Current Fishing Report

My guests Steve and his son JD had an amazing day on the Sac today! This was JD’s first time fly fishing and what a first day he had. JD hooked a really nice fish on his very first cast!  By the end of the day Steve and JD both hooked into a lot of very nice fish. The summer grab is on!

JD with a beautie

Steve with a nice one

What a truly amazing trip to a remote tributary of the Amazon River in the heart of the Bolivian jungle.  I've spent most of my adult life searching the world for my favoite flyfishing destination, and I think I've finally found it.  Our trip to Agua Negra combined everything I love about flyfishing.  Here is my rundown.Sightfishing :  I love sightfishing, for any fish.  Whether its for permit, tarpon, and bonefish in the flats, a rising trout on Fall River, or a cruisning carp in a lake.  Fishing on the small tributaries of the Secure river system reminds me of the upstream sightfishing angling experience during my years guiding in New Zealand.  At times it is very technical, so accurate casting is important.  But if you have a good first shot in broken water, the Golden Dorado just annihilate the fly, jump 20 times between ripping the line off your reel at a rapid pace.Beautiful Wilderness Envoronment: It doesnt get anymore remote or pristine than these remote rivers, located in a protected part of the Amazon Jungle.  It was a long, multi day journey to finally get to our destination, but thats what makes it such a cool place.  The only people who fish these rivers are at the lodge.  The native villages along the river and the people who reside there are truly amazing.  They use bow and arrow or handline to fish, which was incredible to watch.  The jungle is just teeming with wildlife and plantlife...and some nasty insects, but thats ok if you are prepared.Agressive, acrobatic, and smart fish : These toothy fish are the ultimate preditor when they hunt.  At times, you experience "feeding frenzies" where the Dorado chase baitfish into the shallows and banks of the river and just rip them apart.  Amazing.  Combine the agressiveness of an umpressured GT in the Pacific or striper in the delta, the jumping ability of a fresh chrome hen steelhead or tarpon, and at times the cunning and wariness of a large spooky cruising brown trout.  And no fish, even a rooster or tarpon, has a cooler eat than a Golden Dorado.  It doesnt matter if the fish was 2lb or over 20lbs.  Some days we'd hook 5, some days 30.  The guides said it was a "tough week".  What?! Superb Food, Accommodation, and Guides : As we say in the industry, you cant control the fishing, weather, or clients angling and physical capabilities.  Thats why you better have great food, comfortable accommodation, great house staff, and superb guides.  The Tsimane lodges greatly exceeed expectations on all levels.  These rivers can blow out.  These fish aren't always easy to catch.  And you need to be reasonably fit in order to hike to even more amazing water above where the canoes can go.  Despite these challenges, rest assured your time off the water is spent in the supreme comfort of the lodge, enjoying an full open bar, superb Argentine wine and cuisine and a comfortable bed waiting.  Just epic.I will be hosting a trip back to Bolivia next July, and every July after that as long as I can physically pull it off and fortunate to book a prime week in July at one of the lodges.  Prime weeks book far in advance.  I already have most spots locked up, but contact me with any questions or if you are interested in doing this trip in the future.  Bolivia should be at the top of every keen anglers bucket list.  Its not cheap, but the value of the product is incredible.  From a logistical and infrastructure standpoint, its hard to believe it even exists for any price.

Fished a half day with Alan from San Francisco. He was camping at JGW so we arranged for the optional shuttle service. This enables us to pick you up at your hotel or RV park and drop you there at the end of the day. Easy! We started later than usual as mornings have been slow for me but evidently not late enough as the bite was still slow until after noon. We got some fish here and there but then found a spot to anchor up near the end of the day where we had multiple hookups. Fun day, very few boats on our drift.

Concentration!

I see you.....

With the optional shuttle service we can pick you up and drop you off at your hotel or RV park!

Pat and Patter had another great day on the Sac. The grab was on right away and stayed pretty consistent even as the temperature kept rising throughout the day. They both landed some really nice fish, and also lost some really nice fish. Pat hooked into an incredibly hot fish that had her into her backing in seconds and wasn’t willing to give any ground. After an epic battle, it came to net and it was so large she had a hard time holding it. She always has a knack for landing big fish!

This doesn't show how large it really is

Not quite finished fighting

I had such a great day today with my very good client Pat and her friend Pat (aka: Patter). The grab was on from the start and they opened with a double-hookup! It seemed like they took turns hooking fish before they got their second double! We had a few lulls in the afternoon, but things really picked up again towards the end of the day. How do you top off an already great day – with another double!

Gettin' it done!

Patter with a nice one

Pat with a beautie

Fishing in the Klamath Basin is in full swing. Hex’s are still coming off on the Williamson River. Big fish have moved into the lower Wood River and Rocky Point. We are having most our luck swinging small leeches and damsels on intermediate lines. Fishing will continue to get better as the summer progresses.

I spent three great days with my guests Catherine and Bernard. The mornings were slow, but things started picking up by late-morning. So far our afternoon temps have been pretty reasonable, but we’re still trying to end our day before the peak of the heat. I’ve been seeing decent numbers of yellow sallies, caddis and PMD’s throughout the day. The re-opener is coming up fast! 

Bernard with a nice fish

Brothers Larry and Bob spent the day with me on the Lower Sac today after getting rained on camping up on the McCloud. No rain today, but it was a little toasty (but it’s a dry heat.....). We caught some really nice fish early on but the fish took a siesta midday. Things lit up again in the late afternoon and quite a variety of flies worked throughout the day. The Lower Sac is a great wild trout factory, come get some!

Lunch break!

Bob with a big bend in his rod

Another wild rainbow

Larry gets it done

Fishing on the Williamson River has been excellent! The past couple of days we have had Lots of fish in the 14-18” range with a few donkeys in the 25” range. The Hex hatch has slowed down a bit, but we are still rising quality fish every night! The hatch should pick back up next week with some warmer weather. Pelican Bay/ Rocky Point area is choked with big fish! Minnow patterns eary and late and small leeches during the day. We have dates open in July.

Fishing in the Basin is in full swing now. The first good group of lake fish have moved into the Williamson River. Most fish have been picked up by swinging small leeches and damsel nymph. The hex hatch has been going strong for a week and should continue into mid July. Rocky Point and Agency lake has been consistent stripping seal buggers and balanced leeches. We have dates open in July and August which will be the peak of this amazing fisher!

Hex Hatch

I’m back down in the Fall River Valley this week. Confluence Outfitters has a lot of history here, and I love coming back to this magical Valley a few weeks a year. I love technical spring creek angling, and there are few other places that compare to Fall River to hone in and test your skills. This is where your casting, presentation, and feeding line skills will eventually be rewarded with one of most superb strains of wild rainbow trout on the planet. Please respect the history and culture of the river, and refrain from drift boat style angling here, you can do that everywhere else and it’s totally fine. Keep Fall River special.The Hex hatch is in full swing, but is dependent on conditions. On windy and cooler nights, it doesn’t happen. But when it does, it’s been epic. It’s been starting around about 9:15. During the day there are some sporadic hatches of the usual mayflies, and some epic Caddis hatches on the upper river ion warmer evenings. Lots of fish up high, but they are spreading out nicely throughout the system.

The big Redband have moved into the Williamson Riverearly this year just in time for the hex hatch. There has been a good Hatch the past couple of nights on the river. Expect this to taper off with the cooler weather and then to pick back up with the next heat spell. Next week should be exceptional! Most fish are being picked up on small leeches and soft hackles swinging with intermediate lines. The water has cleared consiberly in the past two weeks.

Fishin in the dark!

Spey Camp is back for 2019!  I will be back to one of my favorite venues in all of steelhead angling for two camps: a weekend camp from September 27-29 and a full camp from September 30-October 3rd.  Leslie and I just got an awesome new jet boat for the Lower Klamath, Rogue, and other venues.I've guided and hosted trips to the top camp destinations in the steelhead world, and I have to say in all honesty that our Spey Camp is one of the finest in the industry. The prime factors in a steelhead camping experience are: Logistics, location, venue/fishing opportunities, guides, food, and accommodation.  Our Spey Camp exceeds expectations in all of these aspects.Logistics are super easy, as we pick you up at the boat ramp when you arrive and head a few miles upriver to camp, where you are based for your whole trip.  No waking up at 4 am at the hotel to get to the ramp, then race in the dark to claim a spot.  Our camp is located on one of the best runs on the entire river.  Wake up, have a relaxing cup of coffee, and sache down to the river and be first though one of the most epic runs in all of summer steelhead fishing.  Then have a bite to eat, grab a few essentials and head out in our modern jet boats to fish the nearby famed classic swing runs of the wild and scenic Lower Klamath River.  After a full day of fishing, relax by the campfire and enjoy a magnificent dinner.  Pretty epic.  You can go alot further and pay alot more to fish for steelhead on crowded rivers a few hundred miles away from the ocean.  The Klamath also features easy wading and beautiful scenery in a wilderness environment.  Jet boat access only, no roads, no driftboats or rafters keep out a fair amount of pressure.As always, Confluence guides are highly experienced and have an instruction based guide philosophy.  We love teaching the art of speycasting, so all experience levels are welcome.  Being Sage Elite Pros, Gino and I have all the Sage rods, RIo lines, custom tied flies, tips, etc. that you need.   If you just want to be left alone to fish, we are cool with that too...its your trip!Please feel free to E mail me with any questions.  I also just opened up my Fall calendar for spey trips and instruction on the Upper Rogue, which will fill in soon.

Our new Game Changer...

Apres fishing at Spey Camp is legendary. Meet new fishing buddies!

Lifting mist on the legendary river

Be first and last to fish for chrome on one of the best runs on the Lower Klamath

Epic sunsets every night at Spey Camp

Took Leaf and Ketan our for a full Spey day on the Yuba. Water had dropped about 500 cfs from last week. We were able to swing up 4 nice Yuba trout with a few more grabs. The hopper fishing was off today but not for a lack of effort. Still need a good flow drop for things to reall drop into shape. Beautiful day even with the heat.

Little side channel heavan

Typical Yuba water

Wet wading is in with the kids!

Ed from the Bay Area brought his son Will from Boston to Northern California for a long weekend of fishing. They fished the Upper Sac and McCloud with Confluence guide Brian Kohlman on Thursday and Friday and today I took them for a float on the Big River. We started early but the fish were apparently sleeping in as the morning grab was very slow. The grab heated up as the day went on however and some nice fish were hooked, landed, and lost. The day wouldn’t be complete without “the ones that got away”.

Happy Day Before Father’s Day

One of the ones that didn’t get away!

Beautiful native rainbows on the Lower Sac

The only thing better than celebrating Father’s Day on the river is celebrating it with family. Took my cousin Scott and his son Grant on a great trip down the Lower Sac. The morning was slow as well as crowded with a kayak event, but after lunch we had great fishing. Both guys had multiple grabs and brought in a number of fish. Scott topped off the day with a 22” hot fish. Such a great day.

Scott with a dandy!

Grants first fish on a fly rod!

Spent a beautiful day with the Spey rods searching for trout on the Yuba River with James from Idaho. Water still high at around 6,000 cfs, but there are plenty of good spots to swing flies for hard fighting rainbows. We fished hard and got a few grabs bringing two fish to the net. The real fun of the day was the fish caught on hoppers in between swing runs. Caught and landed a super nice fish on the hopper but the pic didn’t happen. Whenever the Yuba flows drop, things should be really good.

Bent!

Bill and his grandson Will came up from Chico today to brave the 108 degree temps. Will had never fished from a drift boat before and took to it like a fish to water (pun intended). Literally within minutes he was casting, mending and feeding line like a pro. He got to wrestle with a bunch of big wild Lower Sac trout and went home happy with a sore arm and a bit of a sunburn. Way to go Will!

Big fish in a big net!

Lots of bent rod for Will today.

Grip and Grin!

I had the pleasure of showing James from Idaho how the Lower Sac trout grab flies on the swing. It is not for everyone and it is not a numbers game, but for those who enjoy casting two handed rods, the fish who do come out to play, play hard and put up a good fight. James brought several fish to hand and had numerous grabs throughout the day. The higher flows opened up some side channels we don’t always get to fish, giving the river a different feel. As the flows drop in the coming days, fishing on the swing should improve as more runs become accessible. 

Lassen looms over James.

Fishing the braids.

The Klamath Lake is heating up! Both literally and figuratively. Water temps in the main lake was at a staggering 74 degrees on Wednesday. This is great news for Fly fishing in the basin. Fish are pouring into Rocky point and the Williamson River to escape the warm temperatures. We had a good bite Wednesday night stripping leeches at Rocky Point. The Williamson River is dropping into shape at the perfect time for the first good push of lake fish to move up. Yellow Sallies, Golden stones, Caddis and PMD Mayflies are all popping on the Williamson. Most fish have been taken on nymphs and Olive leeches swung on intermediate lines on the Williamson River. Fishing in the Basin will progressively get better as the Lake continues to warm.

Rocky Point Sunset

Fish on!