The smoke has cleared, the sun was out, and the river fished well. What more could you ask for on a day spent on the Mighty Lower Sac? Yesterday's trip with Cheryl and Tom was extremely productive, as we hooked and landed a LOT of quality fish throughout the day, from start to finish. One might point out that September is one of the best times to show up because the fish ARE EATING and there's very little boat traffic. And we saw salmon and, I might add, the corresponding activity that every trout person wants to see when salmon are in the river. Readers will have to read between the lines to catch my drift, but I'll just say that if you were waiting to book a trip for when you thought IT was happening, now's the time. I've fished with Tom a few times now and after we took Cheryl on the last trip, she is now fully capable of crushing it. The student has become the teacher. "Mend up, Tom," Cheryl said several times. "Turn your rod to the right a bit" and "Luke, could you row us over there?" Ha ha! We've created a trout fanatic! There were several spots that we backrowed over and over again because EVERY SINGLE TIME we hooked a fish. The age old adage of "don't leave fish to find fish" was pretty compelling, but eventually we had to keep moving. But that was okay because we caught fish everywhere. Two highlights... first, while fishing one particular spot, Cheryl hooked the BIGGEST steelhead I've ever personally seen on the Sac. My "guestimate" was 32-34 inches and somewhere around 15lbs. HUGE. Cheryl fought it perfectly and right when we were getting close to putting it in the net, as it was less than eight feet from the boat, the hooked popped out of its mouth. Anxiety through the roof and our racing hearts skipped five beats and stopped. Oh the sorrow! But the second highlight was a bit of redemption because after a ten minute fight, Tom managed to land a 22.5 inch SLAB of a fish. Huge. Not just long, but HEFTY with shoulders. This river is amazing and the water is cold and the fish are healthy! Every single fish shot like a rocket when we released them, back to the depths to fight another day. Get up here. It's time. I have a couple of openings next two weeks and I think we could rest assured that we'll have a good time. Don't miss out! Tom has four more days booked in October... I wonder if Cheryl is going to join him :)