Current Fishing Report

The Sac fished really well today for my guests Andrew and Wyatt. We hooked into three nice fish right away, then the things slowed a bit down for about an hour – then it turned on! Andrew and Wyatt were hooking fish consistently all day long. We had a few doubles and most the fish landed were 15”-17”, but Andrew landed one 18”-19” fish after an epic battle. The flows are great and the temps are starting to cool, which makes for great fishing conditions.

Andrew landed the largest and the smallest fish today

All day long!

I had a great past few days with star client Andy from San Francisco. Andy did our first two Klamath Spey camps, and has really become an excellent caster and angler. It’s a real pleasure to watch him fish. We swung up three wild steelhead each of the past two days despite the brutal heat. I expect fishing to get even better with the cooling trend coming this weekend. We saw no more than two other boats on the river each day. Gotta love the Rogue! I have a few days open in November.

Fishing was really good again today on the Lower Sac. I fished from Anderson down with father/son duo Andrew and Wyatt from Santa Cruz.  Fishing was good right off the bat.  We had one hour of slow fishing right before lunch but the rest of the day the action was excellent.  Wyatt landed one 18" rainbow and most of our other fish were 15-17".  We also saw a lot of huge salmon rolling in the salmon holes.  It was a really great day on the water.

Hundreds of miniature mayflies on my oar blade

Wyatt caught a lot of fish like this one today

Double trouble

I spent a really fun day on the river with buddies Dan and Pete.  We did something different today and spent the entire day wade fishing the shallow riffles.  Fishing was really good.  Other than some frustrating moments early in the day when the fish were eating size 30 trico spinners, we were able to hook quality fish on dries throughout the day.  The action was on a mix of caddisflies and mayflies.  We even had a nice fish come up to a big foam hopper!  In a couple deeper areas we also did well with a prince nymph underneath a foam hopper.

Dan caught this one on a dry fly

Fellow Confluence Outfitters guide Kevin Kay and I did some early season scouting on the Trinity today and it was well worth the trip! We both landed a number of adult fish and a couple half-pounders. Most of the adults were smaller – 20-inch class, but I landed a nice hatchery fish and lost a very large adult. The boat pressure is fairly light, but we encountered a number of walk-in salmon anglers. Fall is right around the corner – have you booked your Trinity trip yet? 

It's no secret where I hooked this one!

My annual journey to Skeena Country in Northern British Columbia was truly epic this year. The Skeena was in great shape for the entire month I was there. My guests for my two hosted weeks were able to swing for epic Skeena steelhead in perfect conditions every day. If you are a steelheader, you know how rare and special that opportunity is.As always, my good friends at Skeena Spey Lodge make sure we have an incredible time both on and off the water. They have the best food, accommodation, guide staff, and home water on the Skeena. I have two prime weeks reserved there next year.

Superb accommodation

Epic Spey water on the Mainstem Skeena

Leslie swinging a run across from the lodge

Well...the weather is cooling down, the smoke is thinning out and the fishing is getting hot in the North State. Over the past several weeks Fresh, Bright Steelhead have been pushing into the Lower Klamath and making their way up the and into the Cooler waters of the Trinity. Swinging for Chrome bright Steelhead on the Lower Klamath has been Good to Great with a mix of scrapy half pounders and adults, we've landed Steelhead to 6lbs and I've seen several in the 8-10lb class ! All indications so far is that we're seeing a stronger run of both Steelhead and Salmon then we've seen in the past couple of Seasons ! Trending in the right Direction !Speycasting for Trout and Steelhead on the Lower Sac is picking up as well and should only get better as we move into October and November, I've had some pretty good days out there over the past weeks.My schedule is fairly limited this Fall but if you are interested in getting out on either of these  Awesome Swing waters feel free to Contact myself or Andrew Harris directly to see I can fit you in...Tight Lines 

Took a day and drifted the Yuba. The flows were low (around 600 cfs) and the water was gin clear.  Although I was a little disappointed with the overall fishing on this day,  there were good signs for things to come this fall as the river has begun to create some shape and structure after the floods of the past few winters.  My biggest disappointment was with the Hopper grab.  Threw a lot of Hoppers in usual places with no response.  It's still a good time to fish this technique, but this particular day was slow. Nymphing was also slow.  Only a few grabs and only in the few deep and heavily oxygenated holes. I did have some fun on small dries throughout the day.  Simple patterns worked best and the 'ol Parachute Adams was the "go to"  for the day.  Seemed that the bigger fish were in the deep holes and the smaller fish were spread throughout the river looking for dries.  No whoppers to speak of, but still fun to have fish grab dries.  The best news of the day was to see the presence of Salmon in the system.  Even counted a number of Redds already being developed.  This is a really good sign for fall Yuba fishing as it has been awhile since I have seen this much early activity.  

Dry flies in shallow riffles can be a kick in the pants

I had a great time today fishing with Mike and Brian from Arkansas.  They're out for the TU National Convention in Redding this weekend.  These guys are used to catching really big trout on the White River in Arkansas (Brian guides there - check out "Kick's Fly Fishing Arkansas"), but neither had ever caught a steelhead.  When they heard there was a chance at steelhead over on the Trinity River they were very excited for the opportunity.  The river was really quiet today.  We saw two other boats and 3 bank anglers.  Mike hooked  and landed a wild steelhead around 10:30am and then we went for quite a while without any action.  Near the end of the day Brian briefly hooked a nice fish, and then he got serious.  In our last two spots Brian hooked and landed several nice steelhead and one really nice salmon.  Our biggest steelhead was about 5 pounds and the salmon measured 29 inches.  It was a lot of fun and a great way to end the day.

Brian and Mike with the biggest steelhead of the day

Brian releasing a salmon

Brian's big salmon

Mike with his first-ever steelhead

I had the pleasure of spending the last two days with guests Ted and Frankie on the lower Sac. They have fished the world, but this was their first time on the Sac. The grab was pretty consistent all day Sunday, but it was a slower start this morning. By mid-late morning, the action really picked up and they ended up having a great day! Ted and Frankie hooked into several really nice fish both days. They were quite impressed at how hard our Sac rainbows fight, and they’ve been catching monster trout in New Zealand for the past 15 years! The temps are cooling, the smoke has finally cleared, the flows are dropping, and the egg bite is just around the corner! Gotta love fall fishing. October is my favorite time to fish/guide the Sac. If you’re thinking about a fall trip, don’t wait too long - our schedules are filling fast.

Frankie with a beautiful rainbow

Here are some pictures from Gino's guide trip on the Rogue River yesterday. Thanks to our guest Dick from southern California for forwarding these photos!

I had a great time today with guests Bob and Rich. The fish were super grabby all day, but they were also pretty slippery. Bob and Rich hooked into several nice fish throughout the day and unfortunately, we lost a couple really big fish after putting on an airshow for us. The mornings have been smokey due to the Delta Fire, but by early afternoon it clears up and we have sunny skies.

Spent a great day with John from Sacramento on the Lower Sac this weekend.  The fishing was really good. We consistently caught fish all day on a variety of nymphs.  Even had a little caddis hatch around noon to entice a few dry fly grabs. We drifted from Bonnyview launch to Balls Ferry Landing.  The  top of the drift was definitely affected by the fires in the area as far as air quality, but by 11 am we were under blue skies.  We saw a number of salmon rolling around as well and with that, I would anticipate that fishing would only get better as the weather cools in the next month.

Fatties all day long.

Top of the drift was a little smokey, but the fishing was still good.

Even I got to try

Great color

Recently spent a really good day with on the Lower Sac.  Fishing was pretty good, temps were warm, but the air was clear as we drifted from Anderson to Jelly's Ferry take out near Red Bluff.  There was a consistant grab all day and the fish were healthy and hard fighting.  Lots of airial hook spits!  With only one rod in the water all day we boated  a number of really good fish.

Busy with these all day.

I had a half-day trip on Hat Creek with Warren today. The weather was ideal and angling pressure was light. There was no morning hatch to speak of, but the nymph grab was pretty good. After some missed grabs, Warren hooked into several nice fish. He was very impressed with the natural beauty of Hat Creek and all the restoration work that was recently completed by CalTrout.

Brian Kohlman and I had a chance to do some fishing on the Lower Sac today.  We caught some really nice fish!  Action was pretty slow overall, but the average size was great.  The fish were keyed in on small mayfly patterns and wouldn't touch anything else.

Brian caught this fish on his first cast

Andrew's big fish of the day

Had a great day on the water this weekend with Bruce. The hot weather is beginning to cool off and smoke has really cleared up over the past few days. We spent time working on Spey casting techniques. Bruce had an epic encounter with a large, bright hen. It was a very acrobatic fish that proved to be quite a challenge.

This morning was very slow for Mike and Dennis. They hooked into a few small fish, but the grabs were very inconsistent. The action picked up in the afternoon and both hooked into a few really nice fish, but they didn’t want anything to do with my landing net. Mike landed one really nice one just over 18 inches. The flows have dropped again to 10,000 cfs.  I’m determined to crack the code!

Mike with a nice one!

We have just set our dates for the 2018-19 season at Eagle Canyon!  Opening day is Saturday, December 8th, 2018. Our season will end Sunday, April 14th, 2019. We are now taking reservations for the 2018-19 season. Call soon to book your preferred dates!  You can check availability on our website. Rates for 2018-19: Pricing depends on the size of your group. We charge $225/person for 1-2 anglers, $200/person for 3 anglers, $175/person for 4 anglers, $150/person for groups of 5 or 6, and $135/person for groups of 7 or 8 anglers.  Pricing for Lower Sac/Eagle Canyon Combo: Our Combo Special is available to groups of 4, 6 and 8 anglers. The Combo Special is a two-day trip with one day at Eagle Canyon and one day with our guides on the Lower Sac or Trinity River. Just $350 per person for a group of 4, $325pp for 6, and $310pp for 8. Opening Day Auction: As usual, we will auction off our opening day (Dec 8) on eBay.  The auction will start October 14th and bidding will start at $1250.  The winning bidder can bring a group of up to 8 anglers.  We hope to see you at Eagle Canyon this season!  Please call or email with any questions. -Andrew Harris 

Fishing remained slow for us again today.  We had very few take-downs and only a couple of hook-ups.  The flows are forcast to drop to 10,000 cfs by Thursday.  It was fairly smokey this morning, but cleared out nicely by late morning.