SNAKES ON THE FLY

It goes with the job description as easily as cold hands goes with scooping ice cream...If you’re a dedicated fly fisher and have chased trout, salmon, especially bass in warm desert country, you have been introduced to snakes usually by surprise! My first encounter related many times in other stories was as a six year old future outdoorsmen in training waiting on a rock near the American River in California. As quickly as life can change, a two foot snake of undetermined identity slithered across my young legs and I was air born! During early hunter, shooter, gatherer lessons in a small town known as Petaluma California, on a combo pheasant/fly fish trip, a three foot rattle snake was waiting when I found my downed bird....Those reading this fly fishing column realize I’m guilty of not saying anything about the inherent dangers including; snakes, bears, bee’s, bulls in pastures and in rivers and streams, slippery rocks in fast water, fast floating logs or other objects that can surprise or knock you down! I have experienced all the above, nearly killed by swarm of hornets, surprised by many bears without breaking a twig sneaked up within yards from behind while wading and so on...... Of the many close calls or near miss steps that include almost landed on a snake or scorpion or nest of spiders. My most memorable and hard drive wired are encounters with snakes in America, Asia, South America, Mexico and on the many rivers, oceans and creeks where I spend most of my time.

While shooting dove and fly fishing with my old best friend Yosemite National Park Super Tech retired John Wilson who lives in Mariposa California my most outstanding rattle snake story and I will begin with it! Ronny and I had been hunting and fly fishing all of Yosemite for many years during the days when I hunted everything that walked, crawled, flew..... We were set on a dove hunt opening day September, when after many hours of great luck the sun began to drop and all around us rattlers were wide awake. One 65 inch big boy got between us, we hand signaled for me to shoot it with my 12 gauge Remington Automatic. I waited until I thought it was just safe and pulled the trigger, the big snake flew into the air and wrapped around Ron Wilson’s Cowboy neck! I skinned and mounted the best snake tale I’ll ever have to tell!

Rattle snakes belong to the viper family and can live over 25 years in ideal habitat! They enjoy each others company in the cold winter months by creating a pit or den where they commingle for warmth and social opportunities.... Snakes have incredible visual acuity, they are heat seekers much like guided missiles whose technology was copied from reptiles! They see your heat image or heat profile long before your in their area. Rattlers are excellent swimmers, I can attest to their swimming prowess! On the mighty Merced River that screams out of California’s Yosemite park I was wading mid river in strong current when a young rattler approached and would not give up his right away. I tried to keep him off me with my fly rod and fish net. He finally swam by me striking and missing by inches.

While sliding down hill in a steep area on the Trucky River one late spring I started a rock slide that took me and a full grown rattler about 25 feet all the way down at the same time. He was trying to get over to my space the whole way down and failed. I was carrying a new 9mm pistol and unloaded a full clip that missed him as I felt like an idiot and he slithered away fast... I was whipped by gravity and a serpent that morning, but what a hell of a morning it was.....

On many occasions in South East Asia I encountered salt water going sea snakes and a wide variety of snakes. The favored booby trap for those stupid enough to follow Viet Cong down into tunnels was well known. Across the low ceiling in a tunnel a series of hollow bamboo sticks were arranged so that bumping your head would cause them to fall on your back and head. Inside the hollow bamboo the famous little green snake waited. Life ended two minutes after feeling that funny quick bite on your neck.... I awoke under a mosquito net while driving troops into an operation, on top of the web net was a Two Step little nine inch green killer and I had no one around to help. After thinking for about three seconds, I launched like a bullet and he hit the floor moving...... An ongoing nitemare courtesy of my beloved Marine Corps.

While fly fishing on the Upper Sacramento River circa 1970s I reached under my back pack after a morning of fly fishing and thank god I felt him before he could strike, a healthy three foot rattler liked my choice of outdoor gear... While living in a cabin twenty feet from the fabled Fall River for 7 months a few years ago I stepped out on my front step 530am and stepped on a two foot snake of unknown identification because we both went airborne at once!

After spending a long morning on a quiet ripple water section of the lower Feather River in the late 1970s, I had only one way out of the water between two large builders. Smack in the middle curled up a rattler and he would not budge, I prodded him once with my fly rod and he got aggressive then settled back down leaving me no way out of the water and the sun was setting. I was worried because first I had only a small pin lights and the route back to my car was a good half hour walk. I gave up and half swam down stream to find an exit.

My last and never told snake story happened on private property in Mariposa County while throwing handmade grasshoppers at fat rainbows that never saw fly fishers. It was a great morning and I hooked up and released ten nice trout one over three pounds. The property was large 3000 acres and I had the run of it. I quail hunted, deer hunted, picked mushrooms and thought I really knew the area after several years of permission to hunt and fish.

The stream was perfect and I knew every inch, after this one special morning I decided to eat lunch take a long nap and start in again around dark before walking back to my car about a mile away. All went well until half way through my walk to my car when I was surrounded by rattling rattlers as the sun went down. I climbed a tree and waited for an hour before very quietly finding my way back to that warm safe car.....

In an unrelated surrounded by creatures tale. Once long ago while hunting Antelope in the Clear Lake Lava Bed region of upper California, I was surrounded by a pack of wolves while urinating at dusk their eyes glowing, I could hear them rustling and growling.... Ahh the good life.

Wolf Snake Sense

1. Heaping amounts of good old common sense will serve you well fly fishing in rattler, water moccasin, copperhead, cotton mouth, waters. If you know a head of time snakes will be about you, one can easily prepare both your body and spirit for the first encounter. Study photos of the resident vipers and their usual habits.

2. If your going into habitat where poisonous snakes dwell and your going to be wading? Your risk factor will be heightened. I can speak from experience in that your not going to be able to move quickly or at times get out of the way in strong or even lazy waters! Being careful in regard to exactly where you can leave the water is crucial! Life and snakes change and appear quickly, you will be startled and must plan a head!

3. While walking along river, creek, stream banks one’s eyes must never leave the 10 to 15 feet of shore directly in front and to the side. Snakes love hot boulders to stretch out on and soak up the warmth. Be careful climbing I have come upon snakes many times while searching shoreline for casting lanes or good currents.

4. Watch the clock while out fly fishing on any waters any where. When the sun begins to recede and your in unfamiliar area’s your not going to pay as strict attention on the way out when your tired and in a hurry! That’s when many snakes are most active and your at risk! Take a deep breath and move slowly carefully.

4. Buy and wear Gators if your in real dangerous snake country. Gators are plastic covers hunters wear while in snake land, they ride high up your leg and offer real protection.

5. Of course if its legal and your well trained a pistol will do if necessary. Then again I opt for not harming any creature unless its hopeless to avoid. Ideally a shotgun would be my tool of choice under extreme circumstances!

6. Buy a identification field book and study it. Carry it with you for quick reference.

7. Buy and learn to use a snake bite kit. If you are not sure find and pay a doctor or veterinarian to instruct you, it could save your life.

8. Remember the more prepared you are and the more you understand serpent behavior, you may begin to find these creatures fascinating, but better treated with respect and distance.

9. As a rule I always give snakes and all small animals the right away in the woods or by water. It is their real estate not ours! Simply give snakes a wide birth and move well around them.

10. Statistics taken every year world wide say Bulls in pastures, Bee’s, Wasps, wild pigs, harm more fly fishers then snakes... Of course all of you serious fly fishers reading this own and operate a compass for those confusing walks back to the pick up? How about basic survival gear?

ROAD KILL FOX CADDIS

Front half of freshly killed Fox found while working three rivers in three days northern California May 2007, neck and mask hairs taken before animal buried. My usual spirit quieting peace chant and prayer rendered in respect! I feel by tying a fly with the animals hair a small piece of his spirit returns to the natural order for a moment or two...

Hook: Dry fly #16 - #18 Barbless

Thread: Dark brown ancient thread taken from 14th Century Monks robe bought at estate sale.

Body: Bits and pieces of fox hair and Monks robe threads mixed and applied via a waxed noodle. The body is wound and extended all the way around the hook bend to the point for a more realistic presentation!

Wing: Two sections, large fan Yearling Elk carefully trimmed, two mahogany brown hackle tips.

Hackle: Long Fox hairs groomed and wound after composing thin dental floss glued noodle process. In this process instead of wax tiny spots of glue ( your choice ) are applied to dental floss before Fox hairs are fixed. This technique takes practice and is worth the effort as the hackle winds nicely.

Head: This fly pattern too small and complex for special head of thread, the hackle is wound thick and acts as head as well.

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“ ADVENTURES OF FLETCHER QUILL “