Current Fishing Report

We had high winds in the valley today so I took my clients Bob & Ed up to Eagle Canyon for the day.  Conditions were much nicer up there, with light winds and lots of sun.  Fishing was very tough in the morning, with just three fish coming on black leeches and no fish eating nymphs.  Fishing improved after lunch, with the best time being from 1 to 3:30pm.  We landed numerous fish from 5 to 10 pounds on various nymphs, but the best one by far was a brown rubberlegs.

I had a very nice afternoon on the Lower Sac with our Office Manager Marisa Compton and her folks Colin & Ann.  They are visiting from England for the holidays.  Colin learned the ropes quickly.  He lost his first two fish but the third time was a charm.  The fish were pretty grabby today on small baetis nymphs.  There were a fair number of fish rising, too.  This warm weather is great for the trout fishing on the Lower Sac.

Colin with his 2nd big rainbow of the day.

Fished with Anhtony and Trevor on Sunday, we fished the JC area and for the most part had it to ourselves! Each landed a nice adult Steelhead, Trevors was a large hatchery buck and Anthony landed a beautiful wild, bright hen. Starting to see the first of the winter run fish!Conditions are still low and clear but the river will give up a few for those willing to put the time in. Cant catch um from your couch! 

I guided Bob and grandson Adam from the Bay Area today.  The weather finally warmed up a bit - we only had ice on the guides for about a half hour in the morning.  The river was remarkably devoid of other anglers and boats for a prime Saturday in December.  We saw a lot of fish today and Bob and Adam both landed a nice fish.  Small nymphs (size 14-16) are still working well.

Bob landed this fish on 4X tippet

Adam caught a nice one

We finally got some rain and warmer weather on the Trinity after a few weeks of brutal cold. The river didn't get any color or rise, but fish have definitely moved around. As mentioned in other reports, there are more fish this year than the previous 3 or 4 seasons. They aren't quite the numbers of 2002-2007 but there are alot of fish around. The highest concentrations of fish and guides are now above town, bit there are still fishable numbers in the JC area down to Del Loma. More aggressive fish will be found downriver. My client Doug Roan hooked 3 swinging yesterday. We've also hooked them casually nymphing between swing runs the last few days with various copper john stuff. Expect massive crowds this weekend...but if you know the river you will find peace and quiet and maybe some steelhead.

Here are a couple photos sent by Rick and John from Reno.Thanks again for all your help, it was a great experience.  Looking forward to doing it again sometime.

I had one of my best days of the season with Rick and John from Reno.  They were ready to catch some fish after a fruitless day of fishing on their own.  Fortunately, the fish were ready to eat.  These fish have had lock-jaw for a while and today they were hungry, even at 8am with air temps in the 20s.  We caught fish throughout the day, all on pheasant tails and copper johns size 12-16.  There was a fair bit of traffic on the river, but not many boats on our float.  We ended up with nine steelhead in the net.  Rick and John are headed over to Eagle Canyon tomorrow.  They signed up for our two-day Eagle Canyon combo special where you spend one day with one of our guides on the Lower Sac or Trinity and then the other day at Eagle Canyon.  It's just $650 total, or $325 per person for 2 great days of fishing.

Crowds are starting to thin on the Trinity below Junction City down to Cedar Flat. There are more fish from Bucktail down to Dutton...but more people too. Everyone is getting along great this year though and sharing water when others are around. Steelheaders are a good group overall. Most anglers are still scratching out a fish or two most days if they cover enough water with a high level of skill. Poorly presentation regardless of technique wont work in these cold clear conditions. Rain would be a welcome sight...it will be superb when that happens. Nice weather in the afternoons though!

I fished Bill and Mike from Chico today on the Lower Sac.  Check out the photo of the steelhead Bill caught!  It's rare to catch one up in the Redding area.  This one ate a size 18 pheasant tail nymph.  We also caught fish on rubberlegs and small baetis nymphs.  There is a good hatch of baetis mid-day and still some caddisflies buzzing around.  We had a couple of dry fly opportunities but weren't able to fool any risers.  Our best luck was with small nymphs in 1-3ft of water.

Bill with a Lower Sac Steelie

steelie in the net

The Trinity is cold, clear, and getting a little skinny. But it is the best venue to catch a steelhead along with the upper Rogue on the west coast right now. There are good numbers of fish in both rivers and fish are being caught every day on swung flies and nymphs. Work hard and cover alot of water and you'll get one sooner or later.

Fishing on the Trinity continues to be challenging with low, clear, and cold conditions.  Bill & Rob from the Bay Area both landed fish in their two-day trip, but thank goodness we capitalized on the opportunities we had.  Today we saw plenty of fish, but many of them were in water types that aren't easy to fish.  The key right now is to make long downstream drifts to the area where the fish are holding.  Bring your A Game and you'll be sure to hook some fish.

I fished with father and son duo of Anthony and Trevor yesterday. We floated the JC area and had it pretty much to ourselves. Each landed a nice Steely, Trevor a large hatchery buck and Anthony a fresh and fat Wild hen, one of the lead fish of this years winter run!!Even thou the water is still low and clear the river will give a few up for those willing to put the time in. Can't catchum from your couch! 

I just finished up two days with Al & Emil from the Sacramento area.  The Trinity is low and clear and fish are scattered throughout the river from Lewiston to Junction City.  There aren't many big pods of fish, but there are enough to make it worthwhile.  Yesterday we worked on step 1 of steelhead fishing, which was hooking fish.  Today we were still stuck on step 1 for a while, but then we got to step 2, which is landing fish.  It was a fun couple of days.  Al & Emil had not indicator fished from a boat before, so they learned a lot.  Our fish today came on a size 16 red copper john.

Emil with a great wild buck

Lots of brown trout on the Trinity this year

Fish continue to eat swung flies on the very cold and clear Trinity River.  Yesterday, beginning spey casters Hossein and his wife Jessica picked up the double spey and snap t casts quickly, and an amazing moment happened.  After lunch Hossein got a pull, and didn't interrupt the fish that was pulling on his fly until he felt the weight of the fish.  After about 11 minutes, we landed a 33 1/2 inch buck that was pushing 15 pounds.  It was his first fish on a spey rod.  He is buying a Sage VXP spey rod today at Cal Fly shop and fishing with me this winter on the Coast, to chase another moment.  Good rods aren't free, or have the name of a shop on them.  You have a better shot at landing a fish like that if he is actually hooked in the mouth and on 10lb Maxima.  The fish ate a gigantic leach, that was made by using a device called a vice that holds a hook on which you tie materials onto.  No rain in the forecast.  Fishing isn't going to get any easier this next week, but the fish are here...and steelheading isn't supposed to be easy anyway.  Chase the moments, and you will find them.  

Just finished up a couple of great days on the Upper Rogue with JR Hubbard and Carl from Leland's Fly Shop. JR's goal for this trip was to get prepared and spey casting tuned up for his upcoming Tierra Del Fuego adventure. Carl was in search of his first spey rod swung steelhead. We accomplished those goals. The only thing in question was how to survive our frigidly cold frozen foggy days. The answer: mega fire. Overall, we hooked six fish in two days, all on the swing. We got fish on a variety of large streamers, two on the blue Deuce Wigalo, one on a black Deuce Wigalo, one on a Black/Egg Sucking Dirk Wiggler, a Black Pick Yer Pocket, and one on a  purple/pink/black fly that Carl tied. Also, we were two for two on epic campfires and hooked a fish at each campfire spot! Can't beat that. Thanks JR and Carl for some memorable days on the water.The only mediocre aspect of our trip are my phone pics!

JR stoking fire with K Pump

JR with wild hen fish

Carl gets it done at dark

I guided brothers Jeff and Mike from the Bay Area on the Trinity River today.  We fished the Junction City area.  It took us until about 2pm to hook a fish, but from then on the bite was really good.  Mike, in the front of the boat, was very gracious in the way he avoided hooking all the fish that Jeff later hooked from the back of the boat!  We had a lot of action in the last hour of the day.  We ended up hooking 5 adults with 3 in the net plus two nice half pounders and a big brown.  Our fish ate black hare's ears and various stonefly nymph patterns.

Jeff got the party started

Mike with another wild fish

Mike with a brown trout

We are still finding aggressive steelhead to eat the swung fly every day here on the Trinity.  The river is getting pounded and could use rain, but there are plenty of fish around.  I have been covering alot of water with spey rods and trying to stay clear of the crowds most days.  I have had clients who are both experienced and new to speycasting land steelhead every day for the past week. I will be doing a Winter Spey Clinic on the Southern Oregon Coast this February for those who want to learn how to chase winter steelhead.  The clinic will go over every aspect chasing chrome from reading water conditions, technical aspects of gear, and intricate spey casting instruction from someone who is truly committed to it.  I worked with winter steelhead legends Scott O'donnell and Mike McCune this past fall on the Grande Ronde and learned an incredible amount of info I'd like to share with my clients.  E mail me if you are interested. 

Paul's first day speycasting

Greg's first swung up steelie

Insane, native specimen

I fished with George from San Diego today on the Lower Sac.  There was a high-wind advisory today and we were fearing the worst, but we ended up having a great day.  The wind held off until about 4pm and the fish were done by then in any case.  Today was a typical winter day on the Lower Sac.  It was hard to get any grabs before lunch, and then fishing was very good until about 3:30pm.  There are still some hydropsyche (aka big) caddis hatching starting around 11:30am and the baetis are hatching en masse from 12:30pm until dark.  It was a little too windy for dry flies today, but George hooked a lot of very nice rainbows up in the heads of the riffles.  We had good luck wading and fishing from the boat.  Most of our fish were 17-20 today.  We did well on several small mayfly nymphs in a size 18.  All of our fish came out of water that was less than two feet deep today - fun stuff!

I guided Tom & Greg on Monday, the river is still low, clear and crowded but Still Producing. Greg landed this nice buck late in the day but we had multiple opportunities through out the day!

Brady Johnstone and I had a couple great days fishing on the Upper Rogue. In two days Brady swung up 3 of 6 he encountered. He was due for some success as he has spent several days of the water this fall waiting for his moment. He found it. Nice job amigo.