The Feather on 1/16/08

I had the opportunity to go and fish the Feather River this morning. I only had about 4 hours to fish so I focused all of my efforts on the sections of river above the highway 70 bridge. It was great to be out during the middle of week. The whole morning I only saw one other person fishing. The fishing was decent with 4 steelhead landed. Two of the fish were smaller adults around the 22-23'' mark and the other two were juvenile half pounders. I got the two adults on egg patterns and the half pounders fell victim to the san juan worm. I hate that fly but the fish on the Feather seem to eat them at certain times. I hope that all of you are getting some fishing in. If you are interested in a guided trip then there are lots of options this winter that people forget about like the Feather, Lower Sac, and Yuba. It seems as though this time of year everyone is in the steelhead mind frame and focuses on the Trinity and the Coast. Don't let the winter blues get you down. Get that fly rod out and go chase those fins that we live for.

Tight Lines!

The Feather on 1/13/08

I went out and fished the Feather on Sunday. I had forgotten how much pressure that river gets during the winter months. There must have been 12 anglers in about a mile of river up by the hatchery. Needless to say the fishing suffered due to the large crowd. In about 5 hours of fishing I hooked two steelhead. This is not necessarily a bad thing, especially since I was steelhead fishing, but I was expecting the fishing to be more like it was on Thursday. The two fish I hooked both ate egg patterns even though there were no salmon to be found anywhere. It is funny how easily a steelhead will eat a big bright egg pattern when they probably haven't seen a real egg in several weeks. I guess you can call those steelies optimists and the best fighting fish in fresh water. I have a couple availabilities for those of you that want to go and fish the Feather in the next month. The fishing should remain consistent until the first part of February.

The Lower Sac on 1/12/08

I had the opportunity to guide Tom and Kent from Sacramento this weekend on the Lower Sacramento. The trip was extremely close to being canceled due to the off color water coming out of Keswick Reservoir. The clarity on the Lower Sac was about 2.5 feet and the river fished extremely well for the winter. In total we hooked 28 rainbows with four of them going between 18''-19''. All of the fish we caught came on eggs patterns. We tried a variety of nymphs underneath our eggs but they wouldn't touch them. I think the fish were having a difficult time seeing the little nymphs and were largely eating the bright eggs because they could see them. It was a great winter day out there. For those of you that think the Lower Sac is only a fall and spring fishery you are missing out on the less popular months. Imagine fishing the Lower Sac with only a couple other boats and have the majority of the runs all to your self. For those of you interested in fishing the next couple of months I have several availabilities for those of you with the winter blues. Looking forward to seeing you out on the water.

Tight Lines!

Feather River 1/10/08

Well I finally got out to fish for the first time in 2008. I hope all of you had a wonderful New Year. I am looking forward to all of the fish memmories that lie ahead of us in the next year. Well I must admit that my first trip of the year was a success. I got the chance to sneek out to the Feather with Steelhead Steve to do some fishing and filming. The day went extremely well with 16 fish hooked and released. In total we hooked 10 adults and 6 halfpounders. The largest fish was a beautiful 26'' hen. The hot flies of the day were pheasant tails, red copper johns, and a variety of eggs with peach and orange proving most successful.

All day we were trying to film our fishing session as one of us hooked and fought a steelhead. The problem with that though is that at about noon I figured out that I wasn't using the video camera correctly and that all of our morning footage was not saved on the camera. At the end of the day it worked out and we managed to get a couple really nice fish on film. The bad thing is that we didn't get to film the 26'' hen and I screwed up the filming when Steve snapped his rod in half trying to land a fish. No worries though because I am going back Monday to get some more shots. So in the next month or two start looking for a handful of videos on the rivers I guide.

For those of you interested there is lots of great winter fishing available. So if you have the winter blues book a trip to get back on the water to feel the surge of that fish on the end of your fly line. The trout fishing for the next month should be excellent so don't miss out on the action!

Tight Lines,
Ryan Johnston

San Diego Bay Fly Fishing

While I was home for the holidays I got the opportunity to go on two guided trips with Peter Piconi on San Diego Bay. If any of you guys ever make it down there this is something that you need to check out. Most of the days on the bay start around 6AM and go till about Noon. For the most part you are casting 6 weight rods with shooting heads. Usually the fly of choice is a smaller sized clouser in a variety of colors. One great thing about fly fishing in San Diego Bay is that you never know what you are going to catch. The first day alone we caught 7 different species of fish (halibut, calico bass, sand bass, spotted bay bass, mackerel, lizard fish, and jack smelt). Every time you get bit you have no idea what is on the end of the line. The majority of the time we were catching some variety of bass but my father was lucky enough to catch a 7lb Halibut. Yes, it is possible to catch halibut on the fly. Just check out that fly hanging out of the Halibuts mouth. After guiding for four years now I have a special appreciation for guides who do a good job. I can honestly say that Peter Piconi is hands down the best fly fishing guide in San Diego. So next time you are heading to southern california make sure to check out some Bay fly fishing.

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!