Braving the heavy rains, I made a two day trip up north to the Trinity River. Arriving just after 3am on Monday morning, I pulled into a deserted Hayden Flat Campground and slept for a couple of hours.
It was absolutely pitch black and the rain made it even more difficult to see. I didn't know exactly know where I was, but that made it even more exciting. All that I did know is that based on the roar of the river, I was close.
The sun didn't exactly “come up” as it was very cloudy. But, eventually I could see my surroundings. Sure enough, the river was just down the hill. Since I was in a campground, and while it was empty, I probably shouldn't have been there. With that in mind, I drove back to 299 and went downriver to an access road that also served as a boat launch.
The short but steep drive down to the gravel bar wasn't much of a problem. It looked very similar to a mogul run at your favorite ski area. The bumps were 2-4 feet deep and if I'd have known what I was getting into, I wouldn't have driven down. Luckily my four wheel drive had just enough clearance to make it over the humps if I zig zagged my way down. Getting out was much more difficult. More on that later.
After gearing up, I walked down river a little to start steppin' and swinging my two fly rig. On the bottom was a size 8 generic steelhead hairwing fly. The top fly was a soft hackle of some kind. Within a few minutes I caught a few smaller 10-15 inch trout. They fought pretty well, but weren't much of a match for my 7 weight two handed rod.
The run was perfect. Three to six feet in depth, rocky bottom that provided plenty of structure, and a walking pace – riffly flow. As usual, I cast out straight across or down and across. The cast is either all the way across the river, or to the last fishy looking spot/seam. The idea is to get the fly to swim as slow as possible. Not necessarily a dead drift, but not allowing the line to belly and make the fly zip across at high speed.
I was river right with absolutely no wind, which called for a basic double-spey cast. This allowed for quick coverage of the entire river. Make a cast, step a few feet and do it again. If there are any aggressive fish, you'll find them.
After that first run, I went further upstream, much further actually. I basically walked back to that campground from earlier. I saw many salmon. Some were dour, others were much more fresh. A few of them were pretty good size. Although none of them looked like the monsters I saw on the Lower Stan a few weeks ago. Several smaller (12-18") trout later, I found myself downstream at the run where I was earlier.
At some point, I caught a decent sized steelhead. He barely grabbed my fly. No hard tug that you'd imagine from a good sized fish. As I started bringing him in, he leaped a good 4 feet out of the water. It wasn't until that point I realized he was large. Until then, I assumed it was a 10 incher. Each time he lept, I buried my rod tip under the surface to try and keep from getting off. As he got close, almost within my grasp, I saw that he was a little over 25 inches! Nice bright steelhead. He must of saw my hand reach into the water and he took off, tearing line off my reel at the same time. He made some huge leaps out of the water, making some violent head shakes along the way. When he landed from one of those cartwheels, I sadly realized he was now unbuttoned. I lost him! I laughed out loud and gave him a friendly curse word or two before moving on. I was almost giddy with excitement.
I worked this section pretty good, so I packed it in to go somewhere else. Keep in mind it had been raining like mad for the whole time I was fishing. That steep entry down to the gravel bar that I mentioned earlier now resembled a dirty slip and slide that I played on during the dog days of a midwest summer. As I approached and started going up the steep hill, I was okay until I hit the moguls. My tires started spinning. Uh oh!! Nobody was around, and I was afraid I'd have to be towed out of there. I made a run up to the moguls several different times. Each time I backed up further and gained more speed. Each time the same result. Spinning tires.
I said to myself, “screw it!” I backed up and hit those moguls at a pretty fast speed. After a violent jarring that made my head hit the ceiling (even with the safety belt), I made it out of that sticky situation. I was now on the highway shoulder. I got out and looked under the truck for damage. I bottomed out rather hard. I was sure I punctured something or broke something else. Everything seemed to be okay (hard to tell with all the mud and water dripping off). My little four wheel drive SUV performed pretty well considering the evil mixture of mud, moguls, and steep incline. Impressive!
Now that the almost-nightmare was over, I travelled downstream looking for a new spot. I drove all the way to where 299 crossed the river and turned back. I found a decent looking spot and got out. Went down to the river and threw in my line. I don't think I caught anything here. It actually wasn't that great looking once I was on the river. After a few minutes, I got back in the car and went upstream.
Drove past where I was earlier and through Del Loma. I stopped at a few places that looked inviting. Never spending more than the time needed to fish the run. I keep telling myself, carpet bomb, carpet bomb. Meaning, don't linger around. Just cover the water and move on. If a fish isn't grabbing you immediately, it isn't worth the time trying to convince him to. Besides, there may not even be steelhead in that section.
I can't tell you where I went next. Somewhere between Del Loma and Big Flat. It was a matter of just looking from the road and picking a run that looked good. The end of day one was coming to a close. I had caught around 10 fish. The biggest was that one that got away just as I was reaching for him. The next biggest one I actually got in my hand was another bright 22-23 incher. The size 8 and 10 hair wing steelhead flies were working. As were the soft hackles.
Near the end of the day, I found a nice spot to spend the remainder of it. As it was getting near dark, I walked back to my car to get a flashlight in case I needed it. Upon returning to the river, I saw very fresh - what looked to be cougar tracks that were not there earlier. Now, I'm not a hunter, so I don't know my tracks. But I do know these were rather big and they didn't really look like bear tracks to me. Whatever the case. There was a big animal that had visited between my car and the river (a distance of about 50 yards) while I was fishing. This was quite alarming to me. While I'm curious, I didn't want to be surprised by a meat eater. I went back to the river to fish a little while longer, but I was constantly turning around looking over my shoulder. I wasn't very comfortable. I decided to pack it in a little earlier than I would of otherwise.
It was now dark and since there was no cell reception, I drove down 299 until I had some bars. I needed to call my wife and let her know I hadn't fallen in the river. After doing so, I had a dilemma. Do I spend the night near where I was or go upriver? I was interested in the water up from Junction City, but also worried that steelhead hadn't moved that far up yet.
I decided to take the chance. I drove to Sky Ranch Road/Oregon Gulch. This section is south of Junction City along a very narrow winding road. There are few homes and it was hard to tell if I was going in the right direction. Eventually, I found the small narrow path to the gravel bar. Unfortunately, there was standing water across the entrance. In the dark, I couldn't tell how deep the water was. I didn't want to take the chance, so I backed up. Backing up in the darkness with a driving rain on a road barely wide enough to fit your vehicle was not easy. Eventually I made it up the hill and could turn around. Driving north, I found a spot to pull off this road and sleep for the night. I got in the back of the SUV and wrapped up in a sleeping bag. I was exhausted. Before I knew it, it was time to wake up.
That water that covered the road was only a foot deep. No big deal. Better safe than sorry. Now that I was on the gravel bar, I got out and started fishing. This area wasn't that great. I immediately caught a smaller 12 inch trout, but that was it. The more time I spent here, the more guides/boats started showing up. This must be a popular put in. I must of seen 15 boats go into the river. Not bad for a Tuesday. A few guys were fishing a deep section where water was piling into a pool . They pulled out some large fish. I'm going to guess they were salmon. I was a distance away, while they could have been steelhead, they seemed too big and since they looked to be in deep water, I'm only assuming.
Anyway, I wasn't really doing that well here. I covered the runs pretty thoroughly. I decided to move on. In fact, I went back to where I was yesterday. The Big Flat area to be precise. I stopped here and there along the way at whatever looked good. Caught a few fish throughout the day, but nothing like Monday.
Trip Tackle: 12 foot tapered mono leader (hand tied, 30lb, 20lb, 12lb, 8lb) or 10 foot intermediate poly leader with 3-4 feet of tippet or on one occasion a 3ips poly leader with 3 feet of tippet. Always used two flies. Steelhead hairwing pattern at the end in size 8-10 and a soft hackle or winged wet in front size 10-14. Tried eggs with no success and a few nymphs with no success.
As my two day trip wound down, I drove away happy to know I caught a few larger steelhead in the 20-26 inch range and even more in the 12-18 range. To me, it was a good couple of days. Especially considering how everyone has been saying that the steelhead fishing on the Trinity has been rather slow. Maybe I'm lucky, maybe the fact that I refused to stay in one area for too long. Who knows. All that I do know is that I had a blast. Rain and all!
Here is a partial list of the places I visited/fished. I won't say what I caught where. But just to give you an idea of how many places I visited.
Skunk Point, Big Flat Access, Big Flat Camp, Sky Ranch Road, Oregon Gulch, Pigeon Point, Baghdad Slick, Little Swede, Hayden Flat Camp, The Access Rd at Hayden, Cedar Flat, Sandy Bar, French Bar, Big Bar/Corral Bottom, and a handful of others that weren't marked.
Keep moving! Hit and run!
