Lower Sac: October 16 and 17

The Lower Sacramento is in FULL swing, the egg bite is on and fish are keyed in to the program. On the 16th I floated Anderson to Barge and felt that the upper river was a little slow. We hooked a few fish here and there, but it wasn’t quite red-hot. There were several spots where the fish were stacked up and we had a good time picking them off one by one. Once we headed over the white water below Ball's it was on, we hooked 12 or more right away. We continued to hook sweet 'bows for the rest of the float; almost every spot we fished gave us a fish to fight. Once we got into the Barge area we were able to sneak in behind the other drift/jet boats and stick a nice steelhead (pictures to come) out of the "hole". Overall the day was good, the afternoon sealed the deal. Great weather (for sun tanning), great clients and crazy tout...

Today, the 17th, I floated Ball's to Jelly's and was pleased with the fishing. I had a cool father and son team that tackled the big waters of the Sac for the first time. The dad, Kenny, was fairly new to fly casting... especially the Krusteez, 2-3 flies and 2 spit shot and I must say that he did a great job. After figuring out the fly cast we quickly got into fish. His son, Justin was rifling off casts in the back of the boat and nailing aggressive slabs. All in all we landed enough fish to loose count and hooked enough to last a year. Justin and Kenny were a dynamic team that fished hard all day and were handsomely rewarded.
Thanks to all for two awesome days on the Sac.

Tomorrow, I will be on the Sac again, then on to the Feather. Stay tuned!

Yuba: October 13, 2008

She gave us glimpse of glory! Overall fishing was slow, however, we did managed to hook some fat 'bows and LDR'd a few more. There were still very few eaters over the course of the river. One of the last runs of the day really produced. We landed 4 or 5 and hooked 6 or 7 out of one run. It sure is nice to have a few crazy moments in the day like that.

Flies that worked: Eggs, poxyback stones, pt's...

The Yuba is improving. Flows appear to be dropping a little.

Yuba: October 12, 2008

The Yuba showed her temperamental self to us. She threw us for a major curve ball not yielding very many hungry fish. As you may have read the fishing was great over the last few weeks, and then things came to a screeching halt. I guided Rob Elam as we pounded the water with indicators and spey rods. We worked every nook and cranny and threw the kitchen sink at them, with limited results. We managed to hook a few on egg patterns, but not much else. I will say that we did not mind the slow fishing, we had a blast working different spey rods with different lines, playing with flies and generally working hard to crack the code. We were accompanied by other boat who also drew up a blank... crazy river. The salmon continue to stack up and cut more redds, it is only a matter of time before fishing is back on!

Flies that worked: Kitchen Sink, color: stainless, tied by Moen

Gotta love the Yuba-

Putah Creek: Ocotber 11

Adrian Psuty and myself lead a group of 4 anglers through the trails of Putah creek in search for resident and migratory trout. We did a half-day and were able to stick several dozen resident rainbows. Many of them came on larger mayfly and caddis patterns. We fished many smaller insects with little success. The flows were great (280cfs) and fishing pressure was low for a weekend. Fishing this creek can be fun if you get water to fish.

October 8, Guide Day Off-

A much needed thing in the world of guiding. Spent time at Costco, cleaned the boat, stocked up on terminal supplies at Kiene's and then did what any normal guide would do... fish. I hit a local piece of water with a 2 weight and hammered some awesome wild rainbows!

Lower Sac: October 7th

Floated Anderson to Barge and found good numbers of fat trout eating with authority. Right off the bat we hooked several smaller fish on tiny mayflies. From there I was able to maneuver the boat into a tight run and hammer on a few monster slabs. It is fun when we find fish balled up looking to chow. We has a blast as we whacked fish throughout the river. We did not get a clear shot at the barge run so we spent time in the "hole" and was not able to prick any chromers. Maybe next time!

Pictures to follow soon.

Flies: Usual Suspects!

Gotta love that river!

Lower Sac: October 6th

Our day on the Lower Sac was great, we had very clear, warm conditions that kicked off a few hatching caddis and several active fish. We floated Bonnyview to Anderson and found fish scattered throughout the whole float. I would say that fishing was not red-hot, we went through several nice runs with no grabs; however, there were plenty of spots where the fish were schooled up and anxious to eat. I was a little disappointed in the number of spawning salmon in that section, with a little time we should see full redds. My clients Barry and Linda Allen were a pleasure to guide, we spent plenty of time taking in the rays and solving the world's problems. All is all another great day on the Sac.

Flies: Amber wing prince, fox’s poopah, eggs, micro mays, gidget and PT’s

Chillin'
you get the idea