Current Fishing Report

We finally got some rain today on the Trinity, and we're supposed to get a lot more this weekend.  My clients George & John from San Diego did well today, both hooking multiple steelhead.  We saw one really big pod of fresh fish today, too, about 50 nice fish in one run.  We hooked three of them and the rest moved on.  Fish are eating a variety of flies including golden stone nymphs, egg patterns, and copper johns.

We had a pretty good day on the Trinity today.  There are a bunch of smaller wild fish around all of a sudden.  They're 18-20 and they are fighters.  Too big for half-pounders but not really adults either.  We found one pod where we hooked 4 of these  fish in about 12 casts.  Howard from San Diego picked up a few of these little guys and then one nice 4-5# fish at the end of the day. We are expecting some rain starting tomorrow - next week could be a great time to be here! 

Fishing was pretty tough at Eagle Canyon today.  Despite having three days of rest, the fish were skittish and reluctant to bite.  Here are some tips for when the fishing is tough:1.) Float Tubing is fun, but not always highly productive.  Our big pond is only 3 acres, so float tubes push the fish around and can put them off the grab.  Especially with big groups, we recommend saving the float tubing for later in the day.2.) Go Small.  Our fish get really suspicious about larger flies after they've been caught a few times.  Try small nymphs and midges in the size 16-18 range.  Sometimes the fish really like size 20 midges, even.3.) Go Slow.  Fast retrieves work well early in the season, but the fish learn quickly.  Try some very slow retrieves or hang your offering under an indicator.  Fishing two different nymphs under an indicator usually works very well.  Good patterns for tough days include oregon cheese Micro Spawns, brown Jimmy Legs size 8, and size 16-18 nymphs like pheasant tails and red copper johns.

I guided Debbie and Robin from southern California today on the Trinity.  They participated in the clinic I did yesterday at Indian Creek Lodge for the Deep Creek Flyfishers.  We floated Douglas City and didn't see a single other boat or fisherman all day.  Pretty incredible!  Debbie and Robin both landed a nice steelhead and we hooked a few other fish.  The bald eagles were out and about today, too.  Trout nymphs and glo bugs have been the best flies lately.

Here are a couple of pics from the last couple days. Rain is on the way, probably not enough to make much of a difference right now but it could be a sign of an overall pattern change ! Keep your fingers crossed !

Rob with a Dandy !

Bob with a wild Bruiser

Thank you to the Deep Creek Flyfishers from southern California.  I did a steelheading clinic for their club today at Indian Creek Lodge.  We went over gear in the lodge's upstairs conference room and then I demonstrated the techniques right behind the lodge.  After lunch we drove to the river and spread out so everyone could try the techniques on the water.  Everyone learned a lot about how to fish for Trinity River steelhead.  We even landed one!  Thanks also to John at Indian Creek Lodge!

Deep Creek Flyfishers

No big changes on the Trinity, conditions remain low and clear. There are a fair amount of steelhead about but they don't come easily. Those anglers that have honed there skills and put there time in are doing the best, some are landing multiple steelhead a day but there are many that are getting skunked. The upside is that the fishing pressure compared to recent years is pretty light. The weather forecaster's are calling for some changes, hopefully there will is an end in sight to this long dry spell, keep your fingers crossed.

Here are some photos from our group of four that fished Eagle Canyon the last two days.

 I had a really fun day on the Lower Sac today with Mike from Sacramento.  The nymphing started out a little slow, but by lunchtime the fish were eating egg patterns, rubberlegs, and various mayfly nymph patterns regularly.  From 1 to 3pm we had some excellent dry fly fishing.  We rose about a dozen fish from 10 to 16 on dries.  The main hatch was a PMD size 16, but there were also good numbers of caddis on the water. 

Sometimes the fish just don't want to eat the fly on the swing.  It was one of those days on the Trinity today.  I fished with clients Mike and Allen from the Peninsula Fly Fishers club in the Steel Bridge area.  We saw a fair number of fish as we were floating, but none of them were interested in moving to a fly.

Fishing was a little more challenging at Eagle Canyon today.  Jerry from the Bay Area landed one huge fish about 12 pounds plus some smaller fish.  We had good luck on the Oregon cheese micro spawn under an indicator and on nymphs trolled from a float tube. 

The San Jose Flycasters just spent two days at Eagle Canyon.  Here are a couple of photos.

We had a really slow start today but made up for it in the afternoon.  Brothers Tom & Craig from Graton landed a pair of wild steelhead and hooked into three others.  The fishing is good in general and seems to be improving.  The fish are spread out and fishing pressure is moderate.  Good numbers of fish are being caught from Lewiston all the way down to Pigeon Point.

I had a good day on the Trinity today with Harry and Dave from Sebastopol.  Harry landed a 6# wild fish in our first spot.  He managed to land one more and Dave caught a nice wild fish too.  Fishing pressure is moderate.  Beadhead nymphs size 12-14 are working the best right now.

We hosted a group of 4 anglers from Sacramento yesterday at Eagle Canyon.  Here is what repeat guest Marc had to say:We had a great time fishing yesterday.  The fish were in great shape.  The coloration was great.  We caught some real hogs.

Long-time guests Ron & Chuck fished the lakes yesterday and today.  Ron says the second day was just as good as the first.  Those uneducated fish just kept going after my olive wooly bugger.  I tried a number of other flies trailing the bugger, but the only one that got any hits was the #14 red copper john.  I even tried a dry with a midge dropper for about 1/2 hour- no interest.

We had three of our regulars up at Eagle Canyon today.  By the looks of the photos, they did very well.  Dave from Daly City said their best fish was 28-29 inches long and about 12 pounds!

I was back on the Trinity River today after a nice holiday break.  Bryan from Rohnert Park landed two really nice fish, one wild and one hatchery.  We saw a fair number of fish, too.  Fishing will get better once we finally get some rain, but there's no reason to wait until then if you're itching to catch a steelhead.

Our crew from Riverwest Processing in Glenn, CA had a great time at Eagle Canyon on Opening Day.  Our new host Sam Robinett and I were kept busy all day netting big rainbows from 3 to 12+ pounds.  Action was pretty consistent all day long.  We had several triple hookups and a few fish that managed to get themselves caught more than once!  Big black beadhead woolly buggers were the best fly.  The only flies that worked were big ones, size 6-8.

Sam helps Fred with a great fish

Steve caught a ton of big fish

Jim with a big one

Tim's big fish in the air

Sam hoisting Tim's biggest fish of the day

Bryan with a big bow

Mike's biggest fish

Our 2014 season at Eagle Canyon is booking up early!  There are only a few weekend dates left:Jan 25-26Feb 15-16Mar 1-2, 22, 29-30We have plenty of mid-week availability still, but act soon if you want to book a weekend trip.