Flats Fishing in the Sierras
by
Morgan Kane
I've been chasing fish since I was a little kid roaming the creeks, rivers and lakes chasing anything that swims. There's something about being out in the water that feeds my lifeblood. Something I’m sure a lot of us can relate to. I grew up in Northern California out in the middle of nowhere with miles to explore. Like most youth, bass and panfish were the majority of fish I harassed as there are countless farm ponds, lakes and winery ponds. The winery ponds were the money buckets for those big uneducated largemouth, but the fishing sessions didn't last long as we were jumping fences and fishing areas we were not supposed to be. The kind of things one is supposed to do in their youth, as opposed to their adult years.
As time flew by and I somehow became an adult and moved up into the mountains and the fishing opportunities were far more than expected.
For a good decade my snowboards stole the winters as I moved up to escape the growing city so I could ditch my "weekend warrior" title and snowboard daily. As we all know the mountains are now crazy and busy as can be, and the enjoyment slowly started to fade.
Then one day I just didn't feel that joy anymore, it finally sunk in that I'd rather be fishing. In the last six years I can count on one hand how many times I've picked those snowboards back up.
My wife and I currently reside in South Lake Tahoe, CA high up in the mountains and trout are scattered all throughout the area. We have some amazing freestone rivers, tailwaters, high alpine lakes, small streams and a huge Alkaline Lake 100 miles away with the world's largest cutthroat trout. We are quite spoiled with the amount of fishing opportunities in the area, especially if one is willing to explore a bit.
The last few years I have spent my winters out at Pyramid lake guiding anglers new and seasoned catch the ginormous trout out in the Nevada desert. It's quite a special place that is unlike no other.
Folks spread out on beaches fishing on ladders and custom chairs to get up out of the cold water as monster fish swim the ledges just out of sight looking for their next meal. It's not just the fish that make this large inland sea a destination fishery as it's landscape rivals Mars with the wild rock formations and Orange hillsides.
But what does one do in the heat of summer during a drought year? The last couple years the West coast hasn't had the greatest of winters and in the middle of summer our rivers are low, warm and somehow still crowded. It seems since the pandemic we had an enormous shift of people moving up into the mountain towns overpopulating them with rude citidiots who think about #1, and number one only!
Not only has this made everything and everywhere 10x busier, we also got a new group of people who don't know how to pick up after themselves and think they know everything. The poor little mountain towns have lost their small mountain town feels, and now the quite piece of water is blasted on the newest app found on that little computer in everybody's pocket. So, what does a trout bum do during these times when he still wants to chase fish, but still wants some peace and quiet? They go chase carp!
Since my teen years I've always been one to stray away from the "popular", stuff. If I liked it and nobody else did, I enjoyed that much more. I think that is one of the things that sucked me into carp fishing.
Most people look at carp as trash fish since they are invasive to the area. They don't always live in the prettiest places as they can live in water most fish cannot. They thrive in the heat of the summer when the cold-water fish are struggling. I'll never understand when guides continue to pound the same waters in the heat of summer when they know damn well they are too warm and low. Let alone teach the new anglers piss poor etiquette that harms the fisheries when they should be doing the complete opposite.
In our area trout are all the rage! The landscape is drop dead gorgeous and the fishing ain't bad either. Don't get me wrong, I love trout fishing. But so does everyone else. So once again the ugly red headed step child, my favorite mud mouth, flats cruising, backing busting and clam eating carp are going to suck me in!
Now that we are in the dog days of summer as another heat wave blasts through Northern California and Nevada our favorite flats cruising fish are as spooky as ever! They have had to find parts of rivers that hold more water and have nice structure for cover from predators. Being an invasive species they have a real idiot predator that likes to kill for fun. Those predators lurk around with bows and leave their kills on the bank to show off their stupidity!
This makes the carp super edgy and wary of all noises. I've come to notice over the years that turtles are snitches and only the sneakiest ninja can creep up on turtles. This is how one needs to approach the river fish in the low water years later in the summer. The slightest of something different spooks these fish as they feed up on the flats tail up. An odd shadow, stepping on a small branch 30 yards away and sometimes they even spook for no apparent reason. Maybe it's their sixth or even seventh sense, because hot dog these fish are smart, and often outsmart the best of us. It's the little things that really make these fish intriguing to me, and you pair that up with some rarities like some sexy mirror carp and you've really got my attention.
Recently I went and visited my favorite carp haunt looking for some mirror carp. Mirror carp aren't very common in our area and yet again that draws me in. Their irregular patterns and wild scales make for some truly draw dropping wild fish. This beat of water has almost fifty percent mirrors and seeing those oddball scales reflect the sun light as they swim by is a sight to see.
But now the water is low and the flats are shallow, the weeds are becoming more prevalent and the fish are on edge. The beavers have dammed up the lower section of this area which allows for the river to rise a bit which is one of the many reasons I think the carp stay and populate this area quite well. In the middle of this stretch of river there are a few very large trees in the river over a deep hole making the large bucket impossible to fish, yet gives the fish a nice comfortable area to live while most of the river is quite low. The river slides down off a large flat into the carps protected structure area and has two deeper channels that run on both sides of the flat.
In the early mornings the fish are often seen cruising the flats head down tail up. But now that the water had dropped a bit, they tend to hang to the sides of the flat near the side channels so they can quickly escape back down into their safe place full of snags and structure. The fish are on edge and as spooky as can be at the end of summer as the water has been continuing to drop exposing them to the countless predators harassing them. One must use their best ninja creeping skills to enable a shot at these genius flat dwelling fish as they are on their most ghostly behavior.
This particular morning, I decided to use distance and cover to stalk my fish. I approached the flat high above the river on a tall bluff covered in sage brush. If I can quietly sneak up and around the big hole covered in downed trees from above I will be able to see the large flat. As you come up past their safe zone you need to crouch and watch where you gently place your feet as to make sure you don't step any branches spooking them while you are a bit out of casting range still. In order to be able to stand a chance at even making a cast I need to quietly move up another 40 yards without spooking the fish while carefully moving through the bluff up to where I need to position myself. At the same time, I need to scan for rattlesnakes as I creep up behind some sage brush to my vantage point.
Here there is a stretch of sage bushes that stand about 4 feet tall and have a couple holes to enable casting points and allow me to look down onto the flat, where to my surprise there is a couple pods of fish with their heads down and massive golden tails pointed up. I stay in position and try and maintain my best statue pose as i quietly peel some line off my reel.
At this time I'm standing above the river about 30 feet, and another 20 or so back from the water's edge. There is a pod out towards the middle of the flat and a few right on the water's edge. Of course, I’m going to take the close shot because I may only get one shot in this low water.
If I blow it more than likely both pods will spook back down into the structure and out of reach. I can see the closest fish is a decent one and he has all my favorite irregular scales. I'm all set to see if I can't mess this one up. I have all my fly line coiled up nice and neat so it doesn't catch on the sage brush as i pick up to cast. (If you have fished in the desert, you understand my frustration of fly line getting tangled in these stinky desert bushes). I pick up the line and throw my sz12 bead head hares ear right into his feeding lane. Drag the fly a few inches right in front of that big mud mouth. I see his big pec fins scoop forward as he pushes that mouth up onto my fly. "Set!”
I hammer that hook set fierce into that rubber mouth and watch his back arch up. This is when I know I've stuck him, and he knows he screwed up big time. With one huge tail push he is up and moving towards his safe spot. If he makes it down into there I lose as he knows exactly where to break me off in his fortress of trees. I have to act quick and put some line on the reel as I need to jump down the bluff while maintaining good pressure as to not give the fish much room to escape.
I get a few good cranks on the reel I jump the knee busting 8 ft down and scramble to the river's edge and then quickly slide into the water and move towards the center and onto the flat in hopes to steer him into the middle of the river to slow his run down the side channel into his hole. I applied heavy side pressure and continued to steer him away from the side channel. After seeing that bright orange line under all my fly line I was able to get him back under control and slide him into the grass. Take a quick few photo and slide him back to his home to play another day…
See this kind of reminds me of bass fishing as a kid and I did a lot of that so it only comes second nature. But these fish are of a whole different caliber than the lazy Largemouth Bass and Trout I'm used to catching as well as a highly under rated fish. Carp that are often smarter than most anglers and that is one of the many things that pull me in. Learning a new species has been a blast. The way the feed, when they feed, where they live and all the different ways, they act on a day-to-day basis is so intriguing. The challenge is what makes these fish so special some days.
There is no gimme when fly fishing for carp. Pair that up with a beauty that the majority overlook and you have a true diamond in the rough. My name is Morgan, and I love carp fishing!
Morgan Kane
Head guide for Pyramid fly co
South Lake Tahoe, CA