The Lower Sac on 11/17

I had the chance to take John and Eric Roesser on the Red Bluff to Los Molinos drift. The morning started out extremely slow but as the weather got warmer the fish started responding better. By the end of the day we managed to boat about 20 trout and two smaller adult steelhead. Eric definitely out-fished his father today by catching both of the steelhead and about half of the trout. I should also say congratulations to Eric for landing his first adult steelhead on a fly rod. For freshwater fly fishing there isn't much better than a steelhead on a fly. That is quite an accomplishment. For those of you interested in fishing the Lower Sac I several availabities over the next couple of months. Remind those wives that guided fly fishing trips make AWESOME Christmas presents. Tight Lines!

The Feather on 11/15 - 11/16 & 11/19

I had the opportunity to guide the Feather three days last weekend. This was a cool handful of days for me because I had three first steelhead caught on flies this weekend. Catching your first steelhead on a fly rod is truely a memorable experience. I can remeber my first steelhead as though it was yesterday. My first steelhead was a 31'' buck caught out of the American River on my 5 weight. Now that was one heck of a battle.
For the Feather to improve over the next several weeks we need rain to push some new fish up into the system. Most of the days we hooked three adults and about 10 half pounders. As we get later into the month expect another push of fish with some truely large fish showing up. This is the time of year where only the die hards will be out there. The number of hookups is going to go down but the payoff with some big fish is more than worth it. Egg patterns should continue to work as long as there are a handful of salmon in the system. Along with eggs try san juan worms, olive birds nest, and flashback pheasant tails. The Feather will probably continue to fish for about another week or two. For those of you interested on doing a late trip to the Feather I am available on Thursday, November 29 and Sunday, December 2. Happy Thanksgiving and Tight Lines.

The Feather on 11/15 - 11/19

I had the pleasure to guide the Feather this whole last weekend. It seemed that the river has slowed a bit from last week. Most days this weekend we were hooking between 2-3 adults with about 8-10 half pounders mixed in. One surprising thing is that there are still quite a few fresh salmon showing up in the river. It seems if you can find a couple of fresh salmon making reds then you can find a few steelhead sitting behind them. Most of the guys who guide the river think that the Feather will continue to fish for the next couple of weeks. The exciting part about having a handful of salmon still in the river this time of year is that the biggest fish of the year tend to show up in early December and they will be still eating eggs. So for those of you dedicated steelhead fishermen keep fishing and you may be rewarded with some big steelies at the end of the season. If you are interested in doing some late season steelhead fishing then give me a call. I am available November 27 and 29. Tight Lines and BIG Steelhead.

The Feather on 11/8 - 11/12

I was on the Feather River this whole last weekend. The feather is starting to see a nice push of steelhead coming up. It seems as though we have been averaging about 4-6 adults a day with about 8-10 half pounders mixed in. This year is really setting up like last year where the adults we are hooking are big for the Feather. The average size of the fish this year has been about 23'' and we are hooking a couple fish from 25-27'' everyday. On Sunday my clients hooked 6 adults and 4 of them were between 26-28''. Those big fish on the Feather are pissed off and one of them took a client of mine on Friday about 30 yards into his backing. Hardly ever do you see a fish take backing on the Feather. It seems like we are catching half of our fish on eggs and the other half on bugs. So if you go up there try throwing both. I know you guys must be getting sick of seeing Steelhead Steve on the blog but the dude catches big fish that need to be showed off. So don't hate the guide who puts Steelhead Steve into the fish hate the man who gets the chance to land them. To tell you the truth I am actually jealous my self. The dude has caught more steelhead with me this fall than I have since February. I guess that is the pleasure of guiding. It is still awesome seeing those steelhead jump and rip off line. Steelhead fishing is absolutely addicting!

For those of you interested in Fishing the Feather I have two openings this coming week. I am available on Sunday November 18 and Tuesday November 20. Give me a call if you want to do some steelhead fishing. Tight Lines and BIG Fish!

Red Bluff on 11/2 & 11/3

This last Friday and Saturday I decided to float from Red Bluff down to Los Molinos in hopes to get my clients some trout fishing and hopefully run into a couple steelhead. The fishing on Friday was average with about 25 rainbows hooked and no steelhead. The hot bugs down there were eggs, rubberlegs, golden stones, and amber wing princes. I am starting to grow a hate love relationship with this section of the Lower Sac. Last year this drift was extremely predictable and everyday you would expect to hook 1-2 big adult steelhead. This year has been a different story. The trout fishing has definitely improved but the steelhead have not been showing themselves very frequently.

Saturday was a very interesting day. Going into the last spot of the day we had only boated 3 rainbows!!! It was like all of the trout in the whole river went on vacation and decided that they were not going to eat. However we were able to salvage the day when in the last spot we landed a 24'' buck and a 26'' hen. Both steelhead were extremely pissed off and made screaming runs and huge jumps across the river. So I don't know to call Saturday a good day or not? I will let you be the judge. Personally I would rather catch 1 adult steelhead over 30-40 trout any day. There is something truly addicting about steelhead fishing. For you trout purists you gotta try this fish. You land a big steelhead and you will find yourself shopping for a 7 weight. Tight Lines and good luck with the steelhead season that is now upon us.

The Feather on 11/1 & 11/4

I had the chance to guide the Feather on Thursday and Sunday this week. It is nice to start guiding closer to home again. Guiding the Feather cuts my commute by a good 2 hours each day. We all love a little extra time at the end of our days. Thursday I had the opportunity to guide Steelhead Steve and Bill from Napa. We had a successful day with 6 adults and 10 half pounders hooked. The two adults that we landed were 22'' and 26.5''. A couple of the adult steelhead we lost we also very large. For those of you that don't fish the Feather a lot anything over 25'' on that river is a BIG fish. I must admit that Steve definitely has the mojo with big fish on the trips he does with me. All of our fish today came on an egg, pheasant tail, or birds nest.

Sunday I guided the Feather for a half day of fishing. We started fishing around 8:30 and were off the water at 1:30. For the half day trip I decided to just float the high flow from Outlet down to Palm. The pressure down in High Flow was quite significant. We ended up boating 2 adults and 4 half pounders. So a pretty average day out on the Feather. The best part of the day was that my clients originally had booked a full day and they informed me this morning that they had to be off early. So I got paid for a full day of work but only had to work a half day.

Give me a call if you want to fish the Feather in a couple of weeks. I still have November 17 & 18 available. This should be prime time on the Feather.