Singlebarbed’s Chief Correspondent of Harsh Language and Hard Luck Stories, “San Mateo Joe”, reports back from last week’s Upper Sacramento foray.

Joe tells it better than I ever could:

I had good luck and a good time on the Upper Sac, with one exception: day one, on my first trip down to the river, the dry felt on my wading boots came into contact with some dry pine needles that were covering the rocks, and down on my fat ass I went. I suffered no damage, but the Orvis fly rod I was carrying snapped neatly above the cork. (There’s no “R” on the cork, so Orvis has agreed to repair or replace it, free of charge.) I wasn’t carrying an extra rod, so I peeled a bunch of line off the reel, and after putting the reel into the top of my waders, I managed to do a decent job of covering the river with the long end of the stick. My brother then showed up and lent me his backup rod – a telescoping contraption he usually takes whenever he goes backpacking. I ended up catching lots of fish, all on a parachute mayfly pattern – probably the best evening I’ve ever had on the Upper Sac. 

A few days later I headed over to the McCloud with a friend of mine. I’d never been there before, and I must say it’s a beautiful river. We camped at Ah Di Nah, and fished the river below the campground that night. There were large stoneflies everywhere, but I didn’t see any fish coming up for them, so I tied on a size 18 mayfly cripple. Hooked seven, landed four. My buddy who was fishing nymphs got skunked. The next morning we went down to the Nature Conservancy. It was a beautiful day, but tough fishing. I only managed five hookups; two to hand. Both took an ostrich herl soft hackle. My buddy’s a much better nymph fisherman than I am, and proved it by out-fishing me four to one. We checked the log at the end of the day, and most reported getting skunked, so I didn’t feel too bad.

Hope you enjoy the attached photo. The Conservancy looked like it could use a little class.

Proof that Singlebarbed readers are of superior stock, not by birthright – merely ingenuity forged in the cold bosom of Mercury, adversity, and greasy filling station breakfasts. In our book, “SMJ” stands for “Suddenly MacGyver Junior” – but the scorch marks on the surrounding trees suggest his show is for mature audiences, or at least those episodes where he breaks another rod…

Joe was gracious enough to include the flies that worked, that little soft hackle caddis looks like a dandy.