Good The past few weeks have seen glimpses of near perfect conditions for swinging up some steel on California's rugged Redwood Coast. Two weeks have past since the coast saw it's most significant winter storm in more than a season. The Smith River spiked to just over 20 feet on the Jed Smith gauge on January 20th and fell into shape by that Tuesday. I spent the day on the water with Confluence Outfitters own Andrew Harris and his friend Jim from Red Bluff. Jim was new to the spey game but picked up the fundementals within a day of fishing and mananged to swing up a nice coastal cutthroat in the last run we fished. The bigger prize remained elusive. The next few days saw near perfect water conditions on the river, but with it came intense amounts of pressure from other guide boats and bank anglers alike, creating another set of tough conditions. During the middle of the week I fished with Carlo from Stockton and had Sean and Paul with me over the weekend. Despite tough fishing we were able to hone in casting techniques and enjoy some remarkably nice weather for late January. By the beginning of last week the Smith had dropped to the bottom of 8 ft and was running clear. I fished with Doug and Rob, two old friends who were both brand new to spey fishing. The first day we floated the lower river and were pleasently surprised to have only a few other guide boats on the water with us. A few exceptionally large fish were spotted from the boat as we slid down one tailout after the other. I saw one big buck that almost made me fall out of the boat! After a full day of going over spey fundementals both Doug and Rob made huge strides on day two as we explored some up river stretches. It was both fun and rewarding watching them progress from square one to firing off some worthy casts.At the end of the week I bid farewell to the Smith and headed south with hopes of finding green water on the Eel. I fished with Kris and Doug the dog on Thursday on the lower S Fork Eel during near perfect water conditions. The S Fork was glowing, the perfect pitch of steelhead green, giving Kris and I high hopes that we might be in store for an encounter or two. In the third run of the day Kris got a soft grab in the head of the run. We couldn't get him to come back. We had another opportunity before we broke for lunch when Kris got a little rip on the first strip after the swing, but again, we couldn't convince him to come back and play. The day ended without a fish to hand but we were both excited for having excellent conditions and fair weather. Fishing on the Eel was just starting to heat up when another wet weather system came in to crash the party. Some reports that were coming in from guys fishing up high were red hot. The Smith also saw some good days for guys fishing gear. The take away being that a good amount of fish have come into our coastal rivers and that this trend should continue through this next series of storms into February. Right now we have a storm that is weakening in intensity over the coast. Projections for river rises are being downcast, a few days ago it looked like the Eel was out of the picture for the next 10 days, now the picture is not as clear. The temperate weather that had given us so many pleasant days on the water also looks to be coming to a close. This next system is going to bring some low temps along with it. Lot's of snow is forecast to fall over the next week. This could also see less dramatic river rises than what is being projected. It'll be interesting to see how this current storm plays out. If you're looking to get out on the water February offers some of the best fishing opportunities of the steelhead season. Good things are in store. Stay tuned...  Carlo in some epic water on the North Coast  Perfect water conditions on the S Fork Eel  A silver bullet straight from the salt.  Up river  Kris and Doug ready to hit the next run.  A few intruders on deck ready for action |
Good Guest Report from Steven who fished Eagle Canyon today:"As always we had a great day up at the lakes. Rained until the afternoon then cleared out and made fishing very pleasant while the sun poked through the clouds. Best of all we fished pretty well ending the day. Thanks again for everything." |
Okay I had a great day with Peter and John from the Peninsula Fly
Fishers. Our focus was swinging flies for
two days in the hopes of finding a big winter fish. John swung up a nice half-pounder in our first
run, and Peter landed a small adult right after lunch. A very big storm was headed our way and we
lucked out on Friday, but the river was blown-out and muddy by Saturday
morning. |
Great Here is a guest report from Dave who fished Eagle Canyon today: "Two of us fished Tuesday January 29. Most of the day we had to work pretty hard for the grabs we got. We landed some brutes including this girthy toad that was pushing 30 inches/15 pounds. I'm pretty sure I caught this one twice with different presentations. ECL.......... one of a kind fishery"  Dave with a big one  Fish on! |
Great This is a guest report from Tony who was on his 2nd trip to Eagle Canyon this year today:"We had another great outing at Eagle Canyon. We had sunshine and not a
breath of wind. We hooked about 35 big trout and landed about 22. Most of
the takes were on olive or black streamers stripped slowly. The morning was
pretty active then it slowed mid day and picked back up again around 3:00 p.m. As always, we are looking forward to next year."  Dennis with a typical Eagle Canyon trout  Tony with a nice fish  Alan with a fatty  Tony with another one  Bill with his first Eagle Canyon trout of the day.  Group of anglers at Eagle Canyon  Chip with an Eagle Canyon beauty.  Tony fooled this trout with an black streamer |
Good I just wrapped up a great trip to coastal CA/OR. We started out fishing with guide Drew Griffith on the Smith. My buddy Jim learned how to spey cast with Drew's help and was rewarded with a beautiful Coastal Cutthroat for his efforts. I didn't get bit, but I sure thought it was going to happen in a few spots. The river was a beautiful steelhead green and dropping rapidly. Even the gear guys seemed to be struggling that day, though. That's generally not a good sign for the fly anglers.Our 2nd and 3rd day were spent in southern Oregon with guide Travis Bowman. It was a ton of fun and we also managed to connect with 5 adult fish in 2 days. A couple were really brief encounters but the rest were lengthy battles, some won and some lost. I love fishing this area as there are many different water types and you can catch chrome winter steelhead on single-hand and spey rods.  Drew Griffith surveys the scene on the Smith  Drew makes a nice shore lunch  Coastal Cutthroat from the Smith  Andrew releasing a wild steelhead |
Great Peter Santley and I had a really fun day with a great group of guys from the Bay Area. The river is in great shape and the fish were eager to eat our flies. My guys had a mixture of adults and half-pounders throughout the day, but Steve landed a really big brown trout and Larry landed a nice hatchery hen towards the end of the day. Tomorrow they’re set to wrestle the pigs at Eagle Canyon Trophy Trout Lakes!  Larry with a nice hatchery fish  Steve with his big brown |
Great This is a report from our guest Will who fished the lakes today:"We had an enjoyable day during our recent trip to the Eagle Canyon
Lakes. Fish were very active up until mid morning but then slowed down
during the latter part of the day. Everyone hooked into some nice size
fish and several were landed. Fish caught during the morning bite were
taking black leech patterns retrieved with intermediate lines. Later
that day, the fish were looking for small red midge/nymph patterns and
hares ear nymphs. We look forward to another return trip next year." |
The rain has stopped and the river is dropping. Timing is everything when it comes to winter steelhead fishing. The rains move the fish as the river drops they go on the bite.The 10 day forecast is good and it's time to go. The river was fishing good before storms with some fresh winter run fish showing. The fish were eating golden stones and various nymphs. A few fish were also being caught on the swing for those putting time in.We have guides available to get you on the fish. I will be back on the river Thursday to see what the rain has brought us. Come out and play! Book now!Good fishing,Peter Santley |
Great This report is from Luke Geraty who guided a great group of guests at Eagle Canyon today:"Today went really well. The water was a bit off color from the rain but the fish didn’t seem to mind. The best flies were black streamers with small patches of red and, surprisingly, red midges that were either left still or stripped fast or slow. The highlight of the day was when Triston caught his first big trout on a streamer!" |
Okay I had a really fun day with Frank and Doug on the
Trinity. The recent storms had the river
running high and off-color. The fishing
was tough, but we ended up landing one small adult and two nice
half-pounders. There is no rain in the
extended forecast, so conditions should be pretty good in the coming weeks. |
Great The North Coast is experiencing the biggest rise of the season due to an atmospheric river dumping rain over most of California. The spike will be over the weekend and then see a slow drop through all of next week. For the moment all fishing options are off the table as many rivers are going to swell to near flood stage conditions, but by early next week we should see the first fishable water on the Smith River. In the mean time it's time to crank out some bugs behind the vice in anticipation for what should be excellent fishing opportunities once our rivers come into shape. This is the bank buster we've desperately needed on the North Coast after such a prolonged period of minor storms and marginal rises. Hopefully this mega rise will scour out rivers that have slowly begun to fill in. It is sure to bring in good numbers of fresh steelhead. So if you've been waiting to get out and swing flies for some of the hottest fish on the planet, this is it. Before this storm there was some epic fishing happening on the coast. The Eel was seeing some amazing fish caught before it blew out last weekend. It never had a chance to come back on line before this current storm made an appearence. Hopefully we'll see more epic days ahead on the Eel during February. The Smith was off to a slow start but in the last week a pulse of fish showed up and some beautiful specimens were brought to hand by those willing to put in the hours and stick it out. All told 2019 has already been a stand out season compared to what was ultimately a slower winter steelhead season in 2018. With this current gully washer on tap for the North Coast things are looking primed for an outstanding February. I have some prime dates available for the end of this month and into next month. Hope to see you on the water!
 the line up  The classic intruder. A winter staple  Jessie with a gnarly buck  Rich with a beautiful hen. Photo Chris Catone  Dream water on the North Coast  Translucent fins on a fresh from the salt fish. Photo Kellen Igou |
Red Hot Steelhead fishing on California's North Coast has been epic! I just had some prime dates open up this month for anyone looking to shake hands with a hot fish or two. Stay tuned for a detailed report this weekend.  Fresh from the sea, bright as can be |
The Sacramento ISE Show starts tomorrow. Come see Andrew and Katie Harris at the Eagle Canyon booth. It's booth #2121 in the C (Fly Fishing) building. Show hours are 11-8pm Thursday and Friday, 10am-7pm Saturday, and 10am-5pm Sunday. Stop by our booth. We would love to see you! |
Good I spent the last three days guiding the Trinity for Winter Steelhead "On the Swing" and I would consider the fishing pretty good ! Early to mid January in my experience seems to yeild some of the best Winter Steelheading of the Season on the Trinity, we averaged a little better then 1 adult per day per angler, for Winter steelheading "on the swing" I would consider that good, the Steelhead on the Trin currenty are NOT spread out evenly from Lewiston to Pigeon Point, which makes me think that they are moving quite a bit right now, not necessarliy stacking up in a given area, "if your not finding em...move !"  almost there... |
Okay I had a great time today with Jason. Our focus was swinging flies with the hopes
of hooking into a healthy winter steelhead. Jason worked very hard and presented his fly perfectly, but
unfortunately he was not rewarded for his efforts. We have a new storm headed our way, which should
bring a new push of fish! |
Great Today was a great day with my guests Geza and Gina. The flows had dropped a bit and we had a few
more boats to contend with, but we had a great day. Gina started it off hooking into a
beast! She fought it for several minutes
before landing a beautiful wild buck. Geza followed with a very nice hatchery adult. We landed several more nice hatchery fish and
both landed a half-pounder each. This
was their first time fishing the Trinity and I think they will leave with some
great memories!  Nice way to start the day!  Geza with a beautiful steelhead!  Gina with another really nice fish! |
Great I had the pleasure of guiding Larry and Ginny on their very
first steelhead adventure today. And
what a first time experience they had! The flows were up from the previous two days of rain, but the color and
clarity were perfect. They both had
several hook-ups throughout the day and Ginny landed a very nice hatchery
buck. They were extremely pleased with
their first steelhead experience. The extended
forecast has several storms headed our way beginning Monday and lasting for
about a week. This should help fill our lakes
and reservoirs!  This image doesn't show just how big this fish is! |
Great This write-up is from our guest Tony from Red Bluff who fished Eagle Canyon yesterday:"Thank you again for your hospitality. We really had the cards stacked
against us yesterday. 40 mph winds, all day freezing rain and 3 rookie
anglers. We had a blast! Our group and the venue is so much fun. In spite of
the conditions we still managed to have 35 hook ups and 20 fish landed. We
caught fish throughout the day and they seemed to come in flurries. So if
you weren't fishing you could miss your window for an epic hook up. You can
quote me on this...these fish are tackle breakers. You had better have
strong knots and quality tippet if you want to land these fish. We lost
several fish due to slipped knots and faulty reel drag systems. We caught
fish using large size 4 streamers and small size 22 midges and everything in
between. Eagle Canyon is a true fisherman's paradise. We are looking forward to fishing again with Confluence Outfitters. Thank you for making our fishing dreams a reality."  Bill with a hard fighting Eagle Canyon slab  Chip with his first of several Eagle Canyon trout  Fishing the lower lake in 40 mph gusts  Tony with one of several Eagle Canyon trout landed  Novice angler Liz hooking up and landing the largest trout of her life  Tony and Liz with a double |
Great I had another great day with Bob and Rich on the Trinity
today. We dodged the rain and the river
was in great shape after the weekend storms. The fish were on the job today. Rich ended up on the losing end of a few epic
battles with some really nice fish and Bob landed a small adult. They have some fish stories to tell for sure,
but it was a very good day with good friends. More rain is on the way this week and next.  Bob with a small adult |