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.

Quick Friday Report

Lower Sacramento River

The fishing is good to very good right now. Many of my buddies have reported ridiculous numbers and size of fish up through Redding and few steelhead lower in the river. The word is the egg bite is early 2000’s status and fish are chowing!!! Usually does not last long so book a bath tub to float down the river and get after it.

 Lower Yuba River

Flows are still up around 1000cfs and fishing is good. More and more salmon are moving up on redds, but fish still are spread out in the various types of water. Day and evening temps have cooled off drastically the last few days so the caddis hatch should slow a bit or be pushed to midday. Heard some good reports from a few buddies who likes to swing flies out on the river so with the higher water and the fish being spread out swinging flies is a fun way to fish this time of year. I like to swing smaller flies in olive or tan…Aram’s Little Kim in Silver, Hickman’s Skiddish Smolt , and the Partridge soft hackle flies have all pulled fish for me the last few weeks.

 Lower Feather River

There are great numbers of salmon in the Low Flow Section of the river with reports of steelhead mixed in. With all the salmon spawning in the riffles it can be tough to fish for steelhead but if you don’t mind loosing a few rigs they are mixed in there. The High Flow section came up to 6000cfs for about 8 days and now is dropping, down to 4789cfs as of today. Once the flows in the high flow get down around 2500-3000 it is time to get out and fish the high flow. The flow drop should suck steelhead and salmon up river. Mid October through thanksgiving is going to be good on the feather this year.

 Available Dates:

Oct: 21

Nov: 10, 11, 18-21, 25

Dec: 2, 8, 9 14-16, 19-23, 27-31

Broad Ranging Report with other random news...

Fall Fishing is off to a slow but steady start. Weather is suppose to cool off over the next few days and I even saw some rain in the extended forecast. This should help kick things into gear. With all the salmon in the rivers we should see spawning salmon through November and fishing on the L. Yuba, Feather, and L. Sac should be good to great through the end of the year.

 Lower  Yuba – Flows are higher then usual this time of year. The egg bite is slow to start but there are salmon up on redds and trout behind them in a few areas. There are also plenty of trout still holding in bug water eating nymphs and feeding on evening caddis hatches. Look for fishing to be good through the end of the year.

Lower Feather – The low flow and high flow has TONS of salmon in them. Talked to a few people whom have gone over and fished the feather and they had trouble fishing the riffles with all the salmon. The flows in the high flow should drop soon and fishing through out the river for fall and winter steelhead should get going.

Lower Sacramento – There are a ton of salmon moving up the L. Sac this fall and many have made it all the way up to Redding and the egg bite should get going any time now. Fishing on the L. Sac for trout on steelhead should be great this year through the first of the year.

Fall and winter are great times of year to get out fishing. Below are some available fall and winter dates. Also check out hgb fly fishing on facebook.

Nov: 10, 11, 18-21, 24, 25

Dec: 1, 2, 14-16, 19-23, 27-31

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

New Toons for dark drives to the river and lonely drives home in the twilight

Fall always signals  a lot of new music. Not sure if it is the approaching holiday season or just the approaching dark and rain that make artists realease new albums. Here is my list of must listens:

Out Now: Patterson Hood “Heat Lightning Rumbles in the Distance” , Band of Horses “Mirage Rock” , Mumford and Sons “Babel” , Ryan Bingham “Tomorrowland” , Dinosaur Jr. “I bet on sky”

Oct. 16 Ben Gibbard “Former Lives”

Oct. 22 Gary Clark Jr. “Blak and Blu”

Drinks that were at one time illegal due to the Volstead Act

Time to go dark on the beer and the water…

I cracked a bottle of 18year Glenlivet the other night and bought a 12 pack of Sierra Nevada Tumbler. Tumbler is a great fall beer and there is nothing bad about 18year glen. I have yet to buy a handle of Jameson but a few more weeks and I am sure it will be sitting top shelf in the pantry.

Fall/Winter Drinks

 God’s Team

Yes the Irish are 4-0 and ranked in the top ten. It is a great feeling!!! We got a bye week and then we got the convicts of Miami at Soldier Field. Great to renew the Catholics vs. the Convicts bowl. 

Lower Yuba Weekend

I spent this weekend out on the Lower Yuba guiding. I have not been out in a few weeks as I got the flu that turned into bronchitus and a double ear infection...I was a mess. Fever like an acid trip and snot production that would rival a day care. Finally got my feet back under me this last week and after rescheduling a bunch of trips I got back out. 

Lower Yuba is hanging just over a 1000cfs. This is a good and bad thing, but I think the good out way the bad. Usually by now the flows have been dropped to around 700-800cfs. This seems like a trivial difference, but it makes a huge deal. Good things are there is plenty of water for the fish to spread out in the runs, flats, riffles, and banks. This is a huge deal as it provides plenty of options for wade fishermen and boat guys and even with boats and waders on the water one can always find fresh spots if you know where to look. Once the water drops to 700-800cfs it turns into a riffles/runs game and the fish get pounded by wade and boat guys. Making it tough if you are not getting first licks on a run. Tough part about the flows being what they are is the salmon are slow to get going and seem to be few in number. I think the higher flows have pushed more fish up above the bridge then in previous years and fish are holding in the deeper water both above and below Daguerre, moving up river at a much more leisurely pace. Most years when the water drops from summer flows to 700-800cfs it forces the salmon up river in a big push and out of the holes into the riffles to spawn all at once. This results in the trout packing into the riffles and gorging on eggs for about 2weeks. Resulting in an epic egg bite of about 14 days and then fishing gets pretty tough.

Based on what I have seen over the last two days I love this flow and program the river seems to be on. There a few, and I mean a  few – like 2-3 spots, salmon up on redds and where they are on redds there is fish behind them chowing eggs but in other spots fish are holding in bug water eating bugs. Really what it boils down to is there is a lot of options for how someone can fish the river and I think good fall fishing is going to last longer and be more consistent then previous years. Add some of the best caddis hatches of the year during the evening and you have some great fishing.

Also word on the street is the low flow and high flow on the feather are packed with salmon which has the makings of a great steelhead season over on the Feather.