Kiene's Expo

I will be at Kiene's Fly shop in Sacramento from 9 am - 6pm.

Come on by and check out all the sweetness.

On The Water...

I have been guiding on our local waters recently and I am happy to say that fishing has been good.

American: April 1oth marked the first striper/steelhead trip of the season with clients and I am happy to say the we were successful. The weather for the day was not exactly pleasant with heavy rain and colder temperatures. Fortunatly, the muck only lasted a few hours just in time to allow our fingers to warm back up. While stiper fishing we managed to get 3 awesome grabs with clousers and one striper to follow the fly. On the metalhead side, we landed 3 hot, chrome steelhead in the 18-21" class. All and all a good day. I expect to see more steelhead and stipers pour into the river everyday.

Yuba, April 11: The Yuba showed her gentle side to us as she gave up plenty of fat 'bows and a few nice steelhead. Fishing was good all day as fish "keyed" into over a dozen different patters. The river was VERY busy with anglers.

Yuba, April 13: Today she showed her uglier side... We did manged to hook a decent number of trout, however we worked very hard to get them.

Downstream Fly Fishing Updates

DownStream 2009
We are getting closer...

Date: April 24, 2009
Location: 6851 Marysville Road Browns Valley, CA 95918 - MORE
Time: 10 am - 2 pm
Show up times: volunteers: 9 a.m., participants: 9:30 a.m.

Volunteer: If you would like to volunteer, please contact me ASAP
I need volunteers for:

1. Casting
2. Tying
   
3. Art
4. Bugs
5. Fish Pond
   

Lunch: Lunch will be provided If you are a volunteer or are a participant. We will have a full crew of cooks preparing a great lunch.

You are also more than welcome to just come and check it out.

American: Spring cherome

Had a great day with clients on Monday. Floated the top armed with Watchit indicators, various nymphs including caddis and plenty of cooperative fish. We hook a good number of super charged chrome rockets the gave us plenty of action throughout the day.

The fish we are catching are a little different than what the American normally gets. They are not what I would call blue-backs, these guys are all hatchery, slender, huge tails and fresh. Blue-backs are usually wild, football shaped with a distinct light blue color.

It is time to get out there with your favorite caddis patterns and see what's swimming around.

Fishing Report: Yuba, 2 days

Guided the Yuba Tuesday and Wednesday and had some great days. Clients Ken and Peter waged war on the selective trout on the almighty Yuba. I am not usually a number counting kinda guide, however, this time we counted. In two days we hooked 42 rainbows, landing over half of them. Most of the fish were over 16" with at least a dozen fish 18-21". We hooked fish with several bugs including stones, eggs, March Browns, pt's, princes, and caddis.

Dry fly activity was nill, nada, nothing... We did see a salmon fly though, woohoo.

There are some great pictures coming and I will post them soon.

These were two incredible days with great clients to boot.

Stay tuned as my guiding calendar is FULL through mid May. I will be posting reports as often as possible.

Economic Meltdown Special

If you have not heard... get a guided trip for $200!

Read about it

Here are the current available dates: April 16, 21, 22, 23, May 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14

Many of these dates are already being pursued, don't miss out on this deal!

Indicator Clinic

I ran another indicator clinic for Granite Bay Fly Casters and once again had great weather and awesome students. We split a whole day between an indoor and outdoor classroom.

Topics covered included:

1. Looking at direct and indirect indicators
   
2. We looked at a systematic approach to on-stream analysis called the G.R.I.D. (contact me for more info on this)
3. Rigging
4. Casting techniques
5. and how to fish with the indicator
   

I teach this class to groups of any size and individually. It is the most comprehensive look at fishing with indicators in the area.

Thanks to Bill Carnazzo and Granite Bay Fly Casters!

Guided Trips: Deal of the Century

New Homepage

The Facts: We are in the middle an economic predicament

My Goal: Spend as much time on the water guiding as possible

Your Goal: Fish hard, learn something and save money

My solution: Full-day, guided trips for $200 (8-10 hours) - SAVE 50% of regular rate

The Catch:

1. Lunch is up to you, I will have a cooler.
   

2. Please bring flies, tippet and leaders. I will have everything needed to supplement your selection.
   

3. Selected availability
   

4. Selected rivers
   

Trips that qualify for the deep discount are by no means second rate trips, you will get my unquestionable dedication and full attention.

If you would like the full treatment, I will still offer full-day, first rate trips for the regular price of $400

To get started, check out my online calendar to check available dates. When you find one that works, CONTACT me and I will get you dialed in.

DownStream Fly Fishing

I have begun the exciting task of setting up DownStream Fly Fishing 2009! This is an annual event that features both adults and children with Down Syndrome. The event will take place on April 24, 2009 just outside of Marysville near the Yuba River.

It is my hope that through fly fishing, children with Down Syndrome can improve coordination, fine tune motor skills, boost social skills and attain a sense of accomplishment while having fun. Additionally, my goal is to include family members in order to promote family activities in an outdoor environment.

2009 should prove to be our greatest event yet. We have secured a private facility with multiple ponds teaming with eager trout, bass and panfish. Students will have the opportunity to tie flies, learn to cast, get into fish art and hook a fish! We are working on assembling the most talented and qualified volunteer staff possible to coach our students. I am also excited to announce that we are working with Trout Unlimited.

More details to come.... If you are interested in donating ANYTHING, please contact me for ideas.

If you would like to attend please contact me, this will be an invite only event.

Thank you for your support,
Ryan

Guiding on the Swing

I was able to guide quite a bit last week and had a string of great days. One of the more memorable days came off the incoming front. Armed with a plethora of spey rods, lines, tips and flies; client Steve and I combed the clay stained water of the American. We were successful, we managed to get ripped in one of our first runs! Steve landed it, a nice 23" steelhead, she fell for a 3" black tandem tube fly... gotta love it!

Steve did a great job of covering the water, staying in the face of potential grabbers. He managed a few other tugs for the day.

All in all it was a great day, swing on!

Complete Indicator Class...

February 19 marked one incredible day!

In conjunction with Granite Bay Fly Casters, I put on an in-depth, full day class dedicated to insights on fishing indicators. Myself and over 20 members were able to do a two part class where for a few hours we hid in a classroom and dove into the nuances of fishing with an indicator.

After lunch we met on the American River where we were able to attack the common issues related to fishing, specifically casting, indicators and heavy setups needed for larger rivers.

We will be doing this again on March 7, 2009, and although this class is currently full, we may be doing another one due to popular demand. Also, if you belong to an organization that would be interesting in this program feel free to contact me. Look for pictures from our March 7th day!

There's more! In mid April, again with the support Granite Bay Fly Casters, I will be teaching a class dedicated to fine points of swinging flies. This will be an all day event with both classroom and on stream surroundings.

For any inquiries please contact me for more information.

Now is the time to refine-

13 for 20...

American river: one angler, 3 days, one huge indicator, eggs and 20 hookups...

The American still has good numbers of fish in the system. Last week I had one client hook 20 steelhead over 3 days. About half of them were fresh, spunky chromers that took us plenty of finagling to land. We hooked a few fish that were in the 10 pound range and an awesome sight to see.

I have not seen any "blue-backs" yet; however, I know they are out there. This is a great time of year to get out and swing flies, you have a good shot and hooking late winter-run plus ultra hot blue-backs.

American RIver: The Study of Swingology

Thanks to Andy Guibord for taking these photos and to Jason Hartwick for fluffing up a few fish. This fish ate a 2.5" mess of marabou.

Jason and I going over the plan

Jason loading up to launch

If you are in need of a good photographer Andy Guibord is your man, send him and email to see what he is all about.

Grabs are rad...

American Metalhead ate a big 'ol nasty tube fly... Thanks Hartwick!

American: Monday the 16th

Had the pleasure of guiding Rob and Sam and we put the screws to 'em. Overall we hooked enough fish to last a week! We managed to land a few fish in the 3-5 pound class... pictures to follow. We worked the water meticulously and found some very aggressive fish. They were still on eggs and various small mayfly patterns. We had almost perfect weather with light rain most of the day and a few brief downpours. The wind was a little intense, but we pushed though and prevailed. All and all a great day, good company, cooperative fish and great weather. Thanks boys!

With all this rain, look for a boost in steelhead fishing everywhere!

Also, it is time to hit the Yuba. I will be guiding out there all next week.