Photo: Mike Wier
Legends of the Fall
Did you know the Fall River is the largest spring-fed river in the western United States? Several icy aquifers coming from the snow and glaciers of Mount Shasta sustain the Fall River’s flows. As such, it also holds one of the largest populations of wild trout! In fact, it is designated a Wild Trout and Heritage Trout fishery by the Department of Fish and Wildlife and is world famous for its large hard-pulling Rainbow trout.
The Fall River winds 21 miles through a lush valley near the city of Fall River Mills in the northeast corner of Shasta County. The Fall is the largest tributary to the Pit River and was originally named by explorer John C. Fremont for the cascades where it abruptly "falls" from the low gradient valley plateau and drops into the Pit River canyon.
As a kid I heard legends of the Fall River spoken in fly fishing lore. I heard about the prolific hatches and consistent dry fly fishing; the crystal clear, cold meandering waters; the epic hex hatch in the early summer; and the massive Rainbows and occasional browns. These stories were mostly told by wealthy anglers who flew into private airstrips and only fished with guides from private estates along the river. As a young angler and guide I didn't have those kinds of resources. My impression of the Fall River was that is was basically a private playground for rich fly fishers. Now that I’ve had the chance to spend more time up there, some of my early perceptions remain, but some have changed. While the river is mainly surrounded by private property, there is also public access and fishing opportunities for the DIY angler as well.
It was a pleasant sight to see the river flowing good and cold this month. When I arrived last week the flows were right around 90 csf which is a great flow for the Walker. Looking at the graph the river hasn’t gotten over 150 for the past 3 years! It looked like the old EW I used to know. I could see from the graphs though that the river had just come up recently. I knew the fish would still be near the deeper pools where they congregate at lower flows. When the water bumps up it gives them a chance to get up into the riffles and spread out into prime feeding water.
My friend Chris and I worked our way through some of our favorite pools fishing the buckets as well as the riffles leading in and out of the pools. Chris started with a dry then fished nymphs while I opted for the streamer. That’s a great combo for buddy fishing. One guy can come through with a light nymph rig or dry dropper set up and the streamer guy can run cleanup. That’s how’s we’ve done it for years. The day was sunny and warm. It was a Saturday and we only ran into two other fishermen all day so we got to choose our favorite waters.
As far as the fishing goes it was a bit slow but the fish that were caught were all very healthy and high quality. Chris got a nice brown on a small nymph down in the pocket water along the road. A buddy I ran into, who’s a guide from the East side, got a super chunky brown on a nymph as well as a couple solid rainbows.
My best shot came in a deep pool up high. I threw a large streamer in looking for a stout fish. On the second cast my line stopped and I thought I’d hooked the moss on the bottom again. I lifted up the rod tip and up came a huge brown with my streamer in his mouth. When he saw me, he just simply opened his mouth and my fly came popping out. I never had a chance to set the hook. A few casts later my line came tight again. This time I set the hook and instantly felt weight on the end of my line. When I lifted up I could see the white of what I thought was a big mouth and saw the tail of a fish. I yelled at my buddy. The fish was waving around in the current but not fighting. My buddy laughed his you know what off as I pulled in half of a dead fish. Well that was a real slap in the face from the river gods but that’s how it goes sometimes. My only hope was that the big old brown I’d seen just prior had eaten the other half of the mystery fish carcass.
If you do stop by the East Walker be sure to check out the new kiosk that was installed by CalTrout in the summer of 2014 in the parking lot just below the dam. The plaques tell about the native Lahontan Cutthroat and CalTrout’s efforts to restore the fish in parts of the Walker Basin. They feature some of my photos from being out in the field filming and photographing our restoration efforts over the past few summers in the remote tributaries to the West Walker.
Tight Lines,
Michael Wier