Putah Creek and Lower Sac

I had the opportunity to guide both Putah Creek and the Lower Sac twice this week. All I can say is that Putah Creek is starting to fish really tough. Putah is flowing between 40-50 cfs and it is hard to find water that has enough depth and current to hold lots of fish. It seems as though you can find a random fish here and there but not multiple fish in single spots. Most days it seems as though a guys can hook between 4-6 rainbows in about 5 hours of fishing. You really have to put your time in and focus on the deeper slots. It has been cool to hook some larger fish on the creek. This week clients of mine hooked two different fish that were between 20-24''. The hot bugs have been black/red zebra midges (18), biot baetis (18), Hogans S&M (18), flashback pheasant tails (20).

The Lower Sac continues to fish well below Red Bluff. The trout fishing has been consistent with about 20 rainbows being boated on a daily basis. We are seeing some big steelhead continuing to move through the system. The Lower Sac steelhead are some of the most pissed off big fish in all of Northern California. I wish all steelhead acted like those on the Sac. The hot bugs on the Lower Sac have been Rubberlegs, Red Copper Johns, Tan Birds Nest, and Hogans S&M.

If you are interested I will take $100 off anyone who is interested in booking Sunday, November 30 for a day on the Lower Sac or Feather River.

Tight Lines!

The Last Two Weeks of Valley River Steelhead Fishing

The last two weeks I have had some tough steelhead fishing on the Feather River. There are not lots of fish in the system. Most days with clients in the last two weeks has resulted in hooking 1-2 adult fish with another 4-5 half pounders on top of that. I did have one really good day during the first week of November where my clients hooked 14 steelies. However only two of those fish hooked were considered adult sized fish (22''+). The most productive flies have been eggs, san juan worms, and any small baetis nymphs. Usually caddis patterns are effective on the Feather but I have not been seeing many of them on the water. I would try some caddis stuff only after you have fished a slot effectively with all of the other bugs mentioned.

What I started doing my last three days on the water was switch my clients over to the Lower Sac to do some trout and steelhead fishing. My thinking is we can get 1-2 adult steelhead on the Lower Sac but at the same time catch an additional 15-20 rainbows. It is a no brainer because you are hooking the same number of adults as the Feather with more action on the trout. This last week one of my clients hooked an absolute monster steelhead below Red Bluff. This fish was easily 30''+. We fought the big hen for a solid 5 minutes before she found a stray log on the bottom of the river. When we lost this fish I was seriously depressed for a solid two hours. Not to often do you get shots at fish this size on the Lower Sac. Another missed opportunity.

So what is the outlook for the Feather and Lower Sac Steelhead fishing? I think the Feather needs a serious dosage of water to get those fish to move in large groups. It seems as though the fish that the Feather is getting are trickling in as solos or pairs of fish. I think that the fishing will start improving whenever the first big storms come in. So there is quite a possibility that the Feather might start fishing really well in December. Or the river might be having a small run of fish? Who knows!

I think that the Lower Sac steelhead fishing is going to improve over the next couple of weeks. The majority of the fish we are getting are big wild fish. With the river having relatively lower flows (5,000 cfs) it is going to be easier to get to these fish. It seems as though the steelhead are on the move and are staging up in the deeper runs. With all of the other steelhead fisheries struggling the Lower Sac is a viable option right now. As long as the lower sections of the river don't blow out they should get better and better later in the year.

For those of you interested I will take off $100 to anyone who wants to book this Saturday, November 22 for a day of guided steelhead/trout fishing on the Lower Sac.

Hope everybody has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Fish Hard!

Three Rivers in a Week

It has been a whirlwind of a week. I have been guiding all over the state from Putah Creek, Lower Sac, and Feather Rivers. It has been a challenge to get in the groove for each of the rivers. Here is a little piece on all of the rivers.

The Lower Sac is near the end of its egg bite. I fished in the upper part of the river twice this week from the Posse Grounds down to Anderson. Eggs are still catching the majority of the fish with a handful of nymphs starting to work. Nymphs that have proved effective are red copper johns, gidgets, and micromays. Most days are seeing between 20-30 fish being boated. For those of you planning on a trip up there you should try to go in the next week because the egg bite is going to stall out here for about a month. Those fish have seen and eaten a lot of egg patterns in the last month so they are starting to get a little picky on egg patterns. For those of you that cant make it up in the next week dont worry because the second egg bite will start back up between the middle of December through the end of January.

Putah Creek has seem some major flow fluctuations in the last week. The creek has been as high as 200cfs and as low as 40 cfs this week. You gotta love it when the state messes with flows that much. So before you go out there make sure to check the flows out. The fishing was a little difficult this week. My client hooked 6 fish in a full day of fishing. The hardest part about fishing the creek at low flows is finding water that has depth and current. So find some depth and current and from there you should find a handful of fish. Make sure to throw small midge and mayfly patterns between sizes 18-20 in the fall and winter. Most of the fish we got this week fell to a zebra midge.

I was excited to finally get on the Feather because I love to steelhead fish. I was out there this last Friday and all that I can tell you is that there is not many fish in the system. There are some fresh salmon that are starting to bed up. So when the fish move in there should be just enough salmon to keep them interested in eggs. I think that the Feather is going to fish better this year during the later part of November. The clients that I had out there the other day only hooked 2 halfpounders and 1 adult. We got lucky to land the adult and in went a HUGE 27.5'' BUCK. For those of you that dont fish the Feather that is a monster fish for the river. This buck that my client landed was bigger than any fish that I landed on this river all of last year. Get excited because the Feather is going to blow up in the next two weeks.

Steelhead Fishing is just around the Corner!

Fish Hard!

Lower Sac Egg Bite in Full Swing

The Lower Sac has hit its October peak. In my opinion this is hands down one of the best times of year to be on the Lower Sac. The rainbows are ready for their steady dose of egg nutrition and we are there waiting for them with egg patterns. Fishing is pretty amazing because when you find some salmon you find the rainbows right behind them. The whole key to fishing the river this time of year are to find those salmon redds. When you are out on the river just watch the other guides and they will get you keyed in to the spawning beds. This is not to say that you wont catch fish in your typical riffle and run kind of water, but you have a much higher probability of catching multiple fish in the redds. When I drift the river this time of year there is a lot of flat water that I row over trying to get to the next redd. Water that holds fish in the spring and the summer doesn't necessarily hold fish now.

The majority of the last week 95% of the fish that I have caught have come using egg patterns. The colors that seem to be more productive are peach and orange. These are generally the two go to colors during the October egg bite. To be honest the fishing has been pretty awesome. You know when a guide gets excited about the fishing then it must be good. Most days during this last week we were hooking 40+ rainbows between the Posse Grounds and Anderson.

The outlook for the river is good for the next couple of weeks and the egg bite should remain through the end of the month. If the river gets another push of salmon then it could remain longer than that but don't get your hopes up. For sure you have a two week window to get in some great egg fishing on the Lower Sac.

Love Those Salmon!

L:ower Sac Report 9/25-9/30

The Lower Sac egg bite is about a week from blowing up. There is a nice push of salmon rolling around on the lower sections of the river. So all of these fish will be cutting redds in the next couple of weeks. It looks like there will be about a two week period where the Sac will go off and you are going to want and make sure you're in the game. This is one of the coolest times of year on the Sac.

The last five days on the river have been a little unusual on the river. It seems as though you get two goods days of fishing and then there is a big drop off on the third day. The majority of last week I fished the lower river from Balls Ferry down to Bend Bridge. The cool thing is that I have hooked a steelhead each day that I have been on the river. The bad thing is that we are 0 for 5 on our land ratio for these big fish. Oh...the joys of steelhead fishing! Most of the steelies we have hooked have been between 23-26''. Its addicting watching a big fish fly three feet out of the air when it is hooked.

The trout fishing has been decent on rubber legs, birds nest, and amber wing princes. It seems as though one day all they want is the birds nest and then the next the amber wing. At this point on the lower drifts the rubberleg should never come off. Its catching lots of fish and its a great steelie fly.

Starting next week I will be bouncing back and forth between the Posse Grounds trying to get in on the egg bite and the lower drifts looking for steelhead. If you are interested I have a couple openings for October if you want to try out the Lower Sac in the middle of its glory.

Tight Lines!

The Lower Sac 9/19 - 9/20

I had the chance to guide the Lower Sac two days this last weekend. After throwing dries on the South Fork of the Snake all summer it was pretty tough going back to watching indicators on the Sac. Throughout the day I found myself thinking if this was Idaho there would be cuttys rising all over this riffle. I guess I will have to wait until next summer to get back out there. Those fish eating PMDs in the riffles during the afternoons are still haunting my thoughts.

The news on the Lower Sac is that it is fishing a little tough. Friday we decided to float from Anderson down to Balls Ferry. While Saturday we did the Bonnyview to Anderson drift. Both days it seemed like the afternoon bite was better than the morning. To be frankly honest the morning was just bad. There were spots in the morning that are always dependable for a couple of fish but as we floated through them the indicator didn't even move. Needless to say the mornings were a lot of indicator watching. Both days we ended up in the mid teens with boated fish but as most of you know those are slow days on the Sac. I think the reason that the fishing was hard was due to the lack of bugs on the water. There was absolutely zilch of a hatch the two days I was on the water. The only thing that I could get them to eat on somewhat of a regular basis was a size 6 rubberlegs.

One cool thing that did happen in those two days of guiding was that I was able to take my father-in-law fly fishing for his second time. This was his first true day since the first time only lasted about an hour. My father-in-law did great for his first time nymphing. He figure out the Lower Sac Lob and set the hook every time that indicator started moving. It took a couple of fish to figure out how to fight them properly with things like rod tip up, let the fish run, strip as the fish comes to you, etc, etc. For his first time he landed 7 and hooked 10. Those are good percentages even for dedicated anglers. All in all the two of us had a great time out there and I think it was a bonding experience for both of us.

So what is the outlook for the Lower Sac? At this point we are waiting for the Salmon. Hopefully a decent number of them will show up this fall. Since they are not projecting as many salmon as last year then the egg bite is probably going to be really short. The gang busters egg bite fishing will probably only last for about 10 days when that first major wave of fish start spawning. The good news is that we are seeing salmon rolling around on the lower drifts. So they are a couple weeks away from dropping eggs.

For those of you interested I still have a couple of prime weekend days open for the Lower Sac egg bite. As of today I am still available Oct. 5, Oct.19, Nov.1, and Nov.2. There is also several weekdays open in October if you are looking for a last minute booking.

Tight Lines!

San Diego Saltwater Fly Fishing

Over the last three weeks I have had the opportunity to go down to San Diego twice to do some fly fishing with guide Peter Piconi. In total I was able to get three days of fishing in. Im sure some of you guys have heard of Peter. He is one of the go to saltwater guides down in Southern California and has published several articles in California Fly Fisher. Needless to say Peter is a stud on the water! I have been fishing with him for about 5 years now and every time we get into fish. The majority of the fishing I have done with him has been done in San Diego Bay. So this year I wanted a chance to fish the local kelp beds and blue water just a couple of miles off La Jolla.

The first day we went out was epic! The seas were flat and the wind calm. In the morning we set up just outside of the kelp beds and wailed on calico bass during the first two hours of light. Calico bass put up quite a fight on a 7 weight. Especially when you are trying to keep their heads up out of the kelp. Around 10AM we saw some birds starting to work just a couple miles out of the kelp so we ran out there to see what life was swimming around. We were pleasantly surprised by schools of large mackerel that were more than willing to eat your fly. For about an hour two of us must have landed over 30 fish. You didn't want to even stop and take a picture because there were so many fish busting around the boat. I know most of you think that the mackerel is a bait fish, but when this fish schools you on a 7 weight you get a different perspective. It was a great first day.

The second day proved to be a little more difficult. We went out in the blue water searching for a little bigger game. The wind was still calm but overnight about a three foot swell moved in making standing in a 20 foot boat a little tricky. We were able to find a couple of kelp paddies that had dorado swimming underneath. I was lucky enough to get two small dorado around 8-10 lbs in the first hours. Playing these fish on an 8 weight was awesome. After the two dorado we never even hooked another fish. Throughout the remainder of the day we had a couple of yellowfin chase our flies right to the boat but they were not willing to play. Overall a little tough but I guess that depends on your perspective. Dorado on the fly is still cool!!

The third day we went back to the kelp beds to find a couple of smaller bonita, lots of calicos, and more mackerel. The third day was different than the first in that we slide way up into the kelp. So every cast you made had to be accurate so not to hook the kelp and break off flies. If you could find a lane between the kelp there were plenty of hungry calicos. Once you hooked one you had to put the wood to them so that they didn't get you hung up. Thank goodness for 20lb floro. In the afternoon I had one chance at a school of barracuda but they did not commit to the fly. The whole school followed the fly all the way to the boat. Dont you hate it when they do that!

In all it was a great couple of days on the water. I highly recommend any of to go and check out this fishery.

FISH HARD!