Chico Local, Clear Water/Confluence Outfitters Guide, Idylwilde Sig Tier, videographer, and my friend Brannon Santos is making some sick videos...if you haven't watched his hex video below you need to!! for no other reason than you can make fun of me cause I am the guy missing all the fish....watch me pull the fly outta multiple fishes mouths.
His latest video is a promo video for Clear Water Lodge and not only is it amazing footage it features music written and recorded by me. If you have heard about this clear water place but have no idea where it is and what it is all about...check this video.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
Clearwater and some Rock and Roll
If anyone is needing a non fishing related weekend with a heavy dose of Classic Indie Rock save your pennies for this....Pavement, Sonic Youth, Spoon, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Ted Leo, SuperChunk, Yo La Tengo, Chavez....oh my God the Rock is over whelming. Like all the sick indie bands I never saw.
Alright back to fishing...Spent the last few days up at Clear Water and fished Baum, Burney, Fall, Hat...it was all good.
Fall: The hex hatch is going strong on fall and should go through August from what I hear. Calibaetis hatch is yet to start in the lower river but Trico spinners and PMD's are offering good dry fly fishing up river. The nymph bite has been going strong and fishing small nymphs under indicators catchs fish throughout the day.
Hat: The riffle is fishing good until about 10am. Trico spinner fall from about 8am to 9am will bring some fish fish up and then nymphing with small midges and mayflies is the ticket. Decent caddis hatches and Little yellow sallies bring fish up again during the evening. Skating caddis down in the flats at dark is the ticket if you wonder down stream.
Baum: is fishing great with good numbers of 10-12" wild and planted fish. fishing small attractor nymphs under indicators along weed beds and through the buckets is the ticket here. Find the current along weeds and you will usually find fish.
Burney: fish a stimi and a dropper above the falls and you will have more fun than you know what to do with. Go early though before the camera crowds show up and you become a photo op for the tourist.
No Striper news. I have been outta town and I had to take my boat in yesterday to get some welding done on it (no I didn't crash it, just up keep). I should get my boat back in a few days and I will hit the river like it owes me money so reports coming soon.
CHICO PEOPLE - if you have not checked the shows coming to chico here is a run down
The Hold Steady August 23
Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses Sept 16.
Also check out Brannon Santos's Videos as they come out. The video below is his newest. and yes I am the guy missing a lot of the fish, while chico rook Darren Deel is sticken'em on the front of the boat....total farm job. Brannon is a chico guide, sig tier for idylwilde, and a steelhead swinging nut job...also some of his newer videos will have some of my tunes in the them.
Alright back to fishing...Spent the last few days up at Clear Water and fished Baum, Burney, Fall, Hat...it was all good.
Fall: The hex hatch is going strong on fall and should go through August from what I hear. Calibaetis hatch is yet to start in the lower river but Trico spinners and PMD's are offering good dry fly fishing up river. The nymph bite has been going strong and fishing small nymphs under indicators catchs fish throughout the day.
Hat: The riffle is fishing good until about 10am. Trico spinner fall from about 8am to 9am will bring some fish fish up and then nymphing with small midges and mayflies is the ticket. Decent caddis hatches and Little yellow sallies bring fish up again during the evening. Skating caddis down in the flats at dark is the ticket if you wonder down stream.
Baum: is fishing great with good numbers of 10-12" wild and planted fish. fishing small attractor nymphs under indicators along weed beds and through the buckets is the ticket here. Find the current along weeds and you will usually find fish.
Burney: fish a stimi and a dropper above the falls and you will have more fun than you know what to do with. Go early though before the camera crowds show up and you become a photo op for the tourist.
No Striper news. I have been outta town and I had to take my boat in yesterday to get some welding done on it (no I didn't crash it, just up keep). I should get my boat back in a few days and I will hit the river like it owes me money so reports coming soon.
CHICO PEOPLE - if you have not checked the shows coming to chico here is a run down
The Hold Steady August 23
Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses Sept 16.
Also check out Brannon Santos's Videos as they come out. The video below is his newest. and yes I am the guy missing a lot of the fish, while chico rook Darren Deel is sticken'em on the front of the boat....total farm job. Brannon is a chico guide, sig tier for idylwilde, and a steelhead swinging nut job...also some of his newer videos will have some of my tunes in the them.
Friday, July 23, 2010
If you are not on the email List...
I hope everyone is having a great summer and has been getting out to do some fishing. It has been a weird summer with the late spring we had and all the water we have had this year. Many rivers and streams usually began to slow down this time of year as the summer dul-drums set in, but this year many are just hitting their peak. For the rest of the summer I will be spending most of my time on the L. Sac chasing stripers and the Lower Yuba fishing hoppers, but fall is right around the corner.
All this water is setting us up for a great fall and winter as salmon are already entering the rivers in good numbers and our fall steelhead will have plenty of water to follow them. I will be guiding on the Lower Yuba, Lower Sacramento, and Lower Feather River for both trout and steelhead. Egg bites began as early as mid September and go through December. As always my available dates are limited so look over the dates listed below and book early to get your first choice of dates.
Also check out my evening striper trips. While fishing for stripers is good all day on the Sac the best top water fishing is during the evening so on these trips we focus on fishing subsurface for a bit then as the sun goes down we look for fish smashing bait on the surface. If you have never caught a striper on a fly rod this is a great way to experience it close to home. These trips are $225 for two anglers and include gear and drinks. We meet at 4:30pm in Chico, CA and are fishing by 5pm and usually off the water about 9pm. Call For availability on these trips. Best fishing is July through September.
Available Fall Dates:
Sept: 11, 12, 18, 19, 25, 26
Oct: 2, 3, 16, 17, 23, 24, 30
Nov: 6, 7, 13, 14, 20-24, 27, 28
Dec: 4, 5, 11, 12, 18-23, 27-30,
Jan: 2-9
As always if you have questions about specific fisheries or what dates work best for you shoot me an email or give me a call.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Clear Water
Spent the last few days working up at Clear Water Lodge on the Pit River. I drove up Sunday early Afternoon to fish Lake Briton. This is the lake that Pit #3 comes out of and I have always heard that it had a really good population of Small Mouth and that fishing for them was pretty decent. One of those places I have been meaning to fish for years but just never made the point to drag the boat up and fish it.
That said I was glad I did. The lake is obviously full of water skiers and such but as you move back up into the Lake the structure is really cool. Lots of big weed beds and downed timber on the banks. When ever I fish a lake, especially a big inpoundment, I figure if I catch a fish I am lucky as it can take a while to get things dialed in and find fish on larger bodies of water. That said the fishing was great. I caught largemouth around the timber and smallies, carp, and blue gill around the weeds. Top water fishing around the weeds as the sun went down was really good and dragging streamers along with weeds prior to this was productive as well. Overall a really pretty lake and one that has a ton of fishing opportunities.
Working up at Clear Water is always a blast. Spent the 3 days with one client who was a beginning angler. Spent the first day fishing Hat Creek and Burney Creek throwing small nymphs and dries. Fishing was good as these bodies of water stay cool even when it gets hot based on the cold water springs that feed them.
One fun thing about Clear Water is based on the schedule if your clients don't want to fish after dinner you are free to go out and fish. So the first night there Ginno Bernero, Brannon Santos, and Darren Deel and I went out and fished the Hex Hatch on Fall River. While this hatch is epic the fishing lasts maybe 30-40minutes at best....that said I rose 5 fish and hooked none...my dry fly mojo was not happening. Darren landed 2 fish and Gino missed at least as much as me...while Brannon filmed and snapped some photos. Fun night.
Day 2 but the drift boat in at Baum Lake and fished the main body and then rowed up to the power house and fished. Again good day and a great opportunity for a beginner to hook up on fish. We did hook up in the power house on one monster fish that my client kept on for a good 5minutes until breaking him off as we were trying to get him up off the bottom - kinda hard on 6x and size #20 midges to much with a 20-25" 5+lb fish.
That night I went out with Jay Cochran a guide there and fished the Power House #2 riffle. Didn't really go off but I did manage to hook tons of dinker fish and a few nice fish on caddis dries.
Last day I took my client to the Power House #2 riffle in the morning and we were able to nymph up a few nice fish on small mayfly nymphs and even threw a few trico spinners as there were some fish up eating those. We spent the afternoon up in Cassel flats stalking fish in the channels and we were able to hook a few nice fish there as well.
Over all a good stay and really fun to watch a beginning angler get better over the course of a 3 day stay. I am home here for a few days and should get out striper fishing tomorrow then back up to Clear Water this weekend through early next week. Stay tuned.
That said I was glad I did. The lake is obviously full of water skiers and such but as you move back up into the Lake the structure is really cool. Lots of big weed beds and downed timber on the banks. When ever I fish a lake, especially a big inpoundment, I figure if I catch a fish I am lucky as it can take a while to get things dialed in and find fish on larger bodies of water. That said the fishing was great. I caught largemouth around the timber and smallies, carp, and blue gill around the weeds. Top water fishing around the weeds as the sun went down was really good and dragging streamers along with weeds prior to this was productive as well. Overall a really pretty lake and one that has a ton of fishing opportunities.
Working up at Clear Water is always a blast. Spent the 3 days with one client who was a beginning angler. Spent the first day fishing Hat Creek and Burney Creek throwing small nymphs and dries. Fishing was good as these bodies of water stay cool even when it gets hot based on the cold water springs that feed them.
One fun thing about Clear Water is based on the schedule if your clients don't want to fish after dinner you are free to go out and fish. So the first night there Ginno Bernero, Brannon Santos, and Darren Deel and I went out and fished the Hex Hatch on Fall River. While this hatch is epic the fishing lasts maybe 30-40minutes at best....that said I rose 5 fish and hooked none...my dry fly mojo was not happening. Darren landed 2 fish and Gino missed at least as much as me...while Brannon filmed and snapped some photos. Fun night.
Day 2 but the drift boat in at Baum Lake and fished the main body and then rowed up to the power house and fished. Again good day and a great opportunity for a beginner to hook up on fish. We did hook up in the power house on one monster fish that my client kept on for a good 5minutes until breaking him off as we were trying to get him up off the bottom - kinda hard on 6x and size #20 midges to much with a 20-25" 5+lb fish.
That night I went out with Jay Cochran a guide there and fished the Power House #2 riffle. Didn't really go off but I did manage to hook tons of dinker fish and a few nice fish on caddis dries.
Last day I took my client to the Power House #2 riffle in the morning and we were able to nymph up a few nice fish on small mayfly nymphs and even threw a few trico spinners as there were some fish up eating those. We spent the afternoon up in Cassel flats stalking fish in the channels and we were able to hook a few nice fish there as well.
Over all a good stay and really fun to watch a beginning angler get better over the course of a 3 day stay. I am home here for a few days and should get out striper fishing tomorrow then back up to Clear Water this weekend through early next week. Stay tuned.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
And then their were 2....
So with the birth of my second child (Boy:Beckett Hudson Brown) I have been a bit busy over the last week but have been guiding some and fishing on my own. Here is a quick run down.
Spent a few days up on the North Fork of the Feather River guiding and the fishing was great. Good until about midday and then slows a bit until the sun moves over the canyon and then the dry fly fishing can pick up as the sun goes down. Could numbers of 14-16" fish with a couple of monsters landed and lost. The North Fork is by far my favorite walk and wade trout stream and probably the most under fished freestone in the state based on the quality of fish and fishing. Most of our fish came on Jimmy leggs, olive birds nest, olive good and pleny's, Yuba Rubber leggs.
Also spent some time wading some creeks for smallies and that as always was productive and a great way to beat the heat.
Most of the fishing I personally have been doing and most of the guiding I have been doing is for stripers. Fishing has been for the most part tough. Lots of small fish but very few keepers and bigger fish caught. This is the case for everybody out there from what I have heard talking to many of my buddies that fish conventional gear. Not really sure what to make of it as every time I am out I see big fish blow up. So I know they are around just no one is catching them. Who knows...
Tomorrow I leave for 4 days up at Clear water lodge so report and picks to come...Over and Out.
Spent a few days up on the North Fork of the Feather River guiding and the fishing was great. Good until about midday and then slows a bit until the sun moves over the canyon and then the dry fly fishing can pick up as the sun goes down. Could numbers of 14-16" fish with a couple of monsters landed and lost. The North Fork is by far my favorite walk and wade trout stream and probably the most under fished freestone in the state based on the quality of fish and fishing. Most of our fish came on Jimmy leggs, olive birds nest, olive good and pleny's, Yuba Rubber leggs.
Also spent some time wading some creeks for smallies and that as always was productive and a great way to beat the heat.
Most of the fishing I personally have been doing and most of the guiding I have been doing is for stripers. Fishing has been for the most part tough. Lots of small fish but very few keepers and bigger fish caught. This is the case for everybody out there from what I have heard talking to many of my buddies that fish conventional gear. Not really sure what to make of it as every time I am out I see big fish blow up. So I know they are around just no one is catching them. Who knows...
Tomorrow I leave for 4 days up at Clear water lodge so report and picks to come...Over and Out.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Beckett hatched....
Beckett Hudson Brown entered the world yesterday at 12:41pm weighing at 7lbs 10oz and 20.5" long after a brief 1.5 hour labor. My wife is a beast - pushed for like all of 4 minutes. I have only witenessed child birth twice but it makes everything I previously thought to be bad ass that I have done look like playground moves. Both mom and baby are healthy and happy (though mom is a little beat up as to be expected) and will come home tomorrow.
Mom and Ollie Pre-Game
Ollie and Beckett Getting to know each other
Hard Day
In Fishing News....Spent last week on the L. Yuba and even the flows have been high (3200-4200cfs) fishing has been really good. The key has been the water clarity and the duration that the flows have been high. This has allowed for the fish to adjust and move into the new holding water that the higher flows have created. Very limited wading access at these flows but really fun float fishing as the river is basically a new river with all sorts of new holding water and spots. Hatches have been sparse to non-existent but nymph fishing has been good. Best Bugs have been Jimmy Leggs, Hogan's Yuba Pupa, Morrish's Olive Dirty Bird, Fox's Olive Pupa, and Hogan's Chubby Cousin, and Olive Birds Nest.
There are good numbers of golden stones around and I imagine if you hunt it out you could raise fish to a golden stone dry during the evening. Caddis hatches have been sparse and intermittent. There are few spots that I have had clients blind cast with Hogan's Yuba Emerger and we have risen a few fish in the afternoon but nothing that I would say constitutes good dry fly fishing.
I will be off the water through Sunday taking care of my wife, Beckett, and Ollie but will be back on the water Monday doing some striper and small mouth fishing. Plenty of reports to follow. Over and Out.
Mom and Ollie Pre-Game
Ollie and Beckett Getting to know each other
Hard Day
In Fishing News....Spent last week on the L. Yuba and even the flows have been high (3200-4200cfs) fishing has been really good. The key has been the water clarity and the duration that the flows have been high. This has allowed for the fish to adjust and move into the new holding water that the higher flows have created. Very limited wading access at these flows but really fun float fishing as the river is basically a new river with all sorts of new holding water and spots. Hatches have been sparse to non-existent but nymph fishing has been good. Best Bugs have been Jimmy Leggs, Hogan's Yuba Pupa, Morrish's Olive Dirty Bird, Fox's Olive Pupa, and Hogan's Chubby Cousin, and Olive Birds Nest.
There are good numbers of golden stones around and I imagine if you hunt it out you could raise fish to a golden stone dry during the evening. Caddis hatches have been sparse and intermittent. There are few spots that I have had clients blind cast with Hogan's Yuba Emerger and we have risen a few fish in the afternoon but nothing that I would say constitutes good dry fly fishing.
I will be off the water through Sunday taking care of my wife, Beckett, and Ollie but will be back on the water Monday doing some striper and small mouth fishing. Plenty of reports to follow. Over and Out.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)