I had an enjoyable time fly fishing at the Club Friday and Saturday with a buddy, Mark Serlin.  Serlin was a old comrade of Bill Carnazzo’s and is an excellent fly fisherman.  Fishing on Friday was particularly good;  we noted multi-hatches: primarily mayfly duns and what appeared to be darker Caddis, although the latter seemed a bit early for this time of year.  We fished Boxcar and the area downstream, primarily floating a size 16 dark Caddis with a size 16 emerging (soft tackle) pale evening dun dropper, tied to a 15-inch tag piece of leader so it trailed the point fly below the surface.  A raise of the rod tip at the end of a drift occasionally stimulated a hard take and we took several nice rainbows in the 13-16 range.  I had two break off.  The river is low; we mainly caught trout in the faster, more oxygenated water.

I managed to leave my headlights on when I parked above Boxcar; thanks again to Art and his buddy who happened by and gave me a jump or else we would have been up a creek, literally.

We passed a convivial evening at the campground with a new member, Troy Scott.  I believe we solved most of life’s mysteries over steaks, a salad, potatoes, polenta, a few bottles of excellent red wine, a single malt of mature age and cigars.

On Saturday, we hiked down towards the Cathedral pool.  We traversed the ridge of the dry holding pond to the left the trail above Cathedral.  At the upper, (mountain-side) right-hand of that depression is a trail that takes you immediately downstream of Cathedral, which involved some thrashing through the underbrush.  We forded (with some difficulty) to an island, forded again to the opposite bank and worked our way further downstream.  I had not been below Cathedral before; both the water and the scenery are superb.

Saturday was not as good as Friday; I wonder if that was due to a bright, full moon Friday evening, which perhaps allowed the trout to continue feeding through the moon-lit night.  Serlin caught a nice rainbow, nymphing.  We both trailed a size 14 Prince off the same sized Hare’s ear among other things, but to little avail.  There was a light Cayhill hatch at the Gray Eagle pool with a few rising trout later in the day, although a large river otter passing through put them down for a bit.  He surfaced, gave me the “Who the fu** are you?” look, and continued on his way.

We saw numerous of what appeared to be Golden Stone casings, and Serlin found a live Golden Stone of about three and a half inches with amber coloring on its thorax..  I think a size 6 or 8 Simulator may do the trick next time.  Troy mentioned in an email yesterday that he caught a Brown on a Stimulator.

One final note: the poison oak is thick everywhere, particularly on the stream-side steps going down to the Cathedral pool.  This time of year it is a light green color and is blooming small white flowers, so you can’t miss it.

All in all, a great time was had.  Best, jjb

James J. Banks