Current Fishing Report

We had a fun day on the Yuba yesterday. We caught some fired up trout and landed two steelhead. January is often a quality over quantity game out there. We saw a few pmds coming off and most days recently there have been bwo hatches. More hatches will continue to come off as the month progresses and by the end of the month we should be seeing some skwala adults and having good dry fly action.

Today begins a new year and I can’t think of a better way to ring in 2022 than going fishing!  Fishing the lower Sac on New Year’s Day is how my guests Ron and Steve planned to kick off their 2022. This time of year, the Sac is more about quality than quantity, so you need to know that from the start. They both hooked nice fish before Steve landed a beautiful 18” fish. Then it happened - Steve hooked into a fish that did whatever it wanted, and he could only hang on and hope for the best. Once it was in the net, we realized this was the fish of a lifetime! The photos don’t show just how large this fish is. It taped right at 26” and was one of the fattest fish I’ve seen on the Sac!  What are your goals for 2022? My goal is to fish more. I hope everyone has that same goal and we would love to take you fishing!

Happy New Year to Steve!

The Trinity has been fishing very well for my guests this season and today was another great day of steelheading for my guests Andrew and Eric. It was a cold start, but things started to warm up when Eric hooked into a very hot fish that put up epic battle before finally spitting the fly. A short time later Andrew landed a beautiful wild steelhead. They both had multiple hook-ups with adult steelhead and a couple decent half-pounders. The flows have come back down after the recent storms, but we have more weather expected early next week. My fingers are crossed this next storm will bring us a new push of fish. Let’s go fishing in 2022!

I had a great time with my guests Max and Richard. This was their first time fishing the Trinity and the conditions were ideal given the recent rains. Max struck first with a solid half-pounder and then hooked a nice adult, but during an impressive run managed to get snagged on some brush and was able to spit the hook. Richard hooked one adult and Max hooked two more adults and a tweener. Their quick Christmas steelhead trip was very successful and they were already talking about their next trip.

Mike came up back in October during our famous egg bite and was back for round two, only this time he brought his son, Connor. C-Dawg is a fly fishing guide in Colorado on the Arkansas River, a fantastic brown trout fishery that I've been fortunate enough to fish a couple days on. So how would the Lower Sac stack up against the Arkansas? Well in many ways they just can't be compared because they are SO different. The Arkansas has a million browns and you can use streamers or big dry flies all day long. The lower Sac? No browns and dry fly fishing is pretty sporadic, tho it's definitely a thing starting in thr spring... but what we lack in the brown trout department is made up in the sheer average size of our rainbows. Averaging around 18 inches up in Redding, it's no wonder it's considered by many to be one of the best tailwaters in America.Connor and Mike had a great day. Guiding guides is super fun because they fish a lot and understand the golden rule: do what the guide says ?? Plus, Mike has become a "stick," so we spent more time hooking and LANDING fish rather than missing fish or losing 'em.That being said, Connor and I both had to remind Mike to ENJOY fighting his fish! He told me he was competitive and just wanted to get the fish in the net immediately, but I had to remind him that one does not just DRAG an 18 inch rainbow to the boat. The stand out moment of the day was when he was fighting one of his fish and borderline horsing it in and told me, "I'd like to see the net out right about now." That was his gracious way of saying, "Luke, net my fish... NOW." Well Connor and I had a good laugh and told him to take his time and enjoy fighting the fish... and, when it was the appropriate time, I net his fish. "Trust your guide, Mike. Trust your guide." Haha.As I've noted before, December isn't a numbers game but it sure is a quality game. We got several 18+ inch fish and had grabs throughout most of the day. There is definitely a peak "bite" between 9am to 1pm lately, but if you fish hard until the end, you can scratch out fish here and there.So what are they eating and what's the river conditions? Great questions! If you wanna know the best flies to use, book a trip and I'll show ya (haha). The Sac's flow is currently at 3160cfs, so it shouldn't get any lower (Lord willing!). The clarity all depends on where you are. I'd say the average visibility is around 3 feet, give or take 6 inches. There are a TON of BWO's coming off around 11:30am most days, especially with this cloud cover and rain. You'll see smolt eating on the surface here and there but larger fish haven't seemed to care (yet) and our BWO nymphs haven't been thr primary bug they are eating... but that should change soon. Until then, I'm definitely running at least one mayfly nymph because we ARE catching fish on them. Which one, you ask? And what size? See aforementioned booking directions ??But seriously... the Lower Sac has big fish in it... and they are beautiful, so let's go! Connor and Mike did it and we had a great day! And if you head to Salida to fish the Arkansas, look him up at UpRiver Fly Fishing!

Connor’s fish of the day!

Norcal trout

Mike SAYS he is enjoying himself…

Two handers!

Grip and grin!

It's the time of year when the commercial fleet is out to sea crabbing, the hills are coated in freshly fallen snow, and the rivers of California's North Coast are turning green. Winter steelhead season has come again for all of us who wait with eager anticipation for this time of year. Right now there are several rivers in play as they drop into shape but we have plenty of wet weather ahead of us as we go into the end of this coming week. The amount of precipitation in the forecast will make timing more difficult for those looking to hit a nice window of green water on the coast. Hopefully as we begin 2022 we'll see more generous conditions take shape to start off another season of chasing these elusive critters. I have plenty of open dates as of right now going into January and February for those looking to swing flies on the coast this winter. Happy Holidays to all! 

Consolation prize for putting in the time

The Redwood Curtain

Keep calm and hang on

Winter has arrived on the Trinity! Rain ,snow,fog and steelhead. I have had a great fall season on the Trinity for steelhead fishing and now shifting fears to winter conditions. I spent the last three days guiding clients on the Trinity both nymphing and swinging. Client Ken tried a nymph and swing combo and it went well. He brought a brand new Sage X 5wt Spey rod set up by Ashland Fly Shop . The rod cast effortlessly for Ken and half way through his first swing run he connected with a 25 in steelhead to break in the new Sage X. Congrats Ken! We had a great day fishing together with other fish caught and lost on the nymph rig also. Combo trips have done well this season. The last two days my Clients were nymphing and did well both days with a top fish of 28 inches. I posted a picture of the 28 incher by Jon.on Friday. I am booking winter dates now January into March. With recent storms and more on way the stage is set for a good winter steelhead season . It's time to get on the books and come out and play!Peter Santley

Guest report from Tony who fished Eagle Canyon today: "Eagle Canyon this year was a little tougher than in previous years. We  fished right before a storm was going to move in so I don’t know if that  had an effect on the fishing. Regardless, we still hooked about 25 fish  in our group and landed 17. Considering  the fish we hooked are around  6-10 lbs. that is a banner day in most other fisheries. The fish seemed  to be especially hot this year. We had one fish that made multiple runs  and took our angler down to the backing 3 times before becoming  unbuttoned. This type of fishing makes Eagle Canyon a truly special  venue."

Dennis with one of the brutes he caught while stripping a streamer.

Bill is happy with his first ever Eagle Canyon trout.

I have attached some pics of a few different steelhead from this fall so far on the Lower Yuba. Some of the fish we are finding are Yuba steelhead and some are lost from other rivers. The steelie season has kicked off with a bang and should get better from here. We just had a bunch of rain but the river is already cleared up and is currently fishing again. With deer creek already having been flushed twice, and much of the upcoming storms going to produce snow instead of rain, hopefully it will hold. If not, it clears very fast compared to other rivers in the area.Some days recently the fish have been looking up and eating bwos on top. We don't need a lot of vis and the river fished fantastic after the big storm at the end of October. December and January are some of my favorite months to chase steelhead out there and of course get into trout daily as well. February is generally prime time for the infamous skwala hatch. If you have not tried throwing hefty stonefly dries in the middle of winter from a drift boat out there, I recommend it. March and April will bring more hatches to throw dries and if it continues like last year we will find steelhead here and there all the way into May.

This is the tale of a good dude and that elusive fish of a thousand casts. Mark and I have been chasing steelhead together for a few years and though he's landed half pounders and caught a lot of big trout on the Sacramento River, he'd yet to land an adult metal face on the Trinity. But it hadn't been because he hadn't tried! It's been said that the steelhead is a fish of a thousand casts but I know a lot of really good anglers who would maybe add a few more casts to that number. But there's something special about a fish that survives the perilous waters of the ocean, dodging sharks and sea lions and all of the other natural enemies, not to mention nets and all of the other human things that have damaged their spawning ritual and existence. My point? Landing a steelhead is something special and if you don't pause to take it all in, you may just miss out on part of the blessing of connecting with one of these trophies... and trophies they all are.At any rate, Josh James and I were doing an exploratory trip on the Trinity recently and Mark joined us. Josh is a Confluence Guide and he brought the 'ole spey pole with and we shot some video but were mostly hoping that Mark would connect with one of those amazing unicorns. The weather was beautiful -- sunny and in the 50's. Hard to complain about steelheading in such weather, especially since I spent most of my earlier days chasing them in Alaska and I didn't even know it was possible to target anadromous fish if it wasn't pouring rain and nearly freezing! Oh the wonders of fly fishing in Northern California!As we floated down the Trinity River in my Flycraft raft, we came to one of my favorite runs and pulled over to make casts, fly the drone, and take some time to make our thousand casts. Boy I wanted Mark to get one! Like... I REALLY wanted Mark to catch one. He's paid his dues... he's earned his stripes... and I offered up numerous prayers along the way asking the good Lord to bless his line! And that's when it happened... I hooked a beautiful wild steelhead. Ha ha! Sorry Mark! The fish came right at me and I had to jump out of the water and backtrack while lifting my rod high and stripping in line as fast as I could in order to do my best to not only KEEP it tight, but to GET tight line! The stars aligned and Josh, being the expert guide that he is, put it in the net. It ate a small nymph and as I took a moment to admire it, I noticed it had a large cut on it's side. I wondered if it had been chased by a sea lion or maybe had an eagle attack it. I'll never know, but I didn't take that moment for granted.After we pounded that water and made two million casts, we hopped back in the raft and were back on the chase. Mark needed a fish. He now knew there actually WERE some steelhead in the river and he wanted one. And we wanted one for him too. So we continued making casts and fished hard until it finally happened. And oh did it happen!When we came to a spot that Josh and I have both caught a LOT of fish at over the years, we had Mark make a bunch of casts. It was probably pretty overwhelming for him to have two guides constantly telling him to mend, sometimes in opposite directions just to mess with him. But he largely ignored us and just kept casting and mending and setting on anything that looked like a fish. After about twenty casts, all of that time spent ignoring us paid off and he hooked an adult steelhead! And not only did he hook it, he fought it and it fought back and they did battle and he finally landed it. High fives and fist bumps commenced and we couldn't have been more happy. The fish of a thousand casts? For Mark it was more like the fish of multiple trips and lots of hard work. But it was so worth it... just ask him.

Hey, even Luke got one!

Mark’s beautiful steelhead

A closer look at Mark’s fish

Josh James throwing spey bombs

Luke Geraty and I fished the Lower Sac today to check out the current conditions.  We had quite a bit of rain in the last few days and that definitely added some more color to the water.  We managed to catch some big, beautiful fish but we really had to hunt them down.  When the water is colored-up they aren't in their usual spots and seem to be in pods when you find them.  They also seem to be pretty hungry so get your flies in front of them and hang on!  When hooked they all really put up a fight.  There's more rain in the forecast after the weekend so we'll do our best to keep you posted on conditions.

Big Winter Fish

I caught more fish than Luke

So day two of my time with John and Rick was spent on the Lower Sac and the fishing was excellent. We actually lost count of how many fish we caught because it seemed like we hooked a fish almost every time we went through a run. So after we'd fight the fish and put it in the net, we'd row back up and go through again and repeat... and repeat... and repeat. I was starting to feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day! The action pretty much started right away and lasted until about an hour before sundown. We caught fish on rubber legs, egg imitations, and mayflies. Around lunch time I noticed that the flock of seagulls hanging around were all packed below a riffle and as we rowed closer we saw that they were going crazy eating BWO's. No wonder the fish were eating those size 18 mayflies! By the end of the day we decided that if we caught one more fish it would transition from "Man, this is stupid good" to "This is ludicrous." Guess what? We got another fish shortly after that and entered into the "L" zone. I guess that's how fishing goes... you have to be there putting in the time in order to have the great days because those fantastic times are sprinkled amongst the average or even slow days. For John and Rick, it was excellent and they really demonstrated that making good casts, setting on everything, and letting our big Sac River 'bows run helps put fish in the net. All but one fish of our fish was under 20 inches! Yet even that 17 inch fish that Rick caught fought like it was taking steroids. All in all we couldn't have asked for a better day fishing in Northern California... in December. Mild temperature, no rain, and lots of big fish!

Rosy cheeks

Trout trolls live under the bridge.

Metal faces

Handfuls of trout

DONKEY!

Subtle take — set the hook!

Gorgeous fish

The Bahamas is my favorite salwater fly fishing destination. After a great hosted trip to Crooked Island and exploratory trips to North Andros, Long Island, and Eleuthera, I have chosen South Andros as my next destination. Andros sets the standard against which all other bonefish destinations are measured. For quantity, size, variety and overall fishing experience, Andros Island delivers. Trip Dates: March 5-12, 2023 Andros South is one of the finest bonefishing destinations in the Bahamas. Andros South is located on the southeast coast of Andros Island, the largest and least-inhabited island in the Bahamas. South Andros is flanked to the east by The Tongue of the Ocean, a deep-water trough that drops to more than five thousand feet not more than a mile offshore. Andros Island itself is riddled with innumerable tidal creeks and inland flats, all home to untold numbers of bonefish. Variety is definitely the attraction when fishing at South Andros. There are miles and miles of easily-waded white sand flats as well as hidden, unspoiled mangrove-lined creeks. Inland lakes fill up with eager schools of bonefish, while expansive ocean-side flats attract double digit bonefish from the deep. Remote, rarely visited cays are home to massive schools of bonefish, while hefty singles tail along the mangroves. The diversity and size of the fishery offers a completely different fishing experience, every day of your trip. Andros South Lodge is intimate and comfortable – a perfect bonefish basecamp for an epic flats fishing experience. Overlooking a beautiful white sand beach, freshened by trade winds, this is a picture perfect destination to spend your week fishing, relaxing and living on island time. Tile floored guest rooms are single occupancy and air conditioned, each with a private bath. The dining room is comfortable, staffed with ladies that understand hospitality, and prepare some of the finest Bahamian Creole and fresh seafood dishes that you’ll ever eat. The beachfront Tiki hut is a super casual place to relax after fishing, complete with a fire pit and a cooler packed with ice cold Kalik, the national beer of the Bahamas. And, the sunrise over the ocean, complete with a fresh cup of java, is hard to beat! 7 nights / 6 days fishing: $6350 per person plus $381 tax.

We've got a new river report with some cool footage and pictures of fish from the Trinity and Lower Sac. You can check it out here. 

Check out our YouTube channel!

We've been begging and praying for some rain lately and this week, we got it. John and Rick times things pretty well and came over to Lewiston from Reno to roll the dice and take their chances chasing one of the most challenging trout species known to fly anglers -- the fish-of-a-thousand-casts (and ten million mends). Well their gamble paid off and we not only HOOKED some of those beautiful metal faces, we landed some! Early in the morning John managed to hook a nice adult but it quickly came unbuttoned and then a few minutes later he had a grab on the swing. We shook the pain of losing both of those fish and kept at it. And it rained, and rained some more. Later in the day, Rick hooked a really nice buck that jumped a lot, made a bunch of powerful runs, and even tried to bury himself in a log jam... but Rick persevered and fought that fish hard and we put it in the net for a quick lift, photo, and safe release. This particular fish, from the hatchery, sure had a LOT of color! By the end of the day we had landed a couple half pounders and had a great time despite being soaking wet. It was miserably awesome! Stay tuned for tomorrow's river report for our day on the Lower Sac! We're going to go chase some of those big 'bows and give Rick and John their first opportunity to fish one of the best local trout rivers we got!

A gorgeous Trinity River steelhead

I just spent two great days on the Lower Sac.  Thursday was a wade trip where we accessed some prime water via my jet boat.  Wind hampered our efforts (I was really glad we weren't in a drift boat!) for much of the day, but we connected with several quality trout and steelhead using nymphs and indicators.  If you like wade fishing, the Lower Sac is a lot of fun this time of year when flows are low.  You can fish indicators, hopper/dropper, dry flies, and trout spey all in one day.  Today I fished up in Redding with local guide Neil Amundson with Big Waters Guide Service.  The weather was perfect and the big fish were biting.  I landed several very large trout and hooked good numbers of normal size trout.  We caught fish on a variety of nymphs from size 6 to size 20.  The river has a great color right now - green with just the right amount of clarity.  We have a big storm coming in next week, though.  Redding will get some serious rain - stay tuned to see what it does to the river.

Guest Chuck paid extra for a special wading license

Yes, there are big fish that live under the Sundial Bridge!

I had a really fun day with Chuck and Mark, fishing the Lower Sac. These two cousins have been fishing together for a long time, and those friendships and family connections make for a really great setting if you want to enjoy your time on one of our premier tailwater fisheries. Spending a day on the river while standing in a drift boat making casts for trout is hard to beat. And when your line gets tight, game on! It's even better!So how was the fishing? The fishing was pretty good! We had steady action throughout the day and after we put a good number of beautiful rainbow trout in the net, it became apparent that these two could definitely get it done. Hook sets are free and when you set on everything, you are bound to connect with a feisty fish! Chuck also managed to hook one of our prized river fish... one that many anglers do their best to hook but they are very challenging to catch given how perfectly you have to present your flies and how spooky they can be. But with Chuck's perfect cast, flawless mend, and tremendous fishing ability, he hooked one a Californian Golden Bonefish! ?? We got a good laugh out of that fish that has a face only a mother could love. What really made the day for us was the trout fishing. It was hard to beat for a December day.The flows are at their winter lows (nearly 3,000cfs) but the water down below Anderson is pretty clear. It's hardly noticeable that a few weeks ago the river was blown out. And the fish are definitely back to eating bugs, so it's worth getting out! We caught fish on flies ranging from the you-should-always-have rubber legs to some small mayfliy imitations and other not-to-be-mentionables. We didn’t see a lot of bug activity popping off, but what we did see was small size 18 BWO’s.I've had the pleasure of guiding Chuck before and now I can add his cousin to the mix! Can’t wait for the next time!

Chuck’s California Golden Bonefish

One of Chuck’s beautiful Rainbow Trout

Mark getting ‘er done!

Here is a guest report from our guests at Eagle Canyon today:"We had a great day, sunny and a bit breezy at times but all in all a very pleasant day. Enjoyed visiting with your host Mitch and having the lakes to ourselves was great. Both lakes produced quality fish equally fishing  from the bank. Floating line with # 12 black  leach or # 12 olive damsel worked consistently. Hooked numerous all pretty much carbon copies of the fish in the photo with the  exception of the one hooked and landed that was larger." 

Captain Bryce Tedford just sent these photos from today's trip on the Delta.  Bryce says his guests had good action throughout the day.  Bryce has a couple weeks left before he takes a winter break from guiding the Delta.  He'll be back out there again March-May for the spring striper season.

Kevin Kay and I just spent another couple of days with Craig and his buddy John. I've had the pleasure of doing a number of trips with these guys, including the McCloud, the Lower Sac, and the Trinity. Craig's been bringing his buddy John and son Peter and on this trip Peter brought his buddy Ronan. Father and son trips with their buddies make for a great time! Given how tough the conditions have been on the Trinity, we decided to fish the Lower Sac both days and despite the river still being fairly colored up, we put a number of REALLY nice fish in the boat. As far as a "river report" goes, yesterday the fishing was much better in the morning and slowed down in the afternoon. The fish were eating rubber legs and egg imitations, so not much has changed in regard to what we're using. I threw some various nymphs on throughout the two days but none of our fish were eating those. I did, by the way, see a few PMD's fluttering around, which was nice. There hasn't been a lot of bug activity on the Sac for awhile. Both of our boats also saw a few fish rising and eating on the surface, so it might be worth bringing a dry fly rod soon enough, especially if we continue to have these 80 degree days in December. Did I mention that we could REALLY use some rain? Speaking of that, the water is super low (3,020cfs at Keswick), so in addition to the water clarity issue, you really have to be aware that water that you THINK is 8 or 9 feet deep may actually be 3 or 4 feet deep! So I was changing up my weights throughout the day. The longer slow runs don't seem to be fishing as well as the faster water. Anyway, back to our guests... I can't say enough about Peter and Ronan! Those two young men really did great. It was Ronan's first time fly fishing with indicators and multiple flies and if you know anything about that, it can be a train wreck! It's not for the faint of heart and I can tell you that there are plenty of adults who have been fly fishing for DECADES who still struggle with casting. Not Ronan... he mastered the cast and was mending like a pro by the second day. I was really honored to be with him when he hooked and landed his first wild rainbow trout! He'd hooked a few fish and they kept shaking off... but he kept with it and was rewarded with a beautiful fish! I was so proud of him! And Peter has become a pretty good angler, hooking and landing fish throughout the past two days. Take your kids fishing! Seriously! All you really need is to be patient, help them learn how to cast and mend, throw in some candy here and there, and these trips can be super successful! After all, it's not just about catching fish, right?

Ronan’s first wild trout on a fly rod!

John putting in some work!

Ice cream break!

Craig with a nice fish!

John putting ‘em in the net from the back of the boat!

Another successful group trip!

This was a biiigggg fish!

Peter crushed it!

First fish of the day!