Update

Some what normal spring early summer fishing is finally getting under way. While most mountain trout rivers and streams are still raging with run off, the valley tail waters and low elevation lakes are really turning on. Late June and the month of July are looking like they will be the months to chase trout in the mountains. Run off and high water should subside by then and the fish should be HUNGRY!!!

As everyone looks ahead to July I still have plenty of dates available and this will be a great time to get out on the North Fork of the Feather, North Fork of the Yuba, the Pit, or many of the mountain streams and creeks around chico…and of course Striper fishing on the Lower Sac outside of chico, Hopper fishing on the Lower Yuba, or Trout fishing on the Lower Sac as well…July is going to be a good month!!!!

Right now though…

Lower Sac outside of chico:

Shad are starting to show in catchable numbers. Fishing was turning on last week with the warmer weather, but this weeks cold front has kinda slowed things down a bit. Stripers are around, both migratory and local, and fishing should improve with some warmer weather. Small/Large mouths are starting to move on to beds and get active in the sloughs and creek mouths with last weeks warmer weather. Carp are around, but kinda in a funk with all this warm then cold weather.

Lower Sac Trout:

Trout fishing has been good from Redding down to Jelly’s Ferry. I have spent most of my time from Bonnieview down to Balls Ferry. Good mixes of caddis, PMD’s, and little yellow and golden stones in the lower river. Spring is a great time to be on the river as the temperatures are mild and the fishing is good.

Lower Feather:

There are good numbers of spring steelhead in the Low Flow Section of the river up through the hatchery. Fishing has been good one day fair the next, there are some nice sized adult fish in the river along with some fat hot half pounders. Fishing should remain good through the month of May.

Lower Yuba:

Remains HIGH…as I have said for months…when it drops it is going to be GOOD!!! Prepare for the best hopper year of all time!!!!!

Open Dates:

June 14-16, 30

July 1-3, 6, 11, 12, 14-17, 20, 22, 24, 26-31

New Manchester Orchestra CD

I love this band and their new CD comes out next week but with work you can solve this puzzle and stream the whole thing...http://www.columbiarecords.com/simplemath/

Check it out.

reports...new flies...giants can't hit

Spent sat and sun. guiding. Saturday took a really nice guy and great angler out on the lower feather for spring steelhead. Many of my buddies had been getting double digit hook ups on half pounders and a few adult fish. Fishing was tough for most of the morning. Tried both caddis and mayfly nymphs that usually produce and nothing. There was a fair number of boats on the water and people wade fishing so wasn't completely convinced we were fishing fresh water (which is pretty key I think on the feather). About half way through the drift we hooked a monster in deep water. Ran up river, down river, circles...you name it. This was the guys first steelhead ever and he did a great job fighting the fish. Got the fish up close to the surface and saw it go side ways...looked about 26-28" easy and about oh 5-8lbs conservative. Big fish. did the dance around the boat a few times and just couldn't get the fish up...then the hooked pulled out...bummed but great fish and glad we saw it...some times the ones you don't get to see that seem big haunt you. Hooked a nice half pounder later in the day and missed a few others so not a bad day.

Guided the Lower Sac from Anderson to Balls Ferry on a group trip with my good buddy and new dad Ryan Johnston. Fishing was good. Bite was a bit tough in the morning and my guys struggled a bit as the fish were really taking the fly soft. They got a few to the boat and missed a ton. After lunch though they turned it on. We got down into the lower float and started hitting the clay banks where the fish seemed to get a lot more grabby. Ended up boating around 20-25 fish - I am not a counter, I work in generalities, like fair, good, epic...you know general. I would say it was good. Hot bugs were big jimmy leggs in coffee and sucker spawn. Couldn't get the small bugs dialed in. there was a bunch of caddis and PMD around early and then in the afternoon the little yellow sallies and golden stones were out in force.

I am also tying up samples of my 2012 flies that are going to come out. I am pretty excited about a new mayfly nymph (PMD and BWO) that will come out and a line of dry flies (golden stone, skwala, hopper) Both i have been working on for a few years now. Once I get the first run of samples back from idylwilde I will post some pictures.

In other news that giants are down right terrible right now. I am not to worried outside of Pablo getting hurt. They will not hit this terrible the entire season and the Rockies will not play this good all season either...so they will be fine. I do worry about Pablo though...a month off is not good sense he is the only one hitting the ball. Also I would hate to see him put weight back on.

have watched the Notre Dame spring game a few times over and over as well. Convinced we are on the right track and am really excited about our new recruits. Great D Line and Ends plus great QB battle going on between 4 legitimate studs. Back out on the river this weekend. Over and Out.

The news...

It has been a while sense I have posted something so here is what I have been up to and what the fishing forecast looks like.

As many know I coach Varsity baseball at Hamilton High School so I have been pretty busy through out the week coaching, taking long bus rides, yelling at kids (in a completely constructive way – though some are 18 years old so they are not really kids), kicking dirt at umpires (I have yet to get tossed this year – I average about 1-2 a season and have gotten pretty close a few times – I blame the umps, they couldn’t pull the trigger), throwing a golf tournament to raise money for our program, and trying to win a league title and get a number one seed in the playoffs with 2 weeks of games left….Busy would be a nice change of pace….baseball season borders on chaos

Fishing kinda takes a back seat during baseball, but I do spend most weekends guiding or fishing on my own. I have been guiding a few days on the Lower Sac for trout and fishing the Lower Sac outside of chico on my own. Lower Sac for trout up around Redding and Anderson has been fishing fair to good. PMD’s and Caddis hatches have been pretty decent on most days and fish have been pretty active around midday through the afternoon. The Lower Sac down through chico has been slowly coming to life. The backwaters are warming and clearing with small and largemouth getting active as well as carp starting to move into the shallows. I have hooked a few stripers up through chico and more and more will show up and get active over the next few weeks. Weather forecast starting this weekend is low to mid 80’s so fishing will jump into gear on this part of the river over the next few weeks. I haven’t heard of any shad being caught yet but I can’t imagine it is to far off with the warm weather next week.

The Lower Feather is still kicking out good numbers of spring steelhead and should remain consistent for another few weeks. I haven’t had a chance to get out there but most all my buddies have and are catching fish on a regular basis. The Lower Yuba is still a torrent of water bouncing between 7000-10,000cfs and I can’t imagine the warm weather coming doing anything to lower the flows.

While the trout opener is this weekend there is not much around chico that is fishable. The North Fork Feather and its tribs are raging and while I have my raft ready to go when the river becomes fishable I am not holding out hope for anything until the mid to end of June. Should be a great year for fishing the North Fork though and I can’t wait to take my raft down a few of the stretches once it becomes fishable.

Fall River and Hat creek I am sure will fish well on the opener, but will be packed with people, as those may be the only legitimate games in Nor Cal. I will most likely be on the Lower Sac for trout or stripers this weekend so no mountain stuff for me. It is starting to look like July will be the month for trout this year. Most streams are going to take a while to come down and become fishable and will not likely stabilize until the end of June or first part of July.

That is the scoop. More reports and photos to come in the following weeks….

Nice day but still a bit early

Spent a few hours out on the Lower Sac this last weekend. Main river was still high and pretty muddy. About 6-12" of visibility. Threw some flies around for stripers but with high water there was not a lot of water to fish. I did find a few fish deep back in a few sloughs and creeks but fishing was not on fire. Even the sloughs were off color and a bit cold. Flows have dropped substantially over the last few days and fishing should improve this weekend. I did have to cancel my trips out there this weekend as I wasn't really convinced fishing was going to turn on with some cooler weather forcasted this week.

Striper fishing on the feather outside of Boyd's Pump is turning on but crowded. Sac through redding has been fishing good but slowed down a bit sense last week. Feather up by Oroville has fair number of spring steelhead in it. Lower Yuba still is pretty high around 3900cfs but there is a few spots you can stick some fish.

Still have dates available if anyone is interested in upcoming shad, striper, or trout fishing shoot me an email or give me a call.

Rivers are Dropping

Sac is dropping to around 13,000cfs this weekend and is scheduled to be down to 9250cfs by April 12. Trout fishing up through Redding should be really good this weekend and only get better once the flows drop and stabilize.

I am going to head out to the lower river around chico and see how the smallies, Largemouth, carp, and Stripers are fairing. I will post a report following this weekends expedition(s). The flows through chico will still be high as all the run off from up river tributaries is still coming down. That said high water opens up many sloughs, creeks, and back waters along with moving migratory stripers up river.

The Lower Feather has also dropped through the low flow down to 750cfs (normal flow is 600cfs). The high flows should of moved some spring steelhead up river and changed up many of the riffles and runs. I am going to try to float the low flow as well this weekend and see what is going on. April is prime Spring steelhead time on the feather and this section of the river should be turning on any day now.

The Lower Yuba is still high. hovering around 5000cfs. I am holding out hope for a drop in flows shortly, but with all the snow melt I am not holding my breath. Once it gets down around 4000cfs there are opportunities to catch fish and the fish will be hungry. This may be a late spring on the L. Yuba, but this summer may be one of the best in recent years on the river with all the water and hungry fish.

Spring fishing should be getting going this next week as the Lower Sac and Lower Feather are going to be coming into prime shape

Available dates
April 23
May 7, 30
June 1, 2, 6-10, 12-16, 23-25
July1-3, 6, 11-22, 24-31.

Atleast the sun is out....

Beautiful weather this last week but still no where to really fish. The Yuba has threatened to drop to fishable levels but the Sac and feather remain torrents of water. I have talked to a few guys that have floated the yuba and found fish on the edges and a few spots but it is a short float. Good news regarding the L. Sac though as the river is scheduled to drop to 26,500. This is fishable but I don't get to pumped until the river gets around 20k. and both Cow Creek and Clear Creek drop and clear. That said this should bring the river in the lower stretches around chico down enough to make it safe to get the motor boat out. I am gonna get out late next week and see how far back in some creeks and sloughs I can get to hopefully find some clearer water for bass and carp. Might even be some stripers along the bank in the main river.

Also going to get out and check out the Oroville afterbay along with a few other valley empoundments to see what the clarity and water looks like as the spotted and large mouth bass should be turning on pretty soon with this warm weather. That said the wind has to cooperate with those ventures so we'll see how that pans out. Other then that GO GIANTS!!!!