|
The river is fishing great right now. I guided Bernard and Catherine from Mill Valley today on the Lower Sac. We floated from the Posse Grounds to Bonnyview. The salmon are spawning, with the greatest concentration of spawners upstream from Cypress Bridge. They will only get thicker over the next few weeks. We had good luck with a pearl colored egg, but the biggest fish of the day came on a small mayfly pattern. Some of the fish are still hanging out in their normal lies, but a lot of them are really tuned in to the salmon spawn. We landed some large fish on nymphs, but the icing on the cake was the dry fly fishing. We had several opportunities throughout the day, and Bernard and Catherine both landed a great fish right at the end of the day on a dry fly.  Catherine's big fish  Bernard caught this one on a dry!  This one ate an egg |
Things are really shaping up on the Trinity. Great angler, client, and buddy Alex Ferber joined me on a recent camping/fishing trip on the Trinity. The cooler temps really got the fish on the move. Alex is an angler after my own heart...he only wanted to work on his spey casting and hook a steelhead on the swing, refusing to fish any other method. Alex and I hooked two incredible steelhead swinging traditional flies. We never saw another angler while we were fishing.
The 9 pound bright steelhead we landed was on a cool Atlantic Salmon fly that I got on a recent trip to Ireland, where I got skunked...but still enjoyed the Classic European Spey experience thoroughly. Come and see how satisfying it is to learn the artform of spey casting and hooking a steelhead on the swing. I have availability for the last week of october going into early November...things should be prime.
I also am running week long all inclusive packages for my New Zealand operation at $2200 per person...a ridiculous price for the ultimate trout fishing experience in the world for skilled anglers. Airfare is at an all time low too!  Keen angler Alex Ferber enjoying epic swing water  What an incredible specimen |
The temperature has really dropped here in northern California. The weather turned cold today, with high winds and highs in the 60s. That didn't stop our fishing, though. I guided Jerry and Kevin, a father and son team from central California the last two days at Clearwater Lodge. We started with a day on Fall River, where Kevin landed a couple of really nice rainbows. We had good dry fly action on a black caddis size 14 in the morning. We switched to nymphs when the wind came up right after lunch. Action wasn't red hot, but we caught numerous small fish and our two big fish on a size 16 beadhead pheasant tail under an indicator. Today we fished Hat Creek and Baum Lake. With the cooler temps there weren't any bugs on the water on Hat Creek until about 10:45am. We had a one hour feeding frenzy during the trico spinner fall, and then the wind really came up. Jerry landed some good Hat Creek fish on trico spinner patterns. We finished off the day at Baum Lake, where the rainbows and browns were chowing various mayflies on the surface. We say PMDs and callibaetis, but the fish really wanted the incredibly small baetis that were hatching. A size 20 parachute adams did the trick. FYI, Baum Lake is a little high and Hat Creek is a little off color because the Hat Powerhouse #2 is off-line. The water is being shunted down the steep emergency chute next to the powerhouse, so there is quite a bit of debris coming down through the powerhouse riffle. PG&E seems to be working frantically, but I don't know when things will be back to normal. Hat Creek is plenty clear enough to fish, though.  Kevin's Fall River toad |
Fall has finally hit the intermountain area...so should you. The weather has finally got cooler, the leaves are changing, and the trout are chowing. This is my favorite time of year to fish the Fall River, Pit River, and the Mac.
My client Bob Town hooked about 8 big rainbows on our half day trip. Epic battles were fought, our landing ratio wasn't perfect, but we closed the day landing this absolute fat football of a fish.
Get to Clearwater. These next few weeks are going to provide some of the best opportunities of the season.  Superb Pit River Rainbow caught by Bob Town |
I just finished two great days of guiding with my new role models Dick and Marilyn from Santa Rosa. They're good anglers and they've been fishing together for quite some time. We sampled some of the best local fisheries during their stay at Clearwater Lodge. We started with a day on Fall River, where Dick and Marilyn put their solid casting skills to good use. We fished dries and dry and dropper techniques all day. We found some really large fish rising to callibaetis on the lower river in the afternoon. Our best fish was a beautiful golden-hued rainbow about 18 inches. Today we decided to join guide Brannon Santos and his clients on Baum Lake. Let's just say that the cat is out of the bag. Baum Lake was a ghost town a month ago, but it's pretty busy now that it's been heavily planted with rainbows and browns. We fished dry flies and dry and dropper at Baum. Both techniques worked very well. The best dry was a size 18 grey parachute baetis. We were packed in pretty close to several other float tubes and pontoon boats, and everybody was catching fish! This afternoon we decided to head back over to the wild side and spend a few hours on the Pit. That was a great call. Dick and Marilyn landed nearly identical huge rainbows out of the same exact spot. These were some fat fish!  Brannon guiding his secret spot  Marilyn's big rainbow  Dick's big rainbow |
Look out spey world, here comes Scott Coulter. Coulter, who fishes with Gino about three weeks every year for steelhead, made another surprise visit to Medford on his way back from the Deschutes. A former and recovering indicator steelhead fisherman, Coulter has fallen victim to the addiction of feeling the bang, bang, bang!, as he calls it. This was his second cameo on the Rogue following a Deschutes trip in the last month. We floated the Upper Rogue yesterday, in near 100 degree heat, and managed to hook four steelhead. The first fish he landed, which came on a pink Dirk Wiggler, barely fit in my 28 net! We hooked three more, all on pink! Scott has really taken to the spey rod and its technique. Gino introduced Scott to the spey years ago, but just within the last year it has proven itself worthy and effective to him. Since last winter on the Rogue, Scott has taken a dozen and a half steelhead on the swing and hooked twice that many. His success is largely due to his ability to cover water quickly and effectively, his knack for reading water, and persistance as a steelhead angler.
This has been my best summer on the Rogue ever, and there are lots more fish on the way. I spent last week on the lower Rogue targeting salmon. We a tough salmon fishing, but there were a bunch of steelhead moving through the lower river. This could be our best steelhead run in 7 or 8 years. November, which is my favorite and most productive month on the Upper Rogue, is still available for booking. Check our booking calenders for available days. And go buy some pink Dirk Wigglers at your local fly shop! If they don't carry them yet, just ask. I need the royalties for beer money!  Swingers welcome. It works! |
I guided Frank and Doug from the Sacramento area today on the Lower Sac. Fishing was excellent. The big fish were on the grab today. Salmon are starting to show in the spawning areas, but it will still be a couple weeks before the egg grab gets going. Fortunately, the fish are chowing down on small mayfly patterns. We cleaned up today on Hogan's S&M nymphs, brown Micro Mayflies, Sloan's Mighty Mites, and beadhead PTs. Flows are below 7000 and it's possible to anchor up and work the riffles and drop-offs. We did very well in the riffles and nooks and crannies today. The long flats were a little slow. The Sac is fishing great right now.
I only have one day left in October, the 24th. Confluence Outfitters has a great Lower Sac team. Book your trip for the fall soon!  Doug knows how to hold a fish!  Lower sac fattie  Frank with a good fish |
Today was day 3 for Pam and Scott, and we did our grand finale on the Pit River. We had consistent action throughout the day. Scott hooked and landed one of the best Pit River rainbows I've seen in a while. Pam did very well also, landing one really big fish and hooking into plenty of others. Our best flies today were the beadhead PT size 12 and a prince nymph size 14.  Pam with a toad  A robust Pit River rainbow  Another look at Scott's big fish |
Today was day 2 with Scott and Pam from southern California. They're having a great stay at Clearwater Lodge. We spent all day on Fall River, focusing on the area below Island Road bridge. There was a pretty good callibaetis hatch, but we found the big fish to be pretty finicky on the dry. We had some good dry fly action in the morning, but our best fishing was with nymphs in the afternoon. Our best flies were a Mercer's gidget size 20 and a black birds nest size 16. We polished off our day with a great pork tenderloin dinner at Clearwater Lodge. Kudos to Chef Tim.  Scott with a toad |
Drew Darkenwald and I had the pleasure of guiding Scott and Pam from southern California today. We fished the Ash Camp area of the McCloud. There were lots of vehicles down there, but we hardly saw any other anglers. Nymphing was a little slow, but we had a great hatch of size 16 gray mayflies starting around 4pm. Scott landed a couple nice fish on dries and Pam landed a couple good fish on nymphs.  Pam with a fish on  Pam's big fish  Scott with guide Drew Darkenwald |
Katie & Mackenzie and I spent the last few days visiting my parents at their cabin at Bucks Lake. Fishing is great up there right now! There is a thick callibaetis hatch starting around 8am and going until noon. The fish are focused on the dries, both duns and spinners. We had good luck this morning in the Bucks Creek inlet, but fishing was just as good yesterday right in front of our cabin. All around the lake there are plenty of rainbows and browns cruising the shorelines and actively feeding. My best fish today was a 15 brown. We had good luck with a traditional Adams, the limestone cripple, and Quigley's callibaetis cripple in a size 14. Hanging a small beadhead nymph under a dry worked very well, also.  Katie with a fish on!  One of many rainbows caught today |
Hat Creek produced for us this morning. We had the entire Powerhouse Riffle to ourselves on a Saturday. The spinner fall started around 9am and ended around 10:30. We hooked into some good fish and landed a lot of small fish on the spinners. We switched to nymphs for a while before lunch and Mark from Woodland landed a great fish. After lunch we sampled a couple of other destinations. We ended up on one of our favorite small streams, catching beautiful redband rainbows on dries.  A great Hat Creek bow. |
Jay Cockrum, Mike Corley and I guided a group of four from Clearwater Lodge today. Our clients wanted to fish the Pit, and they weren't disappointed. Fishing was incredible in the morning, with lots of 14-18 fish hooked and landed. We even hooked a couple 20 rainbows! Hot flies were a size 14 beadhead prince, size 16 brown micro mayfly, and a size 14 black birds nest. Action slowed a little after lunch, but the river was still very productive. We had miles of the Pit River all to ourselves again today.  We hooked a lot of fish like this today!  Mark with a good fish on the line. |
Trout fishing continues to be excellent around Clearwater Lodge. Jay and I took our clients to Hat Creek in the morning. After landing small fish on almost every cast in one area, we moved on to an area with bigger fish. Clients Ed and Cliff both landed some very big Hat Creek wild rainbows on nymphs. We spent the afternoon at Baum Lake, where the bite was very good also. Ed mastered his roll cast and caught some fish on some very long drifts. We had all of our venues to ourselves today. The rivers are full of fish and devoid of anglers - come on up!  Ed with a great Hat Creek rainbow  Jay Cockrum can catch fish from anywhere |
Fall River is in its prime autumn form with great hatches and lots of opportunities to catch big fish on dries each day. We had a good PMD spinner fall from 9-10am, then a good PMD hatch until about noon. Matt from Pasadena and Ed from Colorado had countless grabs on dries, but it was hard for us to get away from the small fish in the morning. Meanwhile, Jay Cockrum and client Cliff hooked some good fish on nymphs. We switched up clients after lunch, and right away Jay had Ed into a 2.5 lb rainbow on a nymph! Then Cliff landed an 18 inch rainbow on a pheasant tail nymph. Around 3pm the mayflies started hatching again. It was a mix of callibaetis and PMDs. Is a PMD that hatches in the afternoon a PAD? Whatever they were, the fish were gobbling them. Cliff landed the fish of the day, a 19 rainbow on a dry. Chef Tim at Clearwater Lodge made our evening with an incredible shrimp and scallop dinner.  Cliff with a Fall River bow  This fish ate a dry!  A freshly-hatched Callibaetis |
Jay Cockrum and I guided a great group today at Clearwater Lodge. We started on Hat Creek, and despite the holiday, we had the powerhouse riffle all to ourselves. We had a great trico spinner fall and the fish were chowing dries for over two hours! We had countless grabs on dry flies and Matt, Ed & Cliff did very well. Matt even landed a 16 rainbow on a dry. We spent the afternoon at Burney Creek, which fished very well also. Everybody landed a lot of fish today and the weather was beautiful. We finished the day with an incredible lamb dinner at Clearwater Lodge.  Matt with a Hat Creek bow.  Cliff on Burney Creek  The fish chowed the trico spinners today! |
I just spent two days on the Nature Conservancy McCloud Preserve. The weather was perfect for a Labor Day getaway. Fishing pressure was very light on Saturday and a little heavier today. I had the pleasure of guiding some great kids from 10 to 16 years old this weekend. All four caught fish on their own, and one even landed seven fish in under three hours today! All of our action was on nymphs fished under indicators, although we did miss a couple grabs on a grasshopper dry yesterday afternoon. Our best flies were a red copper john size 14, pheasant tail size 16, black micro mayfly size 16, and a brown rubberlegs size 8.
I also spent a couple hours on McCloud Reservoir Saturday morning. Fishing was pretty good from the bank. I caught a really nice wild brown, a wild rainbow, and a few hatchery bows.  A nice brown from McCloud Reservoir  Nathan wih a McCloud rainbow  Rachel with a fish on |
Today I took out Matt and Trip from Santa Cruz. We also had Trip's dog Molly in the boat. We floated from Balls to Bend and didn't see another drift boat all day long. Fishing was pretty good in the morning on small mayfly nymphs. Matt was the hot rod in the morning, although Trip lost the fish of the day, a 17 rainbow. The grab was inconsistent the rest of the day, but we got into a few areas where we had a lot of action. The wind came up around 1pm and we fought it for the rest of the day. Fishing (and rowing) is just plain tough with a 15-20mph upstream wind! We had a good time, though. Plus, the dog only fell out of the boat once!  Molly on point  Matt with a fish on |
Scott Coulter hooked 4 steelhead swinging the Upper Rogue yesterday, keeping my steak alive since mid-July. The first fish came to a smaller traditional fly early in the morning. We hooked three more sink-tip fishing throughout the day. The lucky fly was a variation of the pink Dirk Wiggler. We lost the lucky wiggler on the last fish. It broke off 12lb maxima. It was a bit of a farming incident. Scott now bears the John Deere hat, for now.
If you want to catch a summer steelhead on the swing, you may want to consider a trip up to the Rogue. This has been my best August ever and the fish #'s are still rising. It will just continue to produce into the fall. |
I had a great day guiding Graham and Kate from the Bay Area today. We started off on the Upper Sac at Cantara Loop. We fished some dries and some nymphs. Graham had a couple good tugs on the nymph and Kate had some good dry fly grabs. We moved down to the Dunsmuir City park for lunch. The hatchery rainbows were very willing, plus we hooked a small wild fish. Graham cleaned up on nymphs fished with and without an indicator. We finished up at Ash Camp on the McCloud. It was nice and cool down there, but the fishing was pretty slow. We caught a couple of beautiful wild McCloud rainbows and lost a few more.  McCloud Rainbow  High-sticking the McCloud |
|