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Opening Day 2011 did not disappoint! We had a group of five from the Santa Rosa / Petaluma area. 3 of our guests had never fly fished before, yet they all hooked many fish and landed at least a few. Foreign exchange student Charlotte from Germany landed a ten pound fish all on her own on her first day of fishing in her life! Chris and Diego were also new to fly fishing and both did very well. Diego landed the largest fish which was over 15 pounds. Ken and Kathleen did well also. Ken slayed with his yellow zonker. Follow this link to view our opening day video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3-JAh0z0n0
 Diego's biggest fish  Diego's first day of fly fishing  Kathleen with Mt. Lassen in the background |
Here are a few more shots from Opening Day. Follow this link to view our Opening Day video on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3-JAh0z0n0
 Charlotte from Germany with her first fish ever  Ken with his first of many fish  Kathleen with a big one |
I fished with Bob and Bob from the Bay Area today. We had outstanding weather, so we made a plan to be in the right place in the afternoon for some good dry fly fishing. The morning fishing was slow - the egg grab wasn't happening and the fish didn't seem to like any nymphs, either. The only nymph that worked was a size 16 amber prince. After lunch things got going for us. There was a good mixed hatch of hydropsyche caddis and baetis mayflies and we spotted a few fish rising. Bob T hooked and landed a 17 rainbow on his very first cast with a dry fly. The fish was holding just about 20 feet from the boat! Then we started to work over another fish that we had seen about 40 feet out. It looked like a big fish. Both Bobs took turns making drifts over it. I switched flies to one of my own caddis patterns in a size 14 and Bob K took another turn. It only took two drifts and the fish rose enthusiastically. Bob K played the fish skillfully and ended up landing the biggest dry-fly rainbow of the season, a beautiful 23 buck.We had a lot more dry fly and dry-dropper opportunities throughout the day. Much of the time we were casting to spotted fish. Bob T landed two 18-19 bows on a small nymph under a dry. The dry fly fishing was pretty technical since the fish were eating the smaller mayflies, but it was a lot of fun!  Bob K with a 23 rainbow |
Opening Day is just a week from tomorrow. While the opener itself is booked up, we still have some prime spots available opening week. We have 2 spots open on Monday Nov 21 and 2 spots open on Wednesday Nov 23rd. Fishing should be about as good as it gets. Those days will be just the 2nd and 3rd days that these fish have ever been fished for and there is a rest day before both days. Our average size fish this year is even bigger than last year, just over 8 pounds. Our smallest fish are about 4 pounds and the biggest are pushing 20 pounds.  Our fish average over 8 pounds! |
I just finished three days on the Trinity - two guide trips and one busman's holiday. Gino Bernero, Mike Corley and I had a great time guiding the Donnelly group for two days. We always have a lot of fun no matter what the fish are doing. We had some beginners catch their first steelhead on a fly rod - that's always a treat. There seem to be plenty of fish around Junction City. We had our best luck with copper johns size 12. Yesterday Gino and Randy and I did a little scouting with our spey rods. We hooked six adult fish and numerous fiesty half-pounders. We saw schools of hundreds of fresh salmon, tons of salmon spawning, and one huge pod of steelhead. A hobo spey in various colors worked great for us. I skated up a couple of half-pounders, but couldn't tempt an adult to rise. Conditions are great right now and the fishing seems like it should continue to be very good for quite a while. Book a trip and we can get you hooked up on whatever technique you prefer.  Todd with a nice buck steelie |
Our pre-season special for Eagle Canyon ends tomorrow, Oct 31st. Tomorrow is your last day to reserve your space at Eagle Canyon at the discounted rate of $175/person. You don't need to know your exact fishing dates to take advantage of this special. |
Today was my last Fall River trip of the season. I spent it with Kevin and Bob from the Sacramento area. Conditions were challenging with cold weather and a stiff breeze. We tried to find rising fish but the hatch just never got going. We covered some water and eventually found a couple of very large trout, but we worked hard for them.  Kevin's biggest fish  Kevin's first big fish of the day |
Like most steelhead seasons, we experience ebbs and flows in our fishing success and production. As fisherman, of course, our goal is to put one in the net. As steelheaders, we know that there is more to it than that. Our clients, regardless of the outcome, leave better casters and anglers.While October is almost over, we really have a lot of steelheading left! November has always been my favorite month on the Upper Rogue. There are traditionally more steelhead and fewer steelheaders on the river. We typically get a good pulse of wild fish in November and December. Lost camera in Alaska this August. So, haven't been snapping any hero shots since then. Here's a recent pic from George and Pat Kammerer ....See you out there.  Pat's mega steelie |
Today was day 2 with Ed and Bob. We fished the Lower Sac today, where the egg grab is officially in full swing. We nymphed all morning with egg patterns and hooked a lot of fish. The fish are concentrated in the salmon redds and they are chowing down the eggs. That was a lot of fun, but we decided to focus on other techniques for the rest of the day. Bob caught his two biggest fish of the day on dry flies and Ed got his biggest swinging a nymph on a tight line. It was a great afternoon. We had great dry fly action. The big size 14 caddis are still buzzing around and attracting the attention of the big rainbows.  On a dry fly  On a dry fly |
I guided Bob & Ed from Fremont on the Trinity River today. The weather was beautiful, the river was nice and low, and there were hardly any other boats out today. Ed was the hot rod, landing two really nice steelhead. His first was a beast - see the photo. Bob hooked two adult steelhead plus a gigantic salmon, but it wasn't his day for landing fish. All of our steelhead were really acrobatic today, cartwheeling and jumping through the air. The river felt really fishy and most everybody we talked to had hooked a steelhead today. There are a ton of salmon in the river, too.  Big fish Ed with his big fish |
I guided Mike and Bill from Chico today on the Lower Sac. It was a gorgeous afternoon. We were on the no-bobber program today, which was a lot of fun. We fished a variety of techniques and hooked fish on dries, swung nymphs, and nymphs underneath dries. Our smallest fish today was 16. We landed some 18 fish and had a few bigger ones that didn't make it to the net. We had fewer caddis today and more mayflies. The mayfly du jour is a baetis about a size 18. We had good luck with a size 18 purple haze.  Mike with a nice one  Bill caught this on a dry/dropper rig |
I guided father and son Mark & Tate from Ashland today on the Lower Sac. The dry fly fishing continues to be off the charts. We spent the last five hours of the day casting dries to rising fish over 16. Tate is an outstanding fisherman and caster for a 12 year old. He rose quite a few rainbows up to 20 today and played them like a champ. The hatch is a mixture of caddis and mayflies and the fish are just chowing down. Get up here before the weather turns bad and you won't be disappointed.  No indicator required for this fish  Caught on the swing  Tate caught this fish on a dry fly |
The dry fly fishing on the Lower Sac is as good as it gets right now. Today was my 3rd day with Dick and Chuck. Our time-honored tradition is to fish the Lower Sac on the last day of their trip. Our day started out SLOW. The normal egg patterns and nymphs were not working very well. After lunch we regrouped and took a different approach. There are a lot of big caddis and small mayflies around right now, so we started blind-fishing some of the riffles with dries. Chuck hooked up right away, rising a nice 16 rainbow. We went back and forth between nymphs and dries for a while, but by 2pm it was pretty much dry fly only. We had lots of targets to cast to, and when there weren't targets we could rise fish fairly regularly. I bet we had at least 3 dozen grabs on dries today. Dick landed the two biggest dry fly fish of the year, both about 21. It was truly amazing. As long as the weather stays nice this hatch should hold, so come up soon if you like dry fly fishing!  On a dry fly.  On a dry fly.  This is a different huge fish on a dry |
I just talked to Gino Bernero who is guiding the Rogue River today. He says the river is fishing very well right now. We actually ended our conversation with Fish on - gotta go! Gino's client hooked at least five fish today. If you like swinging flies for hot steelhead, this is the time! |
I guided Fall River with long-time clients Dick and Chuck today. There was a thick hatch of small baetis in the morning. These are size 20-22 white-winged mayflies. The fish love them and they are tough to imitate. Our best fly for this hatch was a size 20 cream parachute. The big fish were rising in the shallow weedbeds where a dead drift is tough to get. We hooked a few, but had better luck from 11-2pm when the bigger bugs started hatching. The big bug is a size 16 olive PMD. We had fun casting to rising fish until about 2pm. The nymphing was good in the mid-afternoon. We caught fish on small pheasant tails, olive micro mayflies, baetis nymphs, and anato-mays. Several fish came off in the weeds, but both Dick and Chuck landed nice fish today. Chuck and I finished the day with some great short-line nymphing on the Pit.  Dick caught this one on a nymph  Chuck with a great rainbow |
I guided John & Patty again today for a half-day on the Upper Sac. We started in Dunsmuir and it didn't seem very fishy, so we moved downstream to the middle part of the river. Patty hooked a huge fish on a brown rubberlegs in one of my favorite spots. It was a long battle, but the fish got the best of us in the end. We got one more fish on a rubberlegs and another on a tailwater tiny. John landed a fish on a copper john fished under a Stimulator. We saw a few October Caddis flying around and even got one fish to strike our stimmie. There are tons of October Caddis shucks on the rocks at the edge of the river. If you like fishing big dries in the afternoon and evening, this is the time! |
I floated from the Posse Grounds to Bonnyview today with John & Patty from Visalia. There are good numbers of salmon spawning, especially in the top part of the float. We hooked trout whenever we were near the salmon. Patty had the big fish of the day, an 18 rainbow on a small black micro mayfly nymph. The number of salmon spawning should continue to increase over the next few weeks. Before long there will be salmon spawning throughout the entire river, not just up in Redding.  Patty with a great rainbow |
Fished Mon. and Tues. with Dan from Ashland, conditions went from good visability and rainy Mon. morning to completely blown from Canyon Creek down by mid morning. Even with the bad conditions we were able to hook several and land two nice wild adults on Mon and with clearing conditions on Tues. we hooked several more and landed a nice wild buck adult and a half pounder. Shaping up to be good on the Trinity this year so far! |
Congratulations to Ken from Petaluma! He was the winning bidder for Opening Day at Eagle Canyon, which is Nov 19. Ken and his group will have the lakes all to themselves on opening day. There will be countless fish from 3 to 20 pounds that have never seen a fly before. Fishing should be incredible! We still have our pre-season special available. If you call before Oct 31st to book your trip you will get our pre-season rate of $175/person, a $25 savings. Your trip can be any time during our 2011/12 season, which runs from Nov 19 to Apr 15. Thanks to everyone who stopped by at the Redding Fly Fishing Fair today! |
Our ebay auction for opening day (Nov 19) at Eagle Canyon wraps up tomorrow (Saturday, Oct 8th) at 10am PDT. We already have a bid on this item, so if you want a chance for your group to fish opening day you better put in a bid soon! The winning bidder will have the lakes reserved exclusively for their own group of up to 5 anglers on opening day. |
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