Current Fishing Report

This afternoon I had an unprecendented and highly entertaining experience at the Powerhouse Riffle on Hat Creek.  Clients Mark and Mike enjoyed about 45 minutes of unproductive fishing before a group of about 40 people floated through on a wide variety of floating devices.  In aluminum boats, floating rubber ducks and flamingos and good old truck tire tubes, a happy entourage of Shasta Beer Weekend folks floated, scraped and bumped their way through the riffle.  They were very curteous and apologetic, but they turned out to be our good luck charm.  We started hooking fish as they went by us, and I could actually see the bigger fish swimming around eating all the bugs dislodged by this crew.  Fishing was much better after they went through.  We landed a couple of quality fish up to 13" - remember that every fishery is measured differently - and quite a few smaller fish on nymphs.  Cheers to Shasta Beer Weekend!

San Juan shuffle times 50

The powerhouse riffle has changed...

Lots of bruised tailbones...

Shasta Beer Weekend meets the Powerhouse Riffle

The Pit River was good for us this morning.  I took buddies Mike and Mark from Pleasanton to one of my favorite parts of the river.  It didn't fish as well as I had hoped, but we still got into some quality fish up to 16".  A 16" fish on the Pit is a serious wild fish and very hard to land in the swift current.  We landed good numbers of rainbows plus a few grande squawfish and suckers.  The highlight of the morning was when Mark hooked an 8" rainbow and had a 5 pound plus fish leap out of the water several times trying to eat it.  That doesn't happen a lot around these parts.  Next time I visit that spot I'll bring my striper flies and see what happens!

Conditions are great on the McCloud right now.  The water is off-color, but just the right amount.  I took brothers Scott and John down to Ash Camp today and it fished pretty tough.  We mainly found fish in the not-so-obvious holes.  Our big fish of the day was a 10" rainbow, although we hooked a couple that were a little bigger.  No matter how good the fishing is, the trip to the McCloud is always worth it.  It's a beautiful river, albeit moody, and any day on it can yield an incredible fishing experience.

Scott caught this fish on a nymph

Here are some pictures from my trip Thursday on one of my favorite small streams in the intermountain area. Brothers Scott and John had a great morning fishing hoppers to rainbows and browns. We had some classic moments trying to entice fish hiding under the cut-banks and watching them swim out to consider our flies. The hoppers were thick and the fish were looking for them. Tons of fun. The last four days really exemplified the allure of fishing in the intermountain (Mt Lassen to Mt Shasta) region. In three full days and one evening trip I fished five different fisheries with two groups of clients. We fished the Fall River, Hat Creek, the Pit River, McCloud River, plus a great small stream. It's pretty common to fish two fisheries in a day up here.

John fishing a classic trout spot

More classic trout water

I have been striper fishing the last two weeks and it has been less than spectacular.  Last week was very slow and this week has been a little better, but there have been very few hookups on larger fish.  The last two days we saw decent numbers of schoolies and a few good-sized largemouth up to 3 pounds.  We briefly hooked one striper about 5 pounds today.  The best fish hooked this week was in the 8 pound range.  Stay tuned for more striper reports.  There are a moderate number of salmon boats out around Corning and Chico and I witnessed 3 salmon hook-ups in the last couple days.

Today was another one of those magical days on the Lower Sac!  I had the privilege of guiding Jesse and Julian one more time before Julian leaves for his senior year at the University of Michigan.  Lucky for us, the fish were super grabby!  It seemed like every time they hooked-up, the fish kept getting bigger and bigger.  It was a typical August day - temps well above 100 degress, but the fishing was even hotter!  Thanks for another great day guys!

I spent a few days working and scouting the Hat Creek area over the weekend.  There are many changes that I think anglers will benefit from (and a few that they might not).  I visited and walked the entire length of Cal Trout's restoration project on the trophy section of Hat Creek.  There were many additions to the area including a trail improvement project for angler access, various plantings of shorline vegetation, wooden structure added to the creek for fish habitat, and the most notable, a pedistrian bridge for creek crossing at Carbon Flats.  The project is quite extensive and is progressing nicely.  You can read and view a video at Cal Trout's website if you would like more information.  One addition to the area that I didnt' care for was the addition of some fencing at the Cassel Flats area.  I know that safety comes first, but fly anglers will be challenged with access to a couple spots that typically are good spots for catching planted trout.  Your nets will really need to be long now!  Anyway, excited to see what the project at Hat Creek brings to the area.  Been fishing there since I was a kid and can't wait for it to return to its former self.

Bogey doing fish counts!

Pedestrian Bridge at Carbon Flats

Hopefully the home to a new crop of z grass and wild rainbows!

Nice and wide! The new trail starting at Powerhouse #2 and wandering all the way to Carbon Flats

Lots of new plantings to someday catch a fly on!

What? Safety first at the Cassel Flats!

I had a chance to guide Ethan on the upper Sac today.  We had a great time fishing dries for about two hours this morning.  Fish were aggressively feeding on the surface and we had lots of grabs.  The fish weren't very big, but what a blast!  Wet wading this classic trout stream was a nice way to beat the heat.

Sam Robinette and I had the privilege of guiding Deborah, Jason, and their son Ethan from Virginia.  We began with an evening float on Tuesday.  Deborah and Jason hooked several fish in a very short amount of time - the largest being a solid and obese 20 incher!  there's no better way to spend a summer evening!  Fishing wasn't quite as hot today, but everyone managed to hook into some really big fish!  Family vacations are the best when you go fishing!

Katie and I took the girls to the Klamath this weekend.  We stayed at our Spey Camp which is about 3 miles up from the launch at Klamath Glen.  Camping was great and we had a ton of fun on the river, but the fishing is pretty darn slow right now. I spoke to some Fish and Game guys at the Blue Creek Riffle.  They were doing a hook-and-line survey (that means they get to fish!) and they had landed two adult steelhead that morning, including a 28" fish.  We saw just a couple of salmon guides working the river.  The local word is that a big bunch of fish moved through about 2 weeks ago and fishing was great.  Who knows when the next run will come in.  The river looks great, though.  We boated all the way up to Johnsons and saw a lot of great looking riffles.  By the time you get up there they could be filled with fish!

Mackenzie trying for a steelhead

Spey Camp 2016 swag

Picnic at the Blue Creek lagoon

BEARS!

4 days into the "re-opener" and the upper part of the Lower Sac is still fishing very well.  Today we hooked plenty of fish that would all have been the best fish of the day on most days on this river.  If the seasonal closure persists, as I'm sure it will, you would be crazy not to book a guide for August 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th of next year.Today you could tell the fish were a little "over it" on this stretch of river.  I saw several large fish jumping out of the water trying to dislodge hooks attached to broken lines.  We still hooked quite a few nice fish, though.  There is a good caddis hatch in the afternoon.  The caddis are big, a size 12 at least and brown.  I imagine some of the fish that concentrated in the closed area the last four months will start to spread out throughout the river system.I'll be striper fishing next week for a nice change of pace.  Stay tuned! 

"Opening Day" for the 5.5 miles of river above the Highway 44 Bridge was today and it did not disappoint!  Since the end of March this stretch of river has been closed due to the endangered Winter-Run Chinook spawning season.  This is the 2nd year we have experienced this closure.  I am of the opinion that it is a good thing for our trout fishery since the closure timing and area coincides with the bulk of the trout spawning on the Lower Sac.The fishing was nothing short of amazing at times today.  I floated with clients Jerry and son Matt through the re-opened area twice today.  The first pass was okay and the boat traffic was off the charts.  The 2nd pass through in the afternoon was magical.  We rarely went 30 seconds without hooking a fish and Matt landed a real beast, a hook-jawed rainbow about 4 pounds!  The rest of the river fished well, too.  We landed a lot of 20" rainbows today all throughout the river.

Matt with a 22 rainbow

Jerry with one of several 20 rainbows

We just finished up another fantastic guide school.  Aaron, Rob, Dylan, and Drew was the dream team of students, who will all be guiding someday in the near future.  All venues fished excellent for us this week.  The Pit River is fishing excellent.  High stick nymphing is the most productive technique here until the caddis hatch is the evenings.  If you cover water and have good presentations, you will find plenty of fish.The McCloud River has also been fishing excellent.  Dry dropper is my favorite rig here.  If they aren't eating on top, go to a high stick nymph rig and cover water.  Every evening on the Mac provides good dry fly fishing this time of year.  Stick it out! Fall River has had some fun head hunting opportunities in the mornings for large fish eating calibaetis emergers and spinners.  Its a tough game to play, but more rewarding than just staring at a bobber and cleaning weeds off of it every cast.  Sinking line techniques are also working, pulling damsels and leaches.  Fishing has been shutting off by around 2pm, so good time for a break then go fish the hex in the evening.  It's been starting really late this year, at around 9:15 so don't pack it in too early. Hat Creek has been fishing great in the mornings and evenings.  Excellent trico spinner fall from about 8 to 10.  Fantastic caddis hatch in the evenings with a smattering of mayflies to keep you busy.  Mid day has been slow here.  The upper Rogue has started to get steelhead trickling in.  I'm heading up there this weekend.  Mornings are the best time to swing one up this time of year up there.  I will be back to guide it for the month of November after the Grande Ronde in October.Reports from the lower Klamath are good!  We start our spey camps down there August 1st and have one open spot left.  Contact me for details. 

Leslie releasing a Fall River beauty

Small creek fishing has been excellent

Aaron rigging for success on the Mac

Leslie and Rob working on dry dropper guide techniques

Dylan and Drew figuring out the best lie

Two "Whitewater Weekends" are coming up in August and September on the Pit River.  The releases occur in Pit 5 only and are scheduled for August 13-14 and September 10-11.  Flows are typically in the 425cfs range throughout the summer months.  During the whitewater releases the flows will increase to 1500cfs for the August event and 1200cfs for the September event.  Fishing will be next to impossible during these weekends on Pit 5.

I just finished up two days of really good fishing on the Lower Sac with clients Chuck and Bill.  We fished Posse Grounds to Anderson yesterday and Bonnyview to Balls Ferry today.  Fishing was on fire at times, with multiple 18" rainbows coming out of certain spots.  The fishing was good in the morning, excellent around lunch time, and generally slowed down around 2:30pm.  The weather was really hot in the afternoon, especially today.  Fish are mainly eating small mayfly and caddisfly patterns right now.  The size and condition of the fish is excellent right now.  We landed several 18" rainbows that were close to 3 pounds in weight.  Flows have been steady at 10000cfs for almost a week now and the fish really seem to like it!

Chuck with a big one

Lots of quality rainbows today

Brian Kohlman and I took our 2016 Guide School students out on the Lower Sac today.  We have four great guys in the class this year.  Some had rowing experience already, others did not.  They all learned a ton about rowing and they caught some great fish in the process.  The river fished very well today and we hooked a lot of 18"+ fish.  The biggest was about 21".  The grab was really good throughout the whole day.

hooked up

Dylan with a big one

Drew with his first fish of the day

Rob with a big one

Aaron with a nice rainbow

I fished stripers today with Don and Mike from the Santa Rosa area.  The weather was perfect (not overly hot) and we hardly saw any other boats on the river.  We covered about 20 miles of river by the end of the day.  We started off with some good action, but then fishing was tough from about 11am to 2pm.  The bite improved in the afternoon, though.  Don finished the day with at least five fish, the largest about 3 pounds.  Mike landed a couple of larger schoolies too.Visibility is improving and the weedbeds are starting to come in.  The river looks a lot better than it did just 10 days ago.  I anticipate more fish and more big fish once the weedbeds become established and the forage fish arrive in good numbers. 

After the busy 4th of July weekend, the weather has cooled off a bit and everything is fishing pretty good in the Intermountain area, especially the hex hatch on Fall.  We have some prime available dates left in July before we kick off our steelhead season in August on the Klamath.  We still have a few spots open for Speycamp, please contact me with any questions.  

The McCloud is one of the most beautiful rivers in the states

Tony hooked up on the Mac

Tony from SF anticipating the best hatch in the West

A dog makes the hex hatch more fun!

Hat Creek has been good mornings and evenings

Scott Saiki's client for Tuesday, June 28th just had to cancel his trip.  Scott is now available to fish the Fall River, Lower Sac, or pretty much any other area fishery.  The Fall River is fishing very well right now, with the hex hatch being the big draw.  Get in touch if you would like to jump on this prime date!

I did my first-ever striper/hex combo trip yesterday.  We fished the Lower Sac for stripers until 2pm and then headed up to Fall River for the hex hatch. We had pretty good striper fishing, albeit for small fish, in the morning and then the hex hatch was about as good as it gets.  My clients Frank and Doug landed close to ten big fish on hex dries last night.  Pretty amazing, especially considering the windy conditions.  All of the hex fish were 16-19" and were great fighters.The fishing was challenging during the day today.  We landed just a couple fish, but one of them was Doug's best Fall River fish ever, a 21" rainbow.The hex hatch was really good again tonight.  The wind totally changed from last night and there were way more bugs, so our flies were a bit outnumbered.  We landed four or five nice fish.  Frank and Doug have done the hex hatch many times over the years and they thought this year was the best they've ever seen.Dax and Leslie have opened up some dates in early July - come up and experience the hex hatch.  

Doug with a 21 rainbow

that's a fatty

fish on during the hex hatch