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I fished with Greg and Dave from Sebastopol today on the Trinity. We fished in Junction City and managed to avoid the crowds for the most part. Greg got his first spey casting lesson today and it took him all of 45 minutes to land a 16 half-pounder and a 5 pound wild steelhead. After that it got tough. We hooked one or two more adult fish and several large half-pounders. The river is low and clear. A nice storm would make the fishing better, but there are plenty of fish in the river right now.  Greg with a nice wild fish  Trinity steelhead only eat size 14 copper johns |
The Trinity has fished good this past week. After a few tough days before the Thanksgiving rains the river has produced multiple aggressive fish on the swing every day for the keen spey angler. Warm weather and perfect river temps.
Huge crowds from evans bar to pigeon point. Upper river has less people and plenty of steelhead who eat good presentations in gin clear water. River is crowded with bank anglers below pigeon point to hoops where you can get at for the odd fish. |
I took Harry and Jerry from Sebastopol downriver on the Trinity today to do some spey casting. We had just one encounter with an adult fish. Harry hooked it on a traditional-style October Caddis in a beautiful tail-out. It jumped four times and threw the hook! We had some half-pounder action the rest of the day and Jerry landed a nice brown, too. Conditions are perfect for swinging flies, but we just weren't in the right place today. My colleagues upstream did well around Junction City with some anglers hooking as many as 9 fish today on nymphs.  brown hooked on a spey fly |
I fished with Don and Alice today on the Trinity. This was Don's third day on the Trinity in the last two years and he finally landed a Trinity steelhead today. It took him until 3:20pm, but when he finally had his opportunity he sealed the deal. We hooked another adult fish and landed a half-pounder earlier. This fish ate a size 14 copper john in green. |
It was a productive day at Eagle Canyon today. Check out these photos and this video (http://vimeo.com/32762746) that our guest Meng put together. It's great! |
Superb fishing yesterday swinging on the Trinity. I have been covering alot of water with my spey clients and finding aggressive fish to eat large spey flies. Life is good on the trinity at the moment. |
I will be spending this winter again on the Southern Oregon/Nor Cal Coast with Gino and Jonny. If you remotely consider yourself a steelheader, you need to experience these magical rivers. Winter steelhead are a different breed than summer/fall steelhead. Words fail to describe what it's like to behold a truly chrome fish just a few miles from the ocean on the rivers we fish. These rivers are closer than you think. Superb, ocean front accommodation for a reasonable price is available to our clients. I am taking bookings for the month of February through March. This is the big leagues people, come check it out.  the real deal  coastal accommodation...not the red hill  this could be you |
I think that I am sick. What other justification is there to chase steelhead 64 out of the last 66 days from the Rogue, to the Grande Ronde, Deschutes, and back home to the Trinity for this past week. The two days I didn't fish or guide during that time was due to driving to another river. The report? most days steelhead were caught, some days they were not. Every day you have the opportunity to fish for steelhead is
a good day in my book. Conditions are perfect on the Trinity at the moment. Fish will be caught tomorrow, and the next day, and for many days after that. It won't be by you if you aren't here however. You can study all the blogs and fishing reports on your computer, or you can go fishing.
Conditions are superb on the Trinity this season compared to last year. Fish are being caught in all stretches of the river. It will be a busy weekend and fish will be on the move and settling into new happy places after this past rain. Next week into december is looking excellent.  an angler who went fishing |
I had another outstanding day on the Lower Sac today. It didn't start out that way, but that's kind of typical for this time of year. We tried everything and couldn't get a grab until about 11am. When the bite finally turned on, it turned on in a big way. Bruce from Sebastopol hooked a lot of big rainbows today. Most came on a size 18 beadhead gold-ribbed hare's ear. Almost all of the fish we caught today were 17-19. We got a nice grab on a dry fly mid-day also. The baetis hatch is very thick from noon to 4pm. Once it gets going the fish are on the job on the surface and underneath.  Lots of fish like this today  Fattie! |
Current conditions on the Trinity are LOW & CLEAR!!! The up side is there are a fair amount of Steelhead spread throughout the system, both natives and hatchery fish. Fishing pressure in certain places is very high, with the current conditions and the heavy pressure these fish don't come easy. Sloppy presentation and lack of stealth will not get the job done. This opens up a good opportunity to hire a guide and work on technique and presentation, whether you want to nymph or swing the fish are accepting nothing but you're BEST!!! |
Another happy guest at Eagle Canyon |
The Lower Sac continues to fish very well. I fished Bill from Sacramento and his brother-in-law Randy from Germany today. Randy's last fishing trip was to Slovenia for marbled trout. He was really impressed with the thick hatch of baetis today. Apparently they don't have much dry fly fishing in Germany in the winter months like we do here! The baetis hatch was off the hook today. Randy landed a nice 18 rainbow on a dry and Bill hooked lots of big rainbows on a nymph in the shallow pockets. Our best nymph was a size 18 Idylwilde baetis nymph and our best dry was a size 18 purple haze. For about two hours fish were rising all over the place.  Bill with a colorful rainbow  Bill swung up this nice rainbow on a sinking line |
The Trinity is crowded but for good reason. Steelhead are distributed in good numbers throughout the entire river from Lewiston to Junction City. I had father/son team Irv and Jeff in my boat today. We went 2 for 8 on steelhead and Jeff landed a great salmon. Our fish ate orange eggs and green copper johns. All of our steelhead jumped multiple times, and that's how most of them threw the hook. It was spectacular! These fish are hot right now. There are wild fish, hatchery fish, chrome fish, dark fish, salmon, half-pounders...  Birthday boy Jeff with a nice salmon  Jeff with a wild steelie |
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 |
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