The Lower Sac on 12/13

THERE ARE TROUT TO BE CAUGHT THIS WINTER!

I had a last minute guide trip today. I got a call at 3PM yesterday afternoon asking if I could guide the Lower Sac this morning. I agreed and was pleasantly surprised by our day out on the water. We boated close to 30 rainbows between the Posse grounds and Sac RV Park. It is safe to say that the Lower Sac is in its full winter trend with fish eating eggs and small mayflies. The hot bugs today were 10M beads,size 18 gidgets, and size 16 Hogan's Red Headed Step Child. I hope that you guys have noticed from my posts that I catch a lot of fish on Hogan's bugs. If you start trying them out on your favorite waters I am sure that you will be pleasantly surprised. I know Hogan's bugs have saved my butt more than once.

Give me a call if you get the winter blues. There is no reason to go into hibernation this winter with the ample amount of opportunities on the Lower Sac and the Yuba. For those of you interested in fishing this winter if you book 2 trips between Jan.1-March 15 then I am going to give you a third for free within the same time period. If you want weekend dates then you need to call now because there are several people taking advantage of this winter special.

Tight Lines & Merry Christmas!

The Lower Sac 11/30 & 12/1

Well winter time has struck the Lower Sac. Friday and Saturday this week was clear and cold. Both days when I met my clients the temperature was in the 20s and it warmed to the high 40s. That is really chilly for the Lower Sac! It usually does not get that cold in Redding. The fish were sluggish due to the cold weather and they only wanted to eat during the warmest part of the day. Most of the fish we caught came between the hours of 11AM - 3PM. The mornings and the afternoons were slow as the sun got lower in the sky.

Friday I floated from Anderson down to Barge Hole hoping to catch some rainbows and possibly a steelhead. By the end of the day we had landed 20 rainbows and 1 small adult steelhead. Most of the fish were caught in the slower flats on a size 16 Hogan's S&M nymph. Actually 17 of the 20 rainbows we landed came on Hogan's bug. Thank God for that dude. The one steelhead we caught came right at the Deschutes Bridge in lower Anderson.

Saturday I decided to float from Bonnyview down to Balls Ferry. I was pleasantly surprised to find the fish above Anderson still looking for eggs. I wonder if that was due to the fish not seeing a lot of pressure the last 3-4 weeks? Only a handful of reds actually had any salmon on them but the trout still wanted those beads. It was a little crazy because we were catching fish in the flats on egg patterns in the morning. In total we ended up landing 25 rainbows with the biggest going 19''. One thing that did surprise me today was that we only caught a couple of fish on Hogan's S&M nymph. I guess that shows you how fast fish can change their diets over night.

For those of you interested in doing some winter fishing on the Lower Sac or Yuba give me a call. I have several availabilities for January and February. Actually this last year my best day was in February on the Lower Sac when no one else was out on the river. Tell those wives and girlfriends that for Christmas you want to go fishing with Ryan. Tight Lines and Merry Christmas!

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.