Old eyes and fly fishing

I made my annual visit to the ophthalmologist this week. He told me that my eyes were pretty good (for my age).

Then why can’t I see my fly (the little ones I cast to catch trout) when it is floating on the water?

It’s that for-my-age part, isn’t it?

One of the best things about fly fishing is seeing the fish come up and strike the fly. But that supposes you know where the fly is. These days, if I’m lucky enough to guess correctly where the fly is floating, I might see a splash or flash of silver when the fish hits it.  May’be not.

But, I have this idea for a miraculous invention for us old fly fishers with failing eyesight. Light up the fly somehow so it shows up even in rough water.

There has to be an inventor out there who could figure something out.

Naturally any kind of battery would cause the fly to sink, so attaching a little led light to it is out of the question.

How about a special liquid solution into which you dip the fly, coating it with some kind of super light-reflective qualities, invisible to trout, but that can be seen by anglers wearing a specialty treated or computer-enhanced pair of eyeglasses?

Making the fly standout amid all of that moving, choppy, foaming, glare-mottled water is the goal.

I’ll be the first customer. I know at least a dozen or so bespectacled fly fishers who would line up buy it. Orvis would be on the doorstep of the inventor with a check.

If tech folks can squeeze a little woman named Siri into my iPhone to answer my questions, then they ought to be able to find a way to make my little fly visible to us grizzled old geezers.

And speaking of grizzled old geezers trying to catch a fish with a fly, Steve Kyle sent me a report from the Babine River this week.

When he starts his email by describing the great weather or the interesting guys with whom he is fishing, and then waxes on about the color of the leaves, eagles in the sky, and birds singing in the trees, I know one thing immediately – the fishing sucks. The fact that he was celebrating his birthday up there apparently didn’t count.

He fished for three days and caught one small steelhead. Most of the guys there had similar luck. A few caught fish. One of the anglers, film maker Fraser Heston, with whom Steve and I have both fished, and who has shown films at our Sonoma film festival, is up there, and he actually managed to catch a nice steelhead.

I’m sure I will receive at least one more essay on the wonders of nature in British Columbia from Kyle, so be prepared.

My friends and neighbors, Joe and Beth Aaron, report cold weather and tough fishing on the Big Hole River near Melrose, Montana this week. I expect a better report soon.

Fishing closer to Sonoma is best off the coast where anglers are catching limits of rockfish and limits or near limits of lingcod on almost every trip. There are also a few salmon being taken. Capt. Rick Powers, of Bodega Bay Sportfishing, said that the ocean conditions have been the best he has seen in years. The water is warm and almost flat calm. He is picking up some reports of albacore tuna farther out, and said that if he can confirm the location, he plans on taking several party boat trips to find them.  Call Rick at 875-3344 for some rock and lingcod fishing or to book an albacore trip. Rick is also taking reservations for the Dungeness crab season opener Nov. 1.

Inside San Francisco Bay there are a few salmon being caught at Cal City, said Kevin Wolf, at Loch Lomond Bait Shop in San Rafael. He added the striped bass fishing has also been good for angles drifting shiners and those trolling at the top of the tide along the Marin Shoreline.

Striped bass are also being caught in the Napa River near the Cuttings Wharf area.

Fly fishing on the lower Sacramento, Fall, and Pit rivers has been good to excellent this week. The McCloud below the reservoir is also fishing well. The upper Sacramento is coming into fall shape as well.