Current Fishing Report

Summer Synopsis for the Klamath Basin Williamson River:The Redband Trout of the Klamath Basin are well into their annual spawning season at the moment of this writing. Redband, have migrated out of the lake and into several tributaries to pass on their genes- many of those fish choose to migrate up the Williamson River. Klamath Basin Redbands have been documented spawning 11 months out of the year, however the majority of fish tend to spawn in late winter and early spring. Many of these fish choose to stay in the river after their spawn to feed on Shortnose Sucker eggs, who have also migrated into the river system to reproduce. This double run of both trout and Shortnose sucker is the key to understanding fishing the Williamson in the first couple weeks of the season.  This year the season opens May 22nd, and from late May through most of June trout can be found in the riffles of the Williamson River feeding on sucker eggs, golden stone nymphs and mayfly nymphs. June can be an extremely productive time to fish the Williamson, especially if one enjoys nymphing. When the weather warms, the temperatures in the Upper Klamath Lake rise to a level that Redband are forced to make a second run into cold water tributaries. July and August fishing on the Williamson River is dictated by this second run of lake fish. Like most of the West we are in the middle of a terrible drought. Upper Klamath Lake has broken another record for low water intake this winter. Unlike other fisheries, the harsher the drought and hotter the weather, the better the fishing is in the Williamson River. If the lake warms earlier than usual, that simply means that there are more fish in the Williamson River earlier. Also, unlike other fisheries that are at the whim of mother nature, the Williamson River is spring fed. Meaning: cold water, year round! Fish in the Williamson are hot and healthy throughout the summer. Never have I had to deal with “Hoot Owl Rules” and if played correctly, and handled with care, these fish swim off after the release with gusto no matter the temperature outside. July and August are prime time to fish the Williamson. We spend a lot of time swinging small leeches, damsels and streamers using a full sink intermediate line during this time of year. It can be challenging, even to the experienced fly caster, but the rewards are well worth it. It is truly the pinnacle of blue ribbon streams in the lower 48 if one is looking for a trophy Redband Trout. Wood River: The same story can be told of the Wood River with weather, drought, spawning and a second run of fish making the great escape from the harsh water temperatures of the lake. The Wood River, however, has a completely different makeup that is characterized as a true spring creek that meanders through marsh, meadow and pastures. Undercut banks aplenty provide ample opportunity for a Redband or Brown trout to take refuge and feed on PMD’s, Grasshoppers or a well placed streamer. One of the more idyllic places in the Klamath Basin, it is one of my favorites haunts.Upper Klamath Lake:Not to be left out, the mythical stillwater enthusiast has a place in the Klamath Basin. Pelican Bay is located on the Northwest portion of Upper Klamath Lake and is fed by several cold water springs that provide a sanctuary for Redband Trout throughout the Summer months. June, July and August we target these picky fish with leech, damsel and minnow patterns, primarily using a full sink intermediate line. Pelican Bay is the birthplace of the renowned seal bugger and is still a go-to pattern used while fishing this water. Few stillwater fisheries can compare with Upper Klamath lake, where a 20” fish is not a trophy, but the norm. Here, anglers measure not in inches, but in pounds. Every Summer multiple ten-plus pound Redband Trout find their way into the net at Pelican Bay. If you style yourself as a stillwater fisherman and have not yet fished Upper Klamath Lake, this place better be on your bucket list!

Klamath Basin Redband

Delta Report from Captain Bryce Tedford: "Another solid trip with Ricardo & his buddy Brian, wind was super  tough but they casted through it & ended up with around 50 fish to  the boat. We had nearly 40 fish before lunch so it was tough going in  the PM but they had great attitudes. Great guys & we had a blast in  the boat. Would have been a tough trip if they couldn’t cast but they  made it happen."

Unsettled weather today on the Sac but Phil and Tim had a great day nonetheless. It threatened to rain (didn't) and threatened wind (did) but we soldiered on.  Today was an upriver wind so I had to push the boat most of the day but we caught a lot of big fish anyway,  I think every fish but one went on the steelhead report cards (over 16" and way over 16").  Drift boat fishing is a team sport and the team did well today!

Tom and Judy make the trek from Reno to fish with me in October but wanted to try sprIng fishing for a different experience.  i always check the wind forecast (wind is not our friend) and it showed 10-15 mph in the morning, starting to taper off around noon.  Wrong!  It blew hard all day long, I would guess it was at least 20 mph gusting up to maybe 30 mph at times.  That makes rowing, casting, mending, and getting a good drift very difficult!  It took a few hours to hook our first fish and it was a..........squawfish.  We finally strarted getting into trout around lunchtime and found some spots that saved our (my) bacon with multiple hookups.  The hours between noon and three fished great, and then there was a hard shutdown.  Slow morning and late afternoon with a great midday make for a good day overall.  At least it was a downriver wind.  Otherwise I'd still be out there rowing.

Captain Bryce Tedford reports: "Solid day on the water today. We caught lots of fish but not many of size. Spawning season is  heating up, hopefully the big mamas arrive soon."

Spent two days on the Lower Sac with Bob and his son Ryan.  The first day we did a lower float and Ryan was catching all the fish from the front of the boat while Bob watched.  Same flies, same water, never have been able to explain that one.  The second day we went up top near the Sundial Bridge and put Bob in the bow.  Both he and Ryan were able to tangle with some big wild rainbows this day and we all went home smiling.  Flows are still at rock-bottom and who knows if and when it will change.  In the meantime all we can do is get out there and go fishing!

Flows have come into good shape and it is go time for spring steelhead on the Lower Feather River. The pictures are from my trip there yesterday. There are fresh hot fish in the river as well as some that have taken care of business up at the top and moved back down into the main river. There has been quite a bit of bug life and the fish are eating. Nymphing is our primary method for success although spring is the best time of year to get these fish on the swing. The fishing should be solid through April, May, and likely June. 

Here is a fishing report from longtime Eagle Canyon guest Rocky: "Eagle Canyon fished really well. Had a few lulls, but steady fishing  throughout the day. The highlight of my day was catching fish on dry  flies. I think in all the years I've been fishing there, I only caught  one fish on a dry. Monday it was multiple fish. Was fishing a dry  dropper at the end of the day (#18 PT under a 14 Parachute Adams).  Really was just using the adams as an indicator. Low and behold, they  start smacking the dry. Landed dozens of fish throughout the day.  Balanced Leeches, Squirmy Wormies, Zebra Midges all caught fish. Thanks  again for your great guides and great locations. Can't wait to do it  again."

Our guest Rocky from Woodbridge fishes Eagle Canyon at least once or twice a year.  This time he decided to bring a group of four and try our Eagle Canyon/Lower Sac combo trip.  Here is what he had to say about his Lower Sac trip: "Had a stellar time. Brian and Kevin were both great. My friend Sid and I have now deemed Kevin to be the King of  Snacks! Fed us well and got us all into great fish."

Today is the first day of spring and the fishing is on fire.  We fished in the rain and were able to get on some absolutely amazing fishing.  With a 30 inch hatchery fish coming to the net.  Nymphing wise the Rogue cannot be beat right now.  Swinging flies is improving and is still a great way to spend the day.  The river was a bit off color last week and has cleared up.  We finally got a decent shot of rain and that brought the river up enough that the steelhead moved around and moved up some.  Fishing is great throughout the entire system and is only going to get better for the next few weeks.  Temps are going to climb with highs in the low 70's this week.  Break out the flip-flops and let's go fishing.  

We are into the winter steelhead right now.  The past week has been great for winter fish.  Multiple trips produced multiple hook ups with a number of those fish brought to hand.  Others that we were trying to bring to hand gave us a great show and those steelhead found a way to come off the hook.  We have fish spread out throughout the entire system and we are into them consistently.On our nymphing trips we are using Otis and Ugly bugs as our lead fly and running a Copper Swan or Copper John as our dropper.  Moving the indicator to match the water depth is essential to ensure the bugs are where the steelhead will see them.  For the folks that prefer the swung fly.  Ho Bo Spey, Burnt Chicken, and Perpatrator flies are all the rage at the moment.  Expect to use ten feet of T-11 to get your flies down to the zone where the fish are.  There are certain spots that a heavier or lighter tip will be needed.  I will put those on for you when we need them.  If you don't have T-11, do not worry, I have plenty.  If two-handed casting is something you may be interested in, I have rods and reels for you to try.  The river has shaped up nicely despite little to no precipatation.  Mornings are cold, warming into the 50's by afternoon.  We have weather forecasted so bring a rain jacket and layers.  Keep in mind these are steelhead and we are gonna work hard to get them.  That hard work is paying off and we are into fish.  We have about a month left of great fishing for our winter run.  

Guests Bernard and Andrey just finished up an Eagle Canyon / Lower Sac combo trip.  I had them in my boat yesterday and we had a great day on a lower section of the Lower Sac.  We caught fish on nymphs, dry/dropper and dry flies.  The dry/dropper fishing was VERY good yesterday.  With flows just over 3,000cfs, there are a lot of spots that are too shallow for a nymph and indicator but just right for a hopper/dropper setup.  Andrey caught his first ever dry fly fish and then a few more after that.  Today they visited Eagle Canyon and Andrey landed a couple of nice fish before high winds settled in and fishing became challenging.

Andrey did well at Eagle Canyon

Andrey with a Lower Sac rainbow

Bernard with one of many fish

So I've had a lot of days on the Lower Sac lately and it feels like one day is red hot and the next day is average and then a great day and then a slow day and it just feels like the fish are flipping coins in the morning trying to decide what to do. With the changing pressure, wind, and event a little rain, the fishing can be all over the map! And that's exactly what I experienced with my guests Jordan and Vern. We had two days, so we floated a LOT of the river over the course of our time together. On our first day, we we started at the Bonneyview boat launch and fished down to Anderson in the morning and then went up top by the Sundial Bridge in the afternoon. The fishing was good and despite having a few slow parts of the day, we found fish and had fun hooking 'em and sometimes landing them (ha ha). The fish were eating mayflies, caddis, eggs, and rubber legs. Our second day was a lot more successful and the morning grab was on immediately. We had several double hook ups and fish were eating and were EVERYWHERE they should have been. The wind got pretty rough in the afternoon but we still hooked some big fish and even got one to eat a caddis in some super shallow water riffle where it was acftively feeding on the bugs popping off. All in all the days were fun and we saw some really beautiful fish on a beautiful river surrounded by beautiful scenery.

First fish!

A handful of trout!

Doubles!

Yes sir!

We'll take it!

Big buck!

Caddis eater!

The day before my trip with John and John, the wind was looking perfect and I planned to float a lower section of the river. However, I woke up at 2:30am due to WIND and thought, "uh oh." By the time I got up to pour my first cup of coffee, around 6am, the wind was HOWLING and the wind app I used went from telling me it was going to be 3mph to 15-20! So I called the boys and since they were already on there way, we moved our float to a section that tends to be more "out of the wind" and give it our best shot. So how did it fish? Well despite our change to a different float, the wind was still pretty tough in the morning. I think we hooked two fish and despite changing flies a gazillion times and fishing EVERYTHING, the fish were just NOT eating... or our drifts were worse than we realized. It can be difficult knowing whether or not your getting a good drift in the wind because the boat is being blown everywhere and it's just plain impossible to know what's going on BELOW the surface (where it matters). But my best guess is the fish just weren't chowing down. But just before lunch we started connecting and even got a couple of doubles. Funny how the imaginary switch gets flipped and then the fishing starts getting good. The afternoon fished a little better and all in all I'd give the day a "good" on the rating scale. Slow morning, good afternoon. Can't say there was a specific bug they were eating as we literally went across the spectrum but the afternoon was all PMD's, as the fish were CLEARLY focused on those!

First fish of the day!

Caddis eaters are out there!

Secret spot.

Gorgeous spots!

Due to unexpected cancellations, I have a few spots that recently opened up for a truly epic angling and travel experience to the famed Pluma Lodge, one of the finest lodges and operations on the planet for adventurous anglers.  Pluma is located in the heart of a remote jungle in the Bolivian wilderness, where we will be sight fishing for Golden Dorado and other exotiic species in a truly unique and pristine environment.  Our group has a prime week, with travel dates from July 7-17th.  Golden Dorado are incredibly aggressive and acrobatic when hooked, kind of like a cross between a steelhead, striper, and tarpon but have an incredible golden color to them and nasty teeth to rip their prey apart.  Most of the angling consists of upstream sight fishing in crystal clear water, similar to New Zealand  with some chaotic feeding frenzy's in between where you just throw your fly into the mix.  The water can color after a rain, so some blind fishing with streamers can also be on the menu.  This trip is for fit, healthy, adventurous anglers who are solid casters and enjoy challenging but rewarding angling with wold class guiding, food, accommodation, and the group comradery that is essential to adventure travel.  Please shoot me an e mail if you are interested in this incredible opportunity. I took a group to Agua Negra, a sister lodge of Pluma in 2019, and it is one of my favorite global travel experiences I have had both on and off the water.  Definately a bucket list trip.

I spent a couple days on the Lower Sac with some Bakersfield boys, Larry and Bill. The fishing was fantastic... as we hooked dozens and dozens of fish. It felt like spring fishing had finally REALLY arrived. Our first day's weather was pretty nice and the sun was out for most of the day, which meant that we caught some great fish on caddis and mayflies. Our second day included a decent amount of rain but the fish were chomping, chomping, chomping! These two caught fish on so many different flies it would be hard to pick THE fly. Too many to choose from. And when the fish are eating, they are eating! Now is a great time to get out, so hit me up and let's gooooooooooo!

Colors!

The bluffs!

We will take it!

First fish of the day!

Double trouble!

A handful of trout is always good!

Gorgeous!

Two hands!

Cheese!

Raise a hand!

Every year the Kern River Fly Fishers come up to spend a couple days on Eagle Canyon and a couple days on the Lower Sac with our guides.  The group leader had the following to say about this year's trip: "Had a great time this week. The lake fished well and Brian, Luke &  Kevin were absolutely wonderful. Looking forward to next year."

We are starting to see our winter run of steelhead become more consistent.  Last week we had a number of encounters on the swung fly.  The river is low, cold, and clear.  Later launch times and fishing right up until dark is the approach that is working right now.  On our spey trips we are using black and blue Ho Bo Spey type flies and a hot head leech.  On days with a lack of cloud cover running a pink or orange fly has moved fish as well.  Running the flies deep with 10 feet of T-11 and on specific runs T-14 is putting them in the zone.  In the nymph game bigger Otis and Ugly Bugs in a dark color with a hot head is getting us results.  Running a dropper off of the stonefly like a Copper John or Copper Swan in red or green is the go to.  With the minimal flows coming out of the dam we are contantly changing our indicator depths to put the flies in the zone on our trips.  In addition to steelhead we have brought in Rainbow and Cutthroat trout.  We are seeing these come in on the dropper flies.  A couple aggressive cutties have hit the swung fly as well.  Back rowing and fishing runs multiple times is productive and dragging the boat back up when we can't row it is effective.  Rain is in the forecast and this should trigger more fish to make their way up.  The next four to six weeks will only continue to get better as those fish need to move up river.  

Guest Report from Carl who fished Eagle Canyon today:"It was a fun day at Eagle Canyon.  The fishing was good.  The  bites were steady and we all brought fish to the net.  Best flies for us were white streamers and a rust colored wiggle tail."

Carl with the biggest fish of the day

Gordon with a nice one

Mike with the first fish of the day

Brian Kohlman, Luke Geraty, and I hosted a group from the Kern River Fly Fishers yesterday.  They had booked our combo trip whereby they fished Eagle Canyon the day before and then had a float trip on the Sac.  Group trips are a great way to bring friends, family, co-workers etc for a fun multi-boat day.  While the fishing wasn't on fire there were periods during the day when the fish got pretty grabby and everyone landed some great wild rainbows.  Book a trip and let's get out there!

Lunch on the beach

Great wild rainbow

Luke and his guys