Middle Fork of the Cosumnes Upstream From The Bridge

I've made a "sort of" Tenkara bucket list for the readers of the newspaper I write the fishing articles for. The article coming out on Friday lists six places I want to fish with Tenkara.

Number one on the list was the West Fork of the Carson River and I checked that one off on June 20th.  

Number three on the list was the East fork of the Carson and Wolf Creek. This one got a half of a check on June 29th because I got the East Fork, but missed Wolf Creek.

Number Two on the list I checked off today. The Middle Fork of the Cosumnes above the bridge at Cat Creek Rd.

I pulled out of the house at at 0730 and after the coffee stop at Cooks Station, arrived at the creek at 0815. I decided, since it is supposed to be warm today, that I would wet wade. I put on my wader boots and wool socks, not for warmth, but for bulk because my wader boots are a size larger than I normally wear. For my effort, I entered the stream for the first time at a blazing 54.4 degrees. 

Upstream from the bridge

The first spot

This is the first one using an orange stimulator, but I went down in size to a 14 instead of a 10. I had to use my new magnifying lens (you know one of those that clip on your hat) so I could see the hole and where to put the line. Old and blind, a bad combination.

The first fish

So in passing, I took a bunch of shots for you small stream guys.

Another spot

More spots

The one below was good enough for  a picture in my Troutrageous! t-shirt that I've been carrying around for about a year now just waiting for the proper fish, but the problem here is that it's hard to take a picture of yourself especially since your Troutrageous! t-shirt is still in the truck and you're a half mile down the creek. Sorry Mike, maybe next time. 

Rod Bender

OK, more fish and more pictures. This one was actually a good three fish pool. After I caught the three I changed to an Elk Hair Caddis. Thought I give them something different to look at, but what I found out is that they want something with color. They wouldn't touch the Elk Hair Caddis, but as soon as I put on a Yellow Humpy, they started hitting again.  

Three fish pool

Some more pictures.

For the small stream guys

This one is for them too

So, how did the day end up? Mark 9 - Fish maybe 20+. They are still faster than I am, but I'm making progress. I tried to keep track of the drive-bys, but I lost count around 8 or so.

The other three on the Tenkara "bucket list" are:
Four, The Silver Fork of the American River below the twelve mile bridge.

Five, Silver Creek and Lyons Creek off the road to Wrights Lake

Six, Mokelumne River off Red Corral Rd

Number Four will probably be checked off next Tuesday. Glenn (my retired Sheriff friend) and I are going to toss some flies there during our yearly 4th of July week fishing trip. OK, if you're counting I know it's the 10th.   

Day after tomorrow I'm off to a new place, so I'll let you know how that goes. I don't want to say too much, might jinx it. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Mark