Current Fishing Report

I just wrapped up my last winter steelhead trip of the season with Roff and Bob from Mendocino. We had a typical wet welcome for our first day that saw us on the Smith River due to everything else in the neighborhood being blown out. By noon the rain had lifted and gave way to a picture perfect spring day on the coast. We poked around up river but by days end came up empty handed. Day two we floated the main stem and had it nearly all to ourselves. A marked difference from earlier in the season that can see heavy boat pressure and bank pressure. We got Roff dialed into his spey cannon, a Sage X 10150. Yup, a 15 ft 10 wt. Roff got into a groove by mid day and was making some epic casts. Finally it came down to the last run of the day as the sun dipped behind the redwood curtain. Bob found one in the bottom of the run.  A shiny little buck hammered his fly on the hang down and preceded to but on a nice show for all three of us before we netted him and sent him on his way. I can't think of a better way to end my season guiding for these elusive fish. The last day of fishing for winter steelhead is coming to an end for the 2019 season. Most rivers will be closed starting tomorrow, 4/1/2019. Two exceptions are the Smith River and the main stem Eel River. The Eel continues to remain high and muddy after recent rains took her off the table. There was a window when nearly all of the South Fork was fishing and reports were good. The Main Stem came oh so close but again, no cigar. With more wet weather forecast into April it's anyones guess when the main will come back online. The Smith will see another nice bump of rain during this coming week, but fishing has slowed down considerably. Most of the fish in the system are down runners headed back to sea at this point. Although there are a run of smaller "blueback" steelhead that always make an appereance during spring, the majority of the fish have come and gone. All in all it was a good season on the coast that saw better numbers of fish but fewer fishable days due to a very wet winter. The game certainly isn't for everyone but for those who braved cold mornings and soggy afternoons in the hopes of feeling that electric grab I am eternally grateful. Thanks to everyone who came and fished with me this season on the coast! See you next time. 

Spring break weather

Bob and Roff with a dandy chrome steelhead

Bob and yours truly with a buzzer beater

Bob with a nice bend in his rod

Roff getting dialed into his 10150 Sage X

The Kern River Fly Fishers brought up so many people this year that they split into two groups.  The 2nd group fished Lower Sac yesterday and Eagle Canyon today.  They had good fishing both days and great weather.

Rich's big fish

I had a great time today with my very good guest and friend Ted, and his wife Eloise.  The weather was ideal and the water color is getting back to normal. The morning bite was a little slow, but by mid-late morning it really turned on for us!   The afternoon was spotty, but when we found fish, it made for some fun times.

Ted with a very nice birthday fish!

I guided Wayne and Robert with the Kern River Fly Fishers today. When we showed up at the ramp the river was really dirty. A lot of guides headed to Baum Lake, the Lower Feather River, and other alternate locales. I'm glad we stuck it out because the fishing was actually pretty good.  Robert landed his first ever Lower Sac trout and then a couple more.  Wayne caught a couple big fish and some smaller ones too.  The group had a great time.  By the end of the day there was 3 feet of visibility and fish were eating small mayfly nymphs.

Robert's first fish

Wayne's big fish

Today we had another group of anglers from the Kern River Fly Fishers and I was one of five boats. The water was off-color as the result of crazy thunderstorm that inundated northern Redding Wednesday afternoon. Despite the color everyone in the group were hooking fish. My guests Bill and Cort landed a few nice fish throughout the day, but found our lower Sac rainbows are fighters.

Took a little drift down a high and slightly off-color Lower Sac today. Didn’t know how things were gonna fish but Sean did a great job of fininding some nice fish. It was a little harder than usual, but all in all a very good day.

Some good fish to be found in the high flows.

Along the edges!

I had a really fun day with my guest Nellyda. This was her first time indicator nymphing and she was excited to learn the technique. After a week of consistent flows, the Bureau of Reclamation bumped them up to 15,000 cfs due to the rising lake level. The increase slowed the bite, but we still managed to get several grabs and hooked into a few very nice fish until the strong south winds picked up. I know Nellyda had a great time and I’m pretty sure she is hooked on fishing the Lower Sac.

Nellyda was rewarded with this very nice fish!

I made it out of the office today and into my drift boat for the first time in a while.  I had the pleasure of guiding a group from Project Healing Waters San Francisco.  The weather was great and the fish were very cooperative today.  Leland landed his first trout ever, a nice 18" rainbow.  Henry, one of the volunteers with the group, landed a very large trout in the 22 inch range.  It was a fun day and there were plenty of hook-ups with strong wild rainbow trout.

Leland with his first ever rainbow trout

Henry with a really big rainbow

I once again felt privileged to be a part of another Project Healing Waters trip. We were one of seven boats today, and although it was busy – everyone hooked into fish! I had such a great time with my veterans (guests) Ray and Joe! The grab was pretty consistent for us all day, but the afternoon was better than the morning. We hooked lots of fish – we landed a bunch and lost a bunch. We lucked out with the weather and I’m pretty sure all the veterans and mentors had a great time! They are off the fish Eagle Canyon Trophy Trout Lakes tomorrow. With this latest batch of rain, the flows are going to bump up to 15,000 cfs Thursday morning. I don’t expect this to have a significant effect on the fishing – which has been really amazing!  

Ray's first rainbow on a fly!

Joe with a nice one

Another beautie for Joe

Andrew with his guests

Guest Greg had a great day at Eagle Canyon today.  He forwarded this photo of his biggest fish of the day.  He had good luck with pink and white bunny leeches among other things.  Nice fish!

Greg's biggest fish of the day

Today was great day with my guests Lisa and Gene, who are part of the GGACC group. Our morning started slow, but by late-morning the bite really turned on and stayed on for the rest of the day. Lisa is an accomplished spey angler, but new to indicator fishing and she picked it up right away. Lisa and Gene both hooked into a lot of really big fish throughout the day. It looked like the other boats in our group were also getting lots of action as well. This was a great two days of fishing with a really fun group of anglers!

Today was the first day of a two-day trip for the Golden Gate Angling and Casting Club. Our guide crew included Peter Santley, Tyler Lee, Mike Wright, and myself. The bite was spotty right off the bat, but really picked up by mid-morning. My guest Brad hooked into several really nice fish throughout the day, with all but a few being over 17 inches. Everyone had a great time and the weather was really nice until a thunderstorm came through at the end of the day.

I was part of a 4-boat trip along with Peter Santley, Tyler Lee, and Kevin Kay. Our guests were the first of two groups of anglers from the Kern River Fly Fishers. It rained off and on all day, but that had no effect on the fishing. My guests Brian and Teresa had a very good day and I know everyone else did very well. The flows and color are very good, and the boat hatch is definitely on. The fishing will remain very good at least through May.  

Teresa with her first to the boat

Another very nice fish

Brian with a beautiful fish

This is a guest report from Jim who fished Eagle Canyon today:"Thanks Andrew our group had a great time on both lakes. Bill was fantastic assisting several of our novice flyfishers and setting us up with all the amenities.  We did well on leech patterns in black, hooking 26+ fish and landing 19 from 3 to 10 lbs.  We did have one bend the hook and get away.  The consensus at the time was it went 15 lbs., but that will grow over time!  We'll  be back." 

I had a great time today with my guests Matt and Alan. The flows have dropped, the color is perfect, the weather was ideal, and the bite is on! The guys hooked into a lot of fish, including four double hook-ups! All but one fish landed were over 17-inches, and Matt hooked into a huge fish that broke him off after an epic battle that included some impressive acrobatics. All in all, an amazing day of spring fishing on the Sac!

Matt's first fish to net - not a bad start

That's how to complete a double!

Alan with a beautiful big male

Matt with another chunky fish

The news we have all be waiting for - the flows on the Lower Sac are coming back down!  Begining this evening, the flows will start dropping and will be fishable by this weekend!  For all of you that had to cancel trips due to the high flows, reach out to your guides and discuss dates soon before our calendars fill up.  If you're interested, here is a link to the scheduled releases: http://cdec.water.ca.gov/dynamicapp/QueryRES?s=kes.  Go fish!

Guest report from Bob who fished Eagle Canyon today:"The weather Gods were kind and we had a beautiful day Sunday!  Our group had a great time with about 25 hookups mostly on dark leech/bugger patterns in both ponds. Biggest trout we’ve ever landed and thank Bill for his help getting the group on the water and guidance. Thanks for accommodating our schedule and definitely have my buddies hooked now they can’t wait to return! We will work on float trip dates with Brian soon." 

The Lower Sac is scheduled to go up to 50,000cfs at some point on Thursday.  This release will likely stay in place for a few days or even up to a week in order to create some room in Lake Shasta for later storms and runoff.  Stay tuned because fishing should be very good once flows drop back to fishable levels.  I heard reports from a handful of guides that fished the river at 30,000cfs and fishing was good.  I also heard from Peter Santley and he says the Trinity is totally blown out today.  He is hopeful it will clear in time for guide trips starting Friday.

Peter Santley has been guiding the Trinity River the past few days and he says fishing has been good. He's been limited to the upper one or two floats due to high water, but he's been finding fish every day.  He says the fish are a mix of adult steelhead, halfpounders, and brown trout.  It's nice to hear that there is some quality river fishing available right now!

One of Peter's guests with a Trinity steelhead

Here are some photos from our group that fished Eagle Canyon today.  Nice fish guys!