Category: Steelhead Sanity

A dying cold front and a sunset is born

~ SamF ~ Leave a comment

I was up on campus this evening – I walked outside to the warm glow of a spectacular apricot-hued sky.  Layers of clouds were each catching the last rays of the sun painting watercolor stripes across the western sky.  I wish I woulda had my camera but wouldn’t have captured the scale of it.  The ingredients were perfect.  An approaching storm is fizzling out – sending broken layers of clouds towards the coast.  The afternoon forecast discussion reads as follows:

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECTED
 NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EUREKA CA
 505 PM PDT SUN AUG 24 2008

.SYNOPSIS...A WEAKENING COLD FRONT WILL WASH ON SHORE
OVER THE REDWOOD COAST AND NORTHERN INTERIOR TONIGHT
INTO MONDAY...BRINGING  PERIODS OF DRIZZLE AND PATCHY
LIGHT RAIN TO DEL NORTE AND NORTHERN HUMBOLDT COUNTIES.
COOL TEMPERATURES TUESDAY MORNING WILL BE FOLLOWED BY
A SHARP WARM UP WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY AREA WIDE...

“Washing ashore” is the perfect description.  Meanwhile, high up overhead, our neighborhood weather satellite captures the infrared image showing the bands of clouds filtering towards the coast.

An approaching cold front washes out along the west coast - resulting in a spectacular sunset for those who happened to be outside this evening.
An approaching cold front washes out along the west coast - resulting in a spectacular sunset along its southeastern margins for those who happened to be outside this evening.

If it cools down inland overnight, that means tommorrow will be a day to bail out of late afternoon work responsibilities and go swing a two-handed rod on some river somewhere.  A true harbinger of fall passing through but the longer forecast shows triple digit temperatures returning later in the week – a typical August feint.  But it will only get better from here.

Tying with Coot – The Spey Experiment

~ SamF ~ Leave a comment

The new coot skin arrived!  Yippee..my substitute for heron feathers – or so I was hoping.

This really wasn’t an experiment – as others have used coot for a variety of spey flies.  But I had to see if it met my expectations of a good looking buggy fly with hackles that would stand up in the faster water fished this time of year.

The goods
The goods

Time to try it out.

I wrapped the hackle three times over the alpaca wool body to help it stand up.
I wrapped the hackle three times over the alpaca wool body to help it stand up.

The first outing confirmed it fishability and success.  The half-pounders couldn’t stay away from it.

I’m sold.

On the Coming of Storms

~ SamF ~ Leave a comment

Reminiscing on Fall Steelhead

Somewhere in August a subtle change happens. One morning dawns cooler than the last. Maybe it lasts a day, maybe three, then the notion is lost in the incessant summer. Nothing of real importance happens now, except maybe noting a yellowing cottonwood leaf hanging from a branch. Finally, well into August, I realize there is no turning back now and the best time of year is at hand.

Over the hill and away from the coast, the relentless heat holds fast – lasting well into September and often October. I remember sunsets along the coast when far off webs of cirrus clouds would hold low on the horizon hinting at some far off storm and the reminder that winter is not far off. But these can be days of agony – days I spend with a sense that all of summer’s delights are now out of reach, even though I well know that many more weeks lie ahead. All the while, the fog-shrouded, chilly mornings I remember of seasons well underway seem impossible now. As the days go by, as summer hangs on, I wonder if they will ever come this year. Sometime, not long after, in a fit of desperation, the decision is made to make the annual pilgrimage over the hill, to return to the river. I do not have high hopes of hooking a steelhead, after all, summer is still holding fast. This is a journey to prove that something really is happening. Continue reading “On the Coming of Storms” →

A Late August Raindrop on the Way

~ SamF ~ Leave a comment

Tuesday, August 19.  I couldn’t resist the forecast: cloudy skies with a chance of rain.  Yes, rain.  Over the hill it had been pushing triple digits.  Now, October-like weather was to make a brief appearance.  I jumped on the opportunity – sneaking out of work a wee bit early, grabbing a rod and fly wallet and wheeling inland.  The river temps were dropping to below 70 (ouch that’s warm water!!!), so hopefully any fish hooked and released were likely to revive.  (check out temps at the Yurok’s Real-Time Monitoring Page).

Sure enough, cloudy skies prevailed, though the rain drops could be counted in the dozens (thankfully, because I had left my jacket back in the truck).  What transpired shall remain unposted… suffice it to say there are a few early running fish in the river.  I will leave it at that.  Also of note is the lack of wind that evening – the normally ferocious and unrelenting afternoon winds up the river had been knocked down by the approaching storm.  It’s so nice to leave the river at dark, warm and calm, with the crickets chirping amonst the dry grass.  We just don’t get that here on the coast.  I can’t wait to get back!