Current Fishing Report

According to our group that fished Eagle Canyon today, fishing was good!  They mentioned a couple of hot flies: WD40s in a size 18 and olive and black wiggle tail nymphs size 14.  Wiggle tails are like mini-crystal buggers.  They have a bead, flashy chenille, and a really long marabou tail.

Phil with a beast

Ken with a huge rainbow

Ran up to the Trinity this past weekend to squeeze in a little fishing between storms.  In tow were long time fishing partners Jeff and Doug from Sacramento.  We spent the better part of three days fishing various stretches of the Trinity.  Friday afternoon the weather was warm and sunny.  The March Brown hatch was in full effect and it was fun to watch the half pounders slurp bugs off the top.  We weren't able to hook up that day but it was a stunning day full of fish activity.  Saturday got us some fish in the boat.  A full day float mostly nymphing in the rain/snow drizzle.  We were able to hook up a few times and brought three fish to the net.  Two nice adults and a smaller one with a lot of fight.  Sunday brought a more heavy rain and with only one rod fishng most of the day, we were able to hook up once in a losing battle.  Still fun as we saw the fish during the good fight.  Im sure the weather this week, will certainly change the landscape of fishing on the Trinity, but Steelhead fishing is far from over.

Pound for Pound a real fighter.

Doug's Best of the weekend!

Jeff and a familiar smile.

For the third time during the 2019 Steelhead season an epic rain event will see every river on the North Coast swell to near flood stage conditions. If the projections hold this rise will rival the big spike in flows we saw in mid January for both the Eel and Smith rivers. The S Fork Eel was just coming into shape late this week above Benbow, but reports of fish being caught were few and far between. It was a small window, and now it looks like the rivers to the south could be out of the game for quite some time. The Smith had near perfect conditions over the Presidents day weekend but fishing remained tough. I fished with Kris from Reno on Wednesday on the Smith. We spent a typical winter steelheaders day on the river in cold and wet conditions searching high and low for the elusive winter run coastal steelhead and came up empty handed. I spotted a single fish that day in shallow water along a willow line, but were denied when we offered him a chance to come to a small black and blue morsal. Looking ahead we will see the Smith come online around the first few days of March. It should be in excellent shape by next weekend and through the beginning of next week. I have some prime dates open for anyone looking to catch the next drop in hopes of intercepting some fresh chromers charging up river!   

Main stem Eel River Cfs

Kris loaded up on a picture perfect day in steelhead country

Smith River Cfs at Jed Smith

The upper S Fork Eel getting close before blowing out

Tim from Sacramento says that his group had an overall slow day on Wednesday but he did manage to land this huge rainbow in the afternoon.  Nice fish!

Tim with one of the big ones

Drew and I fished the Lower Sac in Redding yesterday.  We swung flies, fished under an indicator, roped donkeys and had the river to ourselves all day long.  

Peter Santley forwarded these photos from his trip on the Trinity River yesterday.  His guests Tom & Tom Jr. did very well yesterday hooking into a mix of adult steelhead, brown trout, and half-pounders.  Peter says the march browns are hatching and that dry fly fishing has been good for half-pounders and browns. Steelhead are eating a variety of smaller nymphs.  Peter says traffic is light right now.

Due to a rescheduled party we now have two open dates later this week: Friday and Saturday Feb 22-23.  These are the last wide-open dates available this season.  Get in touch soon if you'd like to book one of these prime dates.

Gino forwarded this picture from his trip today. Looks like conditions are good on the southern Oregon coast!

swinging 'em up on the coast

Peter Santley tells me that fishing is good on the Trinity right now.  Most boats are getting multiple hook-ups per day.  The fish are a mix of fresh winter fish and downstreamers.  The water clarity is perfect and boats are floating all the floats from Lewiston down to Pigeon Point.  Peter says traffic is pretty light.

Duke with a steelie

Check out these photos of the snow on the ground at Eagle Canyon!  This is the most snow I have ever seen at the lakes.   The fish don't seem to mind - they were rising off and on while I was there this morning.  We have a hearty group of anglers fishing the lakes today - good luck guys!

I just wrapped up a two day trip with father and son team Norb and Ned. We fished the Smith on the heels of a major snow event that blanketed the coast on Saturday night and saw lots of downed trees and powerlines. The first day saw us going over lots of spey casting fundementals as both father and son were newcomers to the sport. On the second day we floated the main as another powerful storm loomed over the Pacific. Ned got a grab in the first run of the day, but we were denied a second interview. We spotted fish on the move this day. We saw some in tailouts and watched one fish roll repeatedly as we broke for a shorelunch. Norb, who had never fished with a two handed rod before this trip made huge strides and was getting into some nice casting which was both rewarding and fun to watch. The day ended in a steady rain and a last cast grab that ended up being a shiny little half pounder. There was very little angling pressure on the river during our trip, a welcome break from last months chrome rush. We have another major rain event on tap for the North Coast extending into the end of this week. The Smith was blown out this morning and looks to remain high until the weekend. It should be in prime shape by Sunday, and will be on a good drop through the beginning of next week. The Eel is going to get absolutely anihilated in this next storm. The lower river is forecast to reach flood stage sometime late this week. It could be March before we see any glimmer of hope for a chance to fish on the main stem. I have some prime dates open for anyone looking to get out and catch this next drop. With the middle of Febuary fast approaching and another big shot of rain on the menu it should be game on once the rivers turn green again! 

Norb fully loaded and ready to fire

We have a couple of anglers looking for a fishing buddy in the next few weeks on the southern Oregon coast:Feb 23: We have an angler interested in splitting a 2-person trip with Leslie Ajari.  This is a one-day trip.Mar 4-8: We have an angler interesting in splitting a 2-person trip with Gino Bernero for 3 days during this time slot. 

Here is guest report from Greg who fished Eagle Canyon this weekend:"Andrew here’s what we experienced over the weekend. Saturday was very windy, rain, hail, and thunderstorms. We tubed to the island where we were able to cast down wind. We netted five fish and hooked ten. They were eating olive wooly buggers, black wooly buggers, and the zebra midge in the upper lake.Sunday we noticed the water was very unclear from the storm the day before. No luck until we used purple and white leeches in the lower lake mid day and caught seven in the matter of 30 minutes. Had a great time and the lake to ourselves which was a treat. Can’t wait to be back next month."

Here are some photos sent by our guests at Eagle Canyon.  They just finished up a two-day trip today.  Those are some big rainbows!

That's a big one!

Gino forwarded this photo from his guide trip today in southern Oregon.  Nice fish Willy!

Willy with a beautiful steelhead

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

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."

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.

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!

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