Angling Publications - Index

Angling Publications - Fly Fish America - September 2007 Issue - Index

ALABAMA
September is a great time to chase spotted
bass in Northeast Alabama. Weiss Lake spots
seem to like an olive and white size-4 Clouser
minnow. Little River Canyon continues to be
a great spot for fly fishing. The redeye bass are
plentiful throughout the canyon. Stonefly and
nymph patterns are good choices for Little River.
On Lake Henry Neely, the saltwater striped bass
like the flat fish fly pattern. Stop by Rainbow
City Auction & Fly Shop in Gadsden, or call
them at (256) 442-5919.
ALASKA
Silvers are breaking out all over Alaska. Small
streams dumping straight into salt, especially
Southeast streams from Gustavus to Ketchikan
and in the Anchorage-Valdez-Cordova region,
will be black with fresh silvers, left-over pinks
and fang-mouthed chums as long as there is
open water. It's tough to beat any single salmon
egg pattern bounced along the gravel, but the
best all-purpose fly is a purple egg sucking leech.
Everything eats an egg sucker, including big
Dollys that swarm upstream behind the salmon
gulping spawn. Short leaders (five feet is plenty),
1X tippets, 6- to 8-weight rods, and polarized
glasses are what you need for spot-and-stalk
fishing. Good Southwest regional info is available
at Women's Flyfishing (907-274-7113),
and for hot Southeast prospects ask at Juneau
Flyfishing Goods (907-586-3754).
Want to try saltwater? Pack your best distance-casting
rod, and follow the tide books to
estuaries and river mouths. Wade out on the tide
40
change and watch for fresh schools of milling
silvers stacking up before surging upriver. Big
streamers work, but bright cerise, pink or orange
attractor patterns flecked with Flashabou, Krystal
Flash or white marabou work better.
ARIZONA
Birds circle then dive into water erupting with
shad running for their lives. Below, stripers smash
their quarry with abandon. A boat approaches
with caution. The guide tosses a big plug with
no hooks into the fray and works it noisily back
to the boat, drawing the stripers with it. Now
in range, the stripers, still in a feeding frenzy,
will smash streamer flies presented on modest
40 foot casts. This is fall striper fishing on Lake
Powell. Bill McBurney, owner of Ambassador
Guides & Outfitters, (800-256-7596; www.
ambassadorguides.com) has adapted this chumming
technique, traditionally used in saltwater,
to fish for this saltwater transplant. He recommends
a 7- or 8-weight rod with floating line
and 1x or 2x fluorocarbon tippet. The best flies
are Lefty's deceivers or Clousers in black/white
or chartreuse/white. Poppers often work as well,
producing smashing surface action. Trips leave
from Page for either the early morning or late
afternoon bite. Fish average two to seven pounds
and fly fishers usually catch eight to 10 per trip.
Give Bill a call.
ARKANSAS
The Little Red River is a great place to fish for
big bows and browns says the gang at Ozark
Angler #2 (501-362-3597) in Heber Springs.
A good stretch is between the Dripping Springs
Access point, near Pangburn, down to Ramsey.
September brings a large blue-winged olive hatch
and every angler should have some size-18 to
-22 BWO nymphs, emergers, and dries in his
or her fly box. Olive and black zebra midges are
productive, and sowbug patterns never go out of
season. Three- to 5-weight rods are ideal; 6x tippet
is the norm, but have a spool of 7x handy.
CALIFORNIA
Keep your mouth shut (or you're liable to inhale
a caddis) and fish like crazy for two hours every
evening when the Upper Sacramento River
produces one of the thickest clouds of fall caddis
flies in the state. Sometime in October, late in
the evening, the first caddis will come off, and
before it ends there will be a cloud of fish food in
the air. Rainbows are the big fish; the upper Sac
is one of the last great trout rivers with 20-inch
fish possible, and 14-inchers common. The little
railroad town of Dunsmuir is in the center of this
hot dry-fly action with stocked fish downstream
of Castle Creek and wild trout upstream into
the Cantara Loop-Box Canyon walk-in region.
Before the caddis lift off, prospect by pocket
picking with weighted nymphs (prince, pheasant
tail) and bobbers. Solid hatch, pattern, and
where-to info can be found at the Ted Fay Fly
Shop in Dunsmuir (530-235-2969).
For a bigger pull look to the Klamath River,
where the nine-month-long run of steelhead
peaks September through November. According
to local guides, when water temps waver between
52 and 58 degrees the steelhead are prime for
JASON BORGER ILLUSTRATION