A Useful Art
“The Art of Mending” by Mike Pease is awesome (July/August 2023). I have often thought of writing a book about mending, but I’m too jaded and it is a money-losing proposition. Mending is far more important than the over-hyped casting styles. The fish don’t care about your loop, and even a sloppy roll cast works if the bait is presented well. Mending rules.
I’d add to Mike’s piece that mending isn’t always about a drag-free drift. Some of the best mends create drag and more. A cast upstream with a downstream mend allows you to pull a steamer downstream at an accelerated and, if needed, a quick moving and pulsing presentation.
One of the best mends is throwing a loop onto the bank or even into the willows. The fly wants to go where the line is. If your line is upstream of a cut bank, the fly will swing deep under the cut bank. This is where the big boys lurk.
There is no better skill in fly fishing than line control, and mending is where it’s at. Thanks for the article, Mike.
RALPH CUTTER
Graeagle
Hooked on Lit
I just read your article on California fly-fishing literature and I want to tell you how meaningful it was to me. (“California Fly-Fishing Lit,” by Richard Anderson, July/August 2023.) The article captures the value of the literature that connects with our sport and how it deepens our relationship with it. As the article says, we get much more from fly fishing than a creature flopping in a net, and good writing helps us see and remember that.
GREG DEYOUNG
Nevada City
Hooked on Lit, Too
I received the latest issue of California Fly Fisher and dove right into the reviews of California fly-fishing literary works and their authors. Thanks very much for this! I immediately went to some second-hand bookstore websites and found most of what you wrote about (although Russell Chatham’s works are tough to get — I am surprised his heirs or the owner of the rights to his works haven’t republished them).
I also note that Bill Barich has a thing for the institution known as the Irish pub!
TERRY DONALDSON
Guam
And Another Hooked on Lit
Loved your Cal fly-fishing literature overview. How about doing something similar for fly-fishing literature that comes from outside the state? I’m aware of some writers, like John Gierach, but no doubt there are others who would be good to read.
ALICE JENKINS
Monterey
Alice, for a start, take a look at Michael Checchio’s piece in this issue’s “Paper Hatch” column. Beyond his suggestions, other writers worth checking out include Nick Lyons, Harry Middleton, M. R. Montgomery, Christopher Camuto, W. D. Wetherell, and William G. Tapply. There are certainly more who are worthy of attention. Enjoy the search!
The Jig is Out
My impression over the last few years is that many fly-fishing guides have become enamored with Perdigon-style beadhead nymphs tied on jig hooks, irrespective of whether one is Euro-nymphing or just regular nymphing under an indicator. But on a recent five-week trout safari to rivers in Idaho, Montana, Washington, British Columbia, and Oregon, I seemed to lose a lot of fish that took my jig-hook flies. During one evening of high-stick, short-line wade-fishing on the Madison River at the bottom of Bear Trap Canyon, I hooked seven trout on a Perdigon jig nymph and landed only two. All the hook sets were downstream of the fish, yet five got off either immediately or within the first minute of the fight. I’m wondering whether these hooks are truly effective fish catchers.
LARRY VOLLINTINE
Oakland
Groundwater and Trout
Thank you for Chris Wright’s story about the importance of groundwater aquifers to trout streams and the threat that climate change poses to these aquifers (“Drought and California’s Trout Waters,” July/August 2023). I don’t know much about the problem, but the streams I fish in Southern California have not been doing too well. I fear for the long-term future of the trout in this region.
ALEX SIMS
Los Angeles
Alex, you are right to be concerned, and an additional issue that Chris didn’t have room to explore in his story is the depletion of groundwater through its pumping for agricultural and municipal uses. Basically, the problem is this: even though an aquifer might store a lot of water, pumping from it can lead to the water table dropping for part of the year, which in turn can reduce flows in trout streams fed by that aquifer, potentially even drying them up during the peak pumping season. An example is upper Deep Creek, which you have probably fished. It is apparently suffering from lowered summer-season flows likely caused by groundwater pumping.
Other trout streams with flows that are likely being reduced by groundwater pumping include the Carmel River, the Cosumnes River, the Little Shasta River, and the Truckee River. (Surely there are more.) The relationship between groundwater pumping and surface waters is an issue that is gaining interest across the state, thanks to California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), which is intended to reduce the negative effects of groundwater pumping for every groundwater basin.
