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Great Brothers Larry and Bob spent the day with me on the Lower Sac today after getting rained on camping up on the McCloud. No rain today, but it was a little toasty (but it’s a dry heat.....). We caught some really nice fish early on but the fish took a siesta midday. Things lit up again in the late afternoon and quite a variety of flies worked throughout the day. The Lower Sac is a great wild trout factory, come get some!  Lunch break!  Bob with a big bend in his rod  Another wild rainbow  Larry gets it done |
Great Fishing on the Williamson River has been excellent! The past couple of days we have had Lots of fish in the 14-18” range with a few donkeys in the 25” range. The Hex hatch has slowed down a bit, but we are still rising quality fish every night! The hatch should pick back up next week with some warmer weather. Pelican Bay/ Rocky Point area is choked with big fish! Minnow patterns eary and late and small leeches during the day. We have dates open in July. |
Great Fishing in the Basin is in full swing now. The first good group of lake fish have moved into the Williamson River. Most fish have been picked up by swinging small leeches and damsel nymph. The hex hatch has been going strong for a week and should continue into mid July. Rocky Point and Agency lake has been consistent stripping seal buggers and balanced leeches. We have dates open in July and August which will be the peak of this amazing fisher!  Hex Hatch |
Great I’m back down in the Fall River Valley this week. Confluence Outfitters has a lot of history here, and I love coming back to this magical Valley a few weeks a year. I love technical spring creek angling, and there are few other places that compare to Fall River to hone in and test your skills. This is where your casting, presentation, and feeding line skills will eventually be rewarded with one of most superb strains of wild rainbow trout on the planet. Please respect the history and culture of the river, and refrain from drift boat style angling here, you can do that everywhere else and it’s totally fine. Keep Fall River special.The Hex hatch is in full swing, but is dependent on conditions. On windy and cooler nights, it doesn’t happen. But when it does, it’s been epic. It’s been starting around about 9:15. During the day there are some sporadic hatches of the usual mayflies, and some epic Caddis hatches on the upper river ion warmer evenings. Lots of fish up high, but they are spreading out nicely throughout the system. |
Great The big Redband have moved into the Williamson Riverearly this year just in time for the hex hatch. There has been a good Hatch the past couple of nights on the river. Expect this to taper off with the cooler weather and then to pick back up with the next heat spell. Next week should be exceptional! Most fish are being picked up on small leeches and soft hackles swinging with intermediate lines. The water has cleared consiberly in the past two weeks.  Fishin in the dark! |
Red Hot Spey Camp is back for 2019! I will be back to one of my favorite venues in all of steelhead angling for two camps: a weekend camp from September 27-29 and a full camp from September 30-October 3rd. Leslie and I just got an awesome new jet boat for the Lower Klamath, Rogue, and other venues.I've guided and hosted trips to the top camp destinations in the steelhead world, and I have to say in all honesty that our Spey Camp is one of the finest in the industry. The prime factors in a steelhead camping experience are: Logistics, location, venue/fishing opportunities, guides, food, and accommodation. Our Spey Camp exceeds expectations in all of these aspects.Logistics are super easy, as we pick you up at the boat ramp when you arrive and head a few miles upriver to camp, where you are based for your whole trip. No waking up at 4 am at the hotel to get to the ramp, then race in the dark to claim a spot. Our camp is located on one of the best runs on the entire river. Wake up, have a relaxing cup of coffee, and sache down to the river and be first though one of the most epic runs in all of summer steelhead fishing. Then have a bite to eat, grab a few essentials and head out in our modern jet boats to fish the nearby famed classic swing runs of the wild and scenic Lower Klamath River. After a full day of fishing, relax by the campfire and enjoy a magnificent dinner. Pretty epic. You can go alot further and pay alot more to fish for steelhead on crowded rivers a few hundred miles away from the ocean. The Klamath also features easy wading and beautiful scenery in a wilderness environment. Jet boat access only, no roads, no driftboats or rafters keep out a fair amount of pressure.As always, Confluence guides are highly experienced and have an instruction based guide philosophy. We love teaching the art of speycasting, so all experience levels are welcome. Being Sage Elite Pros, Gino and I have all the Sage rods, RIo lines, custom tied flies, tips, etc. that you need. If you just want to be left alone to fish, we are cool with that too...its your trip!Please feel free to E mail me with any questions. I also just opened up my Fall calendar for spey trips and instruction on the Upper Rogue, which will fill in soon.  Our new Game Changer...  Apres fishing at Spey Camp is legendary. Meet new fishing buddies!  Lifting mist on the legendary river  Be first and last to fish for chrome on one of the best runs on the Lower Klamath  Epic sunsets every night at Spey Camp |
Okay Took Leaf and Ketan our for a full Spey day on the Yuba. Water had dropped about 500 cfs from last week. We were able to swing up 4 nice Yuba trout with a few more grabs. The hopper fishing was off today but not for a lack of effort. Still need a good flow drop for things to reall drop into shape. Beautiful day even with the heat.  Little side channel heavan  Typical Yuba water  Wet wading is in with the kids! |
Good Ed from the Bay Area brought his son Will from Boston to Northern California for a long weekend of fishing. They fished the Upper Sac and McCloud with Confluence guide Brian Kohlman on Thursday and Friday and today I took them for a float on the Big River. We started early but the fish were apparently sleeping in as the morning grab was very slow. The grab heated up as the day went on however and some nice fish were hooked, landed, and lost. The day wouldn’t be complete without “the ones that got away”.  Happy Day Before Father’s Day  One of the ones that didn’t get away!  Beautiful native rainbows on the Lower Sac |
Good The only thing better than celebrating Father’s Day on the river is celebrating it with family. Took my cousin Scott and his son Grant on a great trip down the Lower Sac. The morning was slow as well as crowded with a kayak event, but after lunch we had great fishing. Both guys had multiple grabs and brought in a number of fish. Scott topped off the day with a 22” hot fish. Such a great day.  Scott with a dandy!  Grants first fish on a fly rod! |
Okay Spent a beautiful day with the Spey rods searching for trout on the Yuba River with James from Idaho. Water still high at around 6,000 cfs, but there are plenty of good spots to swing flies for hard fighting rainbows. We fished hard and got a few grabs bringing two fish to the net. The real fun of the day was the fish caught on hoppers in between swing runs. Caught and landed a super nice fish on the hopper but the pic didn’t happen. Whenever the Yuba flows drop, things should be really good.  Bent! |
Great Bill and his grandson Will came up from Chico today to brave the 108 degree temps. Will had never fished from a drift boat before and took to it like a fish to water (pun intended). Literally within minutes he was casting, mending and feeding line like a pro. He got to wrestle with a bunch of big wild Lower Sac trout and went home happy with a sore arm and a bit of a sunburn. Way to go Will!  Big fish in a big net!  Lots of bent rod for Will today.  Grip and Grin! |
Good I had the pleasure of showing James from Idaho how the Lower Sac trout grab flies on the swing. It is not for everyone and it is not a numbers game, but for those who enjoy casting two handed rods, the fish who do come out to play, play hard and put up a good fight. James brought several fish to hand and had numerous grabs throughout the day. The higher flows opened up some side channels we don’t always get to fish, giving the river a different feel. As the flows drop in the coming days, fishing on the swing should improve as more runs become accessible.  Lassen looms over James.  Fishing the braids. |
Good The Klamath Lake is heating up! Both literally and figuratively.
Water temps in the main lake was at a staggering 74 degrees on Wednesday. This
is great news for Fly fishing in the basin. Fish are pouring into Rocky point
and the Williamson River to escape the warm temperatures. We had a good bite Wednesday
night stripping leeches at Rocky Point. The Williamson River is dropping into
shape at the perfect time for the first good push of lake fish to move up. Yellow
Sallies, Golden stones, Caddis and PMD Mayflies are all popping on the
Williamson. Most fish have been taken on nymphs and Olive leeches swung on
intermediate lines on the Williamson River. Fishing in the Basin will
progressively get better as the Lake continues to warm.  Rocky Point Sunset  Fish on! |
Good Sometimes a guide day is more about learning places as much as it is about the fishing. Spent a great day with Eddie and Potter from the Bay Area exploring the Hat Creek area learning all kinds of places to fish and how to fish them. We spent time on upper, middle, and lower Hat Creek, Baum Lake, and Burney Creek. In each place the guys fished and caught a nice array of trout. A great day of learning an amazing area.  Potter on beautiful Burney Creek!  Eddie high sticking some good pockets! |
Good I just finished up two really fun days guiding Tyler and Ryan in the 3rd annual Gabe Duran Memorial Cast Hope tournament. With 24 teams the competition was fierce but the atmosphere was very friendly and fun. Tyler and Ryan made a great showing by placing 5th in the team competition and both making the top 10 in the individual competition. Fishing was a little more challenging this year with higher flows, some blown out tributaries below Anderson, and a recent flow change. Fishing was good overall, but we went through some long stretches with very little activity on both days.  Ryan with one of many fish yesterday |
Good I spend a fun day on the water scouting the Yuba River with fellow guide Mike Wright. Although the river channel has changed a lot due to some big winters, I was reminded of when I guided the Yuba years ago. I think the last time I guided the Yuba we were still using yarn indicators! That's been a while... The river is running high and clear with flows around 6,000cfs. Normal flows are under 3,000cfs. It was a bizarre weather day that ended with a punishing deluge. Fishing was pretty good considering the conditions, though. We caught fish on nymphs and on trout-spey techniques and even got grab on a dry fly. We saw a variety of bugs, including march browns, PMDs, little yellow sallies, caddis and hoppers. Fishing will get easier and more productive when flows drop. Expect really good fishing when flows drop below 4,000cfs. Mike has private access now above the Highway 20 bridge and down at DaGuerre Dam. Get in touch if you would like to book a Yuba River float trip with Mike!  Launching above the Highway 20 Bridge on the Yuba |
Good Memorial Weekends marks the beginning of summer fishing in
the basin. It was a cold, wet weekend that put down most hatches on the Williamson
River. BWO were out and a few Golden stones were taking shelter on the banks of
the river. The cold and wet did not, however, put down the fishing. Fish were
stacked in the riffles. Most fish were taken on Golden stone nymphs trailed by
size 14 copper johns. A few fish were swung -up on olive leeches and
softhackles. The water is high and slightly off color which gives us a fighting
chance against these notoriously picky Redbands. Expect the water to remain
high and colored for several more weeks (which is not a bad thing). This weekend
I expect to see the first good hatch of Yellow Sally’s, Ameletus and Golden
Stones coming off.We have had good fishing Upper Klamath Lake and Agency Lake
the past week. Water tempetures are holding pretty steady in the mid to upper
50’s. The first good batch of Redband moved into Pelican Bay area, producing
good catches. Fish are starting to pod up at mouths of springs. Fishing will
only improve as the warmer weather takes hold. |
Great Tyler Lee, Kevin Kay, Luke Geraty, and I had the privledge
of guiding a Project Healing Waters group hosted by the Golden Gate Angling and
Casting Club. Working with these
veterans is extremely rewarding and I feel honored they have chosen Confluence
Outfitters for their outings! My guests
Leland and Leo had a very good day. They
both missed lots of grabs, but also hooked several really nice fish. All the other anglers also hooked into fish
as we all enjoyed a beautiful spring day on the lower Sac!  Leland with a nice fish  Leo with another very nice fish  Leo caught lots of fish like this |
Great I had a great time the past two days with my guests Ron and Art on Saturday, and Ron and Steve today. The river is fishing really well and the weather has been ideal. The bite was pretty consistent in the morning and solid throughout the afternoon! We had a nice mixture of fish in the 14 – 18 inch range both days and lost a couple of really big fish. This is a great time to fish the Sac!  Ron with a nice one  Art with his first trout on a fly  Steve was grinning all day long |
Good I just spent two days on the Lower Sac with a full complement of guests. I had to bust out the bench seat in front for cousins Kathleen and Chris and Rich was batting clean-up from the back of the boat. Chris caught her first trout on a fly on this trip! That's a big milestone. We had a lot of fun and the ladies took turns helping each other watch for strikes. For once I wasn't the one yelling "Set Set Set!" We fished around Anderson the first day and did well on rainbows up to about 17". The fishing was tougher yesterday but the highlight was a big fin-clipped steelhead. We had the river to ourselves yesterday and only saw a couple of other boats the day before. Spring weather is fantastic and there is a ton of wildlife around right now. It's a great time to be fishing!  Rich's Steelhead  Cousins Kathleen and Chris  sucker time! |
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