Here we come Fall

It is going to be hot this week in Nor Cal but the days are getting shorter, salmon are in the rivers, and fall fishing is right around the corner. Here is what is going on right now and what is coming up…

The Lower Yuba is still around 2300 cfs and mid summer fishing is going strong with good nymphing during the morning and then on most days we are throwing hoppers against the bank from lunch on. All the big fish are coming on hoppers fished tight to the banks with a few 18-20” fish taken on dries over the last few weeks. This has been by far one of the best hopper years I have seen in my life and we still have a few weeks left of it I imagine.

We are seeing a few salmon in the river in the deeper holes and I expect the river will began to drop in the next month or so pushing more salmon into the river. The upper river will close August 31 and the egg bite on the Lower Yuba usually begins the last two weeks of Sept.

The Lower Sacramento for trout has been fishing very well in the lower river from barge hole down to Bend. The lower sac down low is a great mid summer fishery and even with the opening of salmon season down through here fishing has remained strong. Two of the best days I have had down here were the salmon opener and the day after the salmon opener. I have already hooked my first fin clipped steelhead on the L. Sac and August and early September are the time to chase steelhead down low on the sac through Los Molinos before the fish move into the tributaries.

Striper Fishing is going strong with good numbers of 4-8lb fish being caught. I have seen big fish but the biggest I have seen hooked are in the 11-15lb class. Striper fishing on the L. Sac should remain good through mid September but Right NOW is prime time and top water should be getting good any day as the weeds just showed up in the last week.

Lower Feather has plenty of salmon in the river and is shaping up for a great year of steelhead fishing. Prime time on the Lower Feather is Oct – Mid November. If anyone has the urge to tangle with a king salmon now is the time to go wade the Low Flow for catch and release king salmon fishing.

Butte Creek: While butte creek is more of a winter steelhead fishery its salmon run enters the river during the summer and from what I have heard and seen on a recent drive salmon returns are looking really good. Now we need some strong early winter storms to get the steelhead up.

With big salmon returns and good water levels this fall and winter should be great for both steelhead and trout fishing. If anyone has any questions or wants to book a trip give me a call or drop me an email.

Open Dates:

Aug: 26^th full Day. Evening striper trips ($225 for two anglers) 23, 24, 27, 31

Sept: 2, 3, 15, 16, 22, 23, 29, 30

Oct: 6, 7, 20, 21, 27, 28

Nov: 3, 4, 10, 11, 12, 17-21, 24, 25

Dec: 1, 2, 8, 9, 14-23, 27-31

Up date

Ya it has been a while I know…Don’t judge.  I have been busy guiding, fishing, sampling fermented brews of sorts, playing music, and working on Cast Hope related stuff (www.casthope.org). Chico is in the midst of summer and fishing is good for those willing to get out and do it. Here some reports, ramblings, and declarative statements.

Lower Yuba River has been having a great summer. One of the best hopper years I have seen with great dry fly fishing throwing hopper patterns midday through the evening. Nymphing has been catching a few fish but most of the fish seem to be on the banks and not hanging in the riffles where most people nymph. Flows are hovering around 2200cfs so wading is a challenge and most of the fish have been catching are not in areas that are easily fished by wading. Ryan Johston had a client streamer fishing the other day and caught a few nice fish on streamers as well.

Lower Sacramento Trout fishing has been good on the lower floats from Barge Hole to Bend and I am thinking about going down lower this week as there should be some steelhead showing up soon, if not right now. The Sac should only start to fish m’’’’’l’river.

Lower Sacramento Striper fishing is good. With the opening of salmon season down through chico many of the stripers have moved out of the deeper water and are up on the banks chasing bait. As the shad have disappeared the stripers have gotten more grabby and both fishing subsurface and top water is catching fish. Now through August should be good to great fishing for stripers.

In other news…

Go buy the new Gas Light Anthem CD “Handwritten” …. Great American rock band. If you want a sampling check out this concert they did a the Ed Sullivan Theater.

http://www.cbs.com/late_night/liveonletterman/the_gaslight_anthem/video/?pid=0Ao51MeXfTWnwbR8AFs6fWg8pXt5KLTd&vs=Default&play=true

Update

Summer is here after a nice week of cool weather the forecast for the chico, CA area and most of the central valley for the coming week is HOT. High 90’s even some triple digits later in the week. This should get a few things going and slow a few things down a bit but there has been plenty of good fishing around Nor Cal.

Lower Sac Stripers - Fishing is just getting going as the shad are still around in enough numbers to where stripers are not that interested in a clouser. That said we have caught some nice fish but they are few and far between. Over the next weeks striper fishing should pick up as the shad thin out. I have already seen fish moving into their normal summer haunts smashing bait or cruising. Mid July through August is going to prime time for stripers.

Lower Sac Striper from Monday

Top Water Bass Fishing - Top water bass fishing on the river and various spots has been good. Some nice bass have been caught over the last week by my clients. Bass are in their mid summer mode and evening fishing has been good. Great time for an evening bass trip.

Lower Sac Top Water Large Mouth

Lower Yuba River - The nymph grab has been fair but the dry fly fishing has been good to very good depending on the day. Hopper fishing during the afternoon and evening has been getting better and better with some of the biggest fish of the day coming on hopper patterns. We have had numerous 18-19” trout taken on the surface over the last week. Caddis hatches have been sparse but there has been a few mayflies around but nothing that brings big numbers of trout to the surface.

NF Feather River - is fishing good. Fishing a dry and dropper during the evening and nymphing during the day is catching the most fish. One of my buddies has been really putting the wood on some nice rainbows up through the canyon. Great place to go and get out of the heat.

Hex hatch - Hex hatch is going strong up on Fall River and the Hex hatch on Lake Almanor is a bit slow to get going. LOTS of people and not a lot of bugs makes for slow fishing.

Lake Fishing - Sierra Lakes are a great place to get out of the heat and catch both rainbows and brow trout. There countless great lakes that hold both planted, hold over, and wild trout for the fly angler and that I spend time guiding. Pull buggers on a sinking line during the day then look for the calibaetis, Damsel, or Hex to hatch during the evening.

I still have a few dates available through August so if anyone is interested in getting to chase some stripers, bass, or trout shoot me an email or give me a call. Don’t forget to add hgb fly fishing on face book for the most up to date reports and posts.

Open Dates:

July 22, 23, 25-27, 31

August 1-3, 7, 8, 14, 25, 26

Fishing Report

I am about to start a good stretch of guiding up until July 4th so I thought I should get a fishing report up. It has really cooled off the last few days in Chico with day time highs around 80's. Makes for great weather and a lower PG&E bill as we don't have to burn the A/C all day and night but has kinda tweaked with the fishing a bit. Here is a run down on what has been happening...

Lower Yuba - Spent Friday on the Lower Yuba, the day it rained and felt like march, and fishing was pretty good considering the weather shift. Fished big dries about 50% of the time and nymphed the rest. Suprisingly caught our biggest fish on dries which was really cool. There are a ton of hoppers around but with the cool temps they weren't to active. With some warmer weather the hopper fishing should go off and the normal caddis and PED hatches should get going.

Shad - are still around but the pods have gotten smaller, the females are spawned out or of the smaller variety, and most of the fish I have been catching are small males. This usually means the back end of the run unless you want to chase them up to red bluff. So time to move onto stripers

Striper - With the shad thinning out the striper fishing should pick up as they now will have to look for another food source. I went down lower in the river to Butte City last week and got into a few but so hopefully the chico area will start to pick up as the shad thin out.

Bass - Top water bass fishing has been fair/good on the river and on some of the private waters I guide. Some warmer weather though should help really get the summer bass bite going.

I will be spending time over the next week on the Yuba, Sac, and NF Feather so nice long report to follow. Get out and fish.

DISCOUNT DAYS!!!!

I have had to postpone a family trip due to some un-foreseen circumstances. This has opened up some last minute dates. I am going to offer June 22, 23, 24, 26 at a discount. $300 for a full day guided trip or $225 for a half day trip for 2 anglers.

Full day includes lunch/drinks, rods/reels, and flies. Half Day includes snack/drinks, rods/reels, and flies

Here is what is available to fish.

Lower Yuba - trout fishing has been good. There are plenty of hoppers and golden stones moving around to throw dries searching out opportunistic risers. Fishing nymphs as always has been catching fish and there has been decent evening caddis and PED hatches. On cooler days there is still a decent midday PMD hatch as well. Great time of year to be on the L. Yuba.

Lower Sacramento - Shad fishing is tailing off as the schools are getting smaller but fishing is still fair and with the tappering off of the shad striper fishing will began to pick up. Top water Largemouth and Smallmouth fishing has been good to great in the evenings as well.

NF Feather - This is prime to walk and wade or float the North Fork of the Feather for trout. Both tight line nymphing and dry fly fishing is catching fish.

Top Water Bass trip - Great time for an evening top water bass trip on various public and private venues.

Dates are first come first serve. Hope everyone is having a great summer.

Yuba Report and What is coming up.

Things are warming up!!! 104 this weekend. July fishing is looking good and there are a lot of exciting things coming up. 

Lower Sac outside of chico - Shad fishing is about peaked and while there are tons of shad still in the river to catch we have seen some slower evenings lately. Good news is we are starting to catch a few stripers and top water Large and Small mouth fishing is getting good. Late June through mid august is great for stripers and top water Large and Small mouth. Salmon season opens mid July and if it is anything like last year we will be catching good numbers of salmon as well through the summer on flies. Lots to do out there!!!!

Lower Sac Trout - Trout fishing on the L. Sac has tightened up but should get going again as the weather cools down next week. Mid summer trout fishing on the sac can be very good even with the hot weather. 

Lower Yuba - has been very good and should see a great july. There are a ton of hoppers in the bushes and this heat over the next couple of days should force them down to the river. July is going to be great hopper fishing on the Yuba as there are more hoppers in the bushes then I have seen in a long time. Fished the river 2 days last week inbetween shad days and hooked some nice 18”+ fish on golden stone dries and hoppers along with good numbers of fish on nymphs. The flows are up and going to get higher over July so fishing the river from the drift boat is the way to go. 

Lots of Goldens around in various spots right now as well with most fishing coming on stonefly nymphs, stonefly dries, and Hoppers.

North Fork Feather - has been fishing great with good numbers of nice size rainbows coming to the net. Flows should stablize over the next few weeks and I am going to be floating this in the raft a number of days in the next few weeks. 

Small Stream Fishing - All the small streams outside of chico are in prime shape and should fish well through the end of June middle of July. Great time of  year to get out of the heat and go wet wade some small streams. 

Lots of good summer fishing coming up if anyone is interested look over the available dates listed below and shoot me an email or give me a call. For up to date fishing reports friend hgb fly fishing on face book or check out the blog at www.hgbflyfishing.blogspot.com. 

Available Dates:

June 18 evening trip only, 21

July 1, 16-18, 21-23, 27, 30-31

August 1-3, 5-8, 14, 17-19

Yuba Hoppers Are Ready

Yuba Hopper Caught Rainbow

RIP Bob Quigly

I have been fortunate enough to meet some great fly tiers and fly fishermen in my years as as a guide and commercial fly tier. I believe even more fortunate enough to have my name attached to the same company that ties Bob's Flies. I always felt it would be like getting pulled up to Play on the Giants with my idols when I was a kid...I never felt like I belonged on the same team or level as bob. He is and was one of my idols as a tier. I learned more from brief conversations with him then any book, dvd, or other person in the industry.

His ideas were so simple yet so revolutionary. His ideas were the ones that you looked at and totally made sense but never even remotely thought of your self...then there was the patterns bob tied that I was lucky enough to fish that never made it into production...many of these were beautifully tied but looked like a fly exploded and then was assembled back on the hook by a blind man...Then he would explain it and i would kinda see the idea or bug...but oh god did they catch fish. I still tie an emu based hex pattern of his that literally looks like cat puke but catches more fish then any pattern I have ever tried...and people and other guides look at it in disgust and disbelief.

He gave me once when I was a young tier two of the best pieces of advice and two things that I live by today as a tier.

1) Bugs are thinner, trimmer, and smaller then you think. Don't over dress your flies
2) With regards to fly design...get the silhouette and movement of the fly right first, then add the fish attractive elements like flash, color, beads, what ever...but nail the silhouette and the movement of the bug.

I can't over state his influence on me as a tier he had. I would not consider myself one of his close friends or even really a friend at all...more an acquaintance. He will live on for as long as people fish with flies in the smiles of the faces of people hooked up on his bugs. What a great way to live on once you are gone.