Current Fishing Report

Well, after 3 weeks of chasing tarpon in Mexico, I am back home on Fall River. Andrew, Tommy, and I all have our boats in the water and have scouted most of the river out. Not many weeds and hatches just yet, but the color is excellent and we found some giant pods of fish that have not been pummeled for 5 whole months! The streamer grab should be insane if you are on fish. The grab will be tough later in the afternoon high sun, but they might still eat nymphs in the deeper slots lower down river where there is more color. The Mac and Pit are in excellent shape as well. The forecast is warm and sunny for this week. I have spent many an opening weekend in cold rain and snow, so I will enjoy the weather. Clouds would be most welcome too... The Hat will be mega crowded at the powerhouse riffle and lower riffle section. Seek solitude and technical fishing in the flats between. The smaller creeks should be in great shape for dry fly fishing. I will soon post a report and pics of the Mexico Tarpon Tour. It was absolutely insane. Amazing fishery. We hooked many, many, Tarpon, and had an absolute blast off of the water as well. Possibly the most exciting fishing I've done over my many angling travels. I will host two trips there next year, contact me for very limited space.

The river came up again today and is now at 7000cfs.  There aren't any more scheduled releases at the moment, so hopefully the flows will stabilize for a while.  Fishing was pretty good today, especially considering the strong north wind and the raised flows.  Stan and Bob from San Francisco both landed some nice 16-18 rainbows.  Small mayfly nymphs were the best for us.

Andrew Harris will soon be headed to southern California to speak at 7 fly fishing clubs in early May.  Here is his speaking schedule:May 7: Santa BarbaraMay 8: Orange CountyMay 9: PasadenaMay 13: Golden StateMay 14: Wilderness Fly FishersMay 15: SespeMay 16: EncinoAndrew's presentation will be about fly fishing the Trinity River watershed.  It will cover trout fishing in the Trinity Alps, the Upper Trinity River, Trinity Lake, and Lewiston Lake plus the incredible steelhead fishing the river has to offer.  Andrew is looking forward to seeing many of his regular clients and sharing his knowledge of the Trinity River watershed with the members of these fly fishing clubs.

The Confluence Outfitters 2013 Guide School is scheduled for July 20-28th, 2013.  We have 2 spots still available for this year's class.  This is a great school for serious fly fishers who are interested in guiding or instructing.  We cover spring creek, freestone, and drift boat techniques.  Classroom sessions include logistics, administration, permitting, teaching and learning styles, safety, and much more.  Throughout the course of the week participants get plenty of practice guiding on local rivers, including the Pit River, McCloud, Hat Creek, Burney Creek, and the Lower Sac.  Our instructors rotate throughout the week, giving students exposure to a wide variety of guiding styles.  Guide School is always a very fun week.  We hope you can join us.  The fee for the class is $1495 and includes lodging and instruction.

I guided George and Greg from Foster City today, the weather was less than ideal with gusty winds and thunder showers in the distance but the fishing was pretty good, and has picked up a bit from the last couple of days. The nymph grab was solid from about 9-3 mostly on smaller mayfly nymphs and a couple on rubber leggs.Nice fish Too! Many 16 to 18 !

George with a Dandy !

Greg with yet another one...

Our host Cory forwarded me these photos from Saturday at Eagle Canyon.  We hosted the Peninsula Fly Fishers club.  They had a great time.  Trip leader Patrick tells me they landed over 30 fish for the day.  They've already booked their date for next season!  It was a great way to finish our 2012-13 season at Eagle Canyon.  Stay tuned this summer for an update about our schedule for next season.

Randy and I guided a group of five today on the Lower Sac.  I normally don't like to have three people in my boat, but since one passenger was only 4 months old, it worked out just fine!  Jessica managed to land a Lower Sac rainbow with daughter Leila assisting from the Baby Bjorn.  Impressive!  First-time fly fisher Melissa also did very well.  She was shocked that she caught a fish on her first time out.  She landed several nice fish throughout the day.  Randy had a good day in the men's boat.  Good weather, good hatches and a pretty good grab today.

Jessica and Leila with a fish

Ali with a big fish

The Hassani family after a great family trip

I took clients Jerry and Jay to the Lower Sac today.  The grab was red hot from the time we started until about 3pm.  Jerry & Jay hooked dozens of fish, had a couple of doubles, and put a lot of fish in the net.  The fish are still focused on anything small (size 16-18) and brown most of the day.  There are some tan PMDs size 16 and a few dark March Browns size 14 coming off mid-day.  I also saw the first golden stones of the season buzzing around today.  The hot weather brings them out.

Jay and his big fish of the day

Jerry with a nice bow

Jerry with his big fish

I took clients Jerry and Jay up to Lewiston Lake today.  Fishing was a little slow in the morning, but the afternoon was excellent.  We found numerous pods of fish and some large solitary cruising fish.  We landed rainbows up to 20 inches and we also landed a couple of kokanee about 6 inches.  That was a first.  Almost all of our fishing today was sight fishing to cruising fish and pods of fish.  We had good luck with nymphs under indicators and dry fly and dropper techniques.

Jerry's big fish

We caught lots of fish like this today

The nymph grab continues to be excellent on the Lower Sac.  I guided longtime fishing buddies Bob and Michael today.  We had action from the beginning of the day to the last cast.  Bob landed a couple of 19-21 rainbows.  The average size of the fish is really good right now.  There are tons of 16-18 fish in the mix.  The fish ate a lot of different flies today, but the small brown mayfly nymphs were the best for us.

Cory and I hosted a group of six today at Eagle Canyon.  Fishing wasn't easy, but everyone in the group landed at least one fish and we landed fish up to 10 pounds.  The fishing is getting really fun this time of year - our big fish are moving into the shallows and feeding very close to the surface.  They are actively foraging for callibaetis nymphs and midges.  We haven't had much luck with dries yet, but hanging a size 18 beadhead nymph about six inches underneath a parachute adams dry has been working well.  Small nymphs like the brown Hogan's S&M size 16 have been working well.  Another good bet is fishing a size 16-20 nymph on a long leader on a very slow retrieve.

I'm spending the month of April on the Lower Sacramento River near Redding. The fishing has been great the past few days and it looks like it will continue through the month. If your interested in fishing the Lower Sac give Confluence a call and we can get you into some great Rainbow Trout fishing.

We are really getting spoiled this month on the Lower Sac.  Fishing has been outstanding.  I guided brothers Bruce & Roger again today.  Fishing was really good, especially in the afternoon.  We landed a lot of 18-20 rainbows, and the biggest of the day was a 20.5 rainbow landed by Bruce.

Brothers Bruce & Roger with a double

The Lower Sac continues to fish incredibly well.  We hooked a lot of 18-20 rainbows today.  Small mayfly nymphs are the ticket, especially in the afternoon.

John's big rainbow

Dan started the day with this fish

And ended the day with this one

Diane from the Diablo Valley Fly Fishers club just forwarded these photos from her recent trip with Gino and Jon on the Applegate River in southern Oregon.  Nice fish, Diane!

We had some excellent fishing on the Lower Sac today.  Check out Bruce's huge rainbow.  This fish was holding in about a foot of water - Bruce hooked him on a small prince nymph and landed him on his Winston 5wt.  What a fish!  The Lower Sac is about as good as it gets right now.  The nymphing was very good, with lots of fish from 16-18 throughout the day.  We also landed an 18 rainbow on a dry fly.  An outstanding day all around.

Gino's client Alex forwarded me these nice photos from their weekend trip to the Applegate River.  One week left on the Applegate!

Alex with an Applegate Steelie

The Lower Sac is fishing red-hot right now.  The nymph grab was incredible today from about 10am to 5:30pm.  There is a good hatch of PMDs and march browns in the afternoon, and any small brown mayfly nymph is working very well.  Fish size is really good, too.  We landed fish up to 20 today and had many fish in the 18 range.  Flows are steady at 4000cfs.

The Lower Sac continues to fish really really GOOD! I guided Diane from Danville and Steve from San Ramon on Saturday. The pair wanted to mix things up, so we swung nymphs and small streamers on light spey rods and hooked fish,we nymphed under indicators and hooked fish, we cast dries to rising fish and hooked up! With the current low flows providing lots of good areas to wade and the coming of spring the Lower Sac is offering up outstanding fly fishing right now! Dont miss out!

I guided Bob from Fremont and Fred from Carmel today, we had HIGH winds today on the Lower Sac which usually means poor fishing but not today! In spite of the howling wind we managed to hook dozens of fish, Fiesty Rainbows mostly 14 to 16 with a few 18 fish in the mix.The nymph grab was solid all day with a little lull in the action between 3:30 and 4:30, the Sac should continue to fish well, Spring has just begun! Book Now!