Current Fishing Report

Andrew just had a cancellation in early October and has opened up the following dates:Oct 5-6-7 and Oct 12-13-14.  These are prime Lower Sac dates!      

We had a really great day on the Lower Sac today.  Clients Bob & Rich landed several really big fish in the 3 pound range and Bob landed one about 5 pounds that would have been a good fish on a steelhead trip on the Trinity!  I am really impressed by the size of the fish we saw today.  We floated Posse Grounds to Anderson and fishing pressure was really light.  We did very well all morning, then things got tough for a couple hours in the afternoon.  We finished off with a few nice fish near Anderson.  The wind really came up in the afternoon and that seemed to put the fish off the bite.  Flows are down to 8000cfs.

Rich caught this beauty right in front of Aqua Golf

Bob landed several big fish today

What do farmer's do on their day off?  They go farming - for fish of course.  The fish were not too interested in eating flies today, but my good clients Dan and Frank worked very hard and were rewarded for their efforts.  They hooked fish on a combination of mayfly and caddis patterns.  We're starting to spot an occasional salmon, so that is a very good thing.  The egg bite is right around the corner, if you haven't booked your fall trip on the Lower Sac - don't wait much longer!

We're starting to see a few salmon mill around in the upper reaches of the river. Which can only mean one thing – it's almost egg-grab time! The most productive times to be on the river have been in the mornings and evenings. A combination of PMDs, princes, birds nests, and various bead patterns has been a sure thing. The caddis dry-fly action has been awesome right at sunset!

Colin with his first fish ever caught on a fly rod!

Matt with his first fish of the day!

This report is by Scott Saiki: Although Fall officially begins in just a couple of days, the Fall River seems to be a little unsure of which path to take.  Cool mornings lead to temperatures in the mid 80's, and the bugs seemed to be a little unsure of the season as well.  Bug activity was extraordinarily diverse which made the puzzle even more of a challenge.  Baetis, PMD's, Tricos, Callibaetis, and even terrestrials at every life stage were all in play with short windows of opportunity throughout the day.  Stan Jr., Bob, and parents Stan Sr., and Lucy came from San Francisco and Wisconsin respectively to try to sort out the puzzle.  Dry fly, nymph, swinging, and going deep all paid off at various times this weekend.  We worked hard for what we got, but there were some very memorable fish landed.  Thoughtful fishing and careful presentations are currently the order of the day, but when you "work hard," you are rewarded.  Generously!

Lucy with a great Fall River rainbow

Stan Sr with a nice one

I spent the last two days guiding clients Steve and Jim on a wade trip on the Lower Sac.  I use my jet boat on these trips so we can zoom around to the best wading spots.  We fished a variety of techniques, including single-hand swing, swinging with lightweight spey rods, streamer fishing with spey rods, and hopper-dropper fishing.  We hooked a lot of fish in two days.  Nothing really big, but we landed fish up to 16".  We even had a few hopper grabs while fishing hopper-dropper.  The river is at 8500cfs, a really nice flow all around.  Still a little high for wading some areas, but we had plenty of places to choose from.

Jim landing a rainbow

Steve swung up quite a few fish

Wading the Lower Sac

It's been a while since my last report, a busy building season is now transitioning into what is looking to be a busy guide season. Ive spent time on the Lower Klamath over the last several weeks and the conditions on the Lower Klamath have improved dramaticaly, the river is currently and should remain in Great Shape through the Fall ! Water releases out of Lewiston have increased which have cooled water temps greatly, the Steelhead have responded positively and are now steadily streaming in.We are getting into a mix of adult and half pounders, landing adults to 5lbs and seeing and hooking larger adults to 10 lbs ! I have a few prime dates left in October for the Klamath, if the Fall rains are late the Klamath will be fishable into November. If your passionate about swinging flies for fresh chrome the Lower Klamath should be on your radar. 

I spent a beautiful day on Fall River with Christine and Doug from Larkspur.  The weather was cool so we had to wait a while for the callibaetis hatch to really get going.  Our best fishing was from 1pm to 4:30pm when the fish were chowing down on callibaetis nymphs and dries.  We landed fish up to 18" and hooked quite a few fish in the 16-19" range.  River conditions are great - this is my favorite time of year to be on Fall River.

Here is a photo from my trip on Friday with Ted & Eloise.  Fishing was all over the map, with doubles and hook-ups coming fast and furious for a while and then long periods of slow fishing.  Caddis patterns are working best these days.

Nice fish (and hat), Ted!

Took my two favorite "clients" out for a day of chasing trout on one of the most beautiful streams in the world, Burney Creek.  Kids and I had a ball casting and catching fish all day with dry flies.  If you have a youngster that wants to get started in fly fishing, this is a great way to spend the day.  Sometimes, the best days aren't measured in fish.

Plenty of Trophies to be had!

Lots of casting practice.

Very Serious!

Fall River is fishing really well right now.  This is my favorite time of year to fish the river because of the intense callibaetis hatches.  When the wind doesn't blow, you can have dry fly fishing from 8am to 6pm as the fish rise to a mix of callibaetis spinners and duns.  The nymphing can be great, but this is prime time for catching a really big rainbow on a dry fly.  Bring an assortment of duns, cripples, and spinners and your A Game.

Jared landed this great fish on a nymph

John caught this 20 rainbow on a size 16 callibaetis dry

I had a great time guiding Rob and his nephew Roman.  Roman was visiting from Berlin and it was his first time fly fishing - but you would never know it.  Both hooked fish all day long and only one was under 16 inches!  The fish were super grabby with caddis patterns being on the menu today.  I'm starting to see some salmon in the upper river, so that means the egg bite is right around the corner!  Now is the time to book your fall trip on the lower Sac  because you don't want to miss out on all the fun.

This afternoon I had an unprecendented and highly entertaining experience at the Powerhouse Riffle on Hat Creek.  Clients Mark and Mike enjoyed about 45 minutes of unproductive fishing before a group of about 40 people floated through on a wide variety of floating devices.  In aluminum boats, floating rubber ducks and flamingos and good old truck tire tubes, a happy entourage of Shasta Beer Weekend folks floated, scraped and bumped their way through the riffle.  They were very curteous and apologetic, but they turned out to be our good luck charm.  We started hooking fish as they went by us, and I could actually see the bigger fish swimming around eating all the bugs dislodged by this crew.  Fishing was much better after they went through.  We landed a couple of quality fish up to 13" - remember that every fishery is measured differently - and quite a few smaller fish on nymphs.  Cheers to Shasta Beer Weekend!

San Juan shuffle times 50

The powerhouse riffle has changed...

Lots of bruised tailbones...

Shasta Beer Weekend meets the Powerhouse Riffle

The Pit River was good for us this morning.  I took buddies Mike and Mark from Pleasanton to one of my favorite parts of the river.  It didn't fish as well as I had hoped, but we still got into some quality fish up to 16".  A 16" fish on the Pit is a serious wild fish and very hard to land in the swift current.  We landed good numbers of rainbows plus a few grande squawfish and suckers.  The highlight of the morning was when Mark hooked an 8" rainbow and had a 5 pound plus fish leap out of the water several times trying to eat it.  That doesn't happen a lot around these parts.  Next time I visit that spot I'll bring my striper flies and see what happens!

Conditions are great on the McCloud right now.  The water is off-color, but just the right amount.  I took brothers Scott and John down to Ash Camp today and it fished pretty tough.  We mainly found fish in the not-so-obvious holes.  Our big fish of the day was a 10" rainbow, although we hooked a couple that were a little bigger.  No matter how good the fishing is, the trip to the McCloud is always worth it.  It's a beautiful river, albeit moody, and any day on it can yield an incredible fishing experience.

Scott caught this fish on a nymph

Here are some pictures from my trip Thursday on one of my favorite small streams in the intermountain area. Brothers Scott and John had a great morning fishing hoppers to rainbows and browns. We had some classic moments trying to entice fish hiding under the cut-banks and watching them swim out to consider our flies. The hoppers were thick and the fish were looking for them. Tons of fun. The last four days really exemplified the allure of fishing in the intermountain (Mt Lassen to Mt Shasta) region. In three full days and one evening trip I fished five different fisheries with two groups of clients. We fished the Fall River, Hat Creek, the Pit River, McCloud River, plus a great small stream. It's pretty common to fish two fisheries in a day up here.

John fishing a classic trout spot

More classic trout water

I have been striper fishing the last two weeks and it has been less than spectacular.  Last week was very slow and this week has been a little better, but there have been very few hookups on larger fish.  The last two days we saw decent numbers of schoolies and a few good-sized largemouth up to 3 pounds.  We briefly hooked one striper about 5 pounds today.  The best fish hooked this week was in the 8 pound range.  Stay tuned for more striper reports.  There are a moderate number of salmon boats out around Corning and Chico and I witnessed 3 salmon hook-ups in the last couple days.

Today was another one of those magical days on the Lower Sac!  I had the privilege of guiding Jesse and Julian one more time before Julian leaves for his senior year at the University of Michigan.  Lucky for us, the fish were super grabby!  It seemed like every time they hooked-up, the fish kept getting bigger and bigger.  It was a typical August day - temps well above 100 degress, but the fishing was even hotter!  Thanks for another great day guys!

I spent a few days working and scouting the Hat Creek area over the weekend.  There are many changes that I think anglers will benefit from (and a few that they might not).  I visited and walked the entire length of Cal Trout's restoration project on the trophy section of Hat Creek.  There were many additions to the area including a trail improvement project for angler access, various plantings of shorline vegetation, wooden structure added to the creek for fish habitat, and the most notable, a pedistrian bridge for creek crossing at Carbon Flats.  The project is quite extensive and is progressing nicely.  You can read and view a video at Cal Trout's website if you would like more information.  One addition to the area that I didnt' care for was the addition of some fencing at the Cassel Flats area.  I know that safety comes first, but fly anglers will be challenged with access to a couple spots that typically are good spots for catching planted trout.  Your nets will really need to be long now!  Anyway, excited to see what the project at Hat Creek brings to the area.  Been fishing there since I was a kid and can't wait for it to return to its former self.

Bogey doing fish counts!

Pedestrian Bridge at Carbon Flats

Hopefully the home to a new crop of z grass and wild rainbows!

Nice and wide! The new trail starting at Powerhouse #2 and wandering all the way to Carbon Flats

Lots of new plantings to someday catch a fly on!

What? Safety first at the Cassel Flats!

I had a chance to guide Ethan on the upper Sac today.  We had a great time fishing dries for about two hours this morning.  Fish were aggressively feeding on the surface and we had lots of grabs.  The fish weren't very big, but what a blast!  Wet wading this classic trout stream was a nice way to beat the heat.