West Slope Slam

Spent this past weekend fishing some of my home waters down on the west slope with my brother.  One of the best parts about fishing the West Side of the Sierra's is the variety of fishing it has to offer.  There's many different species and types of water available to anglers.  Lately we have been into doing multi species fishing days.  It's fun to try to catch as many different species of fish in one day as possible.  Around Amandor and Calavaras, it's possible to catch rainbow, brown, cutthroat and brook trout, large mouth, small mouth, striper and rock bass, blue gill, sun fish, crappie, squaw fish, carp, cocanie, and even cat fish on flies.  We make up different combinations and try to come up with slam names like they have in Belize.  We consider a slam to be when you catch at least three different species in one day.  A grand slam is four major species and a super grand slam is at lest 5 species.  My best combo has been a rainbow trout, cocanie, squawfish, large mouth and small mouth in one day.  On this outing, my brother Eugene got the classic West Slope slam.  He managed to pull in three brown trout, two rainbow's and three large mouth bass.  He almost had a small mouth too, witch would have put him up into a grand slam.  We are so lucky to have such diverse fisheries here in California.  

Eugene with the first brown of the day.   He took a green sculpin pattern.  

The bows were small, but wild and great fighters.  
Who say's bass can't jump?
Eugene's last bass was a nice one.  Great take and good fight.  
It's always nice to end the day with a couple good bass takes on a popper.  I fell short of the slam and only got a couple rainbows and a few bass.  If only i could have hooked the small mouth that bit by fly.  Oh well, looks like my brother will have bragging rights for at least another month or so.  

In addition to just getting out and fishing, I've also been putting some of Patagonia's new footwear to the test.  Pictured here is the new Izzak wading sandal.  It's been a real treat to wear and has out preformed any expectations.  It's great for wading and hiking through the entire summer and on a variety of different terrain.  The new Vibram sole has amazing hold on everything from the sharp shale rocks of the foothills, to the smooth granite boulders of the high country to the super slick river bottoms of the east Walker and Truckee Rivers.  It's my new favorite pice of footwear by far.  I've also been using the Tide Swing fishing shoe and Limit flip flop.  Patagonia is really raising the bar with new footwear innovations for anglers.   Also keep an eye out for the new Vibrum soles on some of the wading boots like my personal favorite, the River Walker.  They are more environmentally friendly to the river bottom, without sacrificing great traction.  

MW