Why The Old Days Were Better (?)
Musings of an Old Trout Bum - 11/12/24
A little history about why Half-Pounder fishing on the Lower American used to be a lot better. It’s not what you think . . .
One mid-seventies summer I found myself drawing unemployment and with lots of time on my hands. My friend and roommate Chris, a fellow expat from LA, informed me that he had found a sand beach along the Lower American River that flowed through town. Being that we both had grown up spending our summer vacations hanging out at Marine Avenue in Manhattan Beach in southern California, this was great news. Sort of a chance to relive our teenage years, so to speak.
So the next morning I took off for the beach. I followed his directions and found a parking lot near the levy and headed towards the river. It took some time to find it and finally I pushed through some bushes and before me was about a hundred yards of sand and even a volleyball court in the water. On the sand were hundreds of people laying on beach towels and sitting on beach chairs. There were even a few naked bodies sprinkled through the crowd. I found my friend Chris and plopped down my beach chair beside him and began a ritual that would repeat for the next two summers.
Among the many new friends I met that summer was Art who was a high school history teacher and of course had his summers off. Towards the end of August he began bringing a spinning rod and once everyone was leaving the beach at the end of the day, he would take off by himself down the beach. One day I asked him where he was going and he said “I’m going fishing for Half-Pounder Steelhead.” That caught me by surprise as even though I knew that there were Steelhead in the river I had no idea what a Half-Pounder was. So, when it was time to leave, I walked with him down along the shoreline to where the river narrowed, and willows lined the water. In the shallow water in front of the willows was a line of fishermen standing side by side about ten feet apart. As I observed them through the willows, I saw that many of them had stringers attached to the branches with beautiful twenty-inch Rainbows attached to them. Every once in awhile on of the fishermen would yell “fish on” and proceed to chase the fish downstream to land it in a cove. Art found a gap within the line of fishermen and took a place in the line. I watched for a little while and since I couldn’t fish, I decided to head on home. Needless to say the following day and every day after, I brought my fishing gear along. From that day on I became as dedicated as one could be to Half-Pounder fishing.
I gave Art a call that evening and explained that I was a little confused about the name “Half-Pounder.” The fish I saw were definitely much larger than half a pound. He explained that the old timers for some reason had always called them by that name and also said that they were sexually immature Steelhead that came up the river each autumn only to disappear by winter and then return again a couple of years later in January and February to spawn. That answered my question and that was enough information for now, but something didn’t seem right.
I didn’t give it any more thought for quite a few years until I went to work at Kiene’s Fly Shop in Sacramento, California where I was in constant conversation with both staff and customers about fishing . One common subject, particularly with old timers, was about how much better the fishing was in the old days. I suppose that there probably never was a time in history when the old timers didn’t claim the old days were better than the present. By this time we were in the new millennial and the old days were the years prior to the 1980s. The old guys blamed the decline in Half-Pounders on poor water management, over fishing, and poaching by recent immigrants and so on.
As a writer I’m constantly doing research on fish related stuff and I came across a California Department of Fish & Wildlife (CDFW) document that indicated that in the 1960s an attempt was made to introduce and establish a summer run Steelhead strain. There was also no mention of Half-Pounders on the American River though there was a slight reference to a central valley fall run strain that was in existance. The runs of sexually immiture fall run Steelhead, otherwise known as true Half-Pounders only occur in California on the north coast rivers so the name Half-Pounder was a misnomer so the question was what was the strain of fish we were catching?
There is what is what’s called a summer run Steelhead that generally ascend the rivers of the Pacific Northwest in July and August and then wait around (through fall) until spring to spawn, so with a little more sleuthing I found that in the late sixties thousands of eggs from a summer run strain of Steelhead were imported into the Nimbus Hatchery on the American River from the Washougal River Hatchery in Washington state and once hatched were released. During this time and into the seventies fall run strain of Steelhead from the Sacramento River were also introduced. Unfortunately the several attempts failed to establish a permanent summer run and the stocking programs were ended, but for a time during the seventies there were quite a few summer Steelhead in the river during the fall months. The decline in the large numbers of Steelhead that the old timers complained about was not due to the reasons they cited but due to some well-meaning stocking programs by the CDFW that had not met with success.
The CDFW put in all that time and work for only one purpose and that was to create a better recreational fishery for their biggest constituency which was fishermen. I kind of doubt that the current regime that runs the department would make the same level of effort today for the purpose of an improved recreational fishery on the lower American River. If one of your older friends starts spouting off on how much better Steelhead fishing the lower American River was in the old days he/she is telling the truth but it was only because CDFW was planting thousands of fish in the river each year to benefit their constituency, you and me.
Insta-Set Indicators-The strike indicator that lets you know when you’ve reached dead drift. If you want to try them out contact:
Colorado Angler Supply
www.CAS.com
THIS WEEK’S NEWSLETTER
News Flash!
I’m not sure how many of you are aware of this but . . . The Army Core of Engineers is planning to devegetate all of the riparian growth along a four mile stretch of the Lower American River parkway that runs from Sac State to about a mile past Watt Avenue. This will be devastating to the environment plus be an eyesore for the twenty years it will take to grow back. Click on the link below to get more information and find out what you can do: help.https://www.americanrivertrees.org/project-3bOur Partners
Below are several conservation organizations that we hope you will
take the time to supportAmerican River Trees: https://www.americanrivertrees.org/project-3b
Save the American River (SARA): https://www.sarariverwatch.org/
Cal Trout: https://caltrout.org/
Save Auburn Ravine Salmon & Steelhead: https://sarsas.org/
Trout Unlimited: https://www.tu.org/
Water Bird Habitat: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=waterbird%20habitat%20project
Clinics
Automatically get 10% off on my clinics by becoming a paid suscriber
The December 28 lower American River Steelhead Clinic just had one spot open up due to a cancellation. The January 25 clinic is now full. Several spots remain for the February 1st clinic and the February 8th clinic has 5 spots. If you want one of the open spots let me know as soon as possible.If the published clinic schedule does not work for you, keep in mind that I will be happy to conduct a personal clinic for one or two individuals, at a day and time of your choosing.
Cell/Text: (916)719-6253
Email: vinci.greg@gmail.com
For more information about the clinics go to:
https://www.californiaflyfishingreports.com/clinics-greg
This Week’s Fly Fishing News
Click on the waters below for an up to date report on my recommended waters or click on
www.californiaflyfishingreports.com to see all 30 waters.Truckee River-Little Truckee-East Carson-East Walker-Pyramid Lake
Upper Sac-Lower Sac-McCloud-Hat Creek-Fall River-Feather River-Putah Creek-Lower Yuba-Hot Creek-Baum Lake
Lastly, If you have nothing better to do . . .
I just added a new portfolio of Lower Yuba River images so head on over to my photography website www.gregvinciphoto.com and check out the pics. Click on the Portfolios page and scroll down to the link.