Phil with a  beautiful 24" Lower Sac Rainbow the week after Christmas.

Hey all. It has been a long time since I have had the time to update my blog. My goal in 2017 is that I will get in the habit of doing this more often so that you guys have current updates of what is going on out there. Send me an email if you want to get out on the river soon.

For anyone looking to get out I have the following days open over the next couple of weeks:

January 9-14, 16, 19-21, 23-24, 26-27

Lower Sac - The Sac continues to fish average for winter conditions. Most days we are hooking 20ish rainbows from Redding down to Anderson. As typical we have been catching some true slugs out of the river this winter. Winter time we might not catch as many fish as the spring or the fall but if you are into hunting for big rainbows then it doesn't really get any better. With the majority of other rivers being blown out right now the Lower Sac is a good safe place to fall back onto. Hot flies recently have been beads and small mayflies. Flies like Hogan's SM, Lance's X-May, PTs, and Flatulators have all been catching fish. The best fishing is from Noon-3PM. So make sure that when you are out there that you fish smarter by being there during the prime hours.

Luk Lake has been putting out some fun trout fishing in the mornings!

Luk Lake - Luk Lake continues to fish well in the mornings. The trout fishing on Luk Lake this fall and winter has been the best that I have seen there in a long time. The key is to finding the school of fish in the Lake. Once you find them then you can stay connected to fish most of the morning. The bass fishing has been nonexistent since the cold weather has set in but the trout remain happy to eat most small streamers that go by them.

Feather - The Feather River opener happened on January 1st. So there is going to be some decent fishing to be had on the upper river near the hatchery over the next week. There isn't a ton of water to fish up there but if you spend a half day one can expect to hook 5-7 steelhead per morning. Eggs, Alevins, and small Mayflies will all do the ticket in fooling a few fish.

Fly Fishing Update & Openings

 

 

Great Fishing Continues & Shad Season Soon!

I hope this note finds all of you doing well and enjoying this beautiful weather we are having this weekend. With this being Earth Week I thought that it was time I send you guys an update on what is happening to the fishing in the valley. Needless to say it has been a busy month with lots of fishing on the Lower Sac and Feather Rivers. Both rivers continue to fish well. The Lower Sac is still have good days with 40-50 fish hookups being common. The Feather has lots of half pounders throughout the entire system with a few adults mixed in throughout the day.   I am offering a $100 discount on half day trips for the Lower Sac on May 6 and May 27. So that is a half day trip for $275! I have shad trips planned that evening and I'm trying to fill in the mornings. Email me ASAP to score one of these dates!   The Sac will continue to fish well through June. As we get into May we will start fishing the lower parts of the river near cottonwood. May and June is an awesome time of year to go fish the "Rocks" and the "Swirls". So come out and see the part of the Sac that many have never experienced.   The Feather season will be wrapping up in the middle part of May. With the amount of fish in High Flow right now then we should have good fishing on the Feather for the next several weeks. As those fish move up the river then there will be lots of fish stacking up in the Low Flow section. There are still a few openings if you want to get in on a last minute Feather trip. See dates below.     Richard with a great 25" Feather Springer. Beautiful Hen!   With May around the corner it is also time to start thinking about getting some shad dates on the calendar. I have heard a few rumors that the very first couple fish have been seen in the river. Expect the first wave of fish to show up the first part of May. Shad fishing should be good through June 10ish. For those of you that are planners then its not to far out to start thinking about PRIME TIME striper fishing in July as well. The striper fishing keeps getting better and better and something that I will have limited openings for during prime time season in July. If you are into striper fishing or just want to give it a try then now is the time to book those trips.   I look forward to seeing many of you in the next couple months. I'm excited about the thought of starting to throw some lines for bass, shad, and stripers. Hope you are well and have the chance to get some fishing in. Send me an email if you are interested in dates.   Open Dates:   May: 6 (Half Day Only), 12, 24-25, 27 (Half Day Only), 30 (Memorial Day), 31   June: 1, 6-7, 15-16, 22, 24, 30   July: 1, 3-4, 11-12, 14, 18-21, 23-24, 29

Egg Bite Report & Dates

Egg Bite is Here!!!

 

Egg Bite has had a decent start on the Lower Sac. The fish over there have been happy to have some salmon in the river. Most days right now on the upper river we are hooking 50+ fish. The salmon run this year has been slower to start as compared to historic averages. It seems like every couple of days we get a handful of new salmon in the runs. So this sets up well for November assuming we have the same thing keep happening. This trickle effect we are getting for the Salmon Run hopefully means it could be a great November and even early December Egg Bite. Only time will tell but I am definitely keeping my fingers crossed that we keep getting little groups of salmon for the next 6 weeks. For those of you looking for dates I still have a handful of openings in November. Also start looking at your December calendars to get in on the winter egg and alevan bite on the Lower Sac. The biggest fish of the year are caught in December and January on the Lower Sac.   Also starting Thanksgiving Weekend I will once again be guiding weekends for those of you that cant get off during the week.   Hope all of you are well and enjoying some much needed family time this weekend. Open Dates:   November 13, 19-20, 23-24, 28 (Saturday)   December 1, 3-23, 27-31

Incredible Spring Fishing Coming Soon!

- Spring Fishing -

Literally best fishing of the year

 

 

 

I hope this note finds all of you well. It is that time of year where the fishing is about to go off in Northern California. From March to mid May some of the best fishing of the year is going to be found in the North Valley. I hope you will find some time to come hang out on the water and catch some great fish and a few memories. My openings are below:

 

Open Dates:

 

March 1, 3, 7-15, 17, 19-20, 22-23, 27-28, 30

 

April 1, 3-4, 9, 14, 18-23, 25-28, 30

 

May 2-15

 

 

 

Feather River - As most of you know the Feather is really special in the spring time. This is hands down my favorite time to fish the Feather. Hot pissed off valley steelhead make this an awesome time to be on the water. If you haven't done this type of fishing then this is the year to get out there and give it a try. Mid March to early May is pretty impressive out there.

Lower Sac - The spring on the Lower Sac the last 3 years has been absolutely insane. March and April has been some of the best fishing that we have seen on the river all year long. If you are looking for big rainbows then these two months are the best of the year. Fish like the one at the top of the email are becoming normal on the Lower Sac.

Yuba - If you are into throwing dry flies then this is the time of year for you. The largest hatches of the year come off in March and April. With that comes really great opportunities to throw dry flies during the March brown and PMD hatches. The March Brown hatch is really impressive and a blast to fish as we try to fool those smart Yuba Rainbows.

 

Bass Fishing - Spring is also prime time for the bass fishing on the Sacramento River and Luk Lake. I have been guiding Luk Lake now for 3 years and it is still some of the best bass fishing that I have ever seen. Totally worth and evening of popper fishing to get you all excited about these bucket mouths.

 

 

Great Start to Fall Fishing

It seems like these days I'm having a hard time trying to find the space to update my blog. Between the kids, wife, guiding, and Cast Hope I don't find much time for writing anymore. Here I sit at the computer with all 3 of my girls sleeping at the same time so I thought I would give you guys an update of what I am seeing out on the water. I hope all of you are doing well and I will be seeing you around the river. Cheers and Go Chargers!

Lower Sac: The Sac has been good for egg fishing lately. I wouldn't say it is great but there are lots of big fish to be caught right now. Currently most days we are hooking 40-50 fish throughout the entire river. There are a decent amount of salmon throughout the river. However fish are still eating nymphs as they look for those eggs. Currently about 25% of my fish are coming on bugs. Hot flies are eggs, tan fox poopah, and Hogans S&M.

Lower Feather: The Feather is having a slower start to the season this year as compared to the last couple. There are good numbers of salmon in low flow but none in high flow. So right now there are not many steelhead to be had past the outlet. With the larger number of salmon in the Low Flow section I have been fishing 1 single egg as not to snag salmon on every cast. Currently the majority of the fish that we are catching are wild fish. So expect the major push of hatchery fish to show up at their normal time near the first part of November.

Lower Yuba: I haven't been over there yet this October to do any egg fishing. But it sounds like fishing has been fair to good. I will be over there on Tuesday and should have some better reports at the end of the week.

Fish Story: I had a really crazy experience happen to me in late September. I had a client land a 40lb striper on a rubber leg while fishing for trout below Red Bluff. Cant believe that we landed this fish on 2X with a size 8 stone fly nymph. Must have just hit the fish on the nose. The fish was 44.5" long with a 29" girth. It was an amazing experience holding this fish and reviving it to let it swim back into the depths.

Finally - Another Post

Hey guys. It has been a long time since my last post. All I can say is that life has not been the same since my last post in December. We now are a family of 4 with the new addition of our second girl Ava Rose in April. She has been an absolute joy and everyone is doing great. Her mom and myself are still trying to learn how to be parents to 2 kids but we are figuring it out little by little. Now on to the fishing. Lower Sac -

The Lower Sac has been having some decent fishing this summer. It really depends on what drift you are on but one can expect good to great fishing all the way throughout the entire river. The hot bugs have been pmds in the morning and caddis in the afternoon.

Lower Yuba - The Yuba has had some average fishing over the last couple of weeks. However the Hopper fishing is starting. So get those 4 and 5 weights out and go throw some dry flies toward the banks. Imagine you are in Montana and try to rise some fish in the valley. A great time of year to go spend a half day.

Stripers - The striper fishing has been really good this last week. Lots of fish to be had in the river right now. If you are looking to do a striper trip then from now until the middle parts of August is prime time. Time to grab the big rods and get out there to do some fishing.

For those of you that are looking to do some fishing in the fall my dates are booking up. So start looking at those calendars and send me an email ASAP. I currently only have 4 openings for the month of October. Got to love the egg bite.

Hope all of you are well. I will try to keep more up to date posts on what is going on in the valley.

Discounted Trips on Select Dates in December

Save $100 on Select Dates The fishing this last week has been good despite the frigid weather. The good news is the weather is going to warm up the rest of the week. Early next week the weather man is calling for temps in the high 60s. It is going to be a beautiful time to be on the river. Don't miss out on probably the last warm weather of the year. Lower Sac: I have been spending the majority of my time on the Lower Sac the last couple of weeks. Fishing has been really solid on the upper drifts. We are hooking 30-40 rainbows a day on eggs and small may fly nymphs. Expect really good fishing on the Sac for the rest of December and January as we have the winter egg bite. Yuba: I spent a couple of days on the Yuba this last week and had good fishing as well. Most days we were hooking 20ish fish on eggs. The great news is that the fish quality is finally back up and we are seeing lots of 16-17" rainbows again. Gone are those days where you catch a bunch of small trout. The best part of the day was that we had a great blue wing olive hatch come off that brought quite a few rainbows to the surface. We ended up throwing dries for over an hour to rising fish. If you are looking to save a little cash then here is your chance. Book a trip during the select dates below and receive $100 off my normal rate. It is a great time to get that family member on the water for Christmas. My discounted openings are Dec. 16-18, 20-21 (Friday/Saturday), 28-29 (Saturday/Sunday). For those of you looking more in advance on your calendars then I have Jan 1-11, 14-19, 21-31 still open as well. Email or Call ASAP to get in the last spots of the year. Tight Lines, Ryan Johnston www.rjsflytrips.com ryan.Johnston@Hotmail.com 619-540-9259