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 … [Read more...]
Snow in April Evens out the Fishing
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 … [Read more...]
A Day on 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 … [Read more...]
Fall Fishing Update
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 … [Read more...]
Big Trout on the Fall River
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 … [Read more...]
Small, Thin, and Simple Flys
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 … [Read more...]
“Off the Beaten Path”
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 … [Read more...]
Spring Fever in Northern California
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 … [Read more...]
Northern California’s Winter Trout
It seems like after the general trout season is over, people put there trout rods away and head for their favorite piece of steelhead water. Last year the Northern California river of choice was the Trinity River with a run of some 60,000 fish! The only thing that could equal that was the number of anglers that showed up to fish it. This season, however, the fishing on that river has been more realistic and back to normal. Steelheading is a lot like duck hunting. If the birds aren’t down … [Read more...]
Winter Fly Fishing on the Pit and Lower Sacramento Rivers
Ninety percent of the people fish ten percent of the time and ten percent fish ninety percent of of the time. Don’t be part of the crowd that puts their equipment a way in the winter. There is still some excellent fishing to be had at this time of year, the Pit River, upper Sacramento River and lower Sacramento River are open year around and offer you a great opportunity for winter fishing. The Trinity River is a sure bet for some winter steelhead. Also, there are a number of lakes in the area … [Read more...]