Spot Check
By Mike Wier
River Snorkeling
Have you ever tried river snorkeling? If you’re a fisherman and like to swim, I’d highly recommend it. When most people think of snorkeling, they think of the Bahamas, Hawaii or the Great Barrier Reef. While there’s not quite as much colorful life to see in the cold, fresh water environment as there is in many of the warm marine habitats, there is still a lot of interesting things in California’s cold waterways. One of the key factors for snorkeling is clear water. If you have clear water, snorkeling will be an enjoyable experience just about anywhere you are. There’s something magical about the feeling of floating weightless in water and having some interesting stuff to look at is a total bonus. In addition to wildlife, the way the light dances off the rocks underwater can be mesmerizing.
Snorkeling in trout habitat, whether it’s a river or lake, is a great way to learn about that environment. I guarantee you will learn a lot about trout behavior by observing them underwater and it will ultimately make you a better angler. Trout are also extraordinarily beautiful. Seeing them in their natural habitat and not on the end of a line or out of the water is an experience in itself. Beyond trout, you will also see all the other little creatures that inhabit the cold water ecosystem that you may not know about because we never target or try to catch them. Chances are you will see lots of other fish including sculpin, redside minnows, dace, white fish, pike minnow, and many others. In addition, there’s a good chance you will see a ton of bugs. Don’t be afraid, as the majority of underwater insects don’t bite. Most of what you will see are the five different types of caddis including the large case caddis (Limnephilidea). There are also tons of mayflies, stone flies and midge larva in all of our waterways. I also often encounter crayfish, which could potentially bite your toes or finger so be wary of them. If you’re lucky you might also spot some amphibians like frogs, salamanders and turtles. It’s the best way to learn what forge food for trout is predominate in each waterway.
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