patterns sub-surface can also add to the fun. 

Piles of dead caddis & midges from last night's hatches. If you think that the biggest hatches and best dry fly fishing are in the spring and summer you should have checked out the caddis & midge activity on the Deschutes this past week.  Hatches of of these aquatic insects made it nearly impossible to sit within 20' from a light at 
night.  Pictured above is the windrow of bug bodies that collected on the outer rim of the screen-house roof.  Three species of caddis and four species of midges made up the mixture.  The caddis were size 16/18 redish-golden brown, size 20/22 dark gray and sub-atomic size black.  Midges were size 18-24 yellowish brown.  The trout have been very responsive to all of this insect activity.  I talked with two anglers riding Brian Silvey's boat the other day and they reported 40+ fish catches in the middle of the day.   These fish were mostly caught with 16/18 Elk Hair Caddis dry flies.  Some difficult fish were caught with a small nymph pattern dangled from the dry fly.

Adult October Caddis.

October Caddis are starting!
The Pacific Northwest has some spectacular giant caddis hatches. Most of these hatches are in the fall, but some cold spring creeks have hatches through much of 

the winter and into the spring as well. The fat bodies are colors that range from light tanish orange to yellowish orange to bright orange to burnt orange. Wings are usually gray but there are also brown tones. There are apparently a number of different species in what is commonly called October Caddis or Fall Caddis or Giant Caddis.  Most belong to the family Dicosmoecus. They range from California to Alaska.  
The larva of these giant caddis build tube-like cases.  During the winter months when the larva are tiny, these cases are made from vegetable matter attached to a foundation of silk.  As the larva grows in size through the spring months they abruptly switch to cases made from small gravel.  You can observe these larvae crawling around on the streambed dragging their cases with them as the forage for algae and decaying plant and animal matter.  During the the summer months of June and July Dicosmoecus larvae are important trout foods.  Daily behavioral drift cycles occur in the early afternoon, usually peaking about 4:00 P.M.  They are one of the few families of caddis that leave their cases before behavioral drift cycles.  This makes them extremely enticing to large trout.  In August these larvae seal themselves in their cases and by September they are ready to emerge as adults.
Emergence occurs from late afternoon until dark.  The pupae Usually swim and crawl to shallow water, but some emerge mid-river.  At this time a pumpkin colored wet fly can be very productive.  
Egg laying also occurs in the afternoon and evening.  The big fate juicy females flop around on the water exuding their eggs.  They are a prime attraction for trout of all sizes.  
Be sure to have some Improved Sofa Pillows and Orange stimulators handy. Sizes range from #10 to #6 on 2X long hooks.
Caddis Dry Flies
Caddis Pupa


Elmer

Have you met Elmer, my "camp guard snake"?  He is an easy going but venomous Crotalus viridis  that loves to hunt & eat rodents.  He usually hunts in late morning and early afternoon when air temperatures are most comfortable.  Warm soft nights are also a time of activity.  He guards one of my favorite camp sites.  I'll let you speculate on which one.  He hunts the rodents that feed on the scraps left by careless users of 

the camp while I am away.  I first met Elmer when I left an open loaf of bread on top of a cooler where it was easy for some small rodent to get into.  Sure enough one did.  Elmer heard the commotion of the rodent getting inside the bread wrapper, and since he had heard that sound before, knew that a nice warm, soft, fuzzy morsel was for the taking if he played his cards right.  It was an easy stalk.  The cooler & bread were inside the floorless screen-house cook tent.  The tent had a solid fabric skirt around the bottom, just higher than the rodent could see over.  The path to the rodent was under this skirt and up the side of the cooler.  This would enable the snake to get his head inside the sack before the rodent knew what was happening.  A rodent inside a bread sack is an easy meal for a resourceful snake. The strike would be delivered quick and sure...then I came bumbling upon the scene and the rodent spooked from the bread wrapper and escaped with his life.  This left Elmer stretch-out and exposed on the bare sand squarely in front of the tent door.  Some people freak out when they encounter rattle snakes.  I figured that Elmer might be in a precarious position when my two clients came into camp from the river.  Elmer would have to move.  I got a wading staff and herded him out of camp.  He offered no resistance and retreated to spot where he was out of any probable human traffic.  He hid under some alder roots for an hour and gave every body in camp something to ogle at.  Elmer has become a regular resident.  Be sure to leave lots of crumbs & garbage for the rodents to feed on.  This way Elmer will have a perfect excuse to hang around camp & keep you company.  One of these days I will tell you about Ellynor.  She guards my other camp site.

Since 1998 the Upper Sandy River Basin 
Has Been Managed As A Wild Fish Sanctuary.
The angling rules and management strategy for all streams east of Marmot Dam (5 miles down stream from Brightwood) are as follows:
This area is managed as a wild fish sanctuary for the recovery of endangered salmon, steelhead and trout.
No hatchery fish are stocked in, or allowed to enter into this area.
All fish are wild.
All fish are protected.  No kill is allowed.
Catch and release fishing with artificial lures and flies only.  No bait is allowed. 
Open last Saturday in May until October 31.
Steelhead and salmon are not to be bothered or caught.

Low returns of wild steelhead and salmon were the cause for endangered act listings of several sub-species.
A low mortality sport fishery will be allowed as long as the various listed species are gaining in numbers annually.
This management has been generally endorsed by anglers and other residents within the community.
There seems to be a general increase in the wild trout populations.
Wild summer steelhead run trends are also very encouraging.
This winter will tell more about the recovery of our once prodigious runs of will endemic winter steelhead.

In the next few issues of "Insider", I will explore my home waters and talk with the various managers to obtain information on fly fishing in my community.  I'll let you know what I find.


Used Rods, Used Reels consigned by customers like you.
Are you lusting for a new piece of fly fishing equipment that you can't afford?  
Do you have a fly rod or reel that you are no longer using?  
Is it in your way, cluttering up a closet?  
We will help you sell your used fly rods and fly reels.  Hundreds of qualified buyers come to our Bargain Page every day looking for deals on fly fishing equipment.  Some of them are looking for the kind of equipment that you no longer need.  Why don't you consign your old equipment to us for resale?  Bring your used rods and reels to our store and we will put them on display & sell them for you.  That will save you the bother of posting ads, answering phone calls and dealing with strange people.  We will do that for you.  If you apply the money that you make from your consignment, to goods purchased from The Fly Fishing Shop, we don't extract any fee for our consignment service. You get to set your price. If you take the money from your sold goods then we ask for 20% commission.  Either way you win.  Now you have turned your liabilities into assets and cleaned out your closet in the process.
We will ship consigned goods, but will charge full amount for shipping.  
Goods bought with consignment money are treated as any other sales and are shipped "standard free shipping".
All items first come - first served - limited to stock on hand - no exceptions! 
All sales are final. 

Consigned Outfits

Consigned Rods

Consigned Reels

BARGAINS FOR PEOPLE LIKE YOU !!!     SAVE MONEY NOW !!!


Mike drags camp-meat out onto the beach with his Scott ARC1287/3.

Scott ARC1287/3 Spey Rod Test Report
One of the positive things about being a fly fishing guide is that many of my well equipped clients will let me try their great tackle on the water.  Recently I got to fish run with Michael Liskay's Scott ARC1287/3.  It was rigged with a Waterworks Velocity #4 reel and a WindCutter 6/7/8 line.  The first thing you would notice about this combo is the exquisite balance and light swing weight.  It almost has a "trout rod feel".  At first I had problems forming smooth loops because of the light weight I had a tendency to mash the rod on the delivery.  This made the tip of the rod oscillate which put large standing waves in both the top and bottom of the forward loop.  As soon as I eased up on the power and ran the sweet spot closer to the tip, the loops straightened out and picked up speed at the same time.  The Scott action is easy to time and this little rod is fatigue free to fish with.  I watched Mike land a couple of nice Deschutes steelies.  The rod was a perfect match for these fish

Scott ARC

ARC1287/3

Model Length Line Sections Weight Price To Top
ARC1287/3 12' 8" 7 3 7.9 $685 -->SALE ENDED

Be sure to check out our ALL NEW Fishing Reports Section !!!  


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Fish long & prosper,
Mark Bachmann & Patty Barnes


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