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Good Spent a great fall afternoon with Father and son Stephen and Jonathan on the Lower Sac. We drifted a lower section of the river and had the water all to ourselves. We had a good morning with lots of opportunities. Fishing got a little slow as the wind picked up around 11, but things heated back up at the end of the day. Jonathan landed his first Lower Sac fish and both guys had encounters with big fish that will leave them hoping for a rematch! Great Day!  Such a beautiful back drop for Stephen's First fish on a fly rod!  Jonathan Having a ball |
Great My two days with Pat amazing! Sunday, the fish were pretty tightlipped, but all the fish she landed were really big! She had an epic battle after hooking into a really hot fish that had her well into her backing within seconds! Figuring she wouldn’t top landing another fish like that, she called it a day. Today the grab was on all day! She consistently landed fish in the 16-19 inch range all day. It is always a pleasure guiding her on the Sac! |
Good I had the pleasure of spending the past two days with Ted,
Jim, and their sons. The weather was
unusually hot for this time of year, and the water is very low and clear, but
we managed to hook into some really nice fish both days. Friday, Zack hooked into a really nice fish
right away, but it broke off during a run. Zack connected again with a small hatchery adult after lunch. Today, both Ted and Tommy hooked into a few
nice fish throughout the day. Being so
early, I am encouraged and look forward to the rest of the season on the
Trinity!  Ted and Zack |
Good We didn't get the photo we wanted today but we managed to connect with several exceptional Trinity steelhead today. Two were in the 10-pound range and the rest were over 5 pounds. These fish tail-walked, cartwheeled, and made blistering runs that are more characteristic of fish caught closer to the salt. These are encouraging signs for our Trinity steelhead season that is just getting under way!  Wading the Trinity |
Red Hot I fished up in Redding today with regular guests Steve and Rick from the Bay Area. The fishing in the morning was amazingly good! We fished egg patterns in the salmon redds all morning and connected with many fish in the 18-21" range. The fish were in great condition and many were in the three pound range. The big fish really come out this time of year - about a dozen of the fish we caught today would easily be the big fish of the day any other time of year! There are respectable numbers of king salmon spawning and there is also a really good caddis and baetis hatch going on. We caught a couple fish on nymphs in the afternoon, but today the fish were pretty focused on eating salmon eggs.  Steve and Rick caught a lot of fish like this one today |
Good The Lower Sac Swing fishing has been good to Great, with a mix of Wild Bo's to 4lbs and a mix of hatchery and Wild Steelhead to 6lbs. There coming on both the Swung fly and Tight Line Nymph techniques, most days offer shots at rising fish with the DryFly as well.At times we're working hard for them and some are coming more easily, bottom line is they are there for the wading angler looking to put in the effort.Tight Lines-  Battle Creek Steelhead...  another Nice one Jon !  Headed back to the Salt ...  Dues Paid ! |
Great Steve and I had an awesome day fishing the Balls to Jelly's float today, catching all the trout we wanted and a salmon in the Barge Hole as a bonus. Beautiful weather, good company and great fishing makes for big smiles on the river!  Steve with a Barge Hole Salmon |
Great The nymph bite continues to be consistent throughout the day. My guests David and Karl, another father-son team had a great day! Other than a few brief lulls, they had solid fishing all day. The long range forecast is calling for beautiful weather this week, but there is a possibility of rain next week – which is much needed as we transition from the Sac to the Trinity.  Karl with a nice fish |
Good The Lower Sac is fishing pretty good for Rainbow's and Steelhead on the Swing and offering fairly consistant hatches durring the day for the Dry Fly Angler, I use a jet boat to access the River for Wading Anglers and it's countless Bars and Brakes ! The Trinity has steelhead from top to bottom with lots of pressure, especially on the weekends, some anglers are getting em , some anglers are paying there dues. I would rate it as fair. Flows on the Trinity are scheduled to drop to 300cfs out of Lewiston on Tuesday...LOW and CLEAR...the ever present Steelheading mantra of "we could use some rain to stir things up" is currently in FULL effect.Tight Lines-
 Battle Creek Steelhead  Working Towards the Sweet Spot |
Good Today my guests were father-son duo, David and Corbin. This was their first time fly fishing and we had a great time considering the extreme wind. They worked hard and both hooked into some really nice fish throughout the day. David and Corbin were “hooked” on fly fishing by the end of the day! |
Good I had a great time with guests Bruce and Rick today. The wind made for challenging conditions, but the fishing was pretty good. I’m seeing good numbers of post-spawn salmon, but the fish seem to be more interested in eating nymphs than egg patterns. They had a mix of large (17”-19”) and small (12”16”) fish throughout the day, but Rick lost a really large rainbow when it broke him off.  Rick with a very nice fish  Rick with another great fish |
Okay As good as the fishing has been recently, things slowed down today for my guests Steve and his son Evern. This was their first time fly fishing, so they experienced the same struggles all new anglers have. They hooked into several fish, but quickly learned it’s harder to land them than hook them! They worked really hard all day and both were rewarded, but the best was when Evern landed a beautiful 17 inch fish near the end of the float!  Evern with a beauty! |
Great I had a great day on the Sac with guests Joe and Paul. The grab was pretty consistent throughout the morning, but we did have a few short lulls after lunch. They hooked into some really nice fish today – they won some of the battles, and lost some of the battles. They were doubled-up twice and Paul had just landed a fish, so I dropped his flies back in the water and as he lifted his rod to recast – he hooked another fish! The weather is perfect and I only have a few open dates before the fun slows on the Sac.  Joe with a nice one!  This was a workout for Paul!  Paul with another fatty! |
We are donating an 8-person trip to Eagle Canyon to the silent auction at the Fly Fishing Film Tour in Redding this Saturday Oct 13th. Look for the Eagle Canyon item in the silent auction area at the front of the Cascade Theatre. The winner can bring a group of up to 8 anglers to Eagle Canyon for a full day this coming season - a $1,080 value. All proceeds from the Film Tour benefit our local Shasta-Trinity-Cascades chapter of Trout Unlimited. |
Don't miss the Fly Fishing Film Tour at the Cascade Theatre in Redding this Saturday! The F3T is a very entertaining collection of the year's best short-format fly fishing videos. The show begins at 7pm at the Cascade Theatre. Tickets are $25 and can be bought online at cascadetheatre.org or in person at The Fly Shop in Redding. See you there!  The F3T returns to Redding October 13th |
Great Today was a great day with guests Tom and Leslie from St.
Louis. They came to California to
celebrate their 10th anniversary and wanted to start their vacation
by fishing the Lower Sac. Neither had
ever fly fished, but you would never know it. The grab was a little slow to start, but things picked up mid-morning
and they started hooking into some really nice fish! Tom and Leslie landed some very nice fish and
lost some really nice fish, but they had a great time! It was so fun to be able to introduce them to
fly fishing and I have a feeling they will continue this journey we all love
some much. Happy 10th
anniversary to a really great couple!  Leslie's first trout ever!  Leslie with another great fish!  Tom is making this look much smaller than it really is! |
Slow I had the pleasure of guiding Glenn and Tim on the McCloud
today. This was the first stop of their
3-day fishing adventure. We pulled out
all the stops but the fishing was pretty slow. They prefer tight-line (ESN) nymphing to fishing indicators. This is usually extremely effective
technique, but they hooked a handful of fish each. We tried streamers and struck out. A very brief hatch came off, but was over by
the time we made the switch. Towards the
end, Tim switched to an indicator rig and started hooking fish. They worked very hard but the fish were not
on the job. On to the Rogue with Leslie
Ajari! |
Good These photos are from our guest Mike who fished with Gino last week on the Upper Rogue. Mike says: "A terrific day with the Big Guy!"  Guest Mike with a Rogue steelie  Gino's guest Mike with another one |
Great The fishing was really good again today on the Sac! I was part of a 3-boat trip and everyone seemed
to have a really good day. My guests Roger
and Blake had an amazing day and quickly learned our Lower Sac trout are really
hard to land! We had lots of hook-ups all
day long, but a weather system came in late afternoon and the grab definitely
slowed down for us. We had a great day
and it was a great group of guys. Fall is
finally here and this is a great time to fish the Sac!  Blake crushing it  Blake with another nice fish |
Great I had another great day fishing the Sac with guests Kelly and Greg. They came up for the day from the Bay Area - the grab was on right away and stayed on all day! We had a few very brief lulls, but the fish were super grabby so we had non-stop action. Such a fun day getting to know them and they were amazed at the beauty of lower river. Most our fish were 14”-16”, but they both hooked a couple each around 18”. Small mayfly nymphs have been the best producer the past two days. Fall is here and the egg bite should start any day now!  Greg with one of many just like this  Kelly getting it done again |
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