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The Trinity River has been up and down in more ways than one recently. The flows spiked on Sunday after an intense storm, but the river was clear and fishable the next day. The fish are on the move. You can find a bunch in a spot one day and they're gone the next day. There is a lot of fishing pressure around Junction City and a lot less higher up. I floated through Douglas City yesterday and didn't see another boat all day. I spent the last two days guiding a big group with Jason Cockrum, Mike Peters, Dax, and Brannon. My clients went 3/4 yesterday and we found just one today. Our best fly was the classic $4/dozen feather duster nymph. Jay was the top boat yesterday with nine fish hooked.
Gino and Jon have been guiding a group of spey anglers. They did well yesterday with multiple hookups, some on the pink Dirk Wiggler.
On a related note, the Lower Sac blew out (muddy) today but should be in great shape by tomorrow.  Mike with one of his fish  This one dragged Dean out of the boat |
I guided long-time client Frank and daughter Alex today on the Lower Sac. Other than a trip to Alaska, this was Alex's first time fly fishing. She started with a six-inch rainbow and then an eight incher. She kept moving up a little with each fish until she landed a great 17 bow at the end of the day. The river is pretty busy up in Redding. There is a decent egg bite in and around the salmon redds, but most of our fish came on small mayfly nymphs. The bite was slow for us in the morning and picked up in the afternoon. The weather is supposed to be fantastic this week - come up and enjoy some great Fall fishing!  Alex with her big fish |
I spent the last two days on the Trinity with George, Al, Ed & John. The rain didn't let up all day yesterday, but the river stayed in good shape around Junction City. Al was on a mission to catch a steelhead on his spey rod and he pulled it off. He landed a beautiful 6# wild buck on a big leech and broke off another. Today conditions were more challenging with high water. Flows looked to be around 850-1000cfs below Junction City by the end of the day. John managed to land one nice wild steelie on an egg pattern and an 18 brown, too. Conditions are going to be perfect the next few days with the river dropping and clearing.  Al's first steelhead on a spey rod  Al playing his fish  John with a freshie |
The Rogue has been producing some nice steelhead on the swing lately. This has been a very good, consistent steelhead fishery this year. We are having steelhead encounters every day. Medium/large streamers have been the preferred menu item, like Hobo Speys, Pic Yer Pockets, and Dirk Wigglers. Here's a few nice ones from the last week. The Rogue continue to fish well through November and early December.  Leon with bruiser  Dr. Phil with steel  30 inches of pleasure |
I fished with Mike & Scott Friday and Saturday. We were able to swing up several nice steelhead on Friday, Saturday was a little tougher with the rising river. The highlight of Saturday was a Chinook of about 15 lbs. crushing a purple egg sucking leach on the swing. After a 5 minute battle the king got camera shy. Awesome! More than 4 inches of rain fell in Douglas City on Saturday night and the Trinity went out from top to bottom for the first time this season, the top should settle back in today or tomorrow and the fishing will be in full swing. |
I guided Jerry & Gene from Sebastopol today on the Lower Sac. We fished up in Redding today and the amount of boat traffic was surprisingly light. Salmon are spawning and a lot more are preparing to spawn. The spawn seems a little late this year and a little thin, but trout are still keying on egg patterns in certain areas. Fortunately, the egg grab isn't the only game in town. We had a tremendous hatch of Blue Wing Olives (BWOs) and a good caddis hatch, too. Jerry & Gene farmed a bunch of nice fish in the morning and finally put some in the net towards the end of the day. The highlight was Gene's big rainbow on a dry fly.  Gene caught this one on a dry fly  Jerry with a nice bow |
I spent the last five days teaching a Mastering the Art of Fly Fishing class at Clearwater Lodge. I was assisted by Mike Peters, Mike O'Dell, Jason Cockrum and Tom April at various points in the class. We had five great guys in the group. During the class we spent time on Burney Creek, the upper McCloud, and Hat Creek. Fishing was good everywhere we went. By the end of the week everyone in the class could all rig their own rods, identify productive water and catch fish on their own. We also had some incredible meals thanks to Chef Tim.  George with a fat Hat Ck bow  Nothing like giant stoneflies in October!  Lower Hat hookup |
Gino Bernero and Randy Hamann did a little scouting trip the last few days on the Trinity. Here are some pix! |
Brian Kohlman and I just spent two great days with a group from Santa Rosa. They stayed at the House on the River, formerly the Delta House. What a fun place to stay, and it's right on the Upper Sac. We fished the Upper Sac the first day and fished the Mac today. There are October Caddis shucks on the rocks on both rivers. The trout in the pocket water on the McCloud were pretty eager to grab a size 10 Madam X. The October Caddis and the big white aquatic moths are flying around in good numbers.  October Caddis  Dan with a McCloud rainbow  Upper Sac |
I just talked to Gino last night and he says fishing on the Upper Rogue has been very good. Gino's clients are hooking up multiple times a day. Here are some photos of Gino and client Dennis. Dennis landed four fish on his spey rod in one day.  A nice Rogue steelie  Dennis with another fish  Gino Bernero |
I spent a very enjoyable day fishing with guide Jason Hartwick on the Trinity today. Jason just got back from a summer of guiding in Alaska and is busy scouting in preparation for guide trips on the Trinity. We scouted some of our favorite water and tried traditional wet flies, skating dries, and leech patterns. We didn't see a ton of steelhead, but I was lucky enough to have one come up and eat my skated dry fly! It was a solid hookup, but the fish threw the fly on the first big jump. I was fishing Jason's new Sage TCX 6119 switch rod. That rod is sweet. It's classified as a switch rod but performs more lake a spey rod. It's a great rod for the Trinity River.  Jason swinging a sweet tail-out |
It's that time of year...the leaves are turning, the nights are cold, and steelhead are making their way from the oceans into Northern California and Southern Oregon rivers.
I just spent a few weeks feeding my personal steelhead addiction in British Columbia, and it really stoked the fire to get back on the Trinity and play the steelhead game for the next 3 months. The tug is the drug!...book a trip and see what its all about. I will be on the Trinity every day from late October through mid-December, and only have a few days left that are available...so get on it and feed the addiction.  This giant interupted a perfectly swung fly  Ultra keen angler Dean Bell  Sunsets and steelhead...ahhh |
Thanks to Alex of the California Fly Shop for bringing up a great crew this last weekend. Gino, Tom and I rowed them around for a long weekend of Spey mania. Ote, Angie, Jack, Murray, Dennis, and Alex all successfully made a least one Spey cast in four days!
We had lots of fun and everybody hooked a least one fish. We had some good days and some slower days. Everyone became better casters and steelheaders. There were a few mega fun moments this weekend. Here's a few pics to prove it.  McWiggler please  Murray casting and blasting  One of three Jack hooked Monday |
A few more from the CFS A-Team....  Morning McWiggler  Alexi Lawless searching for the thermals  Sgt. Ote Snake drilling a big cast |
I just finished up three great days with father/son team Dick and Chuck. We're going on 12 years of guide trips in northern California and we always have a good time. We did the variety tour with a day on Fall River, a day on the Pit, and a day on the Lower Sac. We found some big fish each day. Our Pit River day was particularly productive. Chuck finished that day with 7 rainbows landed in the last hour of light, all 15-18.  Chuck on Fall River  Chuck on the Lower Sac  Dick with a nice rainbow |
I enjoyed the last two days on the river with cousins Paul and Mark from the Bay Area. The weather was HOT and it seemed to zap the fishing a little bit. On Monday we floated from the Posse Grounds to Sac RV Park. Other than a flurry of good fishing after lunch, the nymphing was pretty tough. The fish seemed to like an olive anato-may size 14 the best. Today was a very interesting day. We floated way down low and had some unusual fishing opportunities. The nymphing continued to be slow, but we were fortunate to be able to cast dries and swing nymphs to rising fish for about 3 hours mid day. They were rising to small mayfly spinners and the occasional micro-caddis. We fooled some with a parachute adams size 18 and an olive comparadun size 16. A copper john or bh baetis nymph worked well on the swing, too. The rising fish were hard-fighting 15 rainbows. The highlight of our dry fly fishing came when Paul was fishing a chernobyl ant with a dropper nymph and missed a huge grab on the dry! It took us all by surprise. Later in the day Mark landed a wild 20 bow that almost got eaten by a giant striper. Salmon were rolling in all the big runs and Mark almost landed one about 15 pounds in the afternoon. Our best nymph today was a size 16 prince.  We got a huge grab on this fly today! |
I fished with Rico from Dunsmuir and Scott from Chico today on the Lower Sac. The weather was hot and so was the fishing! We got off to a slow start but the grab was on by about 10:30am. All caddis patterns were working, including Fox Poopahs and big natural birds nests. We saw a smattering of salmon. It feels like the egg grab is just around the corner.  Scott caught a bunch of fish  Scott with another fatty  Lots of fish like this today |
Today was my 2nd day with Jerry and Kevin from Salinas. We had an excellent day yesterday on Hat Creek and Burney Creek. We had great nymph and dry fly fishing on Hat. There was a major trico spinner fall from 10-11:30am and lots of fish were rising. We had more dry fly action on Burney Creek. Today we fished nymphs on the Pit. Olive Fox Poopahs were the ticket. We're looking forward to some good dry fly fishing on the Fall River tomorrow.  Kevin's big Pit River bow  Burney Creek has been good |
I guided Ken and Kathleen from Petaluma on the Lower Sac today. The wind howled from the north until about 3pm. Casting was tough, but we still hooked a few fish. Ken landed a particularly fat rainbow in the morning. Kathleen proved that you can catch fish with a pink fly rod and pink fly line! She had a matching pink vest, too. The fish did not seem to be scared by the pink line, as Kathleen hooked quite a few nice trout today. She lost the big fish of the day right at the boat in the afternoon, but quickly hooked up another nice one (see photo). Our best fly by far was a tan Fox poopah size 14, with or without a bead.  Kathleen with her big fish  Ken with a fattie! |
I just spent two days on the McCloud guiding a couple of families staying at the guest cabin at the Nature Conservancy Preserve. This is my 3rd year guiding these folks on Labor Day weekend on the McCloud. The kids are 10-17 years old and love to fish the McCloud. We mostly wet wade or scramble on rocks, but all of the kids hooked and landed fish on their own again this year. Our best flies were princes and pheasant tails size 14. Our best fish was a 14 bow caught by Matthew (see photo). Lots of grouse around the McCloud this year.  Matthew with his big fish |
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