Holiday Hangover and some fishing

So my kids eyes are clearing up and they are starting to see straight again after about a week of new toys, massive amounts of sugar, long car rides, happy meals on the road, and complete christmas stimulation over load. Christmas is officially over as my wife took down the decorations and the tree has been relegated to the curb to be disposed of by the local boy scout troop in Lake Oroville as a new home to hopefully a clan of large spotted bass. I took some time off last week for christmas and to go see some family but got back on the water yesterday.

Conditions in Nor Call are a little rough right now but with no rain in the forecast conditions should pick up soon. I had Sunday and Monday booked and was lucky enough to get out yesterday, but my clients for today were set on fishing the Lower Yuba and after hearing how Ryan did yesterday I pulled the plug on that.   Here are some reports to fill everyone in...

Lower Yuba dropped Dec 29 from 4000cfs down to 3000cfs and has about 1-2" visability. Deer Creek is holding steady around 180cfs. This is not bad conditions, but the fish pod up at these flows and if you can't find the pods it can be a long day. If the flows stay at 3000cfs for a while the fish will move into higher flows holding water and fishing can really be fun as these spots are really fun to fish. Ryan got his clients into some fish but by no means was the day great. With no rain in the forecast I imagine the river will drop again here shortly and gain clarity on a daily basis so fishing should pick up by later in the week. Wade fishing at 3000cfs is not really an option so if you are looking to get out and wade I would think about going somewhere else.

Lower Sac The Deeler and I took a drive up to Redding Saturday to pick up my raft and looked at the Sac at various spots. The Sac around Red Bluff is border line fishable as most of the tributaries are pumping clear water and this offsets the off color water coming out of the lake. I think the lower floats on the Sac are going to be an option here pretty shortly.

Butte Creek is PERFECT!!! clarity and flows are great and the flows are slowly dropping. Prime steelhead conditions.

Feather River - the top section above the hwy 70 bridge opens tomorrow and at 1600cfs the low flow is going to be pretty tricky up there to get around. Ryan and I have been scouting a top put in with the raft to be able to float this section so at 1600cfs I think that is going to be the way to fish this. I guided the river yesterday and flows are high and clarity is about 1-1.5". It is a different river up in the low flow with 1600cfs coming down. Wading is not really an option in most of the runs now and the fish are spread out. We hooked 12 fish yesterday and all were nice fresh winter fish so there is still fish in the system and moving up river. Most fish ate big attractor glo bugs and alvins.

So far it has been a tough winter with all the water. I saw this graphic on a local weather site...kinda puts the whole winter in perspective so far.

lots of water for this summer

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Another year of guiding, fishing, rowing, hiking, laughing, untangling, un hooking, early morning drives to the river, late night drives home, rivers, creeks, lakes, ponds, trout, stripers, shad, steelhead, a few suckers and pike minnows, large mouth bass, smallies, carp, and some of the best times of the whole year.

 As the rain pours down here in chico and we are cleaning house and getting ready for our family Christmas I wanted to thank all of you for another great year and wish you all a happy holiday and a great new year. Take some time to fish and hang with your family. No one has ever done to much of either of those as far as I know.

Enjoy the holiday. Fish some. Hang with family. Enjoy life. 

6 days on the Lower Yuba

Lower Yuba in the winter...my favorite place this time of year

I have spent the last 6 days on the Lower Yuba guiding. It has been at times cold, wet, windy, and misserable but the fishing through it all has been great. I had planed on splitting my time between the L. Yuba and L. Sac but with the Shasta blowing out and the Sac pumping mud I moved all my days over to the Lower Yuba. The River dropped to 1300cfs on Weds and by Thurs had about 6"-1' of visibility. Not bad conditions...really the kind where it could be really good or really tough. Fortunately it was really good. Clarity improved through Monday each day then the flows doubled overnight between Monday and tuesday and deer creek blew out. By Tuesday morning flows were around 3000cfs but deer creek was dropping and clarity was about like it was on Thursday, so we went for it. Ended up being one of the best numbers days I have ever had on the L. Yuba. Spent 4 hours in one run hooking fish after fish after fish...pretty silly.

Yuba Fatty

22" of Yuba Love

 Here is what I have found over the last few days on the L. Yuba. Fish are podding up when the flows jump and clarity becomes an issue. As the river cleared through Monday fish began to spread out and we were catching fish in various types of water. Thurs-sat and again on Tuesday fish podded up and were holding in very specific types of water. Most days we  hooked ridiculous numbers of fish but many were in the 12-14" range but there was a few 16-18" fish mixed in and even some big winter steelhead hooked and even fewer landed. Bottom line the river is fishing pretty dam good right now but as always with the Yuba as flows change and clarity changes things can go from great to tough any day. Caught all of our fish nymphing with eggs and big attractor flies but as the water cleared we did get some fish on #14 PT's and mayfly nymphs that were a bit over sized for the naturals that are around.    I would think that swinging flies would also be a great option if you can find a pod of fish as they are pretty damn grabby right now and we hooked fish on when we swung out our nymph rigs at the end of drifts pretty regularly.

24" of Yuba Steel

Close up...Awesome fish

Overall it is a great time to be out on the Lower Yuba and there is plenty of fish around to be caught. here are some dates I have open over the next few weeks if anyone is looking to get out. Book now and get my 2012 rates as I will be raising by rates come Jan 1, 2013

Dec. 31
Jan. 2, 3, 12, 13, 19-21

Lower Sac Weekend

I guided the Lower Sac saturday and sunday and was pretty happy with the fishing. December is traditionally a big fish month on the Lower Sac. Not huge numbers of fish but great numbers of big 20"+ Rainbows and the occasional steelhead. The sac was a nice olive/brown/green this weekend with about 1-2' of visibility. It looked much more cloudy then it was as I would stick my oar down and see it easily at 1-2' even though I would have thought it was about 6" of visibility. The turbitity on the sac is a bit weird I have come to find over the years.

Saturday we floated from Posse to Bonnieview and with the flows around 4500cfs it allows you to really work all the nooks and crannies of the runs. Fishing was great we lost some big fish and landed some big fish and as always there was a good mix of 16-17" footballs mixed in. My clients hooked fish on egg patterns, rubber leggs, better baetis nymphs, and various PT versions. The same day ryan johnston fished Bonnie to Anderson and just fished a double bead rig all day and had about the same results I did.

Sunday I decided to bite off a bigger float and went from Posse to Anderson. Had to move faster but fishing was about the same as Saturday so kinda nice to see some different water. Hot flies were pretty much the same and conditions were about the same as well. Had a new angler in the front of the boat so we lost a few more fish then saturday but always fun to help a new angler out and see them improve throughout the day.

The Lower Yuba dropped last night 2800cfs and deer creek is down to 53cfs. These are plenty fishable flows but I am not sure what the clarity is like coming out of the dam. At 53cfs Deer Creek is a non issue so it is more about the clarity of water coming out of Englebright. I would assume that there is still some color to the river but I would think it should fish here pretty soon.

There is some light rain forecasted for Wednesday and Sunday but this shouldn't change much with regards to flows or clarity on any of the rivers.

Lower Sac Pig

Lower Sac 

Lower Sac 

Face shot...

With regards to the Heisman...just make it an offensive award. I have nothing against Johnny Football...except the Florida and LSU games where he stunk it up and the fact that he is a freshman. Manti should of won and I think deserved it as a Senior. That said I watched Johnny's acceptance speech and it was a total class act, Kudos for that Johnny Football.

Pre Weekend Report

So the Lower Sac has come into shape this week and I will be guiding up on the upper floats the next few days. Cow Creek still seems to be pretty high so that will keep me above Anderson but by Monday or Tuesday it could clear up. Word on the street is that the river has been fishing good even with some color.

Lower Yuba is still high hanging around 4400cfs but looks to be dropping slowly. Deer Creek is under control hanging around 100cfs and slowly dropping as well. I imagine the Yuba is still a week or so away from clearing up. I don't fishing it around 4000cfs but clarity with all the water coming down through the reservoir I imagine will be an issue for a bit.

Butte Creek has come down and is at a manageable 654 cfs and slowly dropping. This is a great flow for the creek and one that offers a lot of fishing opportunities. Great flow to float and swing flies....which i will be doing both out there soon.

In other news....if Manti T'eo does not win the Heisman tomorrow night I will ask the Heisman Trust that they make it officially and offensive only award. Manti cleaned house last night at the annual college football awards but I really think he should win the Heisman compared to a frosh and a QB who choked against a .500 Baylor.

Also I am pretty pumped for the new ESPN 30 for 30 movie this Friday on Bo Jackson. If you grew up in the 90's and played sports you know the NIke ad campaign Bo Knows...you had the poster with him in shoulder pads holding a bat across his back, bought a KC Royals hat just because of BO, and may even of had a pair of Bo Cross trainer Nikes.

In booze news... my pockets have not been lined with tip money for good booze the last two weeks due to blown out rivers and xmas time so I am relegated to the section of the grocery store I have picture below...when in doubt I go with the High Life.

When in doubt go for the High Life

Rain and California Fly Shop Tying Day Report

Unless you timed your winter bonefish/Caribbean holiday perfect (and kudos to you if you did) you have been living through some pretty serious rain/snow/wind in Northern California. The North State got hammer by like 3-4 major storms back to back flushing everything from my street to the Lower Sacramento River and every little creek and drainage ditch in between with massive amounts of water.

The Lower Yuba has gone up to 15,631cfs as of right now...with deer creek dumping 10,200 cfs...So the Yuba only has to drop like 12,000 cfs or so and Deer Creek needs to drop like 10,100 cfs and its time to go fishing. Little discouraging...that said it should drop over the week and hopefully should be fishable in the next 1-2 weeks...Hopefully.

The Lower Sac is blown out below Clear Creek and I am sure it is off color all the way up through Market St and the Posse Grounds. Hopefully the stretch between Posse and Cow Creek will clear over the next few days with no rain and if the Yuba is not in shape next weekend at least the Sac will be.

Butte Creek...16,900cfs....only needs to drop 16,100 cfs to be fishable...Pretty sure there are trout and steelhead in people's back yards at 16G's.

So...Perfect weekend for the California Fly Shop in San Carlos to have a big fly tying event right. I rallied down early Saturday after filling up the gas tank and getting some burger king breakfast. Talk about a white knuckle drive, the wind and rain was ridiculous. I would have liked to save on gas and taken my little commuter car but I figured if I was going to get blown off the road or crash Frank the big gas guzzling Ford F250 would be safer...Driving Frank also furthers my commitment to domestic oil drilling and middle east peace as I cringe every time I fill up his tank for a long drive.

The whole California Fly shop knows how to throw an event. By the time I got there around 10:00 am the event was getting started... There was well over 10 tiers and for the better part of 2-3 hours I could not see up from my table as there was people surrounding me watching my table tie, asking questions, and BS'ing. Clam Chowder, some great bread, and beer were all served to all attendees...that said I barely had time to eat between answering questions, tying, and making sure I spent some time with all the people that came or had questions. I was also pleasantly surprised to see so many kids there interested in tying and fly fishing in general. The California Fly Shop has a ton of gear stuffed into their store for the xmas season. Great fly selection, TONS of all the latest Simms Gear, and tons of gadgets and little items to stuff the stockings. Over all it was a great event and Xav, Victor, Karen, Alex, and all the Cal Fly Shop crew know how to through an in store event. Thanks to them and all the people that showed up to  be part of it. More importantly thanks for supporting your local specialty fly fishing retailer!!!!

Up coming dates and Fly Tying Day

 As we move on into December Here is what is coming up…

Lower Sac is moving into its winter season as most of the fall salmon are dying off and the trout are moving from the redds back into what we call bug water. Winter is a great time of year to fish the L. Sac. It is traditionally when we catch some of our biggest trout of the year along with some nice winter steelhead. I prefer to fish lower in the river this time of year when conditions allow and we even occasionally run into some dry fly fishing during midday baetis hatches on some of the flats lower in the river.

Lower Yuba like the lower Sac is moving into its winter season. Fish are moving from the redds into bug water and are starting to eat some small flies. There is still a few caddis sputtering off on warmer days and the first wave of baetis is hatching as well. As we move into to December we will start to see the true BWO’s coming off and some of the more technical dry fly fishing of the year will be available. With a few more rains we will see the river dirty up a bit and we will be able to fish some big nymphs and nymphing should pick up. I have already hooked the first big winter steelhead of the season and these fish while few in number start to show through December. Swinging flies is an option in the winter as well as the salmon smolt get bigger and fish are more willing with a bit of color to the water to hit a streamer.

Butte Creek is open and I have already hooked two nice adult steelhead in the lower creek. December and January are usually the best months to float or walk and wade this little gem for both trout and winter steelhead.

The Feather River is still cranking out some fresh steelhead and should fish through the end of November into December. If you did not get a fall steelhead this year yet there is still a few weeks left I think on the feather to get your fish before they start focusing on the spawn.

I have a few winter dates open and would love to get some people out. Here is a list

Dec. 19, 21-23, 31

Jan. 4-7, 12, 13, 19-21, 26, 27

California Fly Shop’s Fly Tying day

I will also be part of the California Fly Shop’s Fly Tying day this Dec. 1^st. There will be a long list of good tiers

Hogan Brown

George Bouvoin

Ken Brunskill

Ben Byng

Elaine Cook

Bob Davis

Captain Kevin "KD" Doran

Scott Hoff

Gene Kaczmarek

Dave Kruss

Dave McCants

Mike McGuire

Steve Potter

Walt Robinson

John Ryzanych

Bill Scharninghausen

Clifford Sullivan

Chris Walters

The event starts at 10:30 and lasts all day. Parking & lunch are free.

California Fly Shop

985 Industrial Road, Suite 106

San Carlos, CA 94070

650-508-0727

www.CaliforniaFlyShop.com

Fishing and the fighting Irish

Spent a few days sense the last report guiding the Lower Sac and the Lower Yuba. Fishing was fair to good at times but for the most part the fish seem to have entered their late fall funk. Pretty much gorged and feasted on eggs for like 4-6 weeks and now are just hunkered down watching some football and digesting. We did catch fish on both rivers and winter fishing should get going in the next few weeks and with that the fish will get into their winter mode.

The Lower Sac was a bit off color when I fished it so we had to head up and do the Possie to Bonnie View float. We hooked and landed some really nice fish but we did have to work for them. Most were hooked on small midge and mayfly nymphs in the 18 variety. We did hook a few fish on attractor egg patterns and beads. We did find most of our fish in bug water and not sitting in the redds but there are still some fish hanging in various redds. I would expect the river to be tough for a week or so more and then the baetis will get going and the fish will get feeding again.

Lower Sac 20"

Lower Sac piggy

The Lower Yuba had great clarity late this week. I would say fishing was fair. Again like the sac most of our fish came on small mayfly and midge nymphs. Fish seemed to be holding in bug water and the fishing did seem to be better in the upper river. I tend to think that fish move up river this time of year following the late run salmon and looking for eggs that still may be around...that or fish in the lower river just go into a food coma. We did get some fish on caddis and saw a few fish feeding on the surface but nothing consistent. I don't think we got one grab on eggs even when fishing behind some fresh winter salmon cutting redds in the lower river. I am sure the fishing can be good on any given day this time of year but I think as we move into to december fishing will get more consistent as baetis hatches become more regular and fish move into their winter haunts and routines.

The IRISH!!!!
Yes the Irish finished up 12-0 against USC last night and how fitting that the season ended with an 8 play goal line stand. I was fortunate enough to be watching the game with my dad and two boys. While this puts us into the National Championship for me the undefeated season is the real prize. Without a playoff I can't feel that any team is a true "National Championship"contender. I would love to see a playoff with Oregon, K-State, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, and Notre Dame...then we would see who the Champion is. Either way I hope last night solidified Manti's bid for the Hiesman and I am ready for the best time of year...college bowl season!!!!

A Short report and a day off...

Guided the Feather yesterday on a two boat trip with Darren Deel. Fishing was fair to good. Both our boats hooked around 5-7 fish. We floated from Oroville Park down to Palm and hooked fish throughout the river all the way down to Palm. The fish we landed were clean looking fish and seemed on the fresh side. Definately not colored up fish that had been in the river for a month or two. This is good news as on most years by this time we are hooking fish that have been in the river for a month or so. Good to see some fresh fish and fish spread out through the high flow as well. Many years by thanksgiving the fish are all up in the low flow and look like they are getting ready to spawn. From the looks of it there will be some decent fish around through the end of November.

I had today (tues Nov. 20) off before getting back on the water tomorrow and went and waded butte creek. The creek had come up with the last rain and droped back into the shape this last weekend. I figured with the rain coming in this afternoon the creek would come up again, maybe even blow out, so this was a good window. I fished low in the creek right above the diversion dam figuring there might be some steelhead that moved up in the last few days. Lucky for me there was, I caught a nice buck and nice hen in two different runs. Both were great fish about 17-20" and fought like hell. Covered a ton of water to find them but well worth it. Good to see some fish moving into the creek early in the season and good to see some early rains. Might be able to get some raft trips in on the creek this winter.

Gonna get back on the river tomorrow...have to see what the rain does to see where we go.

Small Stream Buck

Butte Creek Wild Steelhead

Wild Hen

Pretty Special Place

Long Weekend Report

Fished the Lower Yuba and Lower Feather this weekend. Lower Yuba fished surprisingly well. Many years this time of the fall the fish go into a protein coma where the sulk on the bottom full of eating eggs for a month making fishing tough. This was not the case the fish seemed to have moved into their winter holding water...more bug type water...and are eating pretty actively. There was a decent size 14 light mayfly hatch and a few caddis hatching midday that brought a fair number of fish to the surface. Looked to be pretty good dry fly opportunity but my anglers were just learning the sport and still working on the whole nymphing game. We caught most of our fish on egg attractors and small mayfly and caddis nymphs and pupa. I was really happily surprised about how the river fished and excited for my coming trips out there.

The Lower Feather was another story. We floated from Oroville Park to Palm Ave and after last weeks multi boat trip where everyone hooked multiple fish and there was still great numbers of salmon around I was expecting a good day. I was surprised after the first few runs by how many salmon had disappeared...it was Jim Jones rolled through with the cool aid and everyone was drinking. The upper low flow is nearly devoid of salmon from what I saw with a few here and there as you move down towards the outlet. The high flow had a few here a few there as well but I would say it seemed river wide that 90% of the salmon are gone. This more then anything moves fish and mixes things up. We managed a few fish but nothing like it has been. The feather is an option all the way through the first part of January but the hot fishing of Oct early Nov is ending fast.

In other news...Notre Dame moves up to #3 in the BCS with the loss by the Tide...How great was that to watch. Texas A&M beat the tide. Notre Dame had a work mens like win against Boston College which was nice after the scare last weekend. We got Wake Forrest this weekend then wrap it up with USC. Things are looking good!!!!

Mid week news/late weekend report

I filled this weekends dates with 2 dates on the Feather River for steelhead. Fishing was good. There is fish spread throughout the river eating eggs and nymphs. Mostly where there are salmon spawning fish are eating eggs and where the salmon are beginning to thin out they are sitting back out of the shallower  water eating nymphs. The first wave of salmon seems to have died off or atleast moved into the "wondering the flats like zombies" phase and the second wave of salmon is up in the riffles sitting on redds. Egg fishing should continue for a few more weeks but it seems the salmon are thinning out quicker then I expected...that said there is still a ton of them.

I have not heard any reports on the L. Yuba but I am sure it is still fishing well. I will be out on the Yuba at the end of this week so I should have a better idea about what is happening out there then. The flows did drop down to 925 cfs but this is still higher then the normal 7-800cfs.

Notre Dame took atleast 6mos to a year off my life this saturday night as they barely and I mean barely squeaked by 4-4 Pitt...what the hell boys. Go into Norman and put 30 on Oklahoma and then it takes 3 overtimes and the grace of good to beat a 4-4 Pittsburgh team. This week we travel to face a 2 win Boston College team that usually plays us pretty well so who knows what to expect.

Got some great new music this week .... Got the New Further Seems Forever CD. Normally I would not have bought a new Further Seems Forever CD sense all their singers have sucked sense Chris Carraba...well Chris is back in the band and this CD takes right off where The Moon is Down left off. Brings me back to 2001 really quick.

Thats it for now...

Last minute cancelation

I just had a client have to cancel this weekend Nov 3 and 4 due a family emergency. These are prime dates and I wanted to offer them to everyone as many have tried to get out with me this year and I have been booked up. Feather steelhead is going off with double digit hooks ups the last few days I have been out there, the lower Yuba is fishing great with options to swing flies, fish dryflies, and of course nymph with egg patterns, the Lower Sac egg bit has been the best it has been in years...plenty of great fishing and rain forecasted weds and thurs which will mix things up and make for a great weekend of fishing. Shoot me an email or give me a call if anyone is interested in these dates. 

Weekend Report

So a huge weekend for my 2 teams. The Irish stormed in to Norman Oklahoma and put 30 points on the Sooners winning 30-13 and silencing the critics!!! This moved them up to #3 in the BCS points right below Alabama and K State. A couple weeks of mediocre teams that cannot be overlooked then a thanksgiving weekend road trip to USC........

AND of course the Giants SWEEPING the Detroit Tigers...I am not sure I even doubted them after watching game 1. I was a nervous wreck through the division series and NLCS, but after watching game 1 and 2 in the World Series I saw no way they could loose. Detroit looked comatose at the plate and when Zito and Bummgarner shut them down I had no doubt Voglesong and Cain could deal with that line up. Granted we got some breaks but as Jim Leland said the best team one and breaks don't lead to sweeps. I am not going to go spend a ungoly amount of money on memorabilia...

Nice wild Feather Hen

On to the fishing...I spent the weekend on the Feather fishing from Oroville down to Gridley area and fishing was great. There is a TON of spawning salmon throughout the river. Most fish in the Low Flow are up on redds and dropping eggs. Steelhead throughout the river are keyed in on the egg drop. In two days we did not catch one fish on a bug. All eggs. Some riffles are still very difficult to fish due to the numbers of salmon and fish in these riffles are dropping back to gorge on eggs. Areas with lower numbers of salmon the steelhead will get right up behind the redds in the nearest good holding water. Overall it was a great few days with good numbers of 18-22" fish with a few bigger ones landed and lost. Fishing on the Feather should remain good through October and well into November.

Nice Feather River Buck

I still have a few days in November available for fishing on the Feather, L. Sac, or Lower Yuba. November and December are great times both on the L. Sac and L Yuba for baetis hatches and winter steelhead as well as butte creek opening up Nov. 15. With strong salmon runs and some early rain this year steelhead fishing and trout fishing this winter should be good.

Open Dates

Nov. 18, 20, 21,

Dec. 9, 15, 16, 30, 31,

Jan. 4-6, 12, 13, 19-21, 26, 27

Friday Report

Up in Nor Cal here we got some serious rain this last week and the sun has come out over the last day or two and the temps are suppose to warm up this weekend. Personally I will be on the L. Feather the next few days chasing steelhead. Not sure what floats I am going to be doing but the eggs should be dropping and the steelhead should be chowing.

Got some new Switch Rods I am going string up for the next two weekends. Gonna string up both with   new Echo Ion Reels and Air Flo Speydicator Switch Lines - These things are great price point reels and great for the price at $79.99 - 99.99.

Echo Ion Reels

The Rods will be Echo SR 10'10" 6wts and Scott 11' 6wt L2H Rods. I have dodged the whole switch rod thing for a few years now. Mostly as they are not the best tools to fish out of the boat and there are not a ton of options for swinging flies around ... plus I have seen people hook fish on them that don't even bend them...but after a trip this summer to the McCloud with Ernie "the grizzly bear" Dennison and watched what an easy time our clients had nymphing the bigger runs with a switch rod I have decided to get on the band wagon.

Scott L2H

In other Friday News I must say the new Sierra Nevada "the Narwhal"Imperial Stout is pretty freaking yummy. It is taking the place of "Hoptimum." Great mix of coco and coffee with a thick dark stout...drink or eat with spoon but beware it is well over 10% alcohol and I usually can only do 1-2.

New Logo

Been working with Faizal at Dragon Graphics in Chico, CA on some new logos for shirts, stickers, and hats. Here is the first one

Weekend Report

Busy weekend on many fronts…

Lower Yuba - Spent Saturday on the Feather. Feather is full of salmon from the top all the way down to Palm. We floated from the outlet to Palm and then came back up and floated from Shit House to the Outlet. The high flow fished well. We hooked good numbers of steelhead, breaking off a few, loosing, and landing a few as well. There were decent numbers of salmon up on redds in  all the normal spots. I still think there are still a lot of salmon staging in the deeper water and below the riffles to move up and spawn. The Low flow is full of salmon, more then I have seen in years. The first push of salmon have filled the riffles in the upper stretches spawning and sitting on redds while the next wave is schooling up in the riffles and staging below them in the riffles. Past Mathews it seemed that most fish were staging in the riffles and had not dropped eggs yet. This is a tough stage as the salmon are REALLY aggressive and will hit any egg that comes their way. We lost probably 40 rigs trying to fish through many of the low flow riffles, salmon after salmon slammed our eggs. We did manage to hook a few fish lower in the low flow, but not as good as the high flow. This rain will change things and I expect in the next few days the whole river should really get good.

Overall though it is a late start to things on the Feather which bodes well for a long season hopefully stretching into December for the whole river. Hot flies Eggs.

Lower Yuba – Lower Yuba has gotten a late start as well, but finally there are good numbers of salmon up on redds from about mid river down. The overcast weather Sunday really helped keeping the trout up on redds longer through the day. Where there were active salmon there was good numbers of fish behind them. There were some caddis and grey drakes around as well and if you wanted to fish some dries there are still a few opportunities. We didn’t get many fish on bugs as we focused more on egg water.

Most Importantly GO GIANTS AND GO IRISH!!!!!!

Some new Fall/Winter Gear

Fall means many things...one is it is usually time to get some new gear. Fishing shrits are getting a little stanky and stained, I sweat a lot in them all summer and like my sandwiches with lots of mustard and mayo dripping out. Also I always need to replace some warmer clothes and check out what new fall clothing is out from Simms. Also it is always time to get some new rods for the fall and winter.

As a Scott pro staffer I am fortunate enough to work with a great company and put some of the best rods around in my boats. I picked up 2 A4 9ft 6wts for trout nymph fishing and throwing big dries out of the drift boat. 9'6" are great for wade fishing or nymphing out of the boat where longer casts and bigger drifts are needed but a 9' stick is nice when clients are just fishing 10-15' off the boat. I think begginners have an easier time swinging the indicator rig around on a shorter rod to...who knows though we'll see how it goes. I also picked up an A4 9'6" 6wt for steelhead season to compliment my S4's. The A4 is a great middle range rod and a great value for the dollar.

I also finally bought a switch rod...now I have not been a huge switch rod guy. I love spey fishing and have plenty of spey rods but the switch thing just never excited me. That said I fished one a few days this spring and summer swinging flies for shad and steelhead and I must admit it was pretty fun. I picked up a L2H 11' 6wt for the feather, Yuba, and Butte Creek this fall/winter. I have not matched it up with a reel or line but will most likely throw the Airflo Speydacator line on it.

A Few New Arrows for the Quiver

I have also become a Simms Fishing Products Ambasador. I started my fishing carrear wearing Simms gear and then wore some other companies for a while and in the last few years have come back to Simms and believe they make the best gear around. Just this year I was lucky enough to become a Simms Ambassador and will start working with simms in a formal manner to help design and create even better gear. That said I picked up some new cold weather gear for the coming weather.

The thing I am excited the most about is the New Fall Run Jacket. It is made with Prima Loft synthetic down and is super warm and super light...and most importantly you will not look like the Michelin man wearing old school down.

No more Michelin Man

I also picked up one of the new Kenia Shirts. I love this thing as it is a great fall fishing shirt. It has the sun protection benefits of Core3 technology but it is a bit thicker so a cold breeze does not just blow threw it and some new kind of fibers they created help trap heat.

I also picked up a new boat bag. The Dry Creek Boat Bag in size large. This thing is big. I love it as I now can carry everything not just fly boxes in my boat bag, I could stuff a few layers in there or what ever else I may need. It is a given to say it is completely water proof - any boat bag has to be.