The mid August Post...always a favorite

Mid August is the height of summer in most places but what is interesting is that most years we already start to see the first signs of fall. The days are noticeably getting shorter and the angle of the sun is changing…if you are on the water the sun is much lower in the sky at 3-4pm then it was a few weeks ago. I don’t think it is any secret that fish pick up on these subtle changes much more then we do. I even saw on the river the other day the first large flocks of migratory Canadian geese or “honkers” on the river. I have seen very few salmon in the Lower Sac and the salmon boat traffic is minimal meaning not many people are catching fish. I have not been trout fishing on the Sac, Yuba, or Feather at all so I am not sure if the salmon have just shot up into the upper reaches but I have not seen then in the lower.

Striper fishing remains fair to good. For a few weeks now we have been getting good numbers of small fish but it has been tougher to find the bigger fish. Over the last week though changing some things up has put us back on some good fish. I could take the credit for changing fly patterns, presentations, and lines or it could be as simple as that the bigger fish just started eating again. That is beauty of it though is I will never know. Fishing for the resident stripers will last through October until we get our first big storms and cold weather. I am hoping to get some decent sight fishing as salmon move into the river and push the bigger fish to the banks and these bigger fish hang out in some of the back waters even.

Keep them Wet...

well behaved striper holding for pictures

Nice fish caught on the type 5 right on the surface

I have not been up on the Lower Sac or down on the Lower Yuba for trout but fall and winter are approaching quickly and those will be my winter haunts. I usually fish the Lower Sac from Red Bluff to Los Molinos in Late October and November for steelhead before the tributaries have enough water in them for the fish to move up them. Depending on water management and flows I may do some days on the feather out of the jet boat in late October and early November as well to chase some fall steelhead but I will see. The feather can get pretty damn crowded and the older I get the less I have the patience to deal with the crowds. My real hope is that the Lower Yuba starts fishing and that I can spend Nov-February over there nymphing, swinging streamers, and running into the occasional Baetis/BWO hatch…One can hope right.

Music Report…been listening to a ton of new music. The new BJ Barham (lead singer of American Aquarium) is really good. You can check it out here http://noisey.vice.com/blog/bj-barham-american-aquarium-solo-rockingham Great Americana music about life in the south and just life in general. I have also been listening to Joey Kneiser (lead singer of Glossary) my favorite album is the “The Wildness”... “The All Night Bedroom Revival” is a close second. I also took a trip down the Berkley to speak to the Grizzly Peak Fly Fishers and spent the obligatory $100 at Amoeba Records...Finished up my Bruce Springsteen Vinyl collection of major releases prior to Tunnel of Love, picked up Spoon "Gimmie Fiction" on vinyl, as well as a few used CD's...best used CD's I got so far have been The Hold Steady "Teeth Dreams" which is their newest album...I am not always a fan of Craigs vocals but the music on this album is really really good and of all the albums I own I think I like the vocals the best on this one. They seem to work with the music instead of fight the music like I have always felt they do on other albums...Also picked up the classic Granddaddy album "the software slump" ...so good. 

Baseball…Giants are hard to watch I’ll be honest…I hang on every inning it seems like as there is always enough positive to keep watching and hoping they are going to pull out of this tail spin but evidence is suggesting not. Blown leads, lack of run support, and just aweful hitting at times is hard to watch.

Irish…19 days away from the opener against Texas. No idea who the QB will be but our season tickets are in our hands and we are pumped!

Cool New Products…My good friend Matt Callies who is a product developer and hosts the bi- monthly Loon Live fly tying broadcast developed a new set of hemostats for Loon that he hooked me up with this last week while we were striper fishing. It is one of those products that you see and think wow that is a no brainer why didn’t I think of that…then I go well I am not Matt Callies the man of many ideas. The carabineer handle is about as slick and easy to clamp on to anything as it gets. I have clamped it onto my lanyard for my hatch nippers, the handle of my boat bag, and even put it on the suspenders of my waders the other day. The hemostats de-bard everything up to a 4/0 striper hook so they are heavy duty to say the least!

From the mind of Matt Callies...really good idea 

BIG NIGHT OUT!!!!  it is that time of year again where we throw a big party in chico! Cast Hope has up our gamed this year and our holding our annual Big Night Out at the Big Room at the Sierra Nevada Brewery in Chico, CA. This year we will be having live music from Chuck Ragan and members of the Camaraderie

Celebrate the independence of American by going fishing or reading this blog post

July 4th holiday weekend is upon us and the throngs of humanity are rushing out to celebrate, camp, travel, fish...basically get outdoors and enjoy summer. No better way to celebrate. The weather here has been HOT! typical Chico/Nor Cal heat wave 100-108. Hot, but if you get on the water early and get off into the A/C by 2-3pm plenty of good fishing to be had and a great way to sweat out the heavy beer, alcohol, or garlic you have been consuming. I have been spending all my time guiding for stripers and things are shaping up to be a great summer of striper fishing on the Lower Sac!

Striper fishing on the Lower Sacramento - Fishing has been good. Good numbers of keeper size stripers and fish up to 10lbs with the big fish 20+lbs starting to show themselves. July -October is when the big guys move up daily into the shallows to eat and anglers have shots at them. Not everyday but most days we see, have shots at, and some times hook some of these guys. Flows are good and water temps are all where they should be so it is shaping up to be a great summer of striper fishing. 

Still fishing the heavy lines but the weeds are starting to come up and there a few spots we are pulling out the intermediate and type 3 lines. 

I still have a few open dates

July 12, 25

August 1, 27

Sept 3, 24

Oct 1, 8, 15

Tight Quarters Striper fishing in the back waters

Summer Striper 

Vacation fishing...I took my family down to San diego to go to the San Diego Zoo, Lego Land, Beach, and site see. While I was down there I got to fish with my good friend Conway Bowman for Mako Sharks on the fly. By far one of the coolest visual fly fishing experiences I have ever had. seeing a 6' 125lb mako eat a popper at 50 feet is pretty Insane and then having that fish rip off line on a 14wt like a bonefish on steroids is pretty cool. Site fishing to these fish on floating lines, poppers, and big flies right under the surface is really cool experience if you are ever down in San Diego. Conway doesn't guide much anymore but Dave Tremble does and is a great guide down there. 

Shark Popper

Rigged and Ready!

Corked on a 14 Weight...

That is as close to a grip and grin shot as I was getting

Music Reports - Been listening to a bunch of old stuff...really enjoying the re-release of the Rolling Stones Exile on Main St. that came out a while ago. Has some great unreleased songs on it and out takes as well as all the classics. Also been listening to Sturgill Simpson as I just bought tickets to see him in Redding, CA of all places. His newest album is a great listen and his older ones are different enough but the same enough to keep it all interesting. Also bought an album by a band named the Quiet Hollers that I heard on AudioTree Live which is really good. They are from Tennessee and at times sound like Band of Horses, Lucero, and kinda 80's indie band...Good listen. 

The Wader Makers - Proud to be a Simms Ambassador

Great Video about Simms and making waders in AMERICA!!!! I am proud to be a Simms Ambassador and wear everything from Simms Waders to Underwear to belts to flip flops. Stuff lasts like nothing else and works like no bodies business.

The don't worry I am alive Post....

Do not fret I am alive…I know it has been a while but as many the month of May is chaos with graduations, baseball, baseball parties, weddings, birthdays, FISHING, Open houses, end of the school year parties…man you name it, the month of May was very busy and rushed right into June! I will get to the important stuff…there is a good amount of water every where this year! I have spent some time up in redding/Anderson on the Sac and up out of Fall River Mills on the Pit and there is snow on Lassen, Shasta, and surrounding peaks and moutains. Far more snow then I have seen in years at this time of year which means good run off throughout July and even maybe into August. Personally I am getting in my summer groove of spending the occasional day on the Lower Sac or Lower Yuba but mostly chasing stripers and bass out on the Lower Sac outside of chico…here are some reports

Lower Sac Striper fishing is picking up. There are good numbers of smaller fish around and we have been getting a fish or two around 10lbs each day. I think most of the bigger fish are still stuffed to the gils with Shad. I saw a nice 15-25 pound fish floating down river the other day and pulled the boat over to look and he had 4 shad tails coming out of his mouth…bit off a bit more then he could chew. Flows are up around 6000cfs and water temps range between 61-67degrees on a given day and stretch of water. Weed growth is just getting going and really not part of the game yet. Fishing should continue to get better and better as the shad thin out and the weeds come up.

Nice Lower Sac Bass

Nice Striper from the Sac this last week

Lower Sac Trout fishing is fair to good depending on the day and the weather. I have had some decent days down low from Barge to Bend but the bite can go from on to off pretty quick. Size of fish in the lower river has been above average as well which is nice. Fish have been eating caddis and smaller stoneflies the best for me. The flows are up around 7000cfs and it is nice to fish some spots that haven’t had water in them for a few years. The first float I did from Jellys to Bend was a bit of an eye opener as I had to remember how I use to fish certain spots as there was much more water then previous summers. River is pretty vacant down low and most days I have the floats to myself.

Lower Yuba River dropped down to about 1800cfs but has come back up to 2300cfs. These are both good flows for floating the river but I have not been over to fish it. I am sure that the up and down is going to be the standard for June and July as run off ebbs and flows with the weather. This is one river that can be tough to fish if the flows bounce around to much. I don’t hear many reports and I don’t know any guides that are on the river so might be a good time go!

Sports Report – So the Giants are in first place but the injury bug has hit them HARD! Pentz, Pagan, Cain, Buster (playing but not healthy), Romo…. all dinged up and lets be real the bull pen is NOT what it has been. While we are 3^rd in the major league in winning one run games it seems like the Pen has given up a tone here lately, might be that I am just use to a lock down bull pen and if we have a lead into the 7^th it is going to end with a “W”….Today is a big game if we can take 2/3 from the dodgers and split with Boston I am happy with this weeks games.

Music – Been listening to a ton of good music. Bought the newest Northecote Album “Hope is made of Steel” and am really liking it. It is a bit polished compared to his previous albums, wish there was a bit more grit and grime on it so to say, but there are a few solid songs on it that will hold up no matter what. Heard a band by the name of Queit Hollers from Tennese and bought their latest album and am digesting that right now. I saw them on www.audiotreelive.tv and bought their newest album. If you have never checked audio tree live out I highly recommend it! Great way to discover new bands, get to know bands you may already know, and see some high quality live recordings.

CANCELATIONS - 3 open dates in June

June 14-16 - JUST OPENED

July 6, 13, 25, 

August 1, 5, 6, 9, 

*These dates are first come first serve so call 530-514-2453 or email. 

I am nearly booked up this summer for striper fishing and trout fishing and was completely booked up in June until two clients canceled dates today. All the dates above are prime striper dates and fishing is already picking up as we put a fair amount of fish in the boat yesterday between 3-5lbs. All the big ones are still stuffed on shad but we hooked some of the biggest fish of the year last year during the 2nd and 3rd week of June.

The Lower Sac and Lower Yuba both with plenty of water and snowmelt this year are also great options all summer and should fish well through August and into September. 

Short Reports - 
Lower Sac Shad fishing - been good to fair just depends on the day and the run an angler or boat is fishing. There are fish in the river around chico and most anglers if they cover water can find plenty fish in and evening. The best bite has been from about 4pm to 730pm. Water temps are 60-62. 

Lower Sac Trout Fishing - Fair just depends on the day and weather which dictates the hatches and how grabby the trout are. A little warmer weather and the caddis should really start getting going. 

Lower Yuba River - Flows are stable but still high around 2-2500 cfs. I did well the last time I was out there a week or so ago but not great. I imagine it will be fair for awhile while fish re adjust and settle in .... but who knows man the bugs seem to be there and the fish seem to be there in reasonable numbers just not as many as there use to be...Who knows though if the Yuba wasn't some bit of an enigma it wouldn't be the Yuba.