Current Fishing Report

Had a great day out on the Southern Oregon coastal rivers recently. We timed it perfect late last week and hooked some impressive Nickel Plated winter run Steelhead. But now the rivers have received to much rain and it looks like we have to wait until the river systems clear and drop. Keep your eyes on the weather forecast, once we dry out a little these rivers are going to go off!  

Here is a great photo from earlier today at Eagle Canyon.

Coastal winter steelheading is always an interesting game.  The timing of the weather which dictates angling opportunities plays a big role.  When I got to the Southern Oregon Coast in mid January, I saw my favorite familiar rivers at an all time low.  The smaller ones I love to fish were just too low due to the well known drought we've been having.  The larger rivers however, provided some unique opportunities for the spey angler.   Prior to the much needed rain we just received, we were able to wade and fish in areas that were not previously available to us in normal conditions, which provided some incredible angling opportunities.  Sure, there were days that we didn't connect...but there were days that we were having big time multiple hookups on dime bright winter fish.  We were swinging flies on light tips with summer style flies in the lovely coastal sunshine, with little angling pressure on beautiful swing water.  There were times where we could see pods of these fish blasting and rolling through the riffles and tailouts we were fishing, then having crushing hookups.  It was more like flats fishing for tailing fish than river fishing at times.  Thats all done now, sorry if you missed it.  The good news is that the drought is over, which is great for many reasons other than just fishing. More rain is expected on the coast for the next several days, and some rivers are already blown out at the moment.  Such is the complex game chasing winter coastal fish.  All you can do is dedicate some time every year, and hopefully you can nail it at some point.  Our clients that return every year eventually get paid in some of these amazing angling moments we've had over the years.  You need to book early to get a shot at this venue...

Scotty and Gino during a chaotic moment as fish were all around us

Coulter getting bent, mega

This fish actually had some color, but beautiful nontheless

Pete Notz's epic wild hen

Pete Notz in the Zone

Michael from LA int the battle of a lifetime

this is a mega winter fish

Michael with his 33 inch hen

Rock star rep Jamie Lyle with a beauty

I enjoyed a day off fishing the Trinity River today.  My buddy Dan caught his first fly-caught steelhead ever and caught another one later in the day.  I farmed one nice fish, too.  The fish are eating small golden stone nymphs really well right now.  There is also a really good hatch of march browns and smaller mayflies from noon to 3pm.  There were a few nice browns rising but they were really skittish.  The river is already back to low and clear - we're expecting more rain on Thursday.

Here are a couple of pics from the past couple days, despite the lack of rain we have had a solid return of wild Steelhead on the Trinity. Overall the fishing in January and so far in February has been pretty solid. The conditions have been less then ideal with the low water but the Trinity has benefitted from the meager release out of Lewiston dam, compared to the coastal streams that rely exclusively on rain, we were sitting pretty. fortunately all that has changed with a significant change in the weather pattern. We have been getting steady but not heavy rain on the Trinity over last week or two, conditions now are ideal.If your thinking about fishing the Trinity next November or December you might consider January or February, the days are often warmer and the river is less crowded.  

it's actually raining !

another wild bullet

3 guests enjoyed a very rainy and windy day at Eagle Canyon today!  The fish didn't mind, though.

 We have just set the dates for our 2014 Guide School: July 19-26.  Our week-long school is a great value for aspiring fishing guides.  $1495 includes accommodations, instruction, two dinners, and all lunches for 7 days.  Our field sessions are conducted on some of the best trout streams in California: Fall River, Hat Creek, the Pit River, McCloud River, and Lower Sac.

   Andrew Harris will be presenting to the Peninsula Fly Fishers on May 15th, 2014.

Fishing is improving on the Trinity.  This storm brought a lot of rain today.  The river isn't rising much yet, but it should tomorrow.  Fish are definitely on the move and on the grab.  We landed one of the best fish of the season today, a 10# wild buck.  I think fishing will be really good for the next few weeks as this much needed rain brings more fish into the upper part of the river.

George with his big fish

Here are some photos from Eagle Canyon today.

We finally got some rain today on the Trinity, and we're supposed to get a lot more this weekend.  My clients George & John from San Diego did well today, both hooking multiple steelhead.  We saw one really big pod of fresh fish today, too, about 50 nice fish in one run.  We hooked three of them and the rest moved on.  Fish are eating a variety of flies including golden stone nymphs, egg patterns, and copper johns.

We had a pretty good day on the Trinity today.  There are a bunch of smaller wild fish around all of a sudden.  They're 18-20 and they are fighters.  Too big for half-pounders but not really adults either.  We found one pod where we hooked 4 of these  fish in about 12 casts.  Howard from San Diego picked up a few of these little guys and then one nice 4-5# fish at the end of the day. We are expecting some rain starting tomorrow - next week could be a great time to be here! 

Fishing was pretty tough at Eagle Canyon today.  Despite having three days of rest, the fish were skittish and reluctant to bite.  Here are some tips for when the fishing is tough:1.) Float Tubing is fun, but not always highly productive.  Our big pond is only 3 acres, so float tubes push the fish around and can put them off the grab.  Especially with big groups, we recommend saving the float tubing for later in the day.2.) Go Small.  Our fish get really suspicious about larger flies after they've been caught a few times.  Try small nymphs and midges in the size 16-18 range.  Sometimes the fish really like size 20 midges, even.3.) Go Slow.  Fast retrieves work well early in the season, but the fish learn quickly.  Try some very slow retrieves or hang your offering under an indicator.  Fishing two different nymphs under an indicator usually works very well.  Good patterns for tough days include oregon cheese Micro Spawns, brown Jimmy Legs size 8, and size 16-18 nymphs like pheasant tails and red copper johns.

I guided Debbie and Robin from southern California today on the Trinity.  They participated in the clinic I did yesterday at Indian Creek Lodge for the Deep Creek Flyfishers.  We floated Douglas City and didn't see a single other boat or fisherman all day.  Pretty incredible!  Debbie and Robin both landed a nice steelhead and we hooked a few other fish.  The bald eagles were out and about today, too.  Trout nymphs and glo bugs have been the best flies lately.

Here are a couple of pics from the last couple days. Rain is on the way, probably not enough to make much of a difference right now but it could be a sign of an overall pattern change ! Keep your fingers crossed !

Rob with a Dandy !

Bob with a wild Bruiser

Thank you to the Deep Creek Flyfishers from southern California.  I did a steelheading clinic for their club today at Indian Creek Lodge.  We went over gear in the lodge's upstairs conference room and then I demonstrated the techniques right behind the lodge.  After lunch we drove to the river and spread out so everyone could try the techniques on the water.  Everyone learned a lot about how to fish for Trinity River steelhead.  We even landed one!  Thanks also to John at Indian Creek Lodge!

Deep Creek Flyfishers

No big changes on the Trinity, conditions remain low and clear. There are a fair amount of steelhead about but they don't come easily. Those anglers that have honed there skills and put there time in are doing the best, some are landing multiple steelhead a day but there are many that are getting skunked. The upside is that the fishing pressure compared to recent years is pretty light. The weather forecaster's are calling for some changes, hopefully there will is an end in sight to this long dry spell, keep your fingers crossed.

Here are some photos from our group of four that fished Eagle Canyon the last two days.

 I had a really fun day on the Lower Sac today with Mike from Sacramento.  The nymphing started out a little slow, but by lunchtime the fish were eating egg patterns, rubberlegs, and various mayfly nymph patterns regularly.  From 1 to 3pm we had some excellent dry fly fishing.  We rose about a dozen fish from 10 to 16 on dries.  The main hatch was a PMD size 16, but there were also good numbers of caddis on the water. 

Sometimes the fish just don't want to eat the fly on the swing.  It was one of those days on the Trinity today.  I fished with clients Mike and Allen from the Peninsula Fly Fishers club in the Steel Bridge area.  We saw a fair number of fish as we were floating, but none of them were interested in moving to a fly.