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I guided John and Brian from the bay area today on the middle river. We had steady and sometimes heavy rain from the time we launched until about 3pm. The river came up, but remained clear and very fishable. John and Brian had a good time learning how to fish nymphs under indicators. John even had his first spey casting lesson. Brian caught the only fish of the day, a bright hatchery hen. Like many other steelhead this year, it ate a size 10 red copper john. It was a really fun day despite the rain. The higher flows will make the fish move around. I'm expecting some really good fishing this next week.  Brian with a great fish |
Trinity River...day 20 in a row, and still fired up to get back out there tomorrow. I have been persistant with the dry fly, and it paid off again a few days ago. My client Doug hooked a huge chrome steelhead on a dry on his 2nd day of learning how to spey cast...while fishing for and hooking steelhead. Guide buddies Jay and Brad both also hooked steelhead on drys yesterday.
At times, excellent indicator fishing can be had as well, when the angling situation dictates this method. Confluence guides can do it all.
The lesson of the day is, you won't ever catch a steelhead on a dry or the swing if you don't ever try it...and 5 minutes doesn't count. Book a trip with Confluence with an open mind, learn some new methods, and have a truly memorable steelhead experience.  Chrome fish, big flies. life is good |
The Trinity is really shaping up, what a fun year. More rain today, and lots of new chrome fish are moving into the system. Pressure is pretty high, but that doesn't matter to me. I know enough cool water to accommodate my clients with great water all day long.
I have been doing alot of spilt days...walk/wading and doing short floats. We have been fishing alot of beautiful swing water with no other anglers around. My clients have mostly been swing/schwymph anglers this year, and we have been hooking between 1 to 3 fish a day this last week. Alex Ferber rose a huge chrome fish to a dry two days ago...epic.
I hear the bead grab is off...what a shame. I have been using a variety of traditional steelhead patterns and some stonefly nymphs on occassion. If you fish hard, you will eventually hook one..in the mouth, on various flies.
The rest of November and December should be excellent.
 Peter..sometimes luck is better than skill  Scott's fish of 1000 casts  Wild & Chrome |
I have spent the last week guiding the Trinity. Angling pressure was high last week, but slowed down this past weekend. The number of hooked steelhead was also very high last week, but slowed down this weekend. My best numbers day was when Dennis Taniguchi, Matt Parisi and I hooked 12 adult steelhead. We hooked them in 9 different spots on the river using both swung flies and indicator techniques. Dennis even rose one to a skated dry.
Regarding pressure, I have noticed some anglers have been fishing one spot for 6 hours or so, which is great...keeps them out of other cool spots that I like to fish....keep up the good work!
My best client fish was a nice 11 pounder caught by Scott Coulter, but that was the only one we landed a few days ago, and then we got skunked yesterday somehow. That's steelhead fishing...you just don't know if you don't go. There are lots of fish in the system this year, and there will be excellent opportunities to catch them well into December and the winter months. Book a trip with Confluence and see more than 2 miles of river while learning about steelhead fishing.  Dennis is blinded by this perfect wild chromer  Matt Parisi with a beautiful native steelie  Another native steelhead provided by Confluence |
I fished Don and Chris from Texas on the Lower Sac today. We fished down low near Red Bluff. We only saw a couple other drift boats and a few jet sleds. It was a beautiful fall day and the fishing was pretty good. We found spawning salmon in a handful of spots, and the trout were definitely concentrated in those areas. Don and Chris got trained up for their next two days, which will be spent with Mike Corley on the Trinity River.  Chris with his first fish  Chris with another nice one |
I had a great day on the Trinity River today with Ed and John from the Bay Area. We floated in the Junction City area today. The river was really crowded with a lot of boats and bank anglers, but we found plenty of spots to fish. Ed and John both tried swinging flies with spey rods for the first time. John landed his first spey rod steelhead today and lost another. We were fishing five and six-weight Sage Z-Axis spey rods. They're the perfect size for the upper Trinity River. We also caught a few fish with our regular bobber rods. The red copper john size 10 continues to be my best fly. We finished up with five fish in the net and a good time had by all.  One of John's fish  Ed with a nice one  John hooked up on his first spey rod steelhead |
Today was day 2 with John from Petaluma and John from Ohio. We floated in the Junction City area again today and found some really nice steelhead. Our best flies were a feather duster, a Zack's Zaddis in October caddis colors, and a red copper john, all size 10. We landed four steelhead from about 3 to 7 pounds. Two wild fish and two hatchery fish. We spent a lot of time wading today and it was very productive. The weather was beautiful and the boat traffic was pretty light. We also caught dozens of coho smolts about 6 inches long. It was a pretty fun day all around! We even rescued a huge crayfish that was tangled in a giant wad of monofilament.  John from Ohio  John from Petaluma  Brooke and Barrett with a great fish |
I fished a couple of Johns today on the Trinity River. John and John are part of a group of 8 anglers who do an annual Trinity River trip this time of year with Confluence Outfitters. John and John both landed a nice steelhead today. John D also got cleaned out swinging a big leech on my 5126 Z-Axis spey rod! The highlight of the day was a hole where we hooked into 5 or 6 hot salmon in about twenty minutes. I've never seen salmon so eager to take a fly! We landed one about 8 pounds and broke off the rest. It was incredible! Conditions are great on the Trinity right now. All of our steelhead took nymphs today - only the salmon were interested in our egg patterns.  John D. with a steelie  John B. with a steelie  John D. with a salmon |
Fishing has been incredible this fall on our north state waters. The Lower Sac is fishing great, the Trinity has good numbers of steelhead, and our other trout fisheries have been excellent. Brannon Santos has even landed two Trinity steelhead on skated dry flies this week!
I got to spend an hour or so fishing with my wife Katie and daughter Mackenzie yesterday. We loaded up Mackenzie in the baby backpack. She cracked up when I started to cast and was really intrigued by the whole process of landing and releasing a fish. She even waved bye-bye when the fish swam away!
Here are a few pictures from the past week. Come up and see what it's all about! I have openings Nov 16-19, 21, and 29. Our entire guide staff keeps our availability online - check out the Online Booking page to check our open days.  Mackenzie meets a trout  Bye bye fish!  Fishing is fun! |
The Pit River is known for its consistency, and today was no exception. Jay Cockrum and I guided Lee and Colin, recent college graduates, on the Pit today. They graduated the short course on short line nymphing without an indicator today. Maybe tomorrow they'll graduate the course on holding fish for photos! They're here at Clearwater for another two full days of great fishing and gourmet meals. Our best fly today was a size 8 red squirrel with rubber legs. Now that's my kind of fishing!  A Pit beauty  Lee landing a nice fish  Colin playing a big one |
I just talked to Mike Peters, who is usually too busy fishing on the North Umpqua to post fishing reports, so I will do this one for him. He hooked lots of adult steelhead yesterday on the TRINITY. By the way, Mike doesn't use indicators...not that there is anything wrong with that, its just a testiment of what a keen angler he is.
Over the last 6 or 7 years, I have spent alot of time down on the Trinity in the Fall, and that last week of October has always produced superb steelhead fishing. The recent rains have flushed lots of steelhead up the river and they are getting settled in to their happy spots. This is PRIME TIME over the next few weeks. I can't wait to get down there myself, but I need to finish up some epic dry fly guide dates on the Fall River this week, which is also fishing pretty insane. You gotta love October in Nor Cal...the best fishing in the Country. I have open dates at the end of the month, but if I don't fill them, that's OK...I'll just catch a bunch of steelhead myself.  October fish  October fish |
What a superb time of year to be at Clearwater. Fall colors are prime, and area waters are not very crowded...my client CC and I did not see another angler all day today. We landed about a dozen wild fish on drys on a little backcountry creek I like to fish this time of year. We had some snow in the morning, which made the beautiful pine forest that surrounds the creek even more beautiful. CC was in a class that Gino, Mike, and I did last season, and has turned into a fine dry fly angler.
Yesterday on the Fall River my Client Tad had terrific dry fly fishing during a massive hatch of bwo's. The day before, we absolutely pillaged with an indicator setup with little nymphs as well as sinking line techniques on a local spring fed lake. I'm more of a moments angler than numbers guy, but for the first time in my guide career, I actually counted the hooked fish at 47, and we landed an even 30. This was in a 4 hour time frame...bobber fishing at its finest. I guess there is a time and place for everything.  C.C. with a superb wild bow  stalking rising fish on a beautiful meadow stream  Tad hooked up with a big bow hooked on a leech |
Today I guided Dave and Paul from San Jose on the Pit River. It was a beautiful fall day, no wind and just warm enough to not have to wear a jacket. We hooked into some very big fish today on a size 10 Morrish Dirty Bird. A size 16 Mercer's olive Z-Wing worked well, also. The scenery is incredible right now on the Pit. The colors change a little bit every day. We had the whole river to ourselves today, which was remarkable for a Sunday.  Dave with a Pit River Monster  Dave hooked up |
The Pit River is fishing incredible right now! It's a good thing, too, because the Lower Sac is blown out and all the other fisheries in the area are getting a little bit of extra pressure. I thought the grab would be a little slow in the morning, but that wasn't the case. We started off red hot with a big birds nest and a size 16 PT. We landed several specimens today. Nothing over 18 but they were all very fat and put up a great fight. All the Pits are fishing well right now. Pit 3, 4 and 5 are in great shape.  Corley with a big one.  Corley hooked up  Jeff with a great rainbow |
The Lower Sac is coffee-colored from the Posse Grounds down. After examining their options, our group of six from Marin opted for a day on Baum Lake. It was an excellent choice! We had warm, partly cloudy weather, very little wind, rising fish, and lots of fun. There was a good hatch of baetis size 18-20 with a few callibaetis size 14-16 mixed in. We hooked fish throughout the day on dry flies, but we finished the day with a grand finale of brainless nymphing and caught about 20 fish in 20 minutes. Brian Kohlman and Mike Corley put a lot of fish in the boat for their clients as well. The fish of the day was a 20 wild rainbow landed by Ken, who was fishing with Mike Corley.
The Sac should clear up within a couple of days. Look for fishing to be outstanding as it clears!  Big Baumer  Brian Kohlman and crew  Mike Corley and crew |
We finally got some much needed rain in the Intermountain area. The McCloud River got perhaps too much for fishing...being that it is the color of chocolate milk in the lower river. Ash Camp is still fishable as of today, but its not fishing all that great until later in the day and evenings. It should be PRIME when it clears. Watch out for scattered boulders all over the road on your way down there, and bring a spare tire.
Fall River dry fly angling is about to go off when the wind finally dies down in a day or two.
The Pit River is fishing quite well...see attached photo of a Pit River steelhead caught last week by my client Dennis. Yeah, I know that there aren't any steelhead making it above the 8 dams in the way, but look at this thing.  what an epic fish  Holly's Baum lake brown |
Brian Kohlman and I guided a group of six today on the McCloud River. Our clients are a great group of guys from Santa Rosa that do an annual fishing trip up this way every fall. Two others were out on the Lower Sac with Mike Corley. We fished the Ash Camp area on the McCloud. There were only a few other anglers in the area, so we pretty much had the run of the place. Conditions were perfect, with overcast skies and no wind. Fishing was a little on the slow side, but we had some great moments, including a 17 rainbow from one of the deeper pools. We also had some first-time fly fishers hook and land their own fish, which was great. Our best nymphs were size 16 olive hunchbacks and beadhead pheasant tails. Around 3pm fish started rising in the calmer runs. We had good luck with a creamy PMD parachute size 14. October Caddis were flying around in good numbers when we left around 4pm. |
The fishing has been pretty insane this week. Yesterday on the Fall River, Carl and Chuck enjoyed dry fly fishing to large fish until after 2pm. They were eating vairous emerger patterns that I tie.
Earlier in the week, I fished with Dennis and Holly who caught many, many, many fish on the Pit River and Baum Lake. Dennis landed a rainbow a ligit 22inches long...one of the largest I have seen landed this year in the area.
Weather is coming in next week, which will only improve things. Fall colors are starting to show too...what a great time to be at Clearwater.  Chuck Farman with a perfect Pit River bow  Mark with a perfect Pit River bow  Chuck with another perfect Pit River bow |
We had a great day today on the Lower Sac. I guided father/son team Dick and Chuck, longtime clients. They're on their way up to Clearwater Lodge tonight. We floated from the Posse Grounds to Bonnyview, then went back up and floated from the Posse Grounds to the McConnell Ramp by Aqua Golf. Our first float was fair, although Dick landed a great 18 rainbow and a nice 15 fish on a dry. Our second float was incredible, with tons of hookups. Dick started out with a huge rainbow in the Posse Grounds riffle. Check out the photo. It's one of the biggest resident rainbows I've seen on the Lower Sac in a long time! The action continued, with many fish coming to a pearl egg pattern and small baetis nymphs.
Salmon are spawning in greater numbers every day. The egg grab is good, but we're actually hooking most of our fish on nymphs. Traffic was pretty crazy on the river today, but fishing is still very good. The salmon spawn will peak in the next few weeks. Book your Lower Sac trip soon!  Huge Lower Sac rainbow  Another nice one |
Today was day 2 with Bernard and Catherine, who are in the middle of a five day fishing trip in northern California and southern Oregon. They're following up their 2 days on the Lower Sac with 3 days on the Upper Rogue for steelhead. Hopefully they'll have as much luck with the steelhead up there as they did with the trout on the Lower Sac. They had a lot of hookups today and we put a lot of nice trout in the net. Nothing huge today, but we had action all day long and we even had a double hookup. We floated from Bonnyview to Anderson and pretty much had the river to ourselves. There are a few salmon spawning in this stretch, but not a lot just yet. Nevertheless, the fish were pretty keen on a pearl-colored egg pattern. Most of our fish came on small mayfly nymphs.  Bernard with a good rainbow  A healthy rainbow  Catherine's big fish du jour |
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