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Going fishing in the fall
I can hardly believe the calender! Summer is rapidly coming to a close and fall fishing is right around the corner. I do not know if it is me or if time just seems to be passing by very quickly these days.
As I sit here at my computer writing this, I am a week away from another milestone in my life. After working for 34 and a half years, the last 29 here for Placer County, I am retiring from my real job. On Friday, September 1st, I will be walking out of an office that has been my workplace since I moved up here in 1977. It will seem strange and I certainly will miss my co-workers whom I also consider good friends.
I wonder just how much my life will change without my regular job. There will be a little more time for fishing and a little golf. Perhaps a part-time job doing something that I like or that would get me some golfing or skiing privileges might be something that I will do.
Killing Fish to Make Room for Others
(KCPW News) Apparently Utah's state fish doesn't do well with competition. State wildlife officials have wiped out the existing population of Brown Trout and Mottle Sculpin in a portion of the Diamond Fork River to make room for 10,000 Bonneville Cutthroat Trout. DWR Conservation Manager Scott Root says the state used a naturally occurring toxin to kill the fish. "We used backpack sprayers to apply the rotenone and we had 20 different trip stations with the chemical. As far as we can tell it was a complete success." Root says the poisoned fish will decompose and fortify the food base for the new Bonneville Cutthroat in the river. The toxin has not been shown to hurt other organisms in the river system. Wildlife officials installed a barrier to keep Brown Trout from moving back upstream into the portion reserved for Bonneville Cutthroat.
Insects have fish hopping
As a general rule of thumb, the insects that make up the trout diet tend to get smaller as the summer progresses. The most notable exception is the grasshopper. These bugs are relatively long lived and they grow larger during the season. In the last week of July, the hoppers made their appearance in the Sierra and they have the trout looking up for chow. The most common color at this time is tan. The critters are young (1-inch long) and size #12 or #14 flies will be a close match.
The most notable hopper bite from an anglers perspective has been on the Walker River drainage on the east side of the Sierra. Jim Weil from Ken's Sporting Goods in Bridgeport reports that on the West Walker river along Highway 395, hopper fly patterns are the No. 1 fish catcher. The West Walker is just now getting down to fishable flows and a big fly will get the trout to swim up through fast water to take an insect on the surface.
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