| Equipment and
Flies
- Rods: 3, 4, or 5 weight fly rods, 9 feet long are ideal for fishing
this portion of Hat Creek Ranch.
- Reels: Most
reels are just fine for Hat Creek fishing. You will not
have any fish here take you into your backing because the
pools just don’t allow that and the ponds are
not that big. However, you will often be using light tippets and the bigger fish can give quite a strong
first surge; if your reel hangs up just a bit the fish
will win. Just make sure any reel you use releases line
smoothly no matter how full or empty the spool is.
- Fly Lines:
Almost everyone uses a weight forward taper, floating line for
fishing Hat Creek. You won’t be making long casts
on most of the stretches of stream so whatever line you
like best for short casts (20’ to 30’) and roll
casts should be just fine. At times, an intermediate sinking line can be beneficial for fishing the ponds.
- Leaders: 9-10
foot leaders tapered to 4X will be a great start when fishing
the stream or the ponds. Add a section of 5x or 6x tippet
and you are ready to go. Sometimes the streamside willows
can make it hard to put your fly in tight to the target
with a long leader and a roll cast or short back cast. However,
just shortening the tippet can help immensely and you won’t
have to make a big leader remake. Last point- use fluorocarbon tippets
on this stream & maybe fluorocarbon leaders - you will
lose far fewer fish and flies and sometimes even raise for trout.
Miscellaneous Items:
*Hat *Sunscreen *Polarized Sun Glasses
*Clippers *Hemostats
*Camera *Soap for Poison Oak
Flies for Hat Creek
Streamers-
Beaded Micro Buggers, (blk/olive/brn), # 12
Zacks Zugger Bugger, (all colors), #8
Crystal Buggers, (olive, brn, blk), #8-12
Stillwater Nymph, (olive), #14
Zack Attack Damsel, (olive), #14
Nymphs-
GBPT Nymphs, #14-18
GB Bird’s Nest, #12-18
Fox’s Poopah (Tan and Olive) #14
GB Micro Mayfly, (blk), #16-18
HBI Nymph, #16
Hogan's S&M Nymph, #16-18
Golden Stone, #10-12
Red Copper John, #12-16
Mercer’s Zebra Midge, #18
Mercury Black Beauty, #20
Dries-
Parachute Adam, #14-20
Callibaetis Spinner, #16
Callibaetis Cripple, #14-16
Tilt Wing Dun PMD, #16
Quigley's Hat Creek Spider (PMD), #18
Green Drake Cripple or Emerger, #12
Etha Wing Trico, #18
Elk Hair Caddis, #14-18
Stimulators (Yellow and Orange), #8-12
Salmonfly Dry, #6-8
Yellow Humpy, #12-16
Parachute Ant, #16
TFS Foam Beetle, #14
Idylwilde Hopper, #8-12
Quigley’s Spider Midge, #20
This is by no means an all exclusive list of flies.
There are many other patterns that will work as well in many
cases. However, this is a list of flies that represent patterns
that any fisherman should have in their vest. Going to our
private ranches or to public water with only three or four patterns
will mean you stand a great chance of not having the right
fly at the right time.
A few points to remember:
Although Hat Creek Ranch is private, we still operate under
Fish & Game guidelines & regulations. Fishing
licenses are required and must be displayed.
But we've added a few of our own rules
and guests must remember that we require
all of the ranch fishing to be done fly fishing with barbless
hooks, and that all fish caught must be released.
Procedures for handling trout
1. Try to bring each fish to net or hand as quickly as possible.
The larger ones will do their best to interfere with you doing
this, but remember, the longer you play one the greater the
chance they will die later. If you do find yourself in a long
battle with one of the bigger ones, never take it out of the
water. Use an airless release only (see below).
2. Use barbless hooks and avoid using the very large streamer
hooks. Fish with size 8 flies or smaller.
3. Please, no hard nylon nets! The new rubber mesh nets are
ideal.
4. Avoid dragging any fish up on the bank. Use the airless
release at all times. You can either reach down with a hemostat
or hook disengager and remove the fly while the fish is still
under water.
5. When taking pictures of your fish please get everything
ready before lifting the fish up for the shot. Support the
fish with both hands- don’t squeeze- and keep it over
water the whole time. Lastly---your trophy should not be out
of the water for over 5 seconds.
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