Trinity Report

What better way to celebrate the fall steelhead return than a trip to the Trinity?

A few days ago I arrived somewhere upstream of Junction City before 4am. It was a deserted area that generally is devoid of people. I sat and mostly stared at the sky until the sun started to rise. What an incredible view. Thousands and thousands of stars. You certainly see nothing like that where I live, or where I normally fish for that matter.

It was a brisk 33 degrees by the time I geared up. I walked about 20 feet to get to the river to find a decent riffle. After stepping through, I had no takers. Not long after, I decided to move down river towards JC and try a different spot. Again, I made my way through several riffles and holes to get only one bump. The fish were no doubt in the deeper sections, but these were not very good for someone swinging a fly.

Again, I packed my bags and moved further down stream. After another couple of hours of swinging through some runs, I found this rock poking about 2 feet out of the water. It created a nice pocket behind and in front. I'd guess the water was about 7 feet deep immediately behind the boulder. A little deeper than what would be ideal. Casting across stream would of resulted in not being able to get deep enough. My game plan was to cast directly from above and at a slight angle, dangling the fly below. Allowing the size 8 soft hackle to drift in the currents and get pulled down by the hydraulics.

This was an ideal spot. Upriver of this boulder was some very fast/rough water. Below was another section of slightly less rough water. This rock was the first good resting spot for steelhead after coming up through the riffles. Because of its depth and relative safety, it also served as holding water if they wanted to stay longer. Simply said, it just looked good. So I wanted to make sure to cover it thoroughly.

That size 8 green/blue soft hackle with green body was just slowly moving in and out of the seams. The blue collar moved well and was perfect for this water. Just enough wire ribbing weight helped to sink it.

Hatchery Hen took this Size 8

I dropped the fly in front of the rock, dancing it around in the soft cushion. On one of the swings, I had a deep tug. Big fish! I wasn't expecting it, and I probably pulled the fly right out of his mouth. I calmed myself down and repeated the cast. Nothing. I tried several times and switch flies out. Still nothing.

After going back to that original blue soft hackle, I tried another time and received a couple of pecks. Probably from one of the smaller fish that were in the area. Since I had covered the front of the boulder well, I now worked on the seams to the far side. After repositioning myself, I sent the fly down both sides in the soft/hard water edge. No takers. Finally, I put the fly well behind the rock and slowly stripped it through the soft water. Gave it several periods of rest to let the fly float around in the current.

At some point, I felt this very slight hesitation in the line. My thought process is to slowly raise my rod tip on any hesitations or light pecks to see if anyone is home. I only set the hook if I feel the weight of a fish or pulling of line. In this case, after raising my rod I felt resistance. Not long after, the fish felt me pulling and went in the other direction. I set the hook, causing the fish to take a short run.

At this point, I didn't know how big or little the fish was. However, about 10 seconds there was no doubt. I tried to pull in some line when she came charging towards me. As it was, I had a coil of line laying in the water at my feet. I quickly reeled it up so that I could fight her on the reel. After I accomplished that, I started to pull the fish who was now holding tight behind the rock. She didn't like the tugging and went even deeper, bending my rod completely over in the process. Upon seeing this, it started to dawn on me that this could be a big one.

I tried to pull her out of the hole and up towards the surface. I caught a glimpse of her and then immediately saw her take off downstream pulling about 20 feet of line out. It was by no means a brutal run. What she lacked in putting distance between us, she made up for with deep pulls that bent my 6-weight over, almost to the butt.

I didn't want to lose this one. The bigger fish I've hooked lately have all gotten away. She wasn't jumping out of the water or making blistering runs, so I had an easier time of it. After about 5 or 10 minutes of getting her close to only have her bolt for another run, I finally tailed her.

This hatchery hen measured 28 or 29 inches with a nice girth. Definitely a healthy fish and pretty darn bright to boot.

It was only 3pm, but I considered quitting for the day. I actually felt satisfied. However, instead, I opted to go and explore some new water. I traveled a ways down river and after having no luck, came back up river to finish the day almost where I had started. I had a couple more very strong grabs and a couple of short lived hookups. But no more steelhead to my hand. I did catch at least 10 trout in the last evening hatch. They were no more than 15 inches in size, but put up a good fight.

It was a great day and catching a good sized fish made the long drive home more tolerable.

Lower Stan Report

The week before last, I made a trip to the Lower Stan. I'm sure you already figured that out if you read my other recent posts. So, here I am, late as usual with the official trip report.

Got to the dam before sunrise. So early in fact, I took a little snooze in the car. Luckily, I awoke before it got too light out. After suiting up, I went straight down to the river and started casting.

The river was up slightly from the last time I was here. Water temp was in the upper 50's. No sign of fish feeding on the top, but I knew they were down there. Just had to find someone willing to take a chance.

As reported in a previous post, I didn't see any salmon. Not that I was fishing for them, but I would like to see a better return. Unfortunately, it didn't look very good.

Had a three fly rig on with various soft hackles up front and a small hair wing steelhead fly as the anchor. Other than a couple of 10 inchers, it was quiet. I wandered down to where the water spills through a tight space and dumped into a slower section. If you are familiar with this area, you know what I'm referring to. For me, this is strictly a hang-down presentation. Let out some line and the current pulls it out the required distance. After letting it fish for a few moments, I'd start stripping it in. At one point, I had a really strong grab. The fish felt very solid and may of been a biggie. Unfortunately, he wouldn't commit and I couldn't get him to come back.

After a couple hours, I headed to the dam. Caught a few 15 inchers right near the dam. It was a little chilly with the water spraying down on me, so I worked myself downstream to find a bunch of fish feeding. A size 20 fly probably would of matched, but I wasn't in the mood to tie one on. Instead I found similar colors in a size 14, 12, and an attractor 10 for the anchor.

I could feel the line being hit as fish were on their way to the surface for the real deal. They completely ignored my offerings! After nearly slipping and falling into a deep slot, I carefully positioned myself for a down and across cast approx 20 feet over the feeding fish. The idea was that bigger fish were positioned a little bit further downstream where the current was slightly slower. After a few casts, I caught a nice 18 inch trout full of anger. Not more than 5 minutes later, I caught another. This went on for a while. These bigger fish were taking my fly after the hang down, while I was teasing the fly or slowly stripping it back. These fish ignored the fact that my flies were much bigger than the real bugs. In fact, the size 10 with a green color body, that in no way looked like the actual hatching bug, was getting the most attention. Matching the hatch is so overrated. :)

At some point I left the dam for two-mile. If my memory serves correctly, it was around 2pm. I caught some really small dinks and one 15 incher, but it was mostly quiet. Walking far down river till the canyon, I decided enough was enough. The water was just high and fast enough I couldn't find good holding water. I headed back and messed around a little in a few areas before closing up shop.

It was a pretty productive day. Caught around a dozen decent sized fish and a whole bunch under 12". A couple of them were bright with virtually no color. Almost certainly from the ocean. While I may not fish the Lower Stan that much anymore, it almost always makes for a productive day.

My Un-Scientific Salmon Count

While fishing the Lower Stan last week, I noticed a huge difference in the number of Salmon from this time last year. Unfortunately, I did not see a single one. Not to say there weren't there. I could of just simply missed them. However, last year at this time, I saw so many up and down the river, they seemed eerily absent. I can't help but wonder if there was a connection between the lack of fish and that I saw the DFG looking hard for poachers.

Hopefully they are just moving in late and will be here soon.

DFG on the river

I'd just like to say thanks to the DFG for being around the Lower Stanislaus. This is the first time I've seen them out there, and they were aggressively looking for poachers. As I was packing my car to move to another spot, they asked me a lot of questions about who I saw down at the river. It was a good feeling to know that they were there. Hope they show up more often.

Yuba Report

At the last minute, I was able to get away from the daily grind and get a day of fishing in. Based on decent reports, I decided to go to the Yuba.

This was the first time I've been on this river while the upriver of Hwy 20 portion was closed. Thanks to previous scoutings, I've found some excellent runs to fish in. This day was no exception.

I started the morning before it was light out. I waited in my car until the sun came up to avoid twisting or falling down a hill. Eventually I made it to my destination and started fishing. Even though I had the spey rod, I only needed roughly 15 feet of line. I was fishing a slow section off the main current near the bank. Looked fishy enough, but nobody wanted to play. Since I don't believe in sitting around and pounding one spot, I moved on.

Eventually I came to a stretch that I had found on a previous trip. With the low water (around 850 cfs), it was even more attractive looking. With my three fly setup, I put on a small size 14 soft hackle up front, a winged wet size 12 as the middle dropper, and the anchor was a size 8 steelhead fly of the skunk variety. Stepped through the first 20 yards of this run with nothing to show for it. As the current slowed, I started getting bumps and grabs.

Eventually I caught and landed a nice bright 20 inch fish. She took the skunk fly at the very beginning of the swing. I don't remember feeling the grab, but my spidey sense told me that someone was home. So, I set the hook and there she was.

That was the only fish I pulled out of that run this morning. Several other bumps and grabs, but nothing more. I decided to cross stream, which would of been impossible at higher flows and fished a sweet looking spot that produced a bunch of grabs. Unfortunately, I was low on drinking water and a headache was developing. I reluctantly left the fishiest looking spot and probably the best time of day to try and avoid a full-blown migraine.

The long 1/2 hour walk back to the car wasn't fun. However, upon getting back, I was surprised to see it was already noon! Time flew. I decided not to drive anywhere else, but simply walk upriver to another spot that had been productive on a previous trip. On the way there, I saw a group of 15-20 salmon spawning. I sat and watched them for about half an hour. Some of these fish were very good size. It was fun to see the big males chase off the smaller fish. It was a constant game of cat and mouse. What a hard life these guys have!

In my opinion, fishing here would of been a no-no, even if you weren't targeting the salmon. I decided to walk downriver. Eventually the water got fast enough that the salmon were no longer doing their business. I put my line in and started swinging. Nothing.

Eventually I went far enough downstream to get back where I started in the morning. I caught another fish or two in that same run. I stayed until about an hour before nightfall, and decided I'd get closer to my car prior to dark. I didn't want to get stranded out there without a flashlight. I've been through that before, and it wasn't something I wanted to repeat.

One last stop at a run that I had been to before. It is short, but always looked productive. I got a bunch of grabs and hookups that didn't last too long. The fish were being aggressive but non committal. Then, I felt this slight tug and slowly raised my rod to find a fish was on. This was a good fight, it took me a while to bring him in. He wanted to make a few runs and did pull a little line out. But, generally, I don't screw around and try to bring these guys in quick so that they aren't exhausted. This bright female was around 23 inches. A nice way to end the day!

Fall Cleaning

I'm overdue for a fly cleaning/check/reorganization. The last few days I've taken every fly I have (hundreds of them) and looked each and every one over. Firstly, I check to make sure it still looks fishy. Hackles still pointed in the right direction and wings together, etc. If it passes the look-test, I make sure the barbs are removed. Yes, there are a few flies with barbs, or barbs that aren't completely squashed. No matter if the regulations require it or not, I've decided to flatten them all.

Lastly, I'm sharpening all the hook points to make sure they are extremely grabby. I'd rather not lose "the big one" because of a dull point.

This is a time consuming process, but the results are worth it. I know my flies are in good shape and I know what type of patterns need to be re-tied. Not to mention my boxes look much more organized!