WATER
Gazing for the first time upon the broad smooth flows of Hat Creek in the summer of 1975, I thought perhaps Andy Puyans had been having some fun with me. Newly settled in California, I'd gone into his fly shop in Walnut Creek and asked about the best trout stream in the state. He had unhesitatingly directed me to Hat Creek. Now I looked upon a stream unlike anything I'd encountered in the Rockies. Clear, featureless flatwater meandering over vast weed beds that undulated in the languid flows. No rocks, riffles, pockets, nothing to suggest where to fish or where a fish might hold. It wasn't until I returned to Carbon that evening and beheld the vast number of fish rising to the swarms of caddies and mayflies that I began to understand what Andy had meant as he had waxed poetic about the wonders of Hat Creek.
And so began my love affair with this little spring creek, so full of life that anglers who fell under its spell came to regard their time on Hat Creek less as a fishing trip and more as a pilgrimage. Hat was a demanding teacher - demanding good casting, careful presentations and precise imitations. I quickly discovered that my Humpies and Wulffs, Renegades and Irresistibles weren't the answer. I learned that I had to look closely at the bugs on the water and in the air and use patterns that imitated those bugs quite precisely.
By DICK GALLAND
CalTrout Board Member
Dick began volunteering with CalTrout in 1982, when he opened Clearwater House on Hat Creek. He was Streamkeeper for each of the great wild trout waters in eastern Shasta County. He now serves on the CalTrout Board.