Trinity River Spey Trips
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Trinity River Spey Trips
The Trinity River is a great river for catching steelhead with your spey rod.
All of our guides are accomplished spey casters and spey instructors.
Mid-September through December are the best times to catch fish on your spey rod on the Trinity.
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Raft Trips
Rafts are ideal for spey trips on the Trinity River.
The raft is easy to get in and out of, can negotiate rocky rapids, and can be launched just about anywhere.
Rafts allow easy access to some great swing water.
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Aggressive Fish
Trinity steelhead are known for moving to the fly and striking aggressively.
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Walk-wade trips
We do a lot of walk-wade spey trips on the Trinity.
Why? If you don't mind scrambling over rocks and can work your way through a run quickly,
we can actually fish more good spots in a day of walk-wade fishing than in a day of floating.
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Salmon on the Swing
While steelhead are the primary target, we also hook into a fair number of big king salmon on the Trinity.
These fish are mostly 5 to 15 pounds and are powerful fighters.
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Flies for the Trinity
We fish all types of steelhead flies here, from small traditional patterns to skaters to 4 inch long leech patterns.
B.C. in Your Backyard
If we were to design a river with great numbers of fish, a diversity of water types, natural beauty, dependable fishing conditions, and make it the perfect size for beginner spey casters, it would probably look a lot like the Trinity River.
Steelhead hold in many water types on the Trinity that can be fished effectively with a two-handed rod.
The river is small enough that even beginner spey casters can almost reach the far bank in a lot of prime runs.
Every year we get dozens of spey anglers into their first spey rod steelhead ever on the Trinity.
Experienced spey casters have a good shot at hooking multiple fish each day.
Recent Trinity River Fishing Reports

Peter Santley forwarded these photos from his trip on the Trinity River yesterday. His guests Tom & Tom Jr. did very well yesterday hooking into a mix of adult steelhead, brown trout, and half-pounders. Peter says the march browns are hatching and that dry fly fishing has been good for half-pounders and browns. Steelhead are eating a variety of smaller nymphs. Peter says traffic is light right now.

Peter Santley tells me that fishing is good on the Trinity right now. Most boats are getting multiple hook-ups per day. The fish are a mix of fresh winter fish and downstreamers. The water clarity is perfect and boats are floating all the floats from Lewiston down to Pigeon Point. Peter says traffic is pretty light.

I had a great day with Peter and John from the Peninsula Fly
Fishers. Our focus was swinging flies for
two days in the hopes of finding a big winter fish. John swung up a nice half-pounder in our first
run, and Peter landed a small adult right after lunch. A very big storm was headed our way and we
lucked out on Friday, but the river was blown-out and muddy by Saturday
morning.
Trinity River Guide Availability
Feb 24: Brian Kohlman
Feb 24: Peter Santley
Feb 25: Brian Kohlman
For more Trinity River dates, please visit our Online Booking page!
Gear Recommendations for the Trinity River
Rods, Reels & Lines:
The most commonly used spey rods on the Trinity River are 5 and 6wt rods.
Lighter and heavier rods will work also, but might not be as well matched to the size of the river or the fish.
Come prepared with scandi lines and versi-leaders for fishing near the surface and also skagit lines with MOW tips for fishing a little deeper.
Switch rods can also work really well on the Trinity, especially in the upper reaches where the river is smaller.
Leaders & Tippet:
We usually fish 8 or 10# maxima. When fishing floating lines, a 10ft 8# steelhead leader will do the trick.
Waders & Boots:
We use chest-high breathable waders on the Trinity.
Spiked wading boots are not necessary.
Make sure to bring your own wading belt.
Occasionally in September and early October it is warm enough to wet wade.
Flies:
- Perpetrator, all colors
- Hoh Bo Speys
- Silver Hilton, 6
- Brindle Bug, 6
- Egg Sucking String Leech, 4
- Silveynator, black & orange
Lodging & Travel Info
Please visit our Weaverville page for hotel and restaurant recommendations and ideas about other things to see and do while you're in Weaverville!
The Straw House in Big Bar is another good choice for lodging if you are planning to fish the lower portions of the river.