Wednesday January 25th, 2006 -- first day on the river.
Thinking I might have a chance to drive up hwy 9 to the San Lorenzo River today, I packed the necessary gear in the trunk. This turned out well. The San Lorenzo is open for fishing right now, open days being Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday, as well as holidays and opening/closing days. Catch and release only, with barbless hooks.
I drove up to the Rincon parking lot around lunchtime, to do a little exploratory fishing. I walked down to the river, and rigged up my 8wt with a sinktip line, tapered leader, and a "boss" steelhead fly -- one that I tied, oh, back in '86 or so. On the trail by the river, I met a guy who gave me some tips on where to fish, and lent me his pliers to debarb the hooks, as I found my hemostats weren't strong enough, and I had left my leatherman up at the car. It is a good walk down to the river, and you get a nice workout going back up. The guy said that the water had been pretty hammered from the traihead to "the wall" -- an obvious piece of concrete at one of the bends, but I decided to work my way upstream to see what it was like. Expectation of fish was at around nil. Another guy was down there filming.. doing a documentary on the river. Folks had caught fish this morning.
>> same pics << with nicer background for better viewing.
The water was somewhat colored, but clear enough. Actually, it may mostly just have been glare from the surface, duh! I had left my fishing glasses at the office.
I started fishing at the head of the rincon hole. Long casts aren't necessary here; accuracy is useful, at least in keeping the fly out of the branches in front and behind. The sinktip line got the fly down there alright, but I'm not sure how I'd feel a hit, if the hits are subtle. I stripped in slowly to keep contact with the fly. Probably didn't matter. I got stuck on rocks a couple of times, but was able to retrieve the fly. Didn't see any fish. I was casting across the deep channel at the far end, and let it swing down, letting line out to get the fly deeper before the 'swing' at the end of the drift. The river water was cold; if I was to stand in it a lot I should think that my thicker underpants would be the ticket.
After 15 or so minutes, I reeled in and walked upstream. Another guy was fishing at a nice rapidly moving hole at the 'bend'.. He had a kid with him (taking a nap) so I stopped by and said hello. Jason, was his name. He has caught fish here before, and was fishing with monofilament and a sinker and roe (with a flyrod and reel). I guess he flyfishes too..
Anyway, I kept going and ended up at "the wall hole", where I let the fly fish around a bit more. Looks pretty deep, so could be a good spot, especially if get up there before the other guys fish it..
At this point I turned around and went back. I saw a couple other guys fishing the same spot I tried first.. they had waded out right to the edge of that deep channel, and were just kindof 'dapping' their bait there. Seemed to me that the fish would probably spook at having them wade so close. They were using flyrods, but it looked like they were also using a mono line and (I'm guessing) bait. I'm not really understanding what advantage using a flyrod with this setup gives, I mean why not just a long spinning rod?! I hooked up with Jason and chatted with him on the way up to the lot. He was pushing his daughter, 2 1/2 years old, uphill in the jog-stroller.
Anyway, its nice having the river so close to town and the office.. the drive is maybe 8 minutes from the Sashmill, and I get some exercise too, at least if I fish out of rincon. Some people also fish in the river in town, but I don't think that sounds as nice. Up where I went there are just trees and the river. Nice and quiet except for the natural sounds.
I think next time I'll also bring the floating line, glo-bugs, and a bobb.. I mean.. 'indicator'. Maybe I'll make some nice yarn ones before the next trip. Some nymphs would also be good to bring, as I hear the fish will take those readily as well.