Current Fishing Report

Well as you probably know the weather has finally changed in a big way. We have had a mix of snow and rain up hear in Douglas City since mid week with 4 of snow on the ground Thurs. morning. The Trinity is blown from Douglas City down as of this morning, things are on the drop right now but more wet weather is on it's way. The good news is this is what we needed to get Steelhead moving, on the coast it will give them the opportunity to get past sandbars and sea lions and into the rivers. The Trinity should settle down in it's upper stretches by the first of the week, the coastal streams will take a little longer with the Smith being the first to clear, possibly by mid week.

Picture of things to come!!!

Katie and I are at the Sacramento ISE Show with our Eagle Canyon booth.  We're in Building C, the Fly Fishing Building, booth #2121.  The show is really busy and there are a bunch of great exhibitors.  The show goes through Sunday.  If you stop by the booth be sure and check out our Show Special!

Sightfishing for bonefish and GTs in barefeet on the flats is one of my passions in angling.  Christmas Island is the mecca for this experience.  There are 2 spots left for my Christmas Island trip for the week of April 24-May 1st of this year.  This is one of the finest saltwater trips you can take on Earth.  Great for beginning to elite saltwater anglers.  Also one of the best values in the industry for destination travel.  Contact me for details about this fantastic angling adventure.

The rain is coming, so get ready for conditions to set up great for winter steelheading in February!  I start my winter season next week on the Coast of Oregon, and will be on the water chasing chrome for the next 2 months straight.  Get a hold of me soon to check out some of the dozens of steelhead rivers that I will be exploring from Nor Oregon to Nor Cal. 

Today was so cold our pipes froze at our house in Red Bluff overnight.  Fortunately it warmed up enough for the baetis to hatch in good numbers.  Dan and May from San Jose had a nice day on the river.  Dan proved that you can catch fish on the Lower Sac without using a bobber (indicator).  We even had some dry fly fishing in the afternoon before the wind came up.  The fish aren't super grabby right now.  You have to work for them.  We did everything you can do without fishing a bobber: swinging flies, high-sticking nymphs, streamer fishing, spey casting, and dry fly fishing.

Today was the coldest day of the season on the Trinity and the fish acted like they knew it.  The fish didn't want to eat and grabs we did get were very tentative.  Nevertheless, David and Hal and I had a good time out there.  Thank goodness for my propane heater and hot cocoa!  Hal landed a fish that felt like an ice cube.   I'm looking forward to the storm that's coming in later this week.  It will bring much-needed water and will move the fish around, which will make fishing much easier.  I'm off to the ISE Show in Sacramento this week - the river should be fishing great again after the storm.

I had a great day on the Trinity today with Phil & Neil from Red Bluff.  We almost froze in the morning and the wind blew us around in the afternoon, but we had some good fishing.  First-time fly fisher Neil landed two steelhead and lost a couple of others.  Small nymphs continue to work best.

The Lower Sac was incredibly tough for us today.  John and Arlene made a lot of nice drifts and fished some great water but the fish just weren't on the job.  The river is steadily dropping to 4000cfs over the next few days.  Hopefully steady flows will result in a better hatch and better fishing.

Just finished a couple of great days fishing the Trin with Cole from Santa Rosa. The weather continues to be mostly clear and cold but the fishing continues to be solid. There has been a solid push of Winter run Steelhead, most of the fish have been wild, 6-8 lbs with a few bruisers mixed in.As you know you cant catch them from your laptop, make plans and get out there!!! 

2011 was a great year...We started out on the Fall River hosting several trout trips each day in the Intermountain Region. There is no better sunset than on Fall River during hex season. Fall steelheading on the Rogue has some great highlights, including first time Spey caster Pat with this great fish caught on a floating line on a very short cast, with a Lady Caroline.I managed several hunting trips this summer and fall, the highlight being an Idaho bull deep in the Snake River canyon. I could see the steelhead run from where we hunted. Can't wait to see what 2012 brings!

Best steelhead of the season

Best Fall River sunset

Best hunt of the year, Idaho elk

Another day of steelheading that will spoil you for steelheading.  Will and father Henry had a great day on the Trinity today.  Henry landed his first ever steelhead and then a couple more.  Will landed a bunch of fish.  More wild fish today than hatchery fish.  Action continues to be best on small nymphs.  The weather has been very nice and there is very little fishing pressure.

A big wild fish for Will

Paul and Don had an outstanding day on the Trinity today.  The weather continues to be very warm, the water is very low, and the river is full of hungry steelhead!  We hooked about a dozen fish, about half of them wild.  The highlight was Don's big buck, one of the biggest steelhead of the season so far.  Egg patterns and nymphs are working well right now and the fish are spread out through the entire river.  Fishing should remain excellent for the next few weeks.

Don's big buck

Paul landed a bunch

Here are some photos from Dave and John, members of the California Fly Fishers Unlimited club in Sacramento.  They fished Eagle Canyon today.  Here is a fishing report from Dave:Fishing started off slow but at about 10am fish kinda woke up, Between 10am and noon I hooked six and landed 3, mostly on a #10 olive damsel pattern.  At around noon I helped John land a fish and get photos of the brute (the fish is the brute, not John!!)  From noon to about 4:45 my bite totally shut off , I kept changing stuff but nothing seemed to work. I think John hooked some during this time but not me. Near dark bite came on for a while, I hooked and landed 3 from shore all on a #8 Black Bunny leach. All my hook-ups were in the upper lake, lower lake  was stingy . Most fish were around 26, seven to eight pounds.

The Trinity continues to fish very well.  Bob and Jon from the Sacramento area joined me on a float today.  Traffic was light and the steelhead were on the grab.  We hooked over ten fish and landed most of them.  Lots of wild fish right now.  The weather is downright pleasant, too, with mid-day temps in the low 60s.  The fish are spread out and there are a lot of them.

I fished Frank and Al from Sacramento today on the Lower Sac.  We had a blast out there.  We got started around 11:30am and the fish were ready to go.  Frank hooked four really nice fish while wading.  Al's 2nd fish was a 20 incher that threw the hook after a prolonged fight.  Al also landed a nice 17 rainbow on a caddis dry.  Small nymphs were the key today.  We had a great hatch of baetis, with a few random caddis mixed in.  We did well on small mayfly nymphs down to a size 20.  All of our fish were over 15 today.

Fishing was great at Eagle Canyon today.  Clint and I guided Dave & Holly and their sons Luke and Jake.  They've been on an extended trip, sampling the Lower Sac, Trinity, and now Eagle Canyon.  It was Luke's birthday and the fish seemed to know it.  He caught one of our truly large fish, a rainbow about 15#.  Many other fish were landed out of both ponds.  Our best fly was a size 8 brown jimmy legs.

Doubling down on the Family fun!

I had my best day of the season on the Trinity today.  Ramon and Stephen from the Bay Area had a steelhead day to remember, hooking almost two dozen steelhead in one day.  The fish ate a variety of nymph and egg patterns, from small pheasant tails to big prince nymphs.  There were wild fish and hatchery fish, fresh silver bullets and colored-up summer fish.  The bottom line is that there are a LOT of steelhead in the river and fishing should be really good for the next month at least.  Check your calendar and get up here soon!

Ramon caught a lot of fish

Stephen crushed 'em today

Nice wild fish

The Lower Sac continues to be challenging, but we are still landing some nice wild trout each day.  Our best flies were small olive mayfly nymphs.  The bite is super-slow in the morning and is best from lunch to about 3pm.

Molly with her big fish

Fishing was a bit tough on the Lower Sac today.  There was a pretty good hatch of baetis in the mid to late afternoon, but the nymph grab just wasn't as good as it has been lately.  13 year old Blake from Fresno did well nonetheless.  He figured out the nymphing program really fast.  Late in the day he put a really nice rainbow in the net after a long fight.  All of our fish today came on very small mayfly patterns.

Blake with his big rainbow

Today was day 2 with Ed and Bob from Fremont.  We floated the Lower Sac from Anderson to Balls Ferry.  We fought the wind for the first half of the day and then the afternoon was beautiful.  We found a few fish in the morning on big prince nymphs and small pheasant tails.  The best fishing was from lunch to about 2:30, the warmest time of day.  We hooked a lot of fish during that time frame and even had one single spot that produced six fish.  No big fish today, but lots of fun.  Bob hooked two fish without an indicator, swinging a nymph through tailouts and riffles.  Our best fly was a size 16 pheasant tail.