The Lower Sac on 10/25 - 10/26 & 10/28

The Lower Sac was up and down this weekend. On Thursday I floated from Bonnyview to Balls Ferry and EGG BITE was good in the morning. Once we got below Anderson the fish turned on to bugs. The hot bugs lately have been beads, flashback pheasant tails, amber wing princes, and big rubber legs. At the end of the day we boated 40 trout and landed two clipped steelhead. A great day on the Lower Sac. However when I went out on Friday it was not the same story.

Friday the wind was blowing 15-20 mph all day long and it was extremely hard to get a drift on some of the flats. What has been really surprising this fall is how well some of the flats have fished. Typically the flats do not hold lots of fish this time of year because all of the trout are stacked on the salmon reds. The Sac is fishing more like the spring than it is October. Friday we only boated 10 trout but had many more opportunities. I honestly feel that the wind dramatically affected the fishing.

Sunday the fishing went back to normal on the Sac. I decided to float from the RV park down to Barge Hole hoping to stay away from the crowds. The decision payed off and we never saw another boat all day long. It was nice to be able to take my time in all of the runs without having to worry about someone in the next hole. Today we ended up boating 24 rainbows. Even though this number is about average for the Sac it actually is a good day when you consider one of the anglers only fished half of the day. The fish would not touch an egg today and the hot bugs ended up being the flashback pheasant tail, amber wing prince, and Hogan's S&M.

I hope everyone is getting some fishing in. Are YOU ready for Steelhead Season?

The Feather on 10/22 & 10/27

I had the opportunity to fish the Feather twice this week. Tuesday I went out with a friend to get a little fishing in for my self. I must admit it was nice to be out there and not have the pressure of catching fish. Just two guys hanging out doing some addicting steelheading. For those of you who have not gone steelhead fishing or have done only a little of it you have no idea how cool it is to catch big fish. Steelhead make trout seem like guppies at times. Tuesday was a great day on the Feather and we ended up hooking 5 adults and 10 half pounders.

On Saturday I guided my father on the Feather and there was a little more pressure than on Tuesday and the fishing suffered slightly. My dad hooked 1 adult and 9 halfpounders. Even though we didn't find nearly the number of adults I still consider that a fairly successful day on the Feather.

If any of you are interested in fishing the Feather next month I still have two prime dates open. I am still available the weekend before Thanksgiving on November 17 & 18. If you want to get a little steelhead fishing in then give me a call.

The Lower Sac 10/18 - 10/21

The Egg Bite has slowed down a whole lot from last week on the Lower Sac. There have been no fresh salmon showing up to keep those trout on eggs. Most of the salmon reds on the river have very few salmon cutting spawning beds and this leads to minimal trout eating eggs. Actually this weekend the middle of the river fished better than the top. Saturday and Sunday saw very effective trout fishing between Anderson and Barge Hole. Currently the Lower Sac is fishing more like the Spring rather than the third week of October. The trout are eating a variety of flies from big rubberlegs, eggs, and pheasant tails. What was the most surprising this last weekend was how well some of the flats fished. For those of you who fish the Sac you know that the flats can fish extremely well in the Spring and Summer but Fall is the time to find fish in the faster water. Well that assumption might not hold unless some new salmon show up to get the trout all jacked up on eggs again. Everyone keep their fingers crossed!

One really cool thing that happened this last weekend was that a client of mine caught a steelhead just below the bonnyview riffle. Prior to that trip the highest I had ever caught a steelhead on the Lower Sac was Deschutes Bridge which is a good 10 miles downstream. Well at least I think it is a steelhead. It looks like one and fought like one but you be the judge from the picture above. Give me a call if you want to do some steelheading on the Feather this November. I have a few availabilities still left.

Tight Lines and Big Steelhead!!

The Lower Sac 10/11-10/14

The EGG BITE continues to be extremely good on the Lower Sac. Thursday and Friday I floated from Posse Grounds down to Sac RV. Thursday the fishing was solid and we ended up boating 30+ rainbows on different shades of beads. Lately the rainbows have been keying in on the lighter pink/peach colors. It seems as though the trout are shying away from the oranges so far this year, but I am sure that will change when more salmon enter the river later this month. Friday was an epic day on the river with Steve G. and Jessie W. from Napa and we boated 50 rainbows. In the first riffle alone we had 14 fish. I absolutely love starts like that out of the gate because it gets all of your clients amped up for the rest of the day. On both Thursday and Friday the morning time proved more productive than the afternoon.

Saturday and Sunday Steve G. and Jason D. from Napa decided to roll the dice and go down to Red Bluff chasing steelhead and trout. Saturday was another epic day and the most fun I have had guiding in the last year. Everything went well beyond my expectations. Going into the day I thought we would land 15 rainbows and hook 1 adult steelhead. However the day proved to be much more successful than that. We ended up hooking 40+ rainbows and 2 adult steelies. The steelhead we landed measured out at 27'' and was my personal best landed on the lower river. I have hooked fish much larger than that down there but every time they manage to get away. I must admit that Steve G. has the mojo for those lower fish and this is the second year in row that he has caught some big fish down in Red Bluff. So he has officially been nicknamed STEELHEAD STEVE. I think its got a good ring to it. Jason hooked the second steelhead and got three very impressive jumps and runs out of it before it found a snag in the middle of the river. From the looks of the fish I would have estimated it at about 25''. Hooking those two steelhead has gotten me amped up for the steelie fishing that awaits in the next month.

Sunday was a different story on the lower river. It went from epic to extremely tough. I dont know why the river changed because the weather was the same and the flows were only slightly altered by 300cfs (not significant enough to change the fishing dramatically). At the end of the day we had boated 16 trout with 5 of those fish being clipped juvenile half pound steelhead. Two of the half pounders were extremely hot and went 19''. So the day wasn't a complete bust but a disappointment after the day before. The good news is that it is only going to be getting better as we get later into the month. Get ready because the steelhead are starting to show up on the Lower Sac.

If you are interested in fishing this fishery I still have November 1st available. This is going to be prime time for big steelhead on the lower river. Dont miss out on my only availability for the next 5 weeks.

Tight Lines and Big Fish!

The Lower Sac 10/5 - 10/7

THE LOWER SAC EGG BITE HAS BEGUN!

I had the opportunity to go chase after some steelhead from Red Bluff down to Los Molinos on Friday. The wind down there was a little nasty with gusts up to the high teens throughout the entire day. In some sections it was hard to get natural drifts but it didn't seem to effect the fishing. We didn't hook any steelhead but we did manage to hook about 25 trout. The trout fishing last year consisted of lots of small guys (8-10 inches) but it seems as though those fish fattened up and most of the ones we caught on Friday were 16-17 inches. Any day now the steelhead will start showing up in good numbers. I have an availability on November 1 if you are interested in trying your luck with some of these extremely large pissed off steelies. Another option on November 1 is to go hit the end of the egg bite up in Redding. Give me a call if you are interested in either opportunity. This is truly a special time of year on the Sac.

On Saturday and Sunday I fished the Sac from Posse Grounds down to Sac RV. Saturday the egg bite was decent and we boated 30+ rainbows on beads and nymphs. Sunday was considerably better and we boated 40+ rainbows on beads. Traditionally the last weekend of September and the first of October is a transitional phase on the Sac where the trout go from eating bugs to eggs. On Saturday we caught about 8 fish on nymphs and Sunday we only got 4 using bugs. So as you can see the egg is becoming more of the focus point for the trout and it is only going to get stronger as more salmon show up. For those of you guys coming up in the next couple of weeks expect good things. You gotta love the EGG BITE! If you haven't experienced it then it should be on your list of things to do. Tight Lines & Painted Beads!!!!

The Lower Sac on 9/29

I had a half day guide trip on the Lower Sac this last Saturady. My clients and I fished from 1:00PM to 6:00PM. I took a gamble and decided to fish from Posse grounds down to Bonnyview. The gamble payed off because the fish on the top end of the river are already eating eggs. However I must admit that the river is still in that transition period where fish are starting to eat eggs and at the same time focusing on the nymph. For the first couple of hours the fish absolutely munched the eggs. As it got closer to the evening time they all switched to eating tan caddis pupahs. The afternoon proved to be very productive with 16 trout landed and several more lost. These Lower Sac rainbows sure did fatten up this summer. All of the fish were big and thick!

I had a couple of cancellations this week for Thursday and Friday if you want to get on the first of the egg bite on the Lower Sac or Yuba. Both should be good options for the next month. Get time off because this is the month that you want to fish Northern California!!!!! Just about any river turns on this time of year. Tight Lines!

The Yuba River on 9/27 & 28

I had the opportunity to guide the Yuba on Thursday and Friday last week. It was nice to be back on the Yuba. I wish all of the trout that I guided were as strong as those Yuba River rainbows. The Yuba bows are hands down the strongest fighting trout that I have ever seen caught. Every fish you hook fights until the very end and they make huge screaming runs. The Yuba rainbows fight just like juvenile steelhead.

The fishing on both days was good. Thursday we hooked 17 trout. Friday we hooked 21 trout. On both days the afternoon proved to be more effective. The fish were all over the board on what they wanted to eat. It seemed as though eggs and caddis were the best two options. However my clients caught fish on a size 16 Hogan's S&M nymph, 14 tan fox pupah, 18 olive fox pupah, 8 Kaufman Stone, 18 black micromay, and 14 tan birdsnest.

If you want to get a chance to fish this awesome river then you need to give me a call ASAP because my fall is running out of room. I hope you are ready for the egg bite because it is only days away from blowing up!!!!!!