Current Fishing Report

Recently took clients Martin and Steve on a two location trip in Northern California.  We spent the first day on the Lower Sac with mixed results.  We had our chances at some fish but just couldn't seem to make much happen.  Day 2 was a day spent on the Feather River.  We had a great time exploring the "new look" low flow section of the river and boated some nice hatchery steelhead, a super fun wild buck, and even a fair hooked salmon.  Weather was gorgeous and I was encouraged by the results on the Feather as so much has changed since all of the ordeals from laster winter.

Steve with his very first steelhead.

A nice wild buck on the Feather

I guided Tom and Judy today and it was a fun day!  The fish were super grabby, but we struggled getting them to net.  Both promised to improve their landing percentage next time!  We hooked a few on eggs, but small nymphs (caddis and mayfly) have been the most productive the past few days.  

I guided my very good client Pat the past two days.  Yesterday was very slow.  She hooked into a handful of fish, but there were long periods between fish.  Today was much better.  We had a few stretches without fish, but by the end she had a very good day!  I'm seeing some great mayfly and caddisfly hatches, and it is late October - so the boat hatch is in full swing.

One of many really nice fish

Our lunchtime visitor

Had the pleasure of guiding Jon + Chet from Ventura on the LS today- (for us) the fish were into egg imitations in the morning and turned onto nymphs in the afternoon. 

Chet with a Lower Sac rainbow

Peter Santley sent me these two photos from yesterday's trip on the Trinity River.  He says fishing is picking up and so is the traffic.  His clients did very well yesterday, landing multiple fish.

I met Shawn while guiding up in Alaska and was stoked to get him into fish on some local water.Tied into adult steelhead on the swing + nymphing. Encouraged to see several spawning salmon along our drift. Could be great season. 

Those of you interested in fishing Opening Day (Dec 9th) at Eagle Canyon now have a 2nd chance to do so!  We are conducting a 2nd eBay auction for Opening Day since nobody placed a bid the first time around.  What does that mean?  That means that you could have reserved Opening Day for your group for the normal list price of $1160 for a fully-guided day at the lakes for 8 anglers.  Now you get one more chance to be the winner.  Here is the link to the auction page: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Opening-Day-at-Eagle-Canyon-Private-Fly-Fishing-for-Trout-near-Red-Bluff/122770076974The auction wraps up Monday October 30th at 8am. 

Spent a drizzly but great day on the Trinity with Zach and and my long lost relative Dirk, Ha. We didn't see another boat on our drift all day.  The guys fished hard all day and after a slow morning, the fishing really picked up.  We landed a number of half punders and two nice adult steelhead.  Dirk also had long encounters with two really nice big adults that ended in great stories instead of pictures.  Had a great day as the laughs were as good as the fishing.   

One of Dirk's half pounders............but there were others he will be thinking of.

Zach with a beauty!

There are steelhead to be caught in the Trinity River.  We did a four-boat trip yesterday with results ranging from 1 to 9 hookups per boat on adult steelhead.  The river came up a little with the rain on Thursday night, but remained crystal clear.  There are thousands of salmon smolts in the river that make fishing difficult in some of the deeper holes, but the adult steelhead seem to be in all of their regular spots.  Adult salmon are spawning in many of the shallower riffles.  Fishing pressure is light at the moment.

Jim and Dirk with a beauty

I landed this nice fish while scouting on Thursday with Tyler Lee and Mike Wright

I spent the past two days guiding a great group of guys.  We had occasional rain on Friday, but we had a steady drizzle all day today.  Friday, Zach hooked into a really big fish that gave him a memorable fight, only to lose it because the hook straightened out.  Ted hooked into a few half-pounders and landed one very nice wild fish.  Today, Tommy hooked into a very nice fish that put up quite a battle, but he too lost his right as I was attempting to net the fish.  Ted fished very hard both days, and was finally rewarded with a beautiful hatchery fish at the end of the day.  There are fish in the river and for now, there is very little fishing pressure.  The water is low and clear, so I feel conditions will improve once we receive some rain.      

Ted with his beautiful steelhead

I guided Mike and Warren from Chico today.  The morning started off very productive with both hooking into some really nice fish, but then there was a long lull in the action.  Fishing started to pick up again in the afternoon, but overall it was a tough day.  A storm system is passing through and that could have had a negative impact.  I'm still not seeing any salmon on redds yet, but they are eating egg patterns and nymphs.  

Mike always seems to find the big ones!

Warren with a beautiful fish!

The Lower Klamath is fishing fair/good with a mix of 1/2 pounders and adults to 4lbs, I jumped a couple of chrome bright steelhead in the 8-10 lb range in a tailout making there way up river. The mouth of the Klamath is open and fresh Steelhead continue to trickle in, the numbers are down from the average but the pressure on the Lower Klamath is almost nonexistent resulting in some pretty darn good fishing at times ! as well as being some of the best swing water in the Lower 48 !The fishing on the Trinity is similar, a fair number of steelhead, the overall numbers are down but the size is up from typical. The Feds have trapped and released some fairly large Steelhead at the weir in Willow Creek recently.The Swing fishing on the Lower Sac is better then normal for this time of year for wild Rainbow's and a mix of Wild and Hatchery Steelhead. With a lack of Salmon on Red's the fish don't seem to have there typical October tunnel vision of feeding almost exclusevly on Salmon Eggs.

the gate is open...

Good stuff...

I got out on the river for a few hours today with fellow guide Randy Hamann.  There are a lot of nice fish to be caught on the Lower Sac right now.  "Coleman" steelhead, meaning fin-clipped steelhead that originate from the Coleman fish hatchery on Battle Creek, are fairly thick in the river this year.  Our guides have been catching them from Red Bluff all the way up to the Sundial Bridge in Redding.  Most of these fish are in the 3 pound range, but we've hooked some up to 5 pounds.  I lost a big one today that tore off line and jumped its way to the middle of the river.  These fish are good eaters and come well to the swung (or even stripped) fly and the dead-drifted nymph. 

Randy with one of several nice fish

Our eBay auction for Opening Day is now live: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Opening-Day-at-Eagle-Canyon-Private-Fly-Fishing-for-Trout-near-Red-Bluff/122746205016The auction concludes at 4pm on Sunday.  Starting bid is $1160, which is our regular price for a fully-guided group of 8 anglers.  Opening Day is December 9th 2017. 

I had the pleasure of guiding Karl and his father Dave again today.  It was game-on from the beginning when Karl hooked into several really big fish early on. The fishing was fairly consistent all day and it seemed like we had the river to ourselves.  The temps are ideal and the fish are really starting to key on egg patterns, but rubberlegs still seem to produce the most fish.  

Karl with another beautiful fish!

The fish were pretty tight-lipped today, very different from yesterday.  Roger and Brian fished hard and lost out on some great opportunites, but also capitalized on some as well!  We didn't land many fish today, but the ones we did were pretty epic.  All the fish came on rubberlegs, egg patterns, or mayfly nymphs.

Brian with an absolute horse!

I spent the last two days swinging flies with return guests Steve and Jim.  We used the jet boat to get around and wade fished some very nice water.  Fishing was very good despite high winds both days.  We caught most of our fish on standard trout nymphs fished on short leaders behind either an intermediate or fast-sink versileader.  We fished everything from 3wt trout speys to 7wt single-hand rods set up for single-hand spey casting.  I even threw my dry fly rod for a bit and had some good action on dries and dry/dropper setups.  Two days with no indicators and we managed to connect with a lot of great Lower Sac fish.

Steve with a great fish

Jim with a hog!

I got two Lower Sac fish to eat this today

Lower Sac fish sometimes do eat streamers!

I had a great time guiding Jamie and Ryan today.  The Sac remains a bit challenging, but we are hooking into some really nice fish!  They are eating eggs, rubberlegs, and small mayfly nymphs.  The weather is perfect!

Another nice hatchery steelhead!

I spoke with Bill and Caryl Dickens (Gold Coast Shuttle Service) today regarding shuttles below Junction City. There is still one-way traffic control in place from Junction City to Big Flat, so they are only able to complete a limited number of shuttles below J.C.  This is due to road construction to repair the burned timbers that retained the roadway and hillside at Screech (Lime Point).  The construction should be completed next week (20th), so the traffic controls will be lifted and they will have no restrictions on shuttles down to Pigeon Point.  The extended forecast is calling for rain and showers begining Thursday - this is very good news.  Now is the time to book your fall and winter steelhead trips on the Trinity!

Bob with a beutiful wild hen from last season.

Tommy with really nice hatchery fish from last season.

I fished the Lower Sac with Al and Joe from the Bay Area today.  Despite a complete lack of spawning salmon, the river fished well for us.  We hooked good numbers of 10-15" rainbows plus a few fat 18" fish.  Fishing pressure was really light for this time of year.  There was a good hatch of baetis mayflies in the afternoon and I even saw a nice fish eat one on the surface before I spooked it with the boat.  It hasn't been a good year for dry fly fishing on the Lower Sac so it was nice to see a good rise.

Al had some nice fish today