Current Fishing Report

We still have 2 spots left for the August 14-17 Spey Camp with Gino and Dax.  Check www.speycamp.com for more info.

I have been guiding and fishing the Fall River over the past two weeks and the fishing has been pretty darn good ! Despite the widespread drought in the West the Fall River remains full to the brim and teaming with fat wild rainbow's. The fishing has mostly consisted of fishing sub surface with nymph's and streamer's, there is the occasional riser but the hatches have been pretty inconsistent. That should change as the summer rolls on, that said the Hex hatch been good and should continue for another week or two.As many rivers and lakes are drying up, the Fall River will remain an oasis, August, September and October look to be outstanding on the Fall. 

Fatty

Dan with a nice Bow !

Fall River is fishing well these days.  We had some overcast today which kept us cool for a while.  Fishing was best for us from 1pm to 2:30pm today.  There was a stretch were we were getting a grab on almost every drift.  We landed a beautiful 18 rainbow today and hooked a lot more in that size range. The hex hatch last nice was good despite windy conditions.  We had about a dozen grabs on our hex dries but only landed one fish, a rainbow about 19. 

That's a hex

Fishing has been pretty good on Fall River the last three days.  The hex hatch two nights ago was incredible.  We had no wind, just enough bugs, and my clients Mark & Pam hooked a lot of fish.  Last night was totally different.  It was windy and there were way too many bugs.  Our flies didn't stand much of a chance against the thousands of naturals on the water, but we still hooked a few and landed one nice fat rainbow. Daytime fishing has been good, too.  We've been hooking fish over 18 inches every day.  There are huge concentrations of fish in certain parts of the river right now.  It's spring creek fishing, so it isn't easy.  The grabs are lightning fast and you have to get a drag free drift.  We've been getting most of our fish on nymphs under indicators, but streamer fishing has been good too.  The PMD hatch seems to be improving and there are some dry fly opportunities around lunch time. Come on up and bring your A-game.  There aren't many places where you can sight-fish to 18 inch plus rainbows.  Fall River is one of the best. 

Yes I know my hat is awesome.

I had some fun with Steve and Larry today on a very uncrowded Fall River, which was delightful. We had the whole river to ourselves. Absolutely fabulous. Quite magical.We hooked over 20 large fish, but our landing ratio wasn't all that great. Maybe I should be targeting smaller fish. They both landed some stellar fish though, and it shut down around 1:30 for us after being steady all morning. By 2pm it was over 100 degrees, not all that awesome. We took our break and will head out to hex this evening. I fished the hex with Randy last night, and he got two good fish during a solid hatch below the confluence.

Last night there was a nasty South wind blowing in clouds, which is not good for the hex hatch. I found a spot where we had a bit of protection and a decent hatch came off. Fishing was excellent, as we landed 3 fish between 16 to 19 inches and lost a few other large fish. Steve and Larry didn't come tight on a dozen other grabs. Super fun. Oh, we did land my first bat of the season, evil little dude tried to bite me. It is overcast this morning. This is an excellent situation.

I will be starting something new for our fishing reports, a top 10 list! It is meant to be humorous and fun, because fishing is really fun, and I see much humor on the water every day. Those of you out there who are easily offended and have no sense of humor should not read them, or ever book a trip with me. Instead, head to McDonalds, get a coffee with free refills for a few hours to get fired up for your big afternoon watching Fox News.Top 10 things to blame for the weak hex hatch on any given night:10. The moon. It doesn't matter what phase it's in, it's that goddam moon's fault. They need to get rid of that thing.9. The muskrats. They ate all the hexes on their way up to the surface, bastards. 8. Iran. They have been working on a way to foil the hex hatch for years.7. The farmers. They hate kooky fisherman, hence, they hate the hexes too. The farmers obviously poisoned the river.6. California residents. The hex hatch was awesome before California residents moved in.5. Bait fisherman. Not only do those mouth breathing windowlickers leave empty beer cans, salmon egg jars, and KFC boxes everywhere they fish, they also ruined the hex hatch somehow. 4. Obama. 3. The drought. Hexes are burrowed into the muck at the bottom of the river, where it is quite dry now. 2. Your guide. A fishing guide has complete and total control of weather, hatches, river flows, fish feeding, and client angling skills. At the end of the day, hiring a guide should guarantee you a huge hatch with lots of easy to catch big fish.1. Your aimless thrashing and beating of the water for two hours prior to the hatch. Despite the belief that wild trout are fearless unwary creatures very tolerant of overhead predation and loud thrashing noises above them, you might notice that there are lots of hexes and no fish rising to them....hmmm.

I had another great day with Bob and Andrew today.  No one else was out there!  How awesome!  Bob hooked a giant fish on his first cast of the day, followed up immediately by Andrew bringing a 19 incher into the net on his first cast.  We continued to hook large fish throughout the morning into the afternoon.  It finally shut down for us around 1:30 again.  We had solid hex last night, but for about about 15 minutes until the wind came up, enough time for Andrew to land a huge fish though.  Tonight should be excellent. 

Bob hooked up with Andrew looking

One of Andrews many large fish over the past 2 days

Fall River fished excellent the past 3 days.  I had great friends and superstar casters in Mike McCune and Whitney Gould for a few days, who hooked many large fish on sinking lines.  The had over 20 grabs on the hex one evening, putting the fly right on the fish every time.   Today I had Bob and his son Andrew, would just kept hooking big fish after big fish until the wind came up.  Then we hooked more big fish until it shut down around 1:30pm.   The hex is still going, some nights are less prolific depending where you are.  More bugs are below the confluence, but there are some in the upper river too.

Andrew with one of the many large fish he hooked

Steelhead season is approaching!  Time to bust out the spey rods and swing flies to my favorite species on the planet, Steelhead.  I will be kicking off my season for a few available days on the upper Rogue, then heading to the Lower Klamath to live on the river for a few weeks.  Chrome is on the menu.   We only have two spots left for our Spey Camp on the Lower Klamath.  They are for our August 14-17 trip.  This will be a really cool, unique trip, and tough to book in the future.  Check out the link for details, and contact me or Gino with any questions.  Live on a river, swing for steelhead, eat and live well.  Life is better on a river, trust me...   www.speycamp.com 

Nothing pulls like a chrome steelhead

Wilderness angling on the Lower Klamath

Pretty hot out there today! Fishing was pretty good, and the hex should be excellent tonight and into the holiday weekend if the wind doesn't come up. There were some bigger fish looking up to drys this morning, technical but very fun. Sinking lines continue to catch large fish if you cover enough water, and don't beat on the same 50 foot stretch all day.I just opened up July 6 & 7 on my booking calendar.

Fall River has been all over the place the last 3 days or so.  I had a great caster in Dianne Morell on a day where I had to bust out a down jacket and winter hat.  Fishing was tough, but she still got a few nice fish thanks to her good casting.  The hex didn't happen that night.  It wasn't very good last night either, but the hot weather we are now having and forecast for next week should make for a more consistent hatch throughout the river.  Yesterday my client Chris boated two fish over 20 inches and busted off a few other fatties. This morning I had a few hours of productive dry fly fishing.Beware of all the kooks out there with no lights during the hex hatch. Again, if you are renting a boat from that operation that doesn't provide lights, go to Shasta Angler in town and pick some up from Matt, and have them reimburse you.  Seriously, it is dangerous and illegal being out there in the dark with no lights, both for you and other anglers.  It doesn't matter how far you are going, just have them please, and avoid a ticket and looking like an inconsiderate knucklehead to other anglers.  Thanks:)

Chris landed this 23 inch epic fish...I didn't let him hold it because he dropped a 20 incher

I fished the McCloud River today with Ross and Nick from Texas.  They are well on their way to their California Heritage Trout Challenge certificates.  The bagged their 4th fish yesterday by catching some McCloud Redbands.  Today we hit both the upper and lower McCloud for some good old Shasta rainbows.  Wet wading was really nice today.  We caught our best fish on a dry fly today but we caught the most on small nymphs fished through the pockets.  The size 6 Chernobyl Ant was popular as an indicator dry, too.  Lots of ladybugs in the air today.  The Nature Conservancy Preserve was a ghost town this afternoon - only three other anglers out.  Not bad for a Sunday in June!

Nick caught this one on a dry

Ross hooked up on a dry-dropper rig

Tonight Bob and I headed out in the driving rain to see if the hex hatch would happen, it did. We left at the quite sensible time of 8:15, so we did not have to sit in the wind and rain for an hour, or aimlessly cane the water. We started seeing a few hex at around 845, and had around a dozen eats. Very cool.

The river fished a little slow for us today, but we did boat some quality fish throughout the day.  Juan from San Jose had beginner's luck and did most of the damage.  Fish came on a variety of flies, most of them small.

Juan with a nice one

I had another awesome day on Fall River with Bob from Fresno today. He landed 4 fish over 18 inches and quite a few others. Fishing was good from about 9 to 1230 then it got tougher when the wind came up.Hexing was epic last night...we hooked 7 and landed 5.Windy and kind of cooler today, might not be as epic tonight.

Join Gino Bernero and Dax Messett for a unique angling experience on the famed Lower Klamath River in August. We will be targeting chrome bright steelhead just entering the river system just miles from the saltwater on the beautiful Lower Klamath. Elite spey casting instruction and steelhead angling techniques will be the focus, along with the unique experience of camping in a very cool, remote place. Expect excellent food, superb instruction, and a full camp already set up for you. You can just show up with your sleeping bag, fishing license and waders, we will have everything else you need to enjoy 3 nights on the river! We will pick you up in Klamath Glen in the jet boat, and take you to your new home on the river.Dates: August 10-13 and 11-14, 4 guests per trip.  This experience is great for spey casters and anglers of all ability and experience levels.  For more information, go to www.speycamp.com.

I had a great day on Fall River today with Nelson and Nate from Cleveland, home of the soon to be injured Jonny Football, and possibly Lebron James. We had solid action for about 3 hours, and then things kind of shut down. We will head off for the hex this evening, taking advantage of our split day program in which we fish from 830 till around 230, then meet up again for the hex. I just opened up June 30th, which is my only available date for the next 5 weeks.

The hex hatch has been pretty good the last two nights.  Dick and Matt from Roseville landed several nice fish each night despite an upstream wind and poor visibility.  The hatch is really thick - I can't wait for a night with no wind and clear skies!  The fish we've been catching during the hex hatch range from 14-18 and are really fat and healthy.  Dax has had some better luck lately with some 20+ rainbows, too. Daytime fishing on the Fall River has been up and down.  There is a ton of muck (dead algae) floating down the river, so dry fly fishing is nearly impossible and streamer fishing and nymph fishing is challenging.  When you can get a good clean drift or retrieve the fish are pretty grabby, though.  All the standard beadhead nymphs size 16-20 are working well during the mid-day PMD hatch.  We beat up on the small fish pretty good the last two days around lunchtime, but the bigger fish were elusive.   

fish on

The fishing on Fall has provided some big moments this past week.  The hex hatch has been pretty good most nights, but daytime dry fly fishing has not been very steady.  The good news is that my clients seem to land a fish over 20 inches each day I go out.  I had Al and Kate yesterday for their first day on the Fall, and were rewarded with terrific fishing for about two hours before it shut off.  Many big fish were hooked. Every day has a window where the fish are super grabby, with periods of tough fishing in between.  Like always, there are plenty of healthy fish in the river of all sizes.  Getting a clean drift is difficult, with lots of grass and algae clumps getting on you flies every drift, regardless of technique.  Instead of whining about it, clean you flies off every cast with a quick pick up and lay down to make sure you aren't fishing an algae glob instead of your fly...the fish prefer a fly.  I am totally booked until later in July, but I might open up a day or two off when the dry fly turns on.   Contact me if you are interested in head hunting large fish with dry flies.

Kate playing with a 20 inch fish on the first cast of the day

Mega Fall River rainbow