Current Fishing Report

Colin Coogan reports that the Trinity River is in great shape despite all the recent rain.  He says fishing was really good today with some nice size steelhead making it to the net.  Our ten-day forecast looks great for steelheading on the Trinity - book a trip soon!

I had a chance to fish with Tyler and his crew on the Trinity River with the hopes of catching some steelhead. I had Tyler and Evan in my boat and DJ had two of their buddies. Evan is a fly fishing guide up at Brooks Lodge in Alaska... home to the world's most famous bears and water falls. Yeah, you've seen pictures of that place if you know ANYTHING about Alaska. I was stoked to have these two dudes because they both fly fish a lot and our hearts were set on fishing hard and chasing those elusive migratory rainbow trout. Our plan was to fish with indicators, swing some flies, and grill up some sausages for lunch. Not only were we successful in these three areas, everyone hooked fish in both boats, including a number of really nice wild fish and clippers too! All of our adults were caught on larger nymphs and all lof the half pounders were caught on smaller bugs. While there was a LITTLE bit of color in the river from the recent rain fall, for the most part it is still low and clear. It's kind of the normal thing lately, so we just fished hard and kept at it. What a great day with this great group of homies. Now's a great time to fish, so let's get to it!

We have been having a fun steelhead season on the Lower Feather. Most days have yielded solid numbers with quality fish in the mix. Yesterday we landed 12. The last few weeks the river has not been crowded, there have been very few other drift boats especially on weekdays. With the storm coming in tomorrow it is likely to push up more fish and kick things into even higher gear. As usual this time of year the fish are keyed in on eggs and a few different bugs. We have their diet dialed in and we know where they live. I have plenty of availability in December if anyone wants to get out- I have Dec 3,4,5,6,7,9,13,14,18-24,26,28-31 available

I had an absolutely FANTASTIC day on the Lower Sac with Dave. First of all, Dave is a very good angler. He cast well, mends excellently, and can both set the hook fast and fight fish well. While it feels like a lot of successful fishing can be based on the luck of the draw, it certainly helps if you have some experience. The great thing about the Lower Sac is that the fish are generally pretty willing to eat a fly and when things line up, they line up well. We started around 9:30 and after rowing up the river a bit, we got started and hooked a really nice fish on the second drift through the run. The fish took a ton of line and fought hard until the very end. I'm not sure how many fish we ended up hooking by the end of the day but we had steady action throughout the day and put some really nice fish in the net. The bite has been pretty much 10am until the mid-afternoon but we were fortunate to hook fish up until the end. What a day! The fish were mostly eating small tiny flies but we also got some fish on the mighty rubber legs and some other random things I'd throw on. The Lower Sac is an amazing fishery and I'm glad it fished well for Dave. Now's a great time to fish the Sac because the crowds are gone and the fishing is good and there are some big fish ready to rip some line off of your reel!

Spent a couple days on the Trinity on a group trip chasing some steelhead and let me tell ya... brrrrrr, it's cold. Our first day was tough going and we only managed to hook a couple of small fish throughout most of the day. All of the standards odds were stacked against us given that the river was low and clear and the temps were below freezing for a decent amount of the morning. But we kept at it, brewed some coffee with the world famous Jetboil, and kept focused. Toward the end of day one we managed to hook one adult, but it came off pretty quickly. Tom and Joe gave it their all and though the fishing was tougher, we had a fun day. That's steelheading, right? Day two was much better as we were into a decent amount of half pounders (salmon were around) and got a couple decent fish. At the very last spot, Tom hooked a fish and was fighting it and then things got REALLY chaotic when Penny hooked one and went balistic! Jumps and runs and oh my goodness we were having fun and put two fish in the net! Doubles on a steelhead trip aren't very common, so we snapped a quick photo and then those fish shot back into the fast water, hopefully to be seen again. Cold weather is tough to fish in, but the rewards are infinite! 

Colin Coogin, one of our Confluence guides, and I did a little scounting trip on the Trinity with his dad, Michael. Was it cold? Yes. Was it worth our time? Yes. We hooked a decent amount of fish throughout the day, almost exclusively on small bugs. We saw a couple of salmon but for the most part the salmon spawning seems to have come to an end and it sure feels like we're officially in the winter steelheading phase of the season. Did I mention it was cold? Throughout the day I shot some video and I ended up making a short little film on our trip, which you can check out here: https://youtu.be/TsG7Xugxmhg. It's definitely worth your time to get out there and chase some of these beautiful steelhead the North State has to offer.

Dave and Mel jumped in the boat for a float down the Trinity River with the goal of finding some steelhead. The morning started out COLD, but we persevered, thanks to some gloves, hats, jackets, and steelhead desire. We had a few half pounders grab flies here and there but the morning didn't produce any adult steelhead. We kept at it though. At one point we saw a number of steelhead hanging behind some salmon and spent some time trying to trick 'em into eating some flies but before we could really get into it, a small one-person raft decided to float RIGHT over our fish, which quickly vanished. Etiquette would have led me to float down the OTHER fork of the river, but I guess you win some, you lose some. Thankfully the fishing juju had built enough pressure and shortly after this, Dave hooked a really nice adult steelhead and we put it in the net! Mission Impossible became possible! Success! The day was full of great conversation, love for fly fishing and the outdoors, and more great conversation! The rest of the afternoon didn't produce another adult, but we were happy finding one of those mysterious fish of a thousand casts. There are steelhead in the Trinity, so what are you waiting for?

The Trinity is absolutely beautiful!

A nice hatchery steelhead!

A report from our man on the Delta, Captain Bryce Tedford:"Solid day on the water with Sean & his son. New to Striper fishing, still learning to cast & the kid sticks a 7lb 1st Striper, pretty awesome! We had to really work for them but made a nice day of it"  

Regular guest Dave had this to say about Eagle Canyon today: "We had a fine day at Eagle Canyon today. Fish were feisty and grabby most of the day. "

Our morning started out a little slower than I'd have liked, but by 11am, things were cooking! The Lower Sac gives and takes away but mostly it gives. I did a LOT of backrowing on this trip, but I'm happy to report that we did nearly twenty passes on a piece of water and at the very minimum hooked a fish... and sometimes we even landed 'em! Ha ha! Highlight of the day was putting a 24 inch fish in the net... boy did it fight hard! This time of the year is some of my favorite fishing on the Sac due to it being when we land some of the biggest fish of the year! Let's get out there!

A report from Steven who has fished Eagle Canyon on Opening Day numerous times: "We had a great time as usual. We lucked out on the weather and were able to get a couple fly fishing novices on some good fish."

It's mid-November and the oft-anticipated egg-bite did not really materialze this year due to a shortage of salmon in the river.  Sure, we caught some fish on egg flies but if you neglected the nymphs and typical trout water you were probably disappointed.  It was a strange year with low flows, less bugs than usual, but the Sac still fished well.  We're now transitioning into winter mode on the Sac which (unless more salmon show up) means low flows, tiny flies, and perhaps fewer but bigger fish.Mark came from Oregon to try the Lower Sac for the first time.  Morning was unbearably slow (do I smell a skunk?) but we finally started picking up fish late morning.  We did not boat big numbers of fish, but every one we netted was a big, healthy, wild rainbow.  And most of them ate the tiniest fly on the rig. Every fish went on the steelhead report card, if you know what that means.  Mark said he'll be back in the spring!

Mark with a good one

Short days are here

All good fish

Make sure to check out our latest fishing report from the Trinity River. You can view it here: https://youtu.be/cGbRDJVKdIAIt's definitely time for you to book your next trip! 

James Garrettson from About Trout joined me for a couple of days here in Northern California to fish for steelhead on the Trinity and trout on the Lower Sac. James is a fly fishing guide on the San Juan in New Mexico and runs a really great YouTube channel with lots of tying videos and other instructional style resources. You can watch the fishing report we did on YouTube by clicking here: https://youtu.be/oLJNZbXoVAU

Winding down October we did not see the weather we wanted.  As I said in previous reports this made fishing difficult.  The last week fishing has improved.  We saw an increase in the number of fish hooked up and fish landed.  While we are not seeing the number of fish in the system as last year we are seeing a bigger average class of steelhead.  Over the last week we continued to work runs over and over.  On three different sections of river we had success with steelhead brought to the net.  We are hooking fish throughout the day and have even landed some in water where you wouldn't think a fish would be hanging out.  ODFW has started rerunning hatchery fish that have been caught in the trap.  These fish will be marked with a hole punched in a gill plate.  The locations of the rerun drops are usually not announced.  Within a few day the fish will start to spread out through the river.  Looking into early November we have rain forecasted for 7 of the next 10 days.  This bodes well to bring the river and it tributaries up and get more fish moving.  I have caught fish throughout November and well into December.  We will also start running into Coho.  It's a short run of fish, but they are a lot of fun.  Nymph trips and swing trips we are finding more fish.  I still have good open dates in November.  The opportunities are there for Rogue River Steelhead.  If you have questions about the Rogue or the steelhead in it, give me call.  I would love to answer your questions and book a date to take you out on the river.   

Matt and John jumped in my boat to float the Trinity River in search of some of those elusive steelhead that we're so crazy about. Things started out cold... as in thirty degrees! But once the sun poked out, things warmed up and we had a very enjoyable time on the river. Flows are low and the water is clear but we managed to hook a handful of adults alongside some small half pounders and a couple 'tweeners. Steelheading is a lot of fun when you put 'em in the net! Besides being low and clear, the river fished well and I think these two will be back!

Fred and Vern fish with me a couple of times a year.  Today was great fishing from beginning to end.  The good news is that we saw a lot of salmon in a few select spots.  Maybe they're coming after all!  Vern caught his biggest fish right at the takeout.  I've always called these "ramp fish" but another guide said "you got a walk-off".  I like that.

Nice wild rainbow!

Vern’s ramp fish

Keep it tight!

The Rogue River has seen weeks and weeks of low water, lots of high sun, and little to no cloud cover.  This has made fishing difficult for indicator and swing fly fishing.  There is some good news on the horizon though.  We have rain.  This will freshen up the river, get the fish moving around, and bring fish up that are currently lower in the system.  On the indicator rigs, flies are the usual suspects.  Ugly bugs ranging in size from 4 to 8 in a variety of colors, from midnight fire, gold and black, copper and black, and coffee.  For the dropper fly we are running egg patterns near redds, copper swans/johns, brassies, and others.  On the swung fly, sink tips as soon as the sun is up.  T-11 with a traditional or smaller intruder fly are my go to options right now.  Skating flies is always fun and I am doing that on the first run of the day and running through it again with a sink tip.  We had a couple of grabs with pink and blue last week but, black and blue are still the top colors for swung flies.  Even though fishing has been hard, we are still finding fish.  Rowing runs multiple times, holding the boat, and fishing places where you don't think fish will be have resulted in fish hooked and landed.  The opportunities are there.  Its just a matter of putting in the effort and staying consistent throughout the day.  More rain is coming later this week and that will help with the fishing.   Mornings are chilly, with temps in the low to mid-forties.  Afternoon temps last week were still in the 80's, but the forecast is showing 50's-60's the next 10 days.  Layer up, bring rain gear, and work hard.  The steelhead are here. 

Tim and his son Paul came up to sample the famous Lower Sac in October egg bite.  We are starting to see a few more salmon but they are still few and far between.  Nonetheless we had a great day and caught a good number of fish on the "spherical fly" in addition to more on tiny nymphs.  The weather is still warm and clear but there is a cooling trend in our future.

I have never had a bad day with Mark and Chuck... and I'm not necessarily talking about the fishing. Sure, we've caught a LOT of big fish over the past few years, including a 30 inch steelhead on the Trinity, but moreso our days have been memorable for a variety of reasons. The friendly banter, fisheries, and overall fishing success that we've enjoyed always leaves me looking forward to fishing with them again. Yesterday was no different. After Chuck got over the initial shock of me telling him that I'd be picking them up at 5:45am, I made sure my rods were rigged up and ready to fish at first light. First light, first bite, right? We rowed out in the dark and did our best to dodge the Armada of boats that October is known to produce, which we mostly managed to do. The egg bite was pretty crazy in the early morning and we quickly learned just how fast those trout can grab an egg. One thing about the egg bite is that the trout can get pretty tuned into eggs and all bets are off if an egg imitation is passing through their lane. What's the solution? Set on everything! And even then you'll still miss a bunch of fish. It just goes with the territory. Just keep in mind that there are thousands of people sitting on the bench in the MLB, making MILLIONS of dollars every year, who have a batting average of .200. Anyway, small rant over. Yes, the fishing was really good from the top all the way down to Anderson. We caught fish in all of the likely spots and saw some salmon splashing around in multiple locations. It's hard to have a bad day when you start the day off with a number of 18 to 20 inch fish. We did, however, have a small adrenaline rush that put us over the edge just before lunch. Chuck, after high sticking perfectly in a spot that required high sticking, managed to hook a fish that jumped out of the water that was easily in the 26+ inch range. HUGE. THICK. MONSTER. All of these words came to mind. That fish picture was going to make the front page of some outdoor magazine. Though Chuck did EVERYTHING right -- keeping his rod up... keeping tension on the fish... not horsing it... letting it run... -- it popped off. No bent hook or broken leader. Just one of those unfortunate events where our hearts sunk and we needed a few moments of silence. EXCEPT IN LESS THAN TWO MINUTES WE HAD SOMEONE WHO WILL REMAIN NAMELESS WHO WAS NOT CHUCK OR LUKE HOOK THEMSELVES IN THE EAR. Yeah... it was bad. I was queasy but managed to man up and though I thought I might have to use the "string yank" technique, I also knew I fish with pinched barbs. So I was able to remove it with my pliers. Phew. Mark was okay after I splashed a bit of Scotch on his ear and put a bandaid on it. I don't know if I fully recovered, but I knew that flask and first aid kit would come in handy some day, ha ha! And this brings us to rule number one on the Lower Sac -- water load and do the Lower Sac flop! Yeah... it's ugly... you'll get made fun of on other rivers... but with the length of our leaders, three flies, and amount of weight we're using, it will save you! On a serious note, these two are so fun to fish with! And it doesn't hurt when the big fish cooperate and you put some nice fish in the net. So the mornings have been fishing REALLY well. The afternoon was ghost town and we only hooked a couple really small fish. Conditions have been changing a bit on the Lower Sac flow wise as the flows have been dropping down to the winter flows... 3690cfs. It was crisp in the morning but around 90 degrees by the afternoon. Hard to beat fishing in October when you can still be wearing shorts and sandals. That won't last forever. I got a few days off now and plan on recouping from the guide bender I've been on. I'm gonna try not to think about all of the fish I'm not catching, ha! Also... no suckers or pike minnows were harmed in the making of this report.