FLY FISHING LIFEMAGAZINE

The Online Magazine of the Fly Fishing WorldVolume Two, Number Three

Cover Photo by John Sherman

Publisher & Editor:Rob Portil

Artistic Director:Adryanna Ciera

Contributing Editors:Mikey WierArt DollossoAl KyteMatt Paluch

HOW TO CONTACT US

For Advertising Inquiries:Fly Fishing Life Magazine165 Mission RD Sedona, AZ 86336928-485-1970

For General Inquiries or to send a letter to the editor:Fly Fishing Life Magazine165 Mission RD Sedona, AZ 86336928-485-1970

To copy or reuse material from Fly Fishing Life Magazine:Permissions DepartmentFly Fishing Life Magazine165 Mission RD Sedona, AZ 86336Please allow two to four weeks for processing.

From the Editor

For this issue we convinced the noted photographer John Sherman to share some of his images from his new book Fly Fishing The California Delta with us. John is a much published photographer and the new book with Mike Costello is treat in every aspect, from great photography to deep insight into striper fishing in the California Delta. (page 32)

We also resurrected and updated a destination story from the original online version of our magazine. Mostly because it provides one of the significant destinations for trophy trout in California and because it resides in the only issue of our magazine that is not accessible from the archives link in the magazine. (page 16)

Do fish eat snakes? A question Ive had for years. Ive seen snakes eating small fish, but never witnessed a fish eating a snake. A question that plagued Matt Paluch near a rattlesnake infested favorite stream of his was do the large rainbows eat rattlesnakes. Youll be sur-prised at his approach to finding this out. (Page 6)

Rob Portil, EditorRob@FlyFishingLifeMag.com

FLY FISHING LIFEMAGAZINE

The Online Magazine of the Fly Fishing WorldVolume 2, Number 3

12 New Products FishHead iPhone App & FishEyes Underwater Video

16 Destinations California Trophy Trout - Sugar Creek Ranch

Table of Contents

6 Video Shelf Steeping Into the Stream & The Rattlesnake Fly

32 The Art of Angling California Delta Photography by John Sherman

10 Bookshelf Fly Fishing the California Delta & The Entirely Synthetic Fish

Graphic by Rob Portil

A rarity in the world of fly fishing film.A film by women in fly fishing about women in fly fishing.

A womans view of fly fishing very much in tune with my feelings about fly fishing.A beautiful step into the world of women fly fishing.

Mindful fly fishing

The trailer speaks for itself.

The DVD is available from Amazon.com

Rob Portil

Matt Paluch had a burning question: Do the oversize rainbows in the rattlesnake infested creek near his home in Washington eat the rattlesnakes? And more im-portantly: Will they take his rattlesnake fly imitation?

One of the most fun videos submitted to us in some time. WAIT for the Audio. It starts about 20 seconds into the video.

Matt lives in Washington guides and writes about fly fishing.

Rob Portil

The Rattlesnake FlyWill fish eat rattlesnakes?

Video Shelf

Stepping Into The StreamWomen in Fly Fishing

Video Shelf

Soulfish 2 - FISH MODEby Mikey Wier

SOULFISH 2 is an epic global fly-fishing adventure. FISH MODE is a state of being experienced by the anglers who lived this adventure. Its a trance like state in which the angler becomes completely fixated on the pursuit of the fish and in that mo-ment nothing else matters.

This one of a kind adventure documentary follows some of the most dedicated and experienced fly anglers in the world as they chase some of the greatest Game Fish on this planet to waters around the globe. Its a visual and sensual experience that lets you see through the eyes and explore the thoughts of some of Fly-Fishings greatest personalities.

From a first ever fishing expedition to a remote river in Northern Mongolia in search of giant Taimen with Jeff Currier, Brent Dawson, Peter Mullett and Mikey Wier, to dry fly fishing for steelhead in remote British Columbia with April Vokey and friends. Experience a grand slam on the flats of Belize by an unlikely fly angler, Mike Copithorne. Then fish poppers for Americas favorite fish, Large Mouth Bass, deep in the heart of remote central Mexico with Richard McPherson. Return to the rich Marshes of Louisiana before the great Oil Spill to chase Red and Black Durm with Capt. Bryan Carter and friends. Next Coach Duff gives us a glimpse of chas-ing the largest Bonefish in the world on the beautiful flats of Oaho Hawaii. Then journey down to the Nile River in Egypt to chase record breaking Nile Perch and African Tiger fish with world adventurer Jeff Currier and African angler Jonathan Boulton. Eventually you end up back in California for some epic trout fishing on some remote and beautiful streams and rivers. Tear through the world on the ulti-mate chase for the unmatchable catch and experience the SOUL of this art we call fly-fishing.

This amazing DVD is available from Amazon.com or FishEyeVideos.com

Mikey Weir continues to dazzle us with his amazing world adventures in fly fishing. This time traveling to more great destinations and adding more interesting fishermen and beautiful fisherwomen to the roster.

Ill just let Mikey tell you about it >>

Mikeys videos are for sale on Amazon and Fish Eye Videos

Featuring:

April Vokey - Mikey Weir - Jeff Currier - Brent Dawson - Ralph Cutter B. Carter - P. Mullett - M. Copithorne - R. McPherson - T. Duffield

Book Shelf

Fly Fishing the California Deltaby Captain Mike CostelloPhotography by John Sherman

An Entirely Synthetic FishHow Rainbow Trout Beguiled America and Overran the World

by Anders Halverson

Anders Halverson provides an exhaustively researched and grippingly rendered account of the rainbow trout and why it has become the most commonly stocked and controver-sial freshwater fish in the United States. Dis-covered in the remote waters of northern California, rainbow trout have been artifi-cially propagated and distributed for more than 130 years by government officials eager to present Americans with an opportunity to get back to nature by going fishing. Proudly dubbed an entirely synthetic fish by fish-eries managers, the rainbow trout has been introduced into every state and province in the United States and Canada and to every continent except Antarctica, often with dev-astating effects on the native fauna. Halver-son examines the paradoxes and reveals a range of characters, from nineteenth-century boosters who believed rainbows could be the saviors of democracy to twenty-first-cen-

tury biologists who now seek to eradicate them from waters around the globe. Ultimately, the story of the rainbow trout is the story of our relationship with the natural worldhow it has changed and how it startlingly has not.

The book is available at your local fly shops and at Amazon.com

This is a stunning coffee table book as well as an amazing primer on the fishing of the California Delta regions.We were so impressed by the photography of the California Delta and the world of bass fishing photography that we asked John Sherman to exhibit some of that photography for our Art of An-gling section this month.

The California Delta has be-come a major new destination for trophy striped bass. Other species are also popular. There are more largemouth bass tournaments in the Delta than any other body of water in the world with total weight of bag limits exceeding any other watershed. This is the first ma-jor book describing the tech-niques used for landing trophy striped bass and other species in Californias famed Delta.

The book is available at Amazon or local Fly Shops

New Products

FishHead iPhone AppSimply the coolest app for the fisherman!

Everything you need for planning fishing trips.

This year everywhere in the west was the most prolific snow and rain year in decades.But this has created stream flows that dramat-ically alter our fishing trip planning as some streams are different from normal years by as much a month to a month and half. Tracking those stream flows becomes the critically important element in your western stream fishing.

Using the searches on this app provides immediate access to tides, weather forcasts, and USGS river and stream flows plus the ability to save some of these to your favorites.

When you cast a fishing lure out into the water and it goes beneath the surface, it enters a dark, mysterious world that you can only imagine. Perhaps thats overstating things a bit, but the fact is, you cant see where it is or whats around it. A fish finder can provide you with some basic information (if youre in a boat) but it doesnt actually show you what it looks like down there. Thats where the FishEyes Rod and Reel with Underwater Video Camera comes in. Its built-in color LCD screen provides you with a live image of whats down there, and any fish that happen to be near it.

We tested it out on Lake Davis recently and found that besides being able to see the fish it provides a good way to see what the bottom looks like where youre fishing and gives you reasonable way to determine depth.

With 20 feet of video and power cable in place of the fishing line, it has its limits, but very useful for checking if fish are really there or just chekcing out the bottom. At $79.99 you can forgive the fact that it isnt the highest resolution video camera you can buy.

Available at Amazon

FishEyesRod and Reel

with Underwater Video Camera

Destinations

California Trophy Troutby Rob Portil

A six hour drive is always a questionable endeavor for a weekend outing. All questions

were put to rest as we came upon the glory of Mt. Shasta half covered in snow and

glistening in the midday sun.

The drive to Sugar Creek Ranch starts getting good after you leave Redding headed

north to Weed, Ca. Now theres a name whose source you wonder about and ques-

tion if it predates the sixties. Its town sign announces Weed like to Welcome You with

a hominess that is inconsistent with its imbalance of gas stations to stores: they are

nearly equal. Of course theyd like to welcome you, they cant sell all that gas to just

the locals.

As you turn off highway 5 toward Callahan (no gas stations), you start climbing a thou-

sand foot grade that gives you the million dollar view of Mt. Shasta on every other turn.

Cresting the hills and dipping down into the Scott Valley leads you through some of the

most beautiful private land in California and you realize from the lack of traffic on the

road that not many Californians get over this way.

Arriving at Sugar Creek Ranch is something shy of what you might be expecting of a

world class fishery. The sign for the place is so small that youre thankful for the precise

mileage directions that let you know that youre really here.

You feel like youve arrived at an abandoned gravel quarry. Youre not far off in appear-

ance, but very far off from the real story. Somewhere after gold was discovered here

they got really serious about mining it and built one of the largest floating ore extraction

Mt. Shasta en route Photo by Rob Portil >

machines of its kind. It looked like a large factory but was actu-

ally one huge machine. They mined for gold by crushing the rock

much the way a rock quarry would do and they did it with intent.

They covered enough surface area to leave rock piles that appear

to be several miles wide and at least five miles long. The story is

that the machine operated from the early thirties until sometime in

the fifties, crushing every piece of rock it could get a hold of.

Now heres where it gets interesting. The remaining piles of rock

were not exactly evenly distributed and much like when you dig

a hole in the beach ten feet from the ocean, if you go below the

water table it fills up with water. The resulting lakes formed by the

areas that were lower than the water table of the nearby Scott

River not only filled up with water but have the added advantage

of constantly refreshing themselves by the water moving through

via the underground water table at a rate similar to the river itself

in temperature if not speed.

The result is TROUT water. Eight lakes in all, albeit size dictates

that you more accurately term them ponds. In the larger ponds

they stopped stocking them years ago and they are delightfully

full of huge and wary trout. Mike Kalpin, the owner, has done

some wonderful things here, from landscaping the edges of some of the lakes to

educated and enlightened stocking. In the smaller ponds, Mike stocks them periodi-

cally with fish he raises, the smallest of which are two pound trout. As these grow

and mature they react the way trout in wild do when hooked. Having an 18 inch fish

take you out to your backing while heading halfway across the pond is all the con-

vincing you need that these fish are every bit the equal in strength and agility to the

native rainbows you encounter in the wild. I had one of the 20 inch rainbows that I

caught come fully out of the water six times and cover a full 150 feet while doing it.

We had a pretty sizable group this trip as I organized it as an outing for the Golden

Gate Angling and Casting Club. I was worried that there might be too many of us to

spread out nicely to the different lakes. That concern went away on the first day when

only two of us were on one of the ponds and I found myself instead feeling guilty about

catching 30 or 40 trout over 17 inches and being honestly concerned that others may

not be having as good a time as we were. Conversations at dinner that evening allayed

Destinations - California Trophy Trout (cont.)

Lone Bear Pond - Photo by Rob Portil

my fears of being the only one catching fish. It did however turn out that some had a

tougher time with matching the hatch or just keeping some of these large fish hooked.

One twenty seven inch hook nosed male rainbow was caught by someone half my age

(Steve Tom) just before dinner that evening. Matt Huey, as usual, was having no trou-

ble hooking great fish on the first day.

You get to learn a lot about landing large fish when you get as many opportunities to do

it as you get here. The learning experience was different for everyone. Those of us who

have fished for many years learned even more about the value of presentation and

experimentation when clear water lets you witness your ninety percent rejection rate.

Those that were newer to the sport had an opportunity, some for the first time, to con-

stantly be dealing with stealth, hooking and landing large trout, and the reality of actu-

ally being worn out by the process of getting a large fish to hand.

Many techniques get to be polished when you have as many opportunities at large fish

as is offered as Sugar Creek. One that I have had little opportunity to try other places,

given that Im mostly fishing fast streams, is the multi fish competition approach. One

of the reasons I caught more fish on some of the smaller ponds was leveraging the

ability to see more than one fish at a time and placing casts that were ideally located

exactly between two or even three fish. The resulting competition for food would often

overshadow the otherwise extremely high rejection rate. Given the clear water it was

easy to see fish turn and head for your fly only to reject it at the last moment. Given

the size of these fish, the resulting push of water (read: wake) was enough to get your

heart pounding and cause some to set so early there was no chance of having a fish

on there. After some steady rejection I got more careful about placing the fly exactly

between fish. The result was that the water would get disturbed by the close rejec-

tion of the first fish and generally prompted the second fish to be less picky or reduced

his ability to perceive the fly in the same way as the first with amazing results. As this

method proved itself over and over, it proved to be one of the few ways to get past the

disadvantage of not having the exact fly match and leveraging the fishs innate sense

Destinations - California Trophy Trout (cont.)

Adryanna Ciera - Photo by Rob Portil

Phot

o by

Adr

yann

a Ci

era

of food competition.

Again given the clear, still water, I got to see a rejection I had never seen or maybe

just never noticed before. On small fast streams when I saw a fish miss a fly I thought

that was exactly what I was seeing. At Sugar Creek, several times that weekend I got

to see a fish coming at a fly facing directly toward me with his mouth opening just be-

fore the take. The surprise was the opportunity to see a rejection that I had never seen

before where the fish went through the entire motion of opening the mouth, coming all

the way to the surface, but turning his head just slightly at the last second so that he

purposely didnt get the fly. From any other angle this would have looked like he just

missed the fly or miscalculated. It was amazing to see that this was a purposeful rejec-

tion so late as to be a full rise.

Every day proved to be a different challenge. The large north lake has some of the

largest trout, but proved to be some of the most difficult fishing, especially for those of

us, like myself, who insist on dry fly fishing at every opportunity. In these small lakes

the fish tend to cruise around considerably and sight fishing was the only way to quick-

ly improve your odds. On the second day when four of us were fishing Twin Deer, (the

large north lake) there was not much apparently happening except at the inlet to this

pool where some small (14-18 inch!) trout were watching for and eating nymphs drift-

ing in. In search of bigger prey, I moved slowly around the lake until I would see a fish

cruising the shores and then try to end up ahead of its path with casts designed to be

just in it field of vision but not so close as to scare it off. The last minute rejection rate

was high, but preceded with nervous excitement each time that Id see the obvious in-

terest indicated by the trout heading toward my fly. After a few of these, I finally noticed

some white specks further out on the water that was either a very small white Mayfly

or bits of a dandelion. When I finally saw a large trout dine on one of these, despera-

tion drove me to digging for a small white Mayfly imitation. The general rules of order of

importance of matching the hatch go something like this: Size, Shape, Color. I was in

trouble. I didnt have anything close and considered just trying a pale morning dun fol-

Destinations- California Trophy Trout (cont.)

Fishing with the deer- Photo by Adryanna Ciera

Bill

with

the

Hug

e Ra

inbo

w t

hat t

ook

the

Whi

zz K

id

lowing the size, shape, color and live with the fact that the color didnt match the very

white flies I was seeing. But I spotted a white Whizz Kid in my box that we had actually

tied up for pan fish that was about a size 12 when it looked like the flies on the water

were about a size 18 or smaller. Now, loving the Whizz Kid as I do and never having

caught anything (actually never having tried to) on a white one, I just couldnt pass up

the chance. So, just as some of the guys were giving up and moving to the other lakes,

I tossed my obviously oversized, non-Mayfly, but ever so correctly colored fly to this

large trout out at the distance limits of my casting ability. He took it first cast and I was

on to a twenty plus inch gorgeous rainbow.

It was the start of a beautiful day of fishing that ended in easily 20 fish over twenty inch-

es in length, and progressed through as many different flies.

Jack Baumans Whizz Kid, my favorite all round fly finally got its due this weekend.

After years of me extolling its virtues, I had more then one person this weekend say to

me Im a believer. Granted its hard not to be when its outfishing every other fly two to

one, and having a twenty seven inch rainbow take it on the first cast is pretty convinc-

ing. It is now featured in Terry Helliksons new edition of Fish Flies, arguably the best

encyclopedia of the fly tiers art.

New friends, great food, marvelous conversation, and great fishing. These are the mak-

ings of a great weekend of fly fishing and few places in the country offer the opportunity

for trophy trout every day that youre fishing.

For fishing at Sugar Creek Ranch, Contact Mike Kalpin:

www.SugarCreekRanch.com

(530) 467-5213

Destinations- California Trophy Trout (cont.)

Beautiful Rainbow Hooked Up - Photo by Rob Portil

Jack

& M

ark

Baum

ans

Whi

zz K

id -

Pho

to b

y R

ob P

ortil

CALIFORNIA DELTA : THE PHOTOGR APHY OF JOHN SHER M ANFLY FISHING THE

John Sherman is a renowned fly-fishing and outdoor photographer. His photographs have appeared on the covers and in articles of Field & Stream, Fly Fisherman, California Fly Fisher, Northwest and Southwest Fly Fishing, Fly Fish-ing in Salt Waters, and The Drake to name a few, as well as many product catalogs. He has guided, managed a fly shop, hosted trips all over the world, and spoken at many of the countrys largest fly fishing shows. He has been filmed in a number of television shows airing on ESPN and the Versus channel. John was the featured fly angler in the film Bass: The Movie. John is the West Coast Representative for Simms Fishing Products.

More of Johns amazing photography can be found at:www.JohnGSherman.com

A birds eye perspective of the flooded Mildred Island in the Central Delta

Natih Sherman blows up a nice Delta Largemouth Bass. The Delta offers some of the best bass fishing in the country.

Fly fishing the west Delta and some of the natural marshland that still is prevalent there.

Eric Nuefeld bombs a cast in a West Delta slough as the fog starts to lift.

Smallmouth bass are one of the most under pursued Delta gamefish, they are found primarily in the North Delta.

Charlie Bisharats Airheads are one of many great patterns that were born on the Delta.

A Close up of the Umpqua Pike Fly. One of the top producing Delta Largemouth Flies.

Ric Rudgers launches a cast in pursuit of a top water striper in the South Delta.

Close up perspectives of the Deltas top fly rod gamefish, the striped bass.

Sight fishing in the Delta is limited due to the sediment in the water which gives you limited visibility, but the savvy angler can find a few sight fishing opportunities.

Blast off. Mike Costello and clients go in search of the next hot striper grab. An Abel Fish Print Pattern matched up with its Inspiration.

The Marine layer pulls into the foothills, a common trend in the summer months. One of many magical sunsets in the North Delta.

Spectacular early fall cloud pattern high above the North Delta.

Early morning fall fishing on the Cashe slough in the North Delta.

Captain Kevin Doran poles around Mike Hendry in search of shallow water fall stripers.

More of John Shermans amazing photography can be found at:

www.JohnGSherman.com

The magic hour, there is nothing like the first and last hours of light for Delta Bass.

Matt Baker fishing the matts looking for a explosion from a giant Delta Largemouth Bass.

Let the giants go! Big stripers are the future of this fishery and its im-portant to let the big spawners go. A female of this caliber can produce over 200 million eggs.

Armed and ready, a look at Captain Mike Costellos Striper Box.

Tenkara fly-fishing

Tenkara is about y- shing simplicity. It eliminates unnecessary complexities to let you enjoy the true y-

shing experience - casting a weightless y, reading the turbulent water, seeing the rise, feeling the sh.

The ultra-light and portable gear is great for backpacking. Tenkara rods are 11 to 13 ft long, weigh as little

as 2.5oz, and collapse down to a mere 20 inches. A long rod and light line allow you to effectively sh

challenging waters with precise casting, delicate presentations and a drag-free drift.

See our videos at: www.tenkarausa.com/videos

Tenkara is perfect for those in search of a pure, effective and simpler method of y- shing.

Tenkara is the traditional Japanese method of y- shing where only a rod, line and y - but no reel - are used. Tenkara originated and was perfected over centuries by professional anglers in the mountain streams of Japan. It is the ideal method for y- shing small streams.

Simplicity.

888.i.tenkara www.tenkarausa.com

Lookup: Japanese y shing

TM

AmericanFlyFishing.com

AmericAs Online Fly shOpsimple! secure! GuArAnteed

CALL FOR YOUR FREE CATALOGUE800-410-1222

All All AllAll

Button 2: Button 3: