Current Fishing Report

I did a really fun trip on the Lower Sac today with cousins Mark and Chuck.  They like to wade fish one day and then boat fish the 2nd day.  There is a ton of great wade fishing on the Lower Sac, especially when you are accessing the river via jet boat.  We fished about ten spots.  Some had numerous fish, some had one or two, and a couple spots didn't have any fish.  We encountered one nice steelhead which threw the hook and the rest of our fish were from 10 inches up to about 19 inches.  It was a great day with good fishing and zero other fishing pressure.  If you're interested in a walk/wade trip on the Lower Sac just get in touch and we'll get you booked!

Wading worked for Chuck!

Two days. Two retired doctors. Two boat trip with Kevin Kay. Thousands of trout per mile. I had the pleasure of guiding Steve and Gary who showed up with two of their buddies for the mighty Sacramento River October "egg bite." Steve and Gary have fished with me before and we always have a great time chasing these beautiful fish and having some great conversations. This trip was no different!Our first day fished the best, likely due to the cloud cover we were able to enjoy. We got fish on eggs and, once again, a variety of nymphs. It's seemed like the smaller the bug, the more likely they'll eat it. By the way, tiny hooks tend to bend a bit easier on some of these larger Sac trout, but Steve and Gary played them perfectly and we didn't lose any fish due to bent hooks. Phew! We hooked fish throughout the day and stayed busy putting 'em in the net. These guys have caught ten billion fish in their life, so I had to make them get a couple of photos ??Our second day was great in the morning but slowed down once the sun got up and we had to work to scratch out some fish in some creative locations... which we did! But the cloud cover is definitely a really good thing for the fishing. Plus I'm hoping and praying we get a bunch of rain soon.

Chris and I have fished for a few years now, going back and forth from the Lower Sac to the Trinity and back to the Lower Sac. Typically he's with his dad and we spend the whole day catching fish and talking smack. This time he brought his buddy Ty. Ty hadn't fly fished before but after a ten minute casting lesson, one could arguably suggest he became a certifiable "stick" (fishing guide language for "really good angler"). Of course I'm going to take credit for all of his skill, ha ha!We put on early and by mid morning we had hooked a LOT of fish. Still not a lot of salmon in the river but the trout were eating eggs and a variety of flies. Apparently they didn't get the memo that the salmon returns are low. But that's fishing, right? One day they are eating 'em good and the next you got to work hard. Well we didn't seem to have to work very hard because they fish were munching. Since Ty was a newbie, we put him in the front and Chris spent a good part of the day sitting in the back of the boat, which means that by the time he got his cast out, Ty was already hooked up and Chris would be stripping in. Yeah... it was pretty much that good all day. I finally made Ty go to the back to the boat to better understand just how good he had it, largely thanks to Chris' generosity. The "dungeon" (back of boat) has some fun obstacles -- no where to put your line... anchors... seats... etc. Anyway, Ty and Chris had a great day and both of 'em stuck some really nice fish. The fishing is getting really good. You'd be smart to get up here.

Traditional shot of guide holding clients fish

Doubles!

Yeah!

And yet another one…

First trout on a fly rod!

HOG

By now, Ty was a professional

What a weird October!  No rain, daytime temps around 100 degrees, and where are the salmon?  Despite all of this we had a great day on the Lower Sac.  Karl and his son Alex put the wood to a bunch of beautiful rainbows pretty much all day.  Even with the poor salmon return (so far) we caught a lot of fish on "egg patterns" haha along with some nice fish on very tiny flies.  Let's go fishing!

Two boats. Two kids. TONS of fun. Today I was on a trip with DJ Spivey and we had our good friends Dylan, Kim, and Rogue from the Klamath Basin. Dylan guides for Confluence on the Williamson and Wood Rivers, so it was cool having him come down and check out our bread and butter, the Lower Sac. My son Cyril also joined us.So how did the Sac fish? REALLY well. We put dozens of fish in the net, and some of them were pretty big, including multiple 20 to 22 inch fish and one 24 incher!The boys did a healthy amount of smack talk and Kim also showed off her skills! We saw more salmon today, caught fish on eggs and tiny flies, and ate brats for lunch. Not a bad day. Tomorrow we are heading to the Trinity. Did you book a trip yet? Let's go!

Cyndi and Don, members of the Granite Bay Flycasters, came up to fish the Lower Sac with me yesterday and the broken record continues: it fished well. While everyone is anxiously waiting for salmon to show up, the river is fishing just fine without them. A few fish are being caught on egg imitations but plenty of fish are eating bugs! You just have to figure out what they are eating and get to it. Here is a hint: tiny is good.Cyndi and Don did really well and we hooked fish most of the day. Even at the very end, Cyn put a nice fish in the net in a run that hasn't been very productive lately. She just couldn't NOT catch fish. Don and I enjoyed watching her put on a clinic several times! Highlight of the day was also a really crazy thing I haven't seen before on the Sac -- Don hooked TWO fish at the same time! While he was fighting a fish we realized that he had TWO 18 inch fish on. Unfortunately, one shook off and he only landed one of them. An 18 inch fish is a tough consolation prize ??If you are wondering whether or not you should come up and fish, the answer is yes. Most days have been pretty great!

It's October. There are supposed to be salmon everywhere on the Lower Sac, but the word is getting out that the returns are, thus far, not great. Despite the lack of salmon, we got some decent egg grab activity in the morning, including a double egg sandwich (two rainbows).Not bad, not bad.We then took a little lunch break and I cooked up some Wisconsin brat sausages with caramelized onions. Epic. Sandwiches are cool and I'm not sure the brats will become a regular thing, especially in the summer heat, but today they were perfect. Corley and David gave them two thumbs up.The afternoon was MUCH slower for us. Egg bite was over, so it was a bug game. The fish we caught were on size 18 flies. The tiny stuff. And actually, all of the fish we caught today were in either eggs or super duper tiny nymphs. Flows are low. That won't change. Mornings are a little chilly but the afternoons warm up... although it's starting to cool down a bit. I'm anticipating the salmon show up in the next couple weeks and it gets bonkers. But until then we are fishing hard, boating some really nice fish, and having a lot of fun! Really enjoyed my time with David and Corley today... and if you are looking for a fly club in the Sacramento area, check out the Granite Bay Flycasters! Great people!By the way... November is a great time to book a trip!!!

Adam met me for a day on the Trinity River with the hopes of hooking an adult steelhead... and if you know anything about steelheading, you'll know there are a million cards stacked against you. Or at least steelheaders quickly become professionals at identifying the reasons(!) why we don't always experience success!Lack of rain? Water temperatures? Clarity? Harvesting? Low returns? Wind? We have lots of really good excuses at our disposal, and some of them are actually legit!Well what can I say about Adam? He did really well, despite not landing an adult. He DID hook several larger adults that quickly showed him why they are, for many, the top of the fly anglers goals. We want steel! We want steel! So while he didn't land one of the adults, he did land ten million half pounders. Ok, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but it sure felt like it! We also saw a LOT of salmon and overall had a really good time. I DEFINITELY think it's time you get over to the Trinity. There are adults and they are chowing. Let's go!

Fishing conditions have not been ideal the last week and looking at the weather, hard conditions will continue.  Little to no cloud cover, hot days, and lots of sun.  Forecast for the next 10 days is in the high eighties.  Cool mornings in the high forties and low fifties make fishing in the morning a must.  We have been putting in just before sunrise and have found good success.  Steelhead are here, however, we are working hard to find them.  Water conditions are good.  The river is clear with good flows coming out of Lost Creek.  With the amount of water we had in the late spring, the flows were able to stay around average during the summer, if not a little higher.  This brought up a number of steelhead in June and those fish are still around.    We are making multiple drifts through holding water which has resulted in a decent amount of hook-ups and fish brought to the net.  We are seeing more salmon on the redds and the egg pattern will quickly become the fly of choice.  On the swing we have been skating first thing in the morning and then switching to sink tips once the sun is up.  Smaller tradtitional flies and small profile intruder type flies are the go to right now.  Multi-density heads are a good thing to have in your bag to go along with a sink-tip for the deep runs in the afternoon.While weather conditions have made it tough, we are still very much into steelhead.  Working the entire run and not being afraid to row back up and drift again multiple times along with holding the boat in place have brought us fish.  The opportunites are there, putting in the effort and being patient will do the rest.I still have select dates in October.  November is open.  Come up to the Rogue for your chance at putting summer run steelhead in the net. 

The last few nights have been absolutely amazing on the lower sac. With flows at about 4200 cfs the water is quite low but still fishing quite well with amazing Caddis hatches in the evenings. My cousin Shiloh and I put in this evening and landed quite a few great fish on Caddis and baetis imitations! Salmon have been quite active with more pushing up through the river by the day, the egg bite should take off in a few days. The river has been nothing short of amazing and should only get better as we begin to get some weather!

Shilohs 24 hog!

I guide on the Lower Sac throughout the year and we have plenty of days where it's slow and we have to work hard for fish. But sometimes the stars align and it seems like everything goes right... again... and again... and again. So what do you call those days? I call it fishing with Burt and John! We spent two days on the Lower Sac and I think an appropriate word to use would be "pillage." The fishing was so good we lost count of how many "doubles" we had and registered several "triples." Oh, you aren't familiar with "triples"? It's where both John and Burt would hook up with a fish, one would get landed and while we were trying to land the second fish, the first guy would throw his flies in the water and hook up again! Insanity! Slow down! Wait... don't slow down, keep casting! I know... I know... you are thinking, "Well yeah, it's egg bite, right?" Actually... no. The salmon are just barely starting to show up, so most of the pillaging taking place was using flies. That's right... bugs! Caddis! Mayflies! Perdigon jiggy thing-a-ma-giggers! We caught fish on a wide spectrum of flies. And yes... egg imitations are starting to work too... and that'll become more central to the trout diet in the coming weeks.Mornings are killer. Afternoons can be slow. Late afternoons and evenings can be killer. But guess what? It can also be slow at times and you just got to keep fishing. Keep casting. Keep mending. Keep at it. Set on everything. The rewards that are swimming around in the Lower Sac can get up in the mid to high twenty inch range, so get to it! We landed over a dozen fish that were over 20 inches, so it's defintely fishing great. Plus the weather is starting to cool down! Anyway, water is still low and around 4200cfs. Boat traffic is still pretty light, although that's going to change pretty soon once all the salmon show up and word gets out. But right now it's nice and mild. If you wanna get out, I still have a couple of days available in October and November, so hit me up and let's chat about when a good time to go would be!

Tom and Cheryl have fished a lot with me over the last few years and I think it's safe to say that we've never had a bad trip. They are always fun and the fishing seems to generally be pretty good. Maybe that's because they have a tendency to book in the fall, but maybe it's just the luck of the draw? Who knows! Either way I can assure you that fish were caught! And lots of them! The fishing continues to be really good in the morning and late afternoon / evening. Mid day can be slow, but if you work for 'em, you'll find 'em. Salmon are around, so egg imitations are working... but don't forget to bring your favorite caddis or mayfly boxes. Oh... and there are definitely some steelhead around! So buckle up, because the ride is just getting started! Let's go... the fishing will be great all through November too!

After putting in a solid 8 hours of guiding, I met two buddies to fish the Sac for a few hours around dinner time. We smashed 'em. Every fish was on a tiny mayfly nymph. None fell for the good 'ole egg imitation, though we tried. Saw a couple salmon and got a couple doubles, so not a bad way to end the day. Plus we were crazy and dragged our boat up to the boat launch because that's what crazy people do. Mornings and evenings are good. Mid day can be good if you find some salmon redds... but fishing is fun no matter what! Let's go!

A few months ago I had a chance to fish with Michelle and her son Quinn. They hadn't fly fished before, but we had a good day walking and wading a small creek where they were able to dial in casting dry flies. Well for Quinn's birthday, Mom wanted to give him a chance to chase some trout on the Lower Sac! What a great mom!The river is flowing around 4100cfs, which is still pretty low. The good news is the water is cold and the trout seem to be in all of the typical spots. While it's definitely nearing "egg bite" time, there aren't quite as many salmon in the river as we're hoping for! So that should change as we move into October and the river starts to fill up with those migratory fish. Anyway, the river fished decent. We hooked fish immediately but each one of them came unbuttoned. Yet Michelle and Quinn kept at it and kept getting better and better! I'm not sure why Michelle's fish were popping off, but she kept hookin' 'em! We were all pumped when Quinn landed his first fish, a twenty inch MONSTER trout! All in all, the day was really fun, the fish were feisty, and the company enjoyable! Quinn has turned into a fishing freak -- every guides dream! He's going to be trouble for these trout as he continues to get older!

I spent a really fun day on the Lower Sac today with Jake and Alan.  It was Alan's first time fly fishing from a drift boat and he figured it out right away.  He hogged all the fish all morning before finally letting his buddy Jake catch some in the afternoon.  Fishing was very consistent throughout the day and we hooked excellent numbers of fish.  We also managed to dodge thunderstorms all day long and get off the river before we got dumped on!  The river is in excellent shape above Cottonwood Creek (below Balls Ferry) and is chocolate-brown below that point.  Salmon are just starting to dig redds up in Redding right now.

Great scenery today!

Alan with the big fish of the day

Fall is here and that means steelhead season on the Trinity River. I spent a couple days solo floating and scouting for my upcoming steelhead season. There are salmon and steelhead spread throughout the river. Early season fish are on move and eager to grab offerings. It's legs and eggs time as salmon will be spawning soon. It's a great time to swing flies also. Currently flows are p to cool down lower River at aprox 950 cfs.a bit high but still very fishable. I managed to hook several steelhead and one big salmon over the two days but only two made it to net. Early season fish are fresh and hot! Fall dates are filling fast I have October 12th and 13th open up do to a reschedule. These are prime dates on both Trinity or Lower Sac. Get on the books soon as remaining fall dates are filling fast. Also booking winter dates.Looking forward to a fun steelhead season! Let's go!Thanks and good fishing,Peter

I spent a few hours on the Lower Sac today with fellow guide DJ Spivey.  The river has been at a stable 4100cfs flow for a week now and fishing is pretty good.  The first salmon are starting to dig redds in the upper end of the river and we found a couple trout already willing to eat an egg imitation.  Most of our action was on normal flies, though.  There wasn't much of a hatch today and it seemed like the fish were open to suggestion.  We caught fish on everything from a size 6 rubberlegs down to a size 18 mayfly nymph.  Our first fish was a kype-jaw 20 inch brute.  For quality and quantity, the Lower Sac is pretty hard to beat right now!

Andrew with a Lower Sac rainbow trout

Opening Day at Eagle Canyon is November 19th.  Check out our eBay Auction if you are interested in bidding on this exciting opportunity.  Opening Day is almost always the best day of the season.  Bidding starts at $1650, which is our normal retail rate for 8 anglers plus a guide.  If you'd like to book any other date at Eagle Canyon, visit our Check Availability page to view current openings.  Many of our guests opt for a combo trip where they spend a day at Eagle Canyon and then a 2nd day with our guides on the Lower Sac or Trinity Rivers.

This could be you on November 19th!

Ben and James went to high school together and hadn't seen each other in almost 40 years.  Ben was in California on business so what better way to reconnect than a fishing trip on the Lower Sac!  They wanted some variety in their fishing so we waded some spots between bobber runs.  Ben scored a nice fish on his Euro rig and James swung one up on his new fiberglass rod.  The day was pretty steady but the real action came in the late afternoon and evening when the fish really went on the chow.  We fished until we couldn't see any more and rowed in.  Great day!

The Lower Sac has been fishing awesome lately. In the upper river starting a trip at noon up in town and going until dark has been fantastic. Lots of bugs hatching throughout the day and an insane amount in the last few hours before dark making the fish go nuts. If you opt for a the late start, there are a good amount of fish coming up to sip dries in the last hour or so of the evening. In the lower river I have been starting fairly early and getting off before the biggest heat of the day hits. We have been finding a great grade of fish in the lower river as well as good numbers and doubles. Also note that this heat wave is ending- starting this Saturday the air temps will drop into the low 90s and then a few days later into the 80s. Fall is just about here and the fishing only gets better from here on out. September is a great month to chase steelhead and salmon along with the trout in the lower stretches of the river that sees far less pressure than up high.