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Great The Sac is getting better by the day. The visibility is improving daily and the flows are coming back down. After several days at 20,000 cfs, the flows are dropping gradually and should be back at 5,000 cfs by the 28th. The improving conditions made for an unforgettable day for Jim and his son Trey. Their first time floating the Sac and they hooked so many fish we lost count! The fish are getting really grabby and it is only going to get better as the flows continue to drop. Hungry fish and beautiful spring weather makes for perfect time to book your spring fishing trip on the Sac! |
Good Today we took our Project Healing Waters group out on the Lower Sac. Conditions were challenging with flows near 18,000cfs, but the fishing was fairly productive. The river is scheduled to get back down to 5,000cfs by Monday.  Mike with a Lower Sac bow  Hooked up below the Sundial Bridge |
Good We hosted a Bay Area chapter of Project Healing Waters today at Eagle Canyon. The group is organized through the Diablo Valley Fly Fishers club in Walnut Creek. They sure picked a beautiful day to fish Eagle Canyon! The weather was perfect and the fish were receptive - after a while. The bite was slow in the morning but picked up in the afternoon. Our best flies included flashback PTs size 16, olive micro mayflies size 18, olive tailwater tiny's size 18, glo bugs in various colors, split-case PMDs size 16, and red copper johns size 16. We did best fishing nymphs under an indicator, but fish were also caught on streamers. The best fish landed was over 10 pounds and we had a hook-up and lengthy battle with a fish that was around 12-13#.  Paul started off with a huge one  Classic Eagle Canyon tangle - note the fish scales on the hook!  Felix caught on really fast and landed quite a few |
Good news! Flows are scheduled to start dropping tonight. Tomorrow the flow will be 17,500cfs and by Monday the flow will be down to 5,000cfs, a much more normal spring-time flow. If you've been on the fence, you should book your spring Lower Sac trip now! |
I took a stroll across the lovely Sundial Bridge this afternoon. The Lower Sac is high and off-color. The flow is around 18,000cfs. I think by Monday the color should be much better. Stay tuned...  Above Sundial Bridge  Below Sundial Bridge |
Great Guest Report from Shawn from Oregon:We had a blast at the ponds. Sam was VERY helpful with my son. He needed a casting lesson and Sam was attentive. Caught MANY GIANT trout. On PT's and eggs, about 50-50. |
It's amazing how fast our water situation has turned around here in the north state. All of a sudden, Lake Shasta is TOO FULL for this time of year. Flows are scheduled to rise from 4,500cfs to 20,000cfs tonight. The release from the dam hasn't been that high in about 5 years! The river is fishable at 20,000cfs, but only from a boat with an experienced guide on the oars. If the flow remains steady fishing should be good by Tuesday. Stay tuned... |
This is what the Upper Sac looks like at 3500cfs! Photo taken from Sims footbridge looking upstream. |
Rain continued to crush the PNW last week, but we have a break coming this week. The Olympic Peninsula has got 11 inches of rain since March 1st, so not much fishing has been going on. Like with all winter steelhead venues, we should have some amazing fishing when things drop into shape here pretty soon... I just opened up my calendar for the OP for 2017. I was fully booked about 6 months out for 2016, so you might want to make your reservation soon. New regs go into effect next year, and it should be an amazing season. Like all winter steelhead venues, I give a full refund if we have to cancel a trip due to weather. Getting blown out is part of being a winter steelheader, so is being there at the right time and hooking a fish of a lifetime. |
Good We have a group of four long-time clients at Eagle Canyon today. The weather is pretty horrible today - cold with persistent rain and high winds. The kind of wind that makes you lose your footing at times. Nonetheless, our guests were getting into some really nice fish. Small beadhead mayfly nymphs were working well, as were some brightly-colored jig-style flies. |
Good Here is a photo from our group on Wednesday.  Nice fish Ken! |
Okay Flows are still nice and low on the Lower Sac, but the water clarity is not very good. We had 2-3' of visibility today. The weather was good and we had a good mixed hatch of baetis, PMDs and even a few march browns. It just seemed like the fish couldn't see our bugs very well.We still had a great day and even managed to land a couple really big fish. My clients didn't have many opportunities but managed to land two of the biggest fish we've seen this month.It's hard to guess what this pending storm will bring - the river may be blown out for a week or more. Stay tuned...  Kathy with a big one  Kyle with a 20 incher  Quite the battle to land this fish |
Good I spent a couple of hours at Eagle Canyon today. The water is a bit off-color with about 2 feet of visibility. The fish aren't having any trouble seeing the flies, though! We had a really good baetis hatch today, about a size 16. I saw a couple fish working the dries in the shallows at the top end of the small pond. I had good luck on a variety of nymphs, including glo bugs, micro spawn, copper johns, S&M Nymphs, Poxyback PMDs, and baetis nymphs. A tried-and-true rig is two nymphs under a small corkie indicator. Space them out about 18 apart with the top fly 18 under the indicator. Periodically lift your rod and chug the indicator across the surface about 3 feet at a time. That gets the fish's attention. Most of the strikes come right after you drag the indicator.  Some of the flies that worked today |
Good Being dry flies when you come out! BWO (size 16s) and March Browns (14-16s)White leaches/zonkers seem to work well in the evening. Micro mays and damsel nymphs seem to be a consistent meal ticket. Floating, and intermediate line or 'hover' line with minimal splashing on the water w your line. 10+ pounders have been making it to the net this week! |
Red Hot The river fished extremely well again today. We had excellent nymph action from the get-go. Our first fish was a beautiful 18 rainbow. My client Dave from Muir Beach also rose about 10 fish to dry flies, landing one that was about 17 and another 16. There is a good hatch of PMDs mid-day right now that has the fishing looking up in certain areas.  Dave landed this one on a dry fly |
Red Hot The Lower Sac fished great for us today. My clients Phillip and Mitch put a bunch of fish in the net and landed some real quality fish, too. All of the action was on nymphs today - mostly PMD nymphs. The river is about as low as it ever gets right now, but it's full of hungry fish and the mayfly and caddisfly hatches are getting better every day.  Phil with the first fish of the day  Mitch pillaged today |
Good We hosted the Shasta-Trinity chapter of Project Healing Waters today at Eagle Canyon. This is our 3rd or 4th year in a row now and it's always a fun day. Ron Saiki, local Project Healing Waters Program Coordinator, had the following to say: There was a terrific mayfly hatch with adults all over the surface
of the water. Fish were taking what looked like emergers but we had no
luck fishing them or adults. They looked like BWO’s.A variety of flies seem to work… the
usual red and black 16-18 midge pupae, black bunny leeches, wooly
buggers. One of our participants stripped a dark olive bugger with a burnt orange/orange
crystal flash collar throughout the day. He landed 7 plus and hooked
even more. Blew everyone away. We’re tying these for the next trip.As
terrific as Eagle Canyon is for catching large trout on a fly, equally
as good is just sitting by the shed and dining area relaxing and
enjoying the day. |
Great We finally got a break from the rain this past week and had some epic moments swinging flies in the rainforest fed rivers of the Olympic Peninsula. Pressure was extremely high, but we were able to find some solitude and hook some amazing chrome steelhead in this winter steelhead mecca. New regulations that restrict certain types of angling methods will go into effect next year, so that will get rid of some of the pressure we are having now. Book early for next year if you want in on this amazing place. Rivers are on the rise right now, and will most likely be blown for a few days, but fresh chrome steelhead will be on their way...  Mist on the river at daylight  A perfect rainforest dime bright hen  solitude swinging  Leslie Ajari searching for the moment  Swinging on a rainforest river |
Red Hot The only way to describe my past two days on the Sac is...WOW! The river is in great shape right now. The flows are low and the color is really good. The spring weather we've been experiencing is triggering some amazing hatches. Lots of caddis, PMD's and some march browns. The fish are hungry and really willing to eat well presented flies. The forecast this week is calling for some more much needed rain. Spring fishing in the rain is great sounds great to me. Now's the time to book your spring fishing trip on the Sac. Remember, DFW will be closing the top portion of the river beginning April 1st. If you want to fish the magical water above the Hwy-44 bridge, you must book your trip in March. |
Good It's been a chess game of dialing in fly selection, leader-length and tying blood knots. Angling can be rough when the water is glassy with no cloud cover. We've been having anglers actually wade out to the center island, which seems to be the new hot spot. Productive flies have been Prince nymphs, pheasant tails, Mercers psycho prince (yellow and purple) damsel & mayfly nymphs (size 14-18s) Various midge patterns like ice-cream cones (white bead head) zebra & chironomids have been getting consistent hookups. |
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