Bob Schardt | Horseshoe Bar Fish & Game Preserve, Inc.

Horseshoe Bar Preserve – Labor Day, 2016

Bob Schardt — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 21:05:28 +0000

Sunday of Labor Day weekend I went up to the club with Tom Bartos to meet Randy Wilson. We checked in at about 3:30. It was a beautiful 75 degree day! The flows we’re at 1000cfs and went down to 550cfs by 5:00pm, where it remained throughout the evening. Tom went up stream from the storage yard to fish and Randy fished the boxcar riffle. I headed down to the bottom of American Bar with my Sage One, 5wt switch rod. I’ve got it set up with a Switch Chucker line, a 10ft clear floating PolyLeader and a 9ft 5x monofilament leader for casting dry flies.
The water was raging at the base of American Bar as it flows into the big pool at the 90 degree turn above the gauging station. I threw a couple of dries but it was difficult to see my fly as it drifted down steam in the sunlight. I headed up stream and started to work American Bar just above the white water. The sun was still pretty bright as I looked down stream but my new polarized sunglasses worked great to see my fly! I worked this area of the river pretty good changing flies often. BWO’s, Stimulators, rubber-legged Stimulators, Tarantulas…all the staple dry flies for the club. As I worked my way upstream, to almost midway up American Bar, the shadow of the mountain was on the river. I put on the biggest Parachute Adams I had, a size 10. This part of the river is one of my favorites. There’s lots of big rocks for fish to hang and the flows create for a perfect drift presentation of your dry fly no matter if the river is running high or low. I have found that when the river is flowing above 600 cfs, the best rod to use is a switch. It simply gives you the ability to work the entire river better than a single handed rod and you do not need to worry about back casting. My two handed casting has improved quite a bit this year because it seems when I’ve gone up to the club, the flows have been mostly high. I was able to cast with ease across the river and a little downstream, about 45 degrees to the other side. I let my fly skate down and across the water. As I watched my fly skate across into the middle of the river, a fish took my fly creating a small splash. I raised my rod and then the fish took my line out very quickly. FishOn! I was able to get the fish on my reel and bring him in a bit before he took my line out for another run. With a few head shakes, I could tell that this guy was big and powerful. I was having a difficult time getting him out of the main part of the river. I put my rod tip down towards the edge of the river and forced him to calmer water. As he got closer I could tell he was a nice fish. Earlier that day, I had put on the back of my vest a magnet set up to hold my net so when I needed to net the fish, I just grab the net with my free hand and scoop the fish. It worked great! I had landed the biggest Brown I’ve ever caught at the club…19 inches!

We headed back to the campground and while Tom and Randy prepared for dinner, I decided break out my single handed Scott A2 4wt and head down the river to try my luck again. I put on the same big Parachute Adams and dabbed a little bug float on the fly. I worked the river as it flows into the Whispering Pines pool. I had a few takes but no hook-ups at first. I stripped my line in and put the fly in the middle of the white water as it enters the pool about 20 feet out. As it drifted onto a soft spot, a fish took my fly and ran out into the middle of the pool. Another hook up with what felt like another big fish! This guy was fast and powerful. I was able to get his nose out of the water and drag him to the net…a nice 17” Rainbow!

It was time to go back up to the campground and have some ice cold beers, eat a great dinner and listen to some of Tom’s many stories while he enjoys his cigar…

Yet, another great day at the “Fish’n Club” I’ll remember for years to come!
FishOn!
BS

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Nice Evening Activity!!!

Bob Schardt — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 20:08:57 +0000

Tom just sent an email out about heading up to HBP this evening and requested additional fishing reports…Here’s mine from last weekend. I fished Friday & Saturday, July 22nd & 23rd. The activity picked up nicely both days in the evening on the lake. I fished all dry’s both evenings and landed quite a few…15+ fish on Friday and 10+ fish on Saturday with 6:30 to 7:30PM being the most productive hour. I used Parachute Adams, Olive Elk Hair Caddis, Red Humpy, Royal Wolfe, BWO…all worked well. The fish would go after my fly within the first few casts of putting it on and I would cast into the heavy foam. Once I landed the fish and continued they would be on to me, so I changed the fly. Once I put on a new fly they went after it. I’ve always had good luck when I change fly’s often. I landed a few 17″+ rainbow’s…real niiice!!! I had some good activity in the section of the river just below the lake as well. The river flows out of the lake then bends left into slower deeper water. We cleared this section out about 2 years ago so there are no branches to get snagged underneath the water when you’re stripping back in. I rigged up a Prince Nymph bead-head with a Hairs Ear trailer with an indicator at about 10 ft up. I parked myself in waste deep water about 25 yards down from the bend and worked the slow moving water. As I worked the drift, I had a couple of nice hits and finally landed a nice 16 inch fat bow. It was a great time at the club and I met a number of new members as well!!!

Fish on! BS

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Father’s Day at HBP

Bob Schardt — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 23:15:33 +0000

I spent Father’s Day weekend up at the fishin hole with my wife & boys along with my brother and his son who were visiting from Stockholm, Sweden. As you well know, the river was flowing at about 4,000cfs…a bit high to fish any riffles! The best fishing was above the gauging station in the flat section. My brother and I both caught a couple of nice rainbows both on dry’s (Tarantula) and on a beadhead Prince Nymph. As the flows subside, the fishing activity will only get better. The fishing is just a part of the greatness of the property…just to be up there was real nice! We did see a nice rattlesnake at the Barrett House:

She let us know she was there. It was a great experience for the kids.

On Sunday we all took a hike down to Cathedral. The trail to the Bear Tunnel needed a lot of work. I took my chain saw and cleared out the jungle just below the climb to the Bear Tunnel. Once through the Bear Tunnel, I cleared the trail down to the bypass tributary and also cleared the trail down to the Cathedral. The Bear Tunnel down to Cathedral is officially open for the year! I cleared a lot of the brush off the rocks at the pool above Cathedral so you can fish the whole drift perfectly!

Don’t forget to bring your bug spray…100% deet if you have it! With all the water, the mosquitoes are thick in the evening.

Fish on!
Bob Schardt

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A nice January day for a fish on American River

Bob Schardt — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 02:53:59 +0000

What an unbelievable day it was at the club. I arrived at 1pm and the temp was in the mid to upper 60’s and the flows were at 1385 cfs. I decided to head down towards Cathedral and wet wade. Shorts & t-shirt, wet wading in the middle of January…unreal! Only in California! The approach to the Bear Tunnel needs a some clearing but is accessible. I started fishing where the bypass tributary dumps into the main river just above the Grey Eagle Riff. I was using an orange GloBug with a trailing Hairs Ear. Nothing. I headed down to the pool below Grey Eagle Riff and change my set up…nothing. I went down to Cathedral…nothing. I put on a brown beadhead Wooly Bugger…still nothing. I headed back to the lake after a couple hours of working the river pretty good and was ready to accept the fact that I’ve landed nothing. Once back at the car, I opened a nice cold Stella and headed over to the rocks at the end of the tunnel. I noticed that the river had dropped and the flows were at about 550 cfs. I was able to get down on the rocks close to the water, casted my brown Wooly Bugger up into the tunnel and began to strip slowly down stream…boom, got a bite! The next cast was up into the tunnel again and closer to the right ledge as you look up into the tunnel. I began to strip the Wooly Bugger down steam and WhaaBoom!…It was a nice fighter at the beginning but then got pretty sluggish quickly. I landed a nice 15″ Rainbow. The next cast upstream across to the other side of the tunnel produced a 13″ Rainbow. I hooked what felt to be at least a big as my first fish, but this time he took my brown Wooly Bugger and snapped it off! That was my only beadhead brown Wooly Bugger! I actually saw a rise and started to through some small BWO’s…nothing more. Time to get another beer. I’ve landed my January trout! I’m looking forward to a great year. A great day of fishing at the club!

Fish on,

Bob Schardt

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