Hi folks:

It's Greg here, from the "A Newbie's Journey" articles last season. It's been a long quiet winter here in the Sierra mountains. New regulations opened up the North Fork of the American river to fishing during the November to April off season. Barbless hooks, artificial lures, and catch and release only. The new rules seem made for fly fishing.

I tried winter fishing a few times near Iowa Hill and Yankee Jim's crossing with no results (don't 'cha just love those old gold miner place names?) The water was gin clear and deep and not a fish to be seen anywhere. Even fishing nymphs deep and slow got me no strikes at all. Maybe the water was too cold, or too clear or too . . . something.

So in April opening day comes and I spend that evening at my favorite spot on the Bear river. After stalking a rising trout for what felt like an hour (but was probably only about 15 minutes) I got close enough without spooking it to get a dry fly in front of him. He gulps it up and I set the hook. He dives deep and then comes straight back up leaping into the air clearing the water by a full body length. As he tosses his head back and forth he throws the fly and as quickly as it starts, it's over.

That was the only strike I've had this year.

I've tried fishing slow moving eddies behind rocks; I've tried finding pockets in riffles; I've tried multi-fly rigs with a dry fly, a copper john hanging off of that and a light hare's ear nymph hanging off of that.

Nothing.

I've been turning over rocks and seeing nothing but tiny translucent nymphs. I switch to small light colored nymphs to match those tiny translucent nymphs.

Nothing.

Two weeks ago when the Bear river and Truckee river were flowing at 2 to 3 times the normal CFM I tried a weighted molting crawfish pattern that I let tumble down the river like a crawfish that's been torn away from the bottom. I even tried tying a stonefly nymph behind that to give the fish 2 targets to hit.

Nothing.

This weekend I went back to the American to try hitting a whole series of pockets in a long run. I tried a dry fly with a wet fly hanging off of it, I tried a dry fly with a beetle hanging off if it, I tried nymphs under a strike indicator.

Nothing.

The only thing I've caught this year is a mild case of poison oak.

I find that I'm having trouble relaxing at the river any more. I'm getting so frustrated at not catching anything (or even getting strikes) that my expectations are overwhelming the joy of simply being at the river. If I drive some distance to the Truckee or Yuba that expectation is even higher because now I've invested time and gas money.

I need to find that "happy place" where I was last year when I was just beginning to learn how to cast and present a fly. I need to learn to relax at the river again. But most importantly, I need to catch a freakin' fish! Last year it took a dozen trips before I caught my first fish. By the end of the season I would regularly catch one, two, sometimes even three fish in one evening. Now I can't even prove that there are fish in that darn river.

So, does anyone have any advice for handling a dry spell? Or is "Get over it and go fishing" the best advice?