Perfect conditions, almost...

The conditions were almost perfect this morning. The air was humid and low clouds shrouded the mountaintops. Water rushed over the riffles and slid across long glides. Recently-hatched insects swarmed in the heavy air. This all occurred not on some cold-water stream, however, but right here in Tucson. The atmospheric conditions were left over from yesterday's intense, Monsoon-driven thunderstorms; the Santa Cruz River's flows will inevitably percolate into the sandy bed and thence,the badly-depleted aquifer beneath. The hatch was composed primarily of mosquitoes, with a few swarms of flying termites in the mix. And it was already almost unbearably hot, even at 6:00 am.

I remain simultaneously obsessed with fly fishing for trout and inextricably stuck in a place with none of them. But I really shouldn't say that I'm stuck. I recently had a real opportunity to get transferred (and also promoted), by my employer, back to Sacramento, California. I could have been spiked out in an apartment in time for the American River's fall run Chinook and the half-pounder steelhead that pick off the former's stray eggs during the spawn. But my wife and I are desert rats, and, despite some trying experiences, we're pretty much permanently settled in to the Old Pueblo, or at least the Southwest. We also remember the societal factors that defeated us and drove us out of Northern California in the first place: high cost of living; long, dark, and dreary winters; and a bad case of burnout in the very job to which I considered returning.

But at least it got me thinking. If all I really want from NorCal is its better fishing opportunities, then why not just take a vacation over there? And so I've decided to block out a couple of weeks this autumn and head over for a somewhat open-ended road trip. I need to do some research to ensure that my quarry (fall steelhead) are in from the ocean, but that I also don't arrive when lengthy river reaches (and many of the best walk-in access areas) are closed to protect salmon and their redds from undue angling pressure. 

I have a ton to do beforehand, including getting my older (but more economical) pickup truck fixed up. It's OK for around town, but needs some serious engine work before I'll drive it a coupla' thousand miles in one shot. The tailgate is stuck shut, its latch broken; and the struts that hold the shell's door open are sacked. I need to repair these things, because I'll be damned if I have to put on my waders standing up, hopping around on one foot, and I fear that door will fall and snap off one (or more) of my fly rods during set-up.

I should have all of the gear I need, though I need to invest in some bulk spools of backing for the new (to me) reels I've sourced from eBay over the past year or so. I'll be bringing everything from my modern-in-every-way, fast-action graphite rods with their large-arbor reels to my vintage Fenglass with the sweet click-drag reels. I might also want to practice my fly casting. I don't have grass, so I haven't been able to lawn-cast any of my new sticks. I've assembled some reels to some rods and waved them around in my backyard but didn't string them up, so I can't even say I've gravel-casted. Oh, and I'm grateful that a 10-day, non-resident California fishing license. is available. I'd have needed to take out a second mortgage to get a full-year, non-resident tag. There's that cost-of-living thing again.

More later.