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Red Hot

Due to unexpected cancellations, I have a few spots that recently opened up for a truly epic angling and travel experience to the famed Pluma Lodge, one of the finest lodges and operations on the planet for adventurous anglers.  Pluma is located in the heart of a remote jungle in the Bolivian wilderness, where we will be sight fishing for Golden Dorado and other exotiic species in a truly unique and pristine environment.  Our group has a prime week, with travel dates from July 7-17th.  Golden Dorado are incredibly aggressive and acrobatic when hooked, kind of like a cross between a steelhead, striper, and tarpon but have an incredible golden color to them and nasty teeth to rip their prey apart.  Most of the angling consists of upstream sight fishing in crystal clear water, similar to New Zealand  with some chaotic feeding frenzy's in between where you just throw your fly into the mix.  The water can color after a rain, so some blind fishing with streamers can also be on the menu.  This trip is for fit, healthy, adventurous anglers who are solid casters and enjoy challenging but rewarding angling with wold class guiding, food, accommodation, and the group comradery that is essential to adventure travel.  Please shoot me an e mail if you are interested in this incredible opportunity. I took a group to Agua Negra, a sister lodge of Pluma in 2019, and it is one of my favorite global travel experiences I have had both on and off the water.  Definately a bucket list trip.

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Leslie and I had a great weekend with some good friends on the historic Bollibokka beat of the famed Lower McCloud.  After fishing and guiding on the Mac for 18 years, this was my first opportunity to fish this private and remote property.  What an amazing stretch of river, with every water type you could ask for in a trout stream.  The upper beat is limited to the six anglers who stay at the Pumphouse cabin, which is an monumental amount of water to explore.  Like every stretch of the McCloud, the catching of fish is totally dependent on if the fish are eating.  If they are, you get em, when they aren't, you don't.  If you are lucky enough to stay overnight on the Mac, take a break in the day to enjoy things other than fishing.  Perhaps a mid day siesta, hiking the trails to find new water, or relaxing under a tree with a book between 1-5 is a good program.  On hot sunny summer days, focus on fishing first light to lunchtime, and the last 3 hours of the day.  That still gives you 9 hours or so to fish!  It also gives you an opportunity to take a moment and experience the magnificent wilderness that you are in.All freestone techniques work very well on the McCloud, especially dry flys in the evenings or cloudy afternoons.  Classic dry fly patterns bought at brick and mortar fly shops actually work the best.  McCloud fish never eat flies bought online, or from big box stores like lame Cabellas and Sportsmen's Warehouse.  When the sun is on the water, fishing a dry/dropper is very efective if you can wade aggressively and cover the rugged pocket water short line fishing.  You can break out your trout Spey rod in the appropriate water type and productively swing streamers, which like dry fly fishing is most productive when the sun is off the water.  You can high stick nymph or Euro nymph all day long and find fish if that is your thing...use lots of lead to get your flys deep.  Bring lots of rubber legs and bird's nests, you will go through them.  The McCloud is the perfect western trout stream, with the most famous and historical strain of rainbow trout on the planet.  It has a wonderful wilderness aspect to it that reminds me a lot of New Zealand, except for the daily encounters with rattlesnakes and poison oak absolutely everywhere....but its worth it.

Leslie in a classic McCloud pool
Leslie in a classic McCloud pool
Old school Sage gear
Old school Sage gear
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Evening New Zealand style upstream dry fly fishing
Evening New Zealand style upstream dry fly fishing
Sightfishing is possible on the Mac
Sightfishing is possible on the Mac
Bring a wading staff...
Bring a wading staff...
High stick dry fly
High stick dry fly
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The remote beauty of a perfect trout stream
The remote beauty of a perfect trout stream
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Since all steelhead rivers are currently blown out, lets have a look at some fun hosted travel options for 2020 and beyond.  Contact me with any questions.  Cuba 4/23-5/2  El Faro Lodge, primarily a tarpon trip to a remote epic new lodge with no angling competition whatsoever.  Includes 3 nights in Old Havana.  Trip is full, inquire for 2021.Bolivia 7/10-7/19 Pluma Lodge, sight fishing for Golden Dorado at one of the top lodge operations in the world.  Maybe 1 spot left at a discounted price.  Most epic flyfishing trip available in the world for adventurous anglersDean River 8/7-8/14  Kimsquit Bay Lodge, arguably the most famous steelhead river in the world.  Maybe one spot left for 2020, 2021 is already full.  The Dean is on every steelhead angler's bucket list.  Its extremely difficult to get a spot here to have a shot at the hottest steelhead on the planet.Skeena River 8/30-9/13 Skeena Spey, arguably the other most famous steelhead river in the world.  Trip is (always) full, but inquire for 2021. After 10 years of exploring the system and lodge offerings, I can say with full confidence that Skeena Spey is the top lodge on the Skeena River System.  Louisiana Marsh 12/1-12/5 French Quarter of New Orleans, prime time for sight casting to mega Redfish. Trip is full, might add a 2nd week.

Skeena River specimens can be tough to get, but always memorable
Skeena River specimens can be tough to get, but always memorable
Hosted travel is an awesome way to experience destination travel and meet new buddies
Hosted travel is an awesome way to experience destination travel and meet new buddies
Redfish are one of the higher regarded fish for salt water anglers looking to stay close to home
Redfish are one of the higher regarded fish for salt water anglers looking to stay close to home
Bull Redfish pull extremely hard
Bull Redfish pull extremely hard
Birds eye view on the Skeena
Birds eye view on the Skeena
Tailout fish in British Columbia...epic eat
Tailout fish in British Columbia...epic eat
Just another day at the office for Doug
Just another day at the office for Doug
British Columbia dry fly player
British Columbia dry fly player
Chris with a truly mega Golden Dorado from a remote Bolivian tributary
Chris with a truly mega Golden Dorado from a remote Bolivian tributary
Moments in British Columbia
Moments in British Columbia
We will focus on Tarpon in Cuba, with maybe some permit fishing as well
We will focus on Tarpon in Cuba, with maybe some permit fishing as well
The water in the Amazon reminds me of the crystal clear rivers I use to guide in New Zealand
The water in the Amazon reminds me of the crystal clear rivers I use to guide in New Zealand
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I just got back from a super fun redfishing trip to New Orleans.  The fishing conditions weren't always perfect, but we managed to land some awesome Redfish each day, and also some huge Black Drums.  Like all sightfishing saltwater flats venues, ideal conditions are clear sky and light winds.  December is prime time to sightfish for the biggest Redfish opportunities of the year, but the weather can also be less than ideal that time of year.  We booked three days, and got to fish all three which is the best thing you can hope for.  When we had good visibility, we had plenty of shots at large Redfish, which what we were primarily targeting.  We also racked up some numbers on some fun smaller fish in that 5-8lb range, which was fun for a while but being winter steelhead swing fisherman, we wanted a bit more of a challenge.  The big fish needed the cast to be exactly one foot off their nose for them to show any interest.  When they do eat it, it is super aggressive and they starting ripping line at high speed.  Just and awesome fish.  Off the water, New Orleans is just about my favorite city in the States.  The French Quarter, where we based our trip is less than an hour drive to our fishing destination.   You can easily walk to anywhere in the district, and enjoy some of the best music, food, history, and architecture on the planet.  If your fishing days get canceled due to weather, there are few places on Earth that I'd rather be for a fishing trip.  Look for 4 night 3 day hosted trips coming next December for this fantastic fishing, dining, musical, and cultural destination.  

Hooked up in the beautiful marsh on the Gulf
Hooked up in the beautiful marsh on the Gulf
Redfish are very cool and beautiful fish
Redfish are very cool and beautiful fish
Dennis with a super mega specimen
Dennis with a super mega specimen
This awesome fish ran me waaaay into my backing...
This awesome fish ran me waaaay into my backing...
The beautiful French Quarter of New Orleans
The beautiful French Quarter of New Orleans
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Okay

Happy Thanksgiving!  Fall steelhead season didn't really exist in southern oregon, insead we had an endless summer.  Up until a few days ago, the typical day on the Rogue was a freezing cold morning followed by a cloudless sky and raging bright sun for the rest of the day.  We still managed to swing up some great fish, in relatively uncrowded conditions.  December could be really interesting, as I'm sure there are plenty of fish still waiting for a bump in the flows to make their way up river.   

Marlee enjoyed napping on the warm summer like days the past few weeks
Marlee enjoyed napping on the warm summer like days the past few weeks
Stroh with an superb Rogue River Wild steelhead.  Sign the petition!
Stroh with an superb Rogue River Wild steelhead. Sign the petition!
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Red Hot

Hello everyone, This is the most important fishing report we will post all year, and will impact reports for years to come.  I am asking all of you to sign this very important petition to help protect wild steelhead on the Southern Oregon Coast.  It is very easy, just follow the link below.  For a little background, there are only twelve rivers left in the lower 48 states and Canada where anglers can still legally harvest an amazing wild steelhead. All twelve of these rivers are in Oregon, and ten of those rivers are in the Southwest Zone where we regularly fish and enjoy.  We don't need to catch them to enjoy our experience, but we need to know they are there, and sadly, there are fewer around each year.  The sad reality on the coast is that the wild steelhead populations are drastically decreasing, with harvest rates increasing.  This is obviously unsustainable.  We need to ask the ODFW Commission to require the release of all wild steelhead in this region if we wish to preserve this magnificent resource for the future.  Please sign this petition, it only takes a minute.  If you have any questions regarding this issue, please feel free to contact me directly.https://www.change.org/p/oregon-fish-and-wildlife-commission-catch-release-for-wild-steelhead-in-southwest-oregon Thanks everyone, and you can do more!  See below...  From Charles Gehr:Along with signing the petition, you can also help by taking a few more steps:1. The ODFW Commission is taking public comment on the petition. You can email your comments to odfw.commission@state.or.us (respectful language please). Comments submitted before close of business tomorrow (Nov. 20) will be printed out and given to the commissioners in their pre-meeting packets (preferred). Comments submitted after tomorrow up until 48 hours before the meeting will be printed the day of the meeting and given to the Commissioners in attendance. Obviously, they will not be reading a stack of printed emails the day of the meeting, but they'll see the size of the stack of comments for the petition.2. If you want to have the most impact possible, you can attend the Commissioners meeting in Salem, OR on December 6 at 8am. The more people we can have in attendance the better. To give perspective on this, we tried to get this regulation change made last year. We had significantly more petition signatures and public comments than our counterparts. At the commissioners meeting it was an even split, 12 people testifying for the petition and 12 against. End result was, we lost and here we are again. I understand and respect everyone's busy schedules and time for this effort, but if we can pack the room with people testifying for this petition it will be very difficult for the Commissioners to deny it.https://www.change.org/p/oregon-fish-and-wildlife-commission-catch-release-for-wild-steelhead-in-southwest-oregon

An amazing coastal wild steelhead
An amazing coastal wild steelhead
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Good

The upper Rogue has been hit and miss. Like everywhere else, the Rogue needs some rain to get fish moving. Bright and sunny days combined with low and clear water is not exactly ideal Fall steelhead conditions, but we are still swinging up some nice wild fish on days that fall upon odd numbers on the calendar..

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Hooked up under Table Rock
Hooked up under Table Rock
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Beautiful Fall days swinging flies
Beautiful Fall days swinging flies
It’s not nice to low hole...
It’s not nice to low hole...
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Good

A good time was had by all at our past weekend Spey Camp. Our camp is one of the best venues in the world of Pacific Northwest steelhead fishing. We offer excellent food prepared by a professional chef, amazing camping infrastructure, Spey instruction, modern jet boats, and the best home water on the Klamath. Floating lines with meddlers was a top producing rig this weekend, which is epic. This is an experience every steelheader should have on their List. You’ll want to book early to secure your spot for next year.

Karen booked up in a epic tailout
Karen booked up in a epic tailout
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Amazing views, sunsets, and star gazing from camp
Amazing views, sunsets, and star gazing from camp
Steelhead weather
Steelhead weather
A chunky Klamath half pounder
A chunky Klamath half pounder
Pete and Karen got steelhead every day
Pete and Karen got steelhead every day
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Just got back last week from another hosted trip to Steelhead Mecca, the Skeena River. Despite the return being a bit off, some epic fish were hooked, and some even landed. I have two weeks booked again in 2020 at my favorite lodge on the Skeena River during what I consider absolute prime time to encounter the steelhead of a lifetime. At this point all spots are full, but inquire if you wish to added to the waiting list and you may luck out.

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Good

After returning from another amazing hosted trip to British Columbia, it was great to get back home for some guide trips on the Rogue. It’s fly only season on the upper Rogue, which has some of the best swing water in the Pacific Northwest. If you are curious about Spey casting and want to learn how to swing flies, the Rogue is a fabulous venue.Yesterday my client Ken Frank wanted to work on his casting and swung up his first steelhead on a Spey rod, about a 9 pound buck who aggressively crushed the fly 2 seconds after it his the water. He put on quite the aerial display for us for a big buck steelhead. The day before I fished with Bryan and Jeff from Oregon, and Bryan encountered one super aggressive fish who ran straight at us and came off. We fished every awesome swing spot that we wanted, with relatively light angling pressure for the most part.

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Red Hot

What a truly amazing trip to a remote tributary of the Amazon River in the heart of the Bolivian jungle.  I've spent most of my adult life searching the world for my favoite flyfishing destination, and I think I've finally found it.  Our trip to Agua Negra combined everything I love about flyfishing.  Here is my rundown.Sightfishing :  I love sightfishing, for any fish.  Whether its for permit, tarpon, and bonefish in the flats, a rising trout on Fall River, or a cruisning carp in a lake.  Fishing on the small tributaries of the Secure river system reminds me of the upstream sightfishing angling experience during my years guiding in New Zealand.  At times it is very technical, so accurate casting is important.  But if you have a good first shot in broken water, the Golden Dorado just annihilate the fly, jump 20 times between ripping the line off your reel at a rapid pace.Beautiful Wilderness Envoronment: It doesnt get anymore remote or pristine than these remote rivers, located in a protected part of the Amazon Jungle.  It was a long, multi day journey to finally get to our destination, but thats what makes it such a cool place.  The only people who fish these rivers are at the lodge.  The native villages along the river and the people who reside there are truly amazing.  They use bow and arrow or handline to fish, which was incredible to watch.  The jungle is just teeming with wildlife and plantlife...and some nasty insects, but thats ok if you are prepared.Agressive, acrobatic, and smart fish : These toothy fish are the ultimate preditor when they hunt.  At times, you experience "feeding frenzies" where the Dorado chase baitfish into the shallows and banks of the river and just rip them apart.  Amazing.  Combine the agressiveness of an umpressured GT in the Pacific or striper in the delta, the jumping ability of a fresh chrome hen steelhead or tarpon, and at times the cunning and wariness of a large spooky cruising brown trout.  And no fish, even a rooster or tarpon, has a cooler eat than a Golden Dorado.  It doesnt matter if the fish was 2lb or over 20lbs.  Some days we'd hook 5, some days 30.  The guides said it was a "tough week".  What?! Superb Food, Accommodation, and Guides : As we say in the industry, you cant control the fishing, weather, or clients angling and physical capabilities.  Thats why you better have great food, comfortable accommodation, great house staff, and superb guides.  The Tsimane lodges greatly exceeed expectations on all levels.  These rivers can blow out.  These fish aren't always easy to catch.  And you need to be reasonably fit in order to hike to even more amazing water above where the canoes can go.  Despite these challenges, rest assured your time off the water is spent in the supreme comfort of the lodge, enjoying an full open bar, superb Argentine wine and cuisine and a comfortable bed waiting.  Just epic.I will be hosting a trip back to Bolivia next July, and every July after that as long as I can physically pull it off and fortunate to book a prime week in July at one of the lodges.  Prime weeks book far in advance.  I already have most spots locked up, but contact me with any questions or if you are interested in doing this trip in the future.  Bolivia should be at the top of every keen anglers bucket list.  Its not cheap, but the value of the product is incredible.  From a logistical and infrastructure standpoint, its hard to believe it even exists for any price.

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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.

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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...
Our new Game Changer...
Apres fishing at Spey Camp is legendary.  Meet new fishing buddies!
Apres fishing at Spey Camp is legendary. Meet new fishing buddies!
Lifting mist on the legendary river
Lifting mist on the legendary river
Be first and last to fish for chrome on one of the best runs on the Lower Klamath
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
Epic sunsets every night at Spey Camp
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Great

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.

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Red Hot

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.

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Superb accommodation
Superb accommodation
Epic Spey water on the Mainstem Skeena
Epic Spey water on the Mainstem Skeena
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Leslie swinging a run across from the lodge
Leslie swinging a run across from the lodge
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Red Hot

The hex hatch was outstanding the last few nights. My clients Jim and Corey landed several fish over 20 inches and had a bunch of other eats. Daytime fishing has been really good. There are some very large fish eating drys in the morning, very technical game but extremely fun head hunting. Sinking lines are also working very well late morning to early afternoons. Then it gets agonizingly hot and the fishing shuts down.

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Great

Fall River fished awesome last weekend. Friday morning there was overcast, so the dry fly fishing was absolutely superb with big fish looking up. No dry fly action on Saturday, but my rock star clients Dennis and Tony from the Bay Area absolutely pillaged on sinking lines between 10-1pm, hooking around 30 fish between 13-20 inches. The hex hatch is still going strong. I’ll be back down to the beautiful Fall River Valley next weekend and have a few open days left before I start swinging for steelhead on the upper Rogue soon.

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Red Hot

The hex hatch was outstanding the last few evenings. It’s been starting around 9:15-9:20 and lasting for about 25 minutes. Epic mosquito hatch during the same time period. It was overcast today, so we finally had some good morning hatches with big fish looking up. Head hunting for large fish with drys is my favorite game on Fall River if you can cast. Sinking line techniques also worked well the past couple days. I have some open days on the calendar for Fall River these next few weeks before summer steelhead time on the Rogue...

Head hunting with dry flies today
Head hunting with dry flies today
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Great

Fall River is fishing very well from around 10am-2-30pm or so. The streamer grab has been consistent with damsels and water boatmen getting very active as the day heats up. Swinging soft hackles has been super productive too. There is some sporadically decent dry fly action if you have the patience and casting skills to get it done, but the bigger fish haven’t been looking for them the past few days. It should get better in these next few weeks as hatches should get going more on the lower river. The hex hatch has been a little hit and miss over the past 5 nights, but the fish on the lower river are still looking for them regardless.

Jake Anderson on deck for the hex
Jake Anderson on deck for the hex
Doug with the elusive Fall River Tarpon
Doug with the elusive Fall River Tarpon
Classic Fall River perfect specimen
Classic Fall River perfect specimen
The best sunset in California trout fishing
The best sunset in California trout fishing
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I just opened up my Calendar to do some Nor Cal trips in July.  I will be crashng on Fall River for a few weeks, fishing the famed Hex Hatch for my 17th season.  It just doesnt ever lose its intrigue or excitement for me.  I like to do split days during that time of year, where we fish the Fall, McCloud, Pit, or Hat from the morning into the afternoon, then take a break during the heat of the day and head back out for the Hex in the evening.  My boat is parked on the lower river right where the prime water for the hatch happens.  Just show up, jump into the boat and get ready for the epic sunset view of Mt. Shasta and the biggest mayflies in the world getting chomped by big wild fish.  With the hex already popping on the lower river, this is looking like it will be another epic season for it.  Check my calendar for the few open days that I have left.

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