Fishing Reports, palm muted power chords, and news on fermented beverages

Summer is on its way out of town and while the taillights are not over the horizon I can see those taillights pulling away…that said the headlights of fall are coming over the opposite horizon. Salmon are filling the Sac, Yuba, and Feather with hopefully plenty of steelhead behind them. The days are getting shorter and nights are getting longer and cooler as well. Personally I have been still out chasing stripers on the Sac, but I did pull out my steelhead rods, switch rods, and corresponding reels this last weekend and start getting organized. Here are some reports, forecasts, and ramblings…enjoy

Lower Yuba River – The Lower Yuba is sitting around 1600 cfs, which is a great flow for salmon and steelhead to move up river. I have been seeing school of salmon moving up river for over a month now and heard of the first adult steelhead being hooked this last week. I think if the flows stay this high it is going to be a great year for the Lower Yuba. I have not been out on the river lately but talking Ryan J. who was out earlier this week fishing has been fair to good with most fishing coming on nymphs.  The egg bit should get going around mid September but with these good flows mid August to mid Sept there is going to be some early steelhead hooked I am sure.

Lower Sacramento River Trout – Flows out of Keswick dropped from around 1200cfs to 10000cfs this weekend. I guided from Barge Hole to Bend Bridge on Saturday and fishing was fair. Areas that had been fishing didn’t hold fish like they did before the flow drop. It is always tough fishing the river the day of a flow drop but considering that fishing was pretty decent. I would expect fishing to get good again after a few days and fishing will only improve over the next month. The word on salmon is that there is a bunch of fish in the river but they are moving up stream fast. I have seen salmon up and down the river but most guys are struggling to catch fish. So maybe an early egg bite this year.

Lower Sacramento River Stripers – Flows dropped to 7700cfs at Ord Bend. Striper fishing has been really good. We have been hooking really good numbers of fish in the 3-7lb range and having shots at 20+lb range on most days. Fishing both sinking and Intm. lines and smaller clousers seems to be the ticket. With salmon traffic being high it is important to know when and where to go to find feeding fish. Fishing should continue through August into mid September. Fishing can get a bit tougher when they decide to drop the flows for the fall though.

Nice L. Sac Summer Striper

Lower Feather River – Flows in Low Flow section are 2500cfs, this is very high considering most years it is 600cfs. The river channel of the low flow is more then capable of holding a flow of 2500cfs so it does not have the characteristics of a “blown out” river. 2500cfs is a much more “normal” flow actually for the river channel the low flow moves through. The high flow is flowing at 5500 cfs, this is pretty high for the high flow. Now with the high flows coming down the low flow a lot of the salmon are moving up through the high flow and into the low flow and not getting held up in the outlet and high flow. My guess is that the steelhead are moving up river quickly as well. Both these flows should change by October, but I think the low flow is still going to be higher then usual this year due to issues involving a fire earlier this year in one of the generators/pumps. I am going to try to get out and float the low flow in the next few weeks to check things out. Reports to follow but expect a good and early steelhead season on the Feather.

Beer Report – So I have been drinking some really good beers…granted they have all been from Sierra Nevada. I went through a case of the new Beer Camp release and was a bit disappointed, I guess I shouldn’t say disappointed but just not totally impressed. The 3 beers that are part of this release are an IPA, Belgian Style Black IPA, and an Imperial Red Ale. None of them really jumped out at me as amazing, they were all good, but not great. My favorite would have to be the Belgian Style Black IPA as it had a pretty unique flavor. I have always thought the Beer Camp releases are pretty hit or miss, some good some OK and some have even been bad. I also was lucky enough to get a bottle of the limited release “Barrel Aged Ruthless Rye” which is Ruthless Rye aged for 3 months in bourbon barrels…I have not tried this yet but I am pretty excited, and have some pretty high hopes for it. I am thinking this week I may pop the cork on this baby. Also I am excited for the coming release of a new seasonal brew from Sierra, Flipside Red IPA, which will be coming out this late summer/early fall.

Tunes Report – I have been listening to some oldie but goodies after I heard one of my favorite bands from the formative years of high school was getting back together. Knapsack from Davis, CA is a great pop/punk/emo band that I loved and really still do. I would say I like Blair’s (lead singer and songwriter) new band The Jealous Sound just as much but there a simplicity and rawness to Knapsack that is not part of the Jealous Sound. Knapsack made me want to palm mute power chords and then play them really distorted and loud and then palm mute them again…

Sports Report – The Giants are bad. Like 16 games back and in last place in the worst division in baseball. One nice thing about this is that the bandwagon is empty and only true fans remain. I still watch every night and have been overall accepting of where we are as a team…injuries, lack of production from key players, and pitching that has not delivered are hall marks of this season. That said there are some positive signs and I will watch to the last game. Curious to see how we handle Boston as they come in this week for a inter-leauge home stand.

The Irish open the season ranked between 8-11 on various poles which to be honest a is a bit high…apparently no one who votes or ranks has watched Tommy Reese run the football…tough to run the spread with a small slow white guy. We will see what we are made of week 2 at Michigan. I am pumped though for the season. I think we have some good young talent and I am confident in our ability to get back to the BCS…maybe not the championship but at least a BCS game.

CAST HOPE - Check out the 2nd Annual Cast Hope Barn Dance coming up on Sept 21. If you are in chico this is a blast of an event. Great food, Great Beers, Amazing Auction items (flyfishing and non fly fishing), dancing and bands! 

ONLY A FEW FALL GUIDE DATES LEFT...

Oct. 26, 27

Nov. 17, 23-27

Dec. 27-31

Jan. 2-12, 18-20, 25, 26.

Fall and Winter Trout and Steelhead Dates

Fall and Winter Trout and Steelhead

Fall and Winter around Northern California offer some of the best fishing of the year!! Due to my limited guide schedule in the fall and winter I have limited dates available and they will go fast. I have listed the dates that I have available below along with a general description of fall and winter fisheries and when they fish best. I hope everyone is doing well and if you would like to book a date or have any questions give me a call or shoot me an email

530-514-2453
hoganbrown@hotmail.com

Lower Yuba River - Egg Bit is best late sept-mid October. Oct-Feb is best for trout and steelhead. 

Lower Feather River - Fall Steelhead is best Oct-November and with flows through the low flow hovering between 1500 and 2500cfs it may even start getting good by early september this year.

Lower Sacramento River - Egg bit is best Mid October through early November. Steelhead fishing is best in the lower River Nov-Dec. Fishing is good though from Oct - Feb

Butte Creek - Open Nov 15-Feb 15. The creek is Very very low so fishing won't pick up until we get some good rains, fishing is usually best mid December through mid Jan. 

* keep in mind these are general descriptions and all rivers are subject to weather and flow changes. If you have a specific question or want to know more about a fishery in greater detail feel free to shoot me an email. 

AVAILABLE DATES
Sept. 14, 15, 
Oct. 6, 12, 13, 19, 26, 27
Nov. 10, 11, 17, 23-27
Dec. 21-24, 27-31
Jan. 2-12, 18-20, 25, 26, 
Feb. 1, 2, 8-10, 15- 17, 22, 23

As always check out the blog or my website 

Discount Days August 2, 3

Evening Trip: $200 for two anglers - $50 discount
Half Day Float Trip: $275 for two anglers - $50 discount 
Full Day Float Trip: $350 for two anglers - $75 discount

Options: 
Float the Lower Yuba - Good nymph fishing with the possibility of some dry fly fishing. 
Float the Lower Sac - Good nymph fishing through the Lower stretches of the river down through red bluff.
Float the Lower Feather - Chance at some early season steelhead.

Striper fishing on the Lower Sac - Evening, half day, or full day options.

Walk and Wade fishing on the NF Feather

*all full day trips include lunch and drinks along with use of rods, reels, and lines along with all your flies and tackle.
*half day and evening trips include a snack and drinks along with use of rods, reels, and lines along with all your flies and tackle.

Back from Vacation...

So the family and I took our annual summer vacation on over to Santa Cruz. This time we timed it perfectly leaving chico right before the 100-110 weather hit...in previous years we get home right as that weather hits. Sitting around the house today and tomorrow getting caught up on Cast Hope, HGB Fly Fishing, and plain old life before I hit the road for a 3 day cast hope camping trip then back home to guide for a few days and then off to a family camping trip. The end of July is usually my time to get some fishing in on my own and take some time to be with the family, but there is plenty of good fishing to be had so here some reports and ramblings...

The Santa Cruz Report...I love Santa Cruz and our family vacation was great this  year as our boys are finally getting to the age where traveling and vacations can be relaxing at various times. We rented a beach house with my parents up from Seabright Beach and hit up the board walk, beach, down town, Henry Cowell State park, roaring camp train...full trip. It is so nice to get out of the valley heat in July and have the cool weather of the CA coast to escape to. One of the highlights of the trip was hitting up a college fishing buddy Ryan O'Donovan's coffee shop and coffee roasting place VERVE Coffee Roasters. They have a really cool coffee shop down town, a shop at 816 41st Ave,  and then a coffee bar and their Roasters at 104 Bronson St. Verve is really unique, high end, quality coffee and all hand roasted daily. The amount of knowledge that goes into roasting, sourcing, and just preparing coffee is mind numbing to me. Ryan took us on a tour of the roasting facility and i had no idea what goes into to high end coffee. So proud of Ryan and blown away with all that he has accomplished with VERVE in 5-6 years. Check out there website and order some coffee, cool merchandise, or if you are in Santa Cruz hit up one of their locations!

http://www.vervecoffeeroasters.com

Ya no big deal Grandpa...Conditions look great for a swim

Hunting Dinosaurs in Henry Cowell State Park on Fall Creek

Lower Yuba - Guided the Lower Yuba before leaving for Santa Cruz and fishing was good. Tried throwing hoppers to no avail but caught plenty of fish on Jimmy legs, S&M PMD's, and Birds Nest. Fish were holding in the runs and deep flats, pretty standards spots for the 1700cfs flow. Put the boat over a few bods of salmon in the lower river and even saw a few shooting up some riffles which was really cool. Good sign for the Yuba to have salmon moving up at the end of July. Yuba should continue to fish good through July and August. I will be guiding out there a bunch over the next month.

Solid Yuba Fish

Gear Report - This is the time of year where pro staffers began to get all the new gear that is coming out  for 2014 to fish...I was fortunate enough to get one of the new Scott Radian Rods. The Radian won best of show at the recent Fly Tackle Dealer show which means of all the new products introduced this year it was consider the most innovative and best...needless to say it also won best new freshwater rod. I got the 9'6wt and have fished it a few days on the Lower Yuba with the new AirFlo Super Dri Xceed Trout Line.  This rod is by far one of the best Scott Rods I have ever cast or fished. The promotional line for the rod is "Where fast meets feel" and this is a great way to describe it. It is incredibly light weight and feels in hand much like the G2 but has the back bone and power of a much heavier fast action rod. I threw the standard Lower Yuba nymph rig with the rod and it turned it over and cast it with amazing ease but also allowed for fine mending and line management using just the tip. If you are in market for a new high end rod or just want to cast a high end to see what the difference is between an american made high end rod and a price point $200-300 non-Murica made rod check out the new Radian. 

http://www.scottflyrod.com/catalog/details/radian

Sports Report - We are closing in on the 30 day mark before Notre Dame will take the field against Temple on August 31. I know not the highest level apponent but lets be honest many programs will play some cup cakes week one or mid schedule like many SEC teams. I recently got the Blue and Gold Season Preview and am diligently reading it page to page one bowel movement at a time. I won't lie I am nervouse about this season and we will know I think at Week 2 against Michigan at Mich how things, aka Tommy Reese, is going to go. 

Lets be honest I love the Giants and have been watching every night pretty religiously, but some nights it is hard to make it through the whole game when they are playing so bad some nights. Hopefully they can keep it interesting through the August and September or it is going to be hard to keep watching.

short report and pics...

The Weather had been great here in chico the last few days. Nice warm days in the 90’s with cool mornings and evenings. Perfect for summer striper and trout fishing. I have been chasing stripers mostly over the last week. Here are some pics and short reports…

Lower Sacramento River Stripers – Like most fishing we have been having fair to great days of striper fishing. Most people are hooking a fair number of small fish and then a few nice 5-10lb fish a day. We have had shots at some monsters on a few days as well with some big schools of laid up fish along weed lines and even had a monster follow a smaller fish we hooked. Even hooked a nice fin clipped steelhead on a clouser earlier this week. Summer striper fishing on the sac for the resident fish and hanger outers migratory fish is a tough game. Some days it seems easy some days it seems there are no fish for miles. Either way it is a great way to spend a day on a really cool stretch of water and all most people need to see is a 20-30lb fish follow their fly and they will cast for hours.

Lower Sac Trout – I have not been on the Lower Sac in a few weeks but have heard from talking to other guides that fishing has been pretty tough. Key seems to be to stay out late or do and evening float. Fish seemed to be keyed into the hatches in the evening and kind of sit and sulk until then.

Lower Yuba Trout – I have not been on the Lower Yuba lately as well but will be over the next few weeks. Fishing I have heard has been good though but mainly fishing nymphs. The hopper fishing has been so so and yet to really get going from what I have heard. That said I would not hesitate to throw some hoppers around midday in likely water. The flows are up around 1700 and this creates some nice holding water along the bank and willows. Best hopper water is the deeper buckets along the banks with a bit of current going over or along them.

Sports Report – no comment regarding the giants. Gonna keep things on the positive with good fishing reports.

All the news...

It is that time of summer where people take breaks for vacations, family trips, and such, maybe putting the fly rods away in exchange for family size tents, ski boats, and amusement parks. Many are wrapping up their celebration of the independence of our nation from the crooks the British by drinking, eating meat, and blowing up fireworks, but the fishing goes on…

Lower Sacramento River Trout – I have not been on the Lower Sac sense my last stint during the cold rainy to apocalyptic heat of a few weeks ago. Flows remain around 15000cfs out of Keswick and high down through the river. Talking to a few of my buddies that have been out there fishing remains good in the lower stretches and July is one of my favorite months to fish down from Balls Ferry to Red Bluff.

Lower Sacramento Stripers – IT is striper time in our neck of the woods. The heat wave seemed to put the bite off a bit and focus the fish on eating during the morning and evening but with more normal summer weather forecasted for the next week fishing should stabilize a bit. We have had a few good fish and a few good numbers days. Nothing earth shattering in size has been caught yet but I’ll take good numbers and schoolies any day.

 

Nice Striper

Lower Yuba River – I have not been out here in a week or so either. Flows have come up to around 1600cfs, which is a great flow! Hoppers should be moving around if they didn’t get cooked during the last heat wave, and with more normal summer temps forecasted over the next week the hoppers and caddis should get a bit more active. Not a bad place to go spend an evening this time of year.

Clearwater Lodge – I have spent most of my time up at the lodge lately and Michelle Titus the new owner has the place humming. It is great to see such a loving, hospitable, and dedicated person purchase and take over the lodge. Good to see Clearwater back to what it can be.

           

Fall River – The hex hatch has been great one night poor the next. Mainly depending on the wind. If the wind comes up in the evening the hatch is no good. I had clients out fishing it a few nights and each night we hooked good sized fish, one taking us into the backing a few times. We were averaging about 3 fish to the boat each night and many more blow ups and misses. The PMD hatch has been good during the day with windows to throw dries to rising fish and on most days good nymph bites.

New Fox's Mother Superior ... Far Superior

no better setting

Baum Lake – This is a great place to take beginner or advanced anglers as you can target the schools of truck trout or hunt out the bigger native fish. I had some experienced clients this last week hook into some of the bigger native fish and get schooled on 6x and midges and then I took my two boys out and they beat up on the truck trout…a bit of everything for all ages and skill levels.

Oliver Getting it done...all on his own I might add

Beckett getting it done...with some help

Booze News – I have been sticking with pretty standard stuff for the last week the highlight of the last few weeks was when I came home and my sister in law who works at Sierra Nevada had left me a bottle of the ne Ovila Belgian Style Golden Beer from Sierra Nevada. I have yet to try it but I have heard from various beer sources aka my brother in law that it is amazing…I am saving it for the first 20lb striper of the year.

just waiting for a 20lber...or the end of the season

Garden News – I am totally addicted to growing my own vegitables. My tomatoes, potatos, cucumbers, lemon cucumbers are tearing it up this year. A little bummed on my bell pepers and jalapenos as they are not getting it done like they usually do. My boys have been eating cherry tomatoes, cucumber slices, and home made salsa for pretty much every meal.

 

The Brown family will survive the apocalypse on fish and salsa and a side of cucumbers and lemon pepper

Sports News other wise known as the reason I drink – The giants are killing me. I haven’t made it passed the 5^th inning for a few weeks as I can’t stand to watch such atrocious situational hitting and no good news on the horizon. Angel on the 60 day disabled list is not good news. I don’t think I realized how much of  a leader and emotional force  Angle was on the team. The pitching staff is excruitiating to watch as well.  Kickham has been toughest to watch…our big young lefty hanging sliders and off speed pitches that literally get destroyed. Kid needs to learn to barry those balls in the dirt. Watching Cain get crushed and knocked out after 2.1 innings last night agains the dodgers was rough…Gonna be a long July I think.  

Cast Hope - Pledge Drive is wrapping up but we still have a few of these really cool custom Galvan Reels...

Custom Bling

New Tunes - We were Promised Jet Packs...just bought a few of these guys CD's...Love them so far. Great Swedish Indie Rock...little moody, little rock, little math rock, just enough catchy. 

Update for those that need updating.

So weather has gone from Rain and Cold to HOT…Fish still need to eat and people still need to fish so here is what I know about a few spots, why sports give me ulcers, and what things I have been drinking to toast the spots I fish and deal with the teams I love.

Lower Yuba – I have been on the Yuba a bunch recently and fishing has been pretty good. I would say that it has been best through out the day on cooler days but even when the weather has warmed up (like Saturday) it has been good. On the warmer days there seems to be a bit of lul during the hottest part of the day. I have been starting late morning and taking off around dark. Nymphing has been catching the most fish as hatches have been sporadic and inconsistent. I have been catching most of my fish in the deeper runs and flats. Focusing on the deep water below the riffles and slower flats, changing up to lighter weight when fishing the slower water. At 1400cfs the flats have decent flows and the fish are taking advantage of it. Most of the water I am catching fish in is not accessible to the wade fishermen and I have only gotten my clients out to wade fish once or twice over say half a dozen days on the river in the last 2 weeks. Evening hatches have been a mix of light olive to tan caddis and small light color mayflies. Caddis are a size 16-18 and Mays are a 18-20. I have had clients hook fish on both caddis dries and mayfly dries while the hatch is sputtering off. My best nymphs have been the S&M PMD, olive and tan birds nests, rubber leg stones, Jimmy legs, and a few new patterns I have been working on. Mainly small mayfly nymphs, caddis pupa, and rubber leg stone patterns have been catching the fish.

Lower Sacramento Trout – This is the time that I spend time fishing the Lower stretches of the Sac. This last week I spent 5 days between Balls Ferry and Bend Bridge guiding. Fishing was good to very good while the weather was totally crazy, pouring rain to roasting heat. Redding got over an inch of rain between Monday and Tuesday and the lower river did come up about 1000cfs and picked up a bit of color but the fish didn’t seem to mind to much. The flows are high through here to begin with and fish were holding in many of their normal summer spots eating big stones and bird’s nest. July is a great time to fish the lower river; if you can stand the heat there are good numbers of trout to be caught.

Lower Sacramento Stripers – it is go time for stripers on the L. Sac. Every time I have been out scouting we have caught some decent size schoolie fish and many shakers. I even took my two boys out on Fathers Day and they both stripped in their first stripers. I hooked them and handed off the rod…Proud dad. July and August are prime time to chase these fish from Butte City up through chico.

Oliver's First Striper

Becket's First Striper

North Fork Feather - The river is low man, and low like... now I realize how bad a winter we had, low as it is when I fish it in September for the Isonychia hatch. Bad news. I struggled over 3 days to catch fish on the main stem of the river. We hooked a few fish but they were small guys and not the fish I expect when fishing the North Fork Feather. We did find some nice fish up the Caribou stretch where flows seem a bit more normal but still low.

Low Water on the Main Stem

Tight Pocket water up through Caribou 

Sports Report – Lets be honest it has been a tough few weeks for my teams. Notre Dame took a big hit with the De-Commit of Eddie Vanderdose and their starting QB getting busted for Academic impropriety and having to sit the season out…Another year of Tommy Reese may just kill me. Couple that with the complete implosion of the giants and more specifically their pitching staff and things are going bad…With the Giants I am past yelling at the TV, drown myself in drink, and hoping for wins. I watch small victories now, like “good job we made it through the first inning with out giving up a run”, “way to make a throw to first Pablo”, “good job to get through a lead off double or single”…tough, but small victories and great plays by Brandon Crawford keep me watching.

Beer Report – So I have been branching out a lot lately. Tip money in my pockets means some good beer to drink. I have been on a Lagunitas and Stone Brewery kick lately. I had a bottle of Stone Cali-Belgue IPA that was awesome. One of the best IPA’s I have had lately. I also tried a big bottle of the Lagunitas Lucky 13. A good red ale but nothing I would buy again, if bought for me though I would not turn it down. The best I have had lately is the Lagunitas Undercover Investigation Shut-Down Ale. This is a limited release in honor of something that happened in 2005 with them…It is a great bitter ale that goes down really easy.

Not a bad line up