Current Fishing Report

Opening Day 2018-19 did not disappoint!  Fishing was excellent most of the day and there were countless times when multiple anglers were hooked up at the same time.  Our fish average 7.2 pounds this year so there are a lot of 10 pound plus fish to be caught.  All of the action today was on medium to large streamers on moderate to fast retrieves.We still have room for 1-2 anglers this Monday Dec 10 and also Dec 27th.Our next open days for a larger group are Jan 2-3-4. 

Tim with the biggest fish of the day

I was on the Trinity today with guests Richard and his nephew Martin. This was Martin’s first time on the Trinity and what an experience he had! He hooked and landed a wild half-pounder within seconds of his very first cast. After backing up to the top of the run, Martin hooked and landed a beautiful wild buck on his second cast! I tried to explain steelheading is NOT this easy – but after another few drifts, he hooked and landed another wild half-pounder! There was a lot of boat pressure today and despite working very hard, Richard and Martin were not rewarded with any more hook-ups.  The flows are back to pre-storm levels. A weak storm is expected tomorrow afternoon, but the next series of storms will arrive late next week and look to bring some measureable rain.

Martin with his first Trinity steelhead!

Spent a day with Jeff fishing the Yuba River. Flows were around 1000 cfs and the water was pretty clear. We had a great day landing fish, all with good size. The dry fly action was awesome but the fish were very finicky! The highlight of the day was hooking into and landing a 25” tank! Big battle! With all the great fishing right now in Northern California, the Yuba is definitely worth a look.

Yuba Tank!

I had a great time as always with my guests Lloyd and Lee on the Lower Sac today. The weather was perfect for early December, and the river is in great shape considering what it looked like last Friday. The morning started off slow, but then things picked up around 11:00. The bite was sporadic, but when we found willing fish – it was on! The bite really turned on for us late in the day, so we ended up having a good day.

Lee with her biggest of the day!

I fished with Steve and Gary from the Sacramento area today.  We made up for a reschedule from last month when the wind was blowing about 30mph.  Conditions were much better today!  The river is in great shape and we had good hatches of PMDs and caddisflies.  We just couldn't get a grab for much of the morning.  Things got better around 1pm and then got really good for about an hour starting around 3pm.  We hooked a lot of hefty rainbows today.  A couple that made it to the net were in the 3lb range.

Quality fish today

The rains that came over the Thanksgiving holiday finally pushed all of our coastal rivers past their low flow threshhold, opening the door to a late fall King fishery. The rains delivered, but the fishing never seemed to kick off. I fished the Smith during what I would call perfect conditions for swinging flies. The river jumped to over eleven feet at the Jed Smith guage and fell to a perfect 8ft by the next morning. Normally 8ft would be low and clear, but all of the leaf litter gave the river a heavy tea stain, an uncharacteristic color for the Smith, which usually runs glacial or gin clear.  Imagine fishing the perfect swing run on the lower Trinity River but you might shake hands with a 20 + pound king. Migrating down the coast some of the smaller systems were in decent shape following the rain. I saw some nice Coho caught on gear and a few Kings rolling but all in all it felt like the fish that were staging to spawn ran up as quickly as they could when the doors swung open. Perhaps due to the prolonged dry weather that persisted thoughout October by the time we did get rain most of the salmon had simply run out of time. The one Jack I did manage to swing up seemed to speak to this. It had obviously been sitting around in the estuary for a while. Now is the time to start looking ahead to the first waves of winter steelhead that always make an appearence in December. More rain is forecast for this weekend and sporadic rain is to follow into next week. If we get another good bump for are coastals it should be game on. Reports of half pounders being caught have come in from the Smith and Eel. A sure sign that the big adults are on their way.   

You know fall is over when there's ice on the seat of your boat

A nice jack on the swing

Andrew Rossow looking for love on the lost coast

A few King flies

I had a great day on the Trinity River today with guests Curtis and Howard.  The river has already dropped down to base flows after our storm last week but there is still a little hint of color in the water.  We found fish throughout our float today and they were definitely moving to the fly.  We hooked almost all of them on our first pass through each run.  We caught a couple of smaller fish, but the rest were all in the 4-8 pound range.  Listening to reports from other guides, it sounds like fishing is good from Lewiston down to Pigeon Point.

Curtis with our best fish of the day

Now that is a big stonefly

Curtis with another nice one

The Trinity fished very well the past two days. Wednesday, my guests George and Greg did very well. They both landed a mix of hatchery and wild adults. Today was a bit tougher. George landed one small wild adult and John hooked into a nice fish, but lost the epic battle. They also found several half-pounders throughout the day which kept things fun. The flows are dropping quickly, but there is more rain headed our way on Sunday.

George with a nice hatchery buck

Greg with his biggest fish

I have a last-minute opening for one or two anglers on Monday, December 10th!  This is the first group to fish after Opening Day and the fishing should be very good.  You would be joining a group of two other anglers that day.I have been up at the lakes almost daily this week getting ready for our opening day on Saturday.  The lakes and the fish look great!  We are looking forward to a very busy 2018-19 season.  Our schedule has booked up very quickly so please make sure to reserve your dates soon! 

The optimist inside me got the better of me this morning and we took a chance on the rain-swollen Lower Sac.  We did see two fish, but neither were attached to our lines - or anyone else's.  We saw a lot of mini-landslides, logs floating downstream, and large sidestreams gushing mud into the river.  I'm not sure how long it will be like this, but we're supposed to get a break from the rain for about 24 hours and that should help.  Stay tuned!

muddy mess

Gino just forwarded some photos from the Trinity River. It looks like his guest Bill connected with a great fish in their first run this morning.  Nice fish Bill!

Bill swung this one up this morning

Fun day on the Trinity river, swinging flies in the canyon.   Jay swung up this beautiful wild on a fly named the "Willie Nelson" due to the fly's red head.    We also landed two other wild fish (not pictured). I'm seeing far more wild steelhead in the river this year, than hatchery fish!!   Wonder if it's concidence or due to the Trinity River Restoration Program?   Two storms heading to our North state today (Wednesday, 11/21) that should bring us rain for the next ten days.   Hopefully the runoff doesn't dump too much soot and ash into the Trinity or Lower Sac from this summer's Carr Fire.  Spoke with some friends who live on the lower Trinity and they think there's a lot of fish sitting in the Burnt Ranch canyon.   Should make for good fishing for the next month.  Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone!!!   

I just finished up two days with the Diablo Valley Fly Fishers on the Trinity River. We had a great time and despite what everyone has been saying there are actually some fish in the river.  I floated two days and only saw one bank angler and one other boat, which was part of our group!  I have rarely seen the Trinity River so devoid of other anglers and guides.  We found fish right away both days.  Yesterday we found quite a few fish spread out throughout our drift.  Today they were a little harder to find but we got into a great spot after lunch where we hooked three nice adult fish.  There are a lot of small fish this year.  It seems like there are a bunch of 2-3 pound fish and then there is another age class of 5 pound fish.  In October I hooked into some huge fish and I don't know where they went but I will keep looking!We have rain in the forecast starting Wednesday and we are all curious to see what will happen with the Trinity and Sac.  With tens of thousands of acres of burned, barren landscape in both drainages, we are hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.  Stay tuned...

Getting ready on a cold morning

Our first fish of the day today

Rob with one of his fish

It's always a nice adjustment after spending the summer in Alaska to return home to Northern California and to the numerous steelhead rivers that make this such an exciting place to live as an angler. For me, nothing compares to swinging one of my favorite runs close to home in hopes of getting that big handshake, and the river I find myself on more often than not during the fall is the Trinity. I cut my teeth learning the hard lessons of steelhead fishing on this river, and I always feel a certain nostalgia when I walk into a spot or step into a run that has become like an old friend. This fall has seen a return of exceptionally low water for all of our rivers and the Trinity is looking a lot like I remember it from a few years ago during the drought years. With that in mind, I tied up a few bugs for swinging the Trinity when it's low and clear. Hope you enjoy! Looking ahead it does look like some rain will finally make landfall during Thanksgiving week. Hopefully it'll be the first of a few storms, but any measurable rainfall should be enough to get fish on the move at this point. I've heard a few good reports from guys fishing Kings in tidewater. Both on the Smith and Eel Rivers. It's definitely been a departure from our past two fall seasons for King fishing here on the coast with the absence of rain. Fingers crossed we luck out with a wet December and get a good shot at swinging up a few before the new year. Either way, it's almost time for winter steelhead! Stay tuned.  

The perfect specimen that makes it all seem worth it.

A simple soft hackle tied on a sz8 Alec Jackson.

Flash body and copper wing with fall colors mixed in on this mini intruder. Tied on a 35mm Partridge

Rear assembly

A variation of the timeless Royal Coachman.This old school pattern still makes them cross their eyes

The conditions on the Trinity remain the same, LOW-CLEAR-COLD, there are fish spread throughout the system,with a heavier concentration in the upper river, Lewiston...The forecasters are becoming more confident about some precip coming in around the 20th, hopefully enough to raise the flows as well as the water temps...regardless, if you put the time in you'll find a fish or two-Tight Lines

John M. swung up this healthy hatchery buck Saturday

I had the opportunity to guide a great group of anglers from the Golden Gate Angling and Casting Club. The fishing remains tough with these low and clear conditions. Today was Kathy’s first time steelheading and everything fell into place as she hooked and landed her first steelhead! I had a great two days working with, and getting to know everyone.

Kathy's first steelhead!

I had a great day with my guests Fred and his nephew John. After a very cold start, it warned up nicely as John hooked and landed a nice pre-spawn salmon. John had the hot rod today - after landing the salmon, he hooked into a very nice hatchery hen that gave him quite a fight, and then he was hooked up again on a small wild adult. Fred had a brief hook-up, but lost the battle after a few headshakes. The fish gods were kind to us today during the maiden voyage of my new NRS raft!

John with a nice hatchery hen

John with a small wild adult

John with his salmon

I spent a fun day on the Trinity with Steve and Gary from Sacramento.  Fishing has been tough, but the silver lining has been really light fishing pressure.  We had our float pretty much all to ourselves today.  Steve and Gary both landed a couple of nice adult steelhead today.  It was fun catching fish, enjoying good company, and soaking up some fall sunshine.

A beautiful fall day on the Trinity River

I just finished four days on the Trinity. My guests choose to swing flies with two-handed rods all four days and it was tough fishing. My guest Marna hooked a fairly fresh salmon that gave her quite a fight the first day, and my guest Jeff had a brief hook-up on Saturday, but spit the fly after 3-4 good headshakes. Nymphing may provide a better opportunity, but I know they are working very hard to find fish. Rain is in the extended forecast for next week – let’s keep our fingers crossed! 

Gino guided guests John and Francis the last two days on the Rogue.  John forwarded these two photos.  John says: "Great day on the Rogue."

Rogue steelie close-up

Guest John with a great fish