Current Fishing Report

Here is a photo from today at Eagle Canyon.  It was very windy and rainy most of the day, but our guests still did well.  Everyone hooked fish and most landed multiple fish.  Our best fish was about 13 pounds today!  A size 16 poxyback hare's ear was the best fly today.  Some fish were eating march brown mayflies on the surface today, too.

The Lower Sac continues to fish very well.  It was a little slow for us in the morning, but the fishing turned on around 11am and was good the rest of the day.  Nymphing was good with various PMD nymph patterns.  The PMD/Pink Albert/Peach Afternoon Dun hatch was very thick today - too thick for a while.  The dry fly fishing was really good once it thinned out a bit.  We landed lots of big fish on nymphs today plus fish up to 20 on dries.  What a day!

on a dry fly

Here are some photos from Eagle Canyon today

The Lower Sac is fishing very well right now.  We only had 2 fish under 16 today.  My clients Dan & Pete landed a lot of 16-21 rainbows today.  The highlight of the day was finishing up with some dry fly fishing.  Dan landed three on dries, starting at 17 and ending with a 21.5 rainbow on a dry!

This one ate a dry fly

Photos from today at Eagle Canyon

Eagle Canyon fished well today.  Hot flies: size 14 Mercer's poxyback, black micro mayfly size 16, black & red leech size 8, yellow microspawn.  Guests Mike & Rich landed fish up to 12 pounds!

Photos from Eagle Canyon today

Here are three photos from today at Eagle Canyon

We hosted a big group at Eagle Canyon today.  Fishing was pretty tough in the morning, but improved around lunch time.  The fish were pretty picky about flies.  We had to go down to 5X tippet on some of the smaller nymphs.  Best flies included black midges and tan WD-40s size 18, oregon cheese microspawns, and other basic trout nymphs size 14-16.

Here are some pictures from today at Eagle Canyon

We had a big group from Sacramento at Eagle Canyon today.  Here are some photos forwarded by our host Sam Robinett.

I hosted Eagle Canyon today and the fishing was really good.  Guest Tom from Aptos caught the biggest trout of his life, a 12# rainbow.  It took him into the backing but Tom managed to land it on 4X tippet.  Good flies today included black wire-ribbed midges size 12-18 with a white bead, yellow sucker spawn, and various streamer patterns.

I spent a really fun hour fishing the Trinity River on my own this afternoon.  The dry fly fishing is pretty good right now.  I landed two fat 16 browns on dries and had a shot at 3 others.  It isn't an easy game, but if you wait and watch you can be rewarded with a shot at a really nice wild trout on a dry fly.  There was a mixed hatch of march browns and caddis today.  The browns were eating both.  Hint of the day: look for the shade!  Prime-time is 1pm to 5pm for action on dries.

I got to do something a little different today - guide the lower Feather River near Oroville.  This is a fishery that I used to guide quite a bit, but always in the fall for steelhead chasing salmon eggs.  The river also gets a spring run of half-pounders and adults.  We found quite a few today.  Most of our fish were 17-20 with one nice buck 21 or so.  Even the 14 inchers were feisty.  Feather River half-pounders look like silver bullets and fight really hard.  If you're looking for a trip over here let me know and I will get you set up with a good guide.  The season goes from early March through mid-May.

It was a long first week for me on the famed Olympic Peninsula in Washington.  Like most rivers on the West Coast, everything was blown up here.  Today we finally had fishable conditions, just barely.  Taking advantage of a day off, guide buddy Ryan Davie and I floated one of most beautiful steelhead rivers on the planet on a rare sunny day for the OP.  Ryan landed a stunning, gigantic wild hen in the last run we fished.  If you are only going to catch one, that is THE ONE! Conditions will be perfect for this upcoming weekend.  I have no available days up here at the moment.  I might open up some days at the end of March and possible April after I get back from British Columbia.  Contact me if you are interested in fishing for the biggest winter steelhead on Earth.

Ryan Davie with a an absolutely gigantic wild hen

The Lower Sac fished really well again today.  We fished up in Redding today and there were few other boats and lots of nice fish.  We boated a lot of 18-20 fish today on nymphs, and landed fish on dry flies up to 16.  If you're itching to fish, don't wait! The best hatch today was the PMD size 16.  The fish were keying on tan parachute mayflies on the surface and brown and black mayfly nymph patterns size 16-18. 

Thanks to the Peninsula Fly Fishers club who had an outing today at Eagle Canyon.  Here are some of the photos.

The Lower Sac fished very well for us today.  The nymph grab from the morning through about 3pm was about as good as it gets.  We had good dry fly fishing in the mid-afternoon, too.  There is a mixed hatch of caddisflies, PMDs, and callibaetis that peaks from 1 to 4pm.

I just finished up a two-day trip on the Trinity.  When I arrived Thursday morning the river was chocolate-colored at Steel Bridge due to the heavy rains overnight.  I took clients Ted & Alex to Lewiston Lake for the morning.  We found some rising fish right away and caught a few on nymphs and one on a small dry.  Most of them were 15 fatties.  Lewiston Lake fish always fight really well.  We left the lake at lunch and spent the afternoon floating the river.  By mid-day the river was already cleared up and in great shape.  Fishing was tough, but we got a nice brown on a nymph and we swung up a half-pounder on the spey rod. Today was better.  It was a beautiful, warm day.  Alex got one big grab on the spey rod, but the rest of our action was on nymphs and dries.  Ted got a great brown on a nymph and Alex went 2/3 on steelies.  We also rose a few nice browns on dries.  It was a really nice two days on the river.  There is really good variety this time of year, and hardly anybody around!  We had a great hatch of caddisflies and March browns today.  I even saw a green drake yesterday.

It has been an amazing year on the Southern Oregon Coast for the die hard winter steelhead anglers who have put in the time and commitment to the Big Game over the years.  We had so many amazing moments this year on the Coast...what an amazing place.  Conditions were still pretty good when I took off from there a few days ago.  I am now on the Olympic Peninsula, looking at blown out rivers...damn.  Thats the game though, and the rivers here needed some rain.  Conditions should be pretty epic here in a few days.  I have a full calendar here, but might open up a few days at the end of the month before I head to BC.  The game continues...

Bill Shaw from San Diego with a 15lb plus steelhead

Bill Shaw, again, with another all time, insane fish

Wolfman casting under the watchful eye of his best friend

yeah, just another swung up chrome fish a few miles from the ocean

Wolfman hooked up on a lifetime fish

Wolf's absolutely perfect winter specimen