Art Teter Fly Fishing Guide Services

Weather played a big role in the fishing since the last post; never the less, the waters are still fishing good.  Head hunting on Fall River has paid off big, with the best day for drys being the day that the snow was coming down so hard you could hardly see the fly!  There have been a number of fish taken in the 19- to 20- inch range using  a dark olive body dunn tied with a black or purple wing.  They tend to show up better on gray days when tied that way.  Hat Creek has been doing well fishing below the 299 bridge.  The bug of choice has been a stonefly dry with a bird nest dropper.  During the last two trips down there we took a good number of fish.  It won’t be long before they move, but at this time it is worth a try.  I have also been fishing a small creek east of Fall River, and it is doing very well – lots of eager fish up to 16 inches!  Right now the creeks aren’t being hit too hard, so give them a try…this is their time of year to shine.  In the next blog, I will reveal my anorexic A.P that works like a champ on the Pit River!

The opener was a good one on Fall River, with a lot of fish being taken in the first two days.  The weather was awesome, the bugs came off in good numbers, and the  fishing pressure was light. We took a lot of fish swinging, with the fishing eating just about everything that we threw at them.  After all…it was the opener!   The weather started to turn on Monday but we still took a good number of fish on top with a size 16 infrequent-hacklestacker.  A few fish were coming to hand with an aquatic-wasp dry.  The weather is supposed to improve as the week progresses, so the fishing will too.

A break in the weather

Fishing has been pretty good lately.  The Pit River is doing well,  not necessarily great but well enough to merit a trip or two on it.  The weather has been one of those things:  if you don’t like what is going on just wait ten minutes!   It has really had the bugs in a quandary.  Friday started out good but the snow hit by 2pm.  It continued to snow through Sunday.  Just as soon as the bugs started, the temperature would change and with that,  so would the specie of bug. The ones that worked best for us were the golden stone nymph and an olive caddis pupa.  The Lower Sac has been steady as long as you can compete with the boats.  Last trip out we had a good day with a number of fish over 17” and most of them were taken on baetis nymph.  I did a trip with good friend, Wayne Hoffer, on Baum Lake and it was most excellent.  After catching a great number of fish on the I-line and indicator, we took a lunch break.  By this time, the wind was blowing white caps on the lake.  We went back out and I noticed some splashy rises as a result of the the PMDs and  BWOs.  They were coming off so hard that it was almost a blanket hatch.  At that time, Wayne and I had the lake to ourselves with this great hatch going on.  The fish didn’t care one bit about the heavy wind we were experiencing; they just kept feeding!   Wayne cleaned up, hooking fish after fish on the dry – many of them being native fish.  Talk about being in the right place at the right time!

Brown Trout from Baum Lake

Unlike the economy, the fishing seems to be on the up-swing. I just fished Baum Lake with a friend of mine who works at Fall River Outfitters, the new sporting goods shop in Fall River Mills. The fishing was real good – a successful day with landing at least two dozen nice Browns! The Calabaetis have not yet started, but it won’t be long. The fish seemed to be very eager to take any nymph we swung or fished under the indicator. There was not a huge amount of fish on top but those that were there were taken easily with a Blue Wing Olive or a Pale Morning Dunn. Fish were at a medium-to-deep depth as far as nymphing goes. Another area we ran into a good number of fish was right in the weed beds at Baum. The intermediate line worked well when pulling a small Baetis Nymph. In addition, dead-drifting with a Midge under an indicator was very productive, with a lot of fish grabbing at the end of the drift as it swung straight. The trick of the day seemed to be staying on the go, moving around the lake, and not sitting in one place too long . A 6X tippit and a ten foot leader seemed to do the job. Keep in mind that Baum Lake is more like a big spring creek, so using tactics as you would do on Fall River or Hat Creek work very well there.

This is a rustic cabin nestled in the woods over by the McCloud...

Wow…what a season we’ve had!  We have fished through every type of weather from cold, rainy days  through 100 degree heat waves and every system in between!  The last few days have been warm, but for the most part I think we are well on our way to Autumn.  With Autumn comes the tail-end of our general season, so I thought it was high time to post an update on the Nor-Cal fishing…

Fall River- The Fall has been really good…we’ve picked up good numbers of fish, fairly good-sized, too.  To date, we have had a very prosperous fishing season on the ‘home waters’!  The Mahogany Duns are starting to come off and the dry fly should only get better as the season progresses.

Pit River – Just waded the Pit today – flows are higher than usual so the wading is a bit tougher but worth the extra energy for the fish we’re landing!  As a result of the higher flows, the number of anglers on the river is down quite a bit.  In fact, I’ve had the river to myself the last few times I’ve been out!

McCloud River- The McCloud is getting better…the October Caddis are starting to do their thing and it’s really working!

The lack of web updates is a positive result of my busy season!  Hang in there and keep on checking the site…as the season winds down I will be able to get more info out there to you guys.  Meanwhile, a quick email sent my way in the a.m is usually returned right away that evening so if you need more details between updates just send me a line!

Fall River has been kicking out some really big fish lately, and in good numbers. The weeds are starting to come up higher in the water column, which means the break-off has started. The days are starting to get hotter and longer, which also means the window on the dry fly fishing is starting to slow down a little. However, when one window closes another one opens, and so does the opportunity for other styles of fishing.

Here is one of my favorites….
Most people – if given the chance – will fish the dry fly over any other type of fishing. It is the number-one-requested method, no matter what river I’m working on. The main problem is that I see a lot of folks trying to fish a dry when the fish are not eating them. They keep casting and casting to a fish that is actually eating the nymph just under the surface so all that comes of it is a spooked fish and a frustrated angler, leaving a catchable fish with a tough-to-catch reputation. Being able to identify this “smutting rise” takes a little observation. Not seeing the fish’s head – or just seeing its dorsal fin – can be a dead give-away. Sometimes you may just see a boil. If you cannot see the fish physically eating the dry, chances are that is not what he is after, and you stand a good chance of spooking him. Instead, try swinging a soft hackle or the nymph of the dry that you see coming off to the fish. Cast the fly about five feet above the ring and let it swing through the ring of the fish. When it reaches the area where you think the fish are, you can either let it swing or give it some short strips. This can be done with a dry line and a small split shot or an intermediate line. You will catch more fish this way and spook fewer. Believe it or not, this will also elevate your catch rate with the dry by making the time you spend doing it more productive.

As a guide, one of the things that I dread to do the most is to come home late after guiding all day and have to tie flys!  So, I have learned to make them simple and fast… something that I like to call “guide patterns.”  This might be something as easy as using thread to tie the bodies of my midges or smaller drys.  Another ‘fast’ tip is to keep the glitz and glitter down in order to speed things up a bit.  One of the first things that I notice while looking into other peoples’ fly boxes is that they have a lot of over-sized and over-dressed flys.  There are usually nymphs that are too fat, streamers, buggers, caddis, and so on.  Whatever they are, the flys look like they came from the day spa salon before heading to some beauty pageant!   One of the flys that I frequently use on the Pit River is a Black  AP.  I tie it with a very thin body.  A good client of mine who was, at the time, taking a tying class from the originator, Andy Poyuns, once told me that I was tying it wrong.  When I turned a rock over and challenged him to find me something that looked like the one he had tied, he couldn’t find anything!   He did, however, find several nymphs with the same body shape and size as what then became dubbed the “Anorexic AP“.  Well,  this bit of info made its way back to my good friend Andy Poyuns, who promptly gave me a call on the newly-named “Anorexic AP“.  After explaining my two reasons for tying them in that manner – for speed and for actually matching what Mother Nature had already provided us with – he laughed and said, “Art, if it works for you then that’s all that counts!”  So just remember that when the glitz and glitter aren’t working, it may be time to get back to basics.

The major fisheries – Fall River, Pit River, McCloud, and Sacramento River system – seem to get hit with the majority of the fishing traffic. However, there are many out-of-the-way destinations that do not receive the fishing pressure that blue-ribbon streams seem to get. The fish may not always be as big, but they are as plentiful and just as eager to take a fly! As with all trout fishing areas, these waters are often hidden away in the back country. They may take a little more effort to reach but are usually well worth the time it takes to reach them, whether by car or on foot. The photos shown on this page are dedicated to a few of those not-so-well-known secret destinations, which I’d like to keep not-so-well-known! If you are looking for a different venue, give me a call and let’s get something set up.

Winter Walk on Hat Creek

Well, it’s hard to tell if winter is over or if it just hasn’t yet got under way! Whatever it is, these spring-like conditions have been pretty good for the fishing and fishing conditions. The Lower Sacramento is fishing well and Baum Lake is doing EXCELLENT! I took a drive up to Lake McCumber and there was still a lot of ice up there. When it breaks up enough to fish, it looks like the lake itself will be low. The Trinity River is in dire need of rain in order to get a fresh run of fish coming into it. I took a walk along Hat Creek today and the weather was beautiful! The creek was peaceful, which allowed the fish a chance to feed unmolested just below the riffle. This is normally the time of year when I’d be at my fly tying desk, trying to build up my stock of PTs, Pale Morning Dunns, Caddis Flies, Midges, Baetis Nimphs, and whatever else I would need for the upcoming season. But, since the weather has been so nice it’s hard to sit indoors and tie! SO for now I think I will leave the tying for the evening and plan a winter fishing trip on Baum Lake tomorrow. They’ve planted a lot of Rainbow Trout, which is a good fall-back when the native fish are hard to bring in to the fly. If the weather turns bad, you won’t find a better lake to do some Midging along with the great hatches of PMDs and Calabaetis.