Another Yuba Report

Went to the Yuba last week. Arrived much too early, so I took a short snooze in the car before walking to the water somewhere below Hwy 20.

This would mark my longest walk along this river. I'm not sure how many miles I covered throughout the day, but it felt like a million. Saw some new water that had plenty of salmon, a few half pounders, and some large trout. I did manage to catch a couple smaller bright fish in the morning that took a size 8 hair wing steelhead fly.

That was about it. It was quiet almost the entire day after the productive morning. Only a few short lived hookups here and there. Despite seeing a few bright fish leap 3 or 4 feet out of the water, it was non eventful. Still, you can't beat a day on the water.

Next up? The American.

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!

Trip Report: American River

My parents have been visiting from out of town, so this report is long overdue. Since my trip up to the Cowlitz in Washington, I've been hitting the American River a few times. I know, I swore I wouldn't go back to this place. However, the proximity is sometimes hard to ignore.

I can't go into details, because frankly, I don't remember any. Next time I need to write about it as soon as I get home. Not a week or two later.

One thing that I do remember, the weather was HOT. Around 100 degrees or so. That didn't stop me from doing a little more exploring outside of the Rossmore/El Manto area. I found some great water all the way from Watt to Upper Sunrise. Although fishing was slow, I caught a few half pounders in the 17 inch range. I used a variety of flies including soft hackles and smaller steelhead flies. All of the fish were caught on the steelhead patterns. Whether they were hairwings or speys.

I don't normally see other fly fisherman using two handers in my neck of the woods. However, I did see quite a few over those days. One of them proceeded to low-hole me on Upper Sunrise. Come on guys, use some common sense!? The other two were friendly and more interested in sitting around and drinking beer than fishing. Which was fine. At least they didn't jump in below me!

While wading around Watt. I found a revolver in about 4 feet of water. I opted to not reach down and grab it. I didn't feel like soaking myself, so it was left there. I called the Sacramento Police Dept, who referred me to the Parks Dept. I described where I found it and I'll assume they went and got it. On a later visit a few days later, I looked for it again and couldn't find it. Hopefully the authorities got it and not some hooligan.

Next week, I'm going to head up to the Lower Feather or Yuba. It will be one of those last minute decisions. I've got a new pair of waders to keep the water out! When the day is over, I look forward to having dry clothes underneath!

Trip Report: Cowlitz River / Washington

A few weeks ago, I was able to fish somewhere other than California. While attending a wedding in Seattle, I had a chance to spend a day with Steve Buckner, a guide on the Cowlitz river.

I didn't know much about this river before going. The only thing I had heard is that the fish aren't huge, but there is a better chance of hooking one. Good enough for me. I've only been targeting steelhead for a couple of years, so I'm at that stage where I want to learn as much as possible about where they can be found and how to get their attention. Having someone reinforce what you've read or learned on your own is nice.

Steve met me at the boat launch before the sun came up. While putting on my waders, he put our days transportation in the water. We were off just as there was enough light to see through the fog. This boat had the ability to go to any spot up or down the river, but I'm pretty sure we simply crossed the river and anchored up right there! Steve reassured me that this was a great spot, and I had no reason to think otherwise.

We started off fishing close in. No need for long casts. I had the compact scandi head out of the guides and not much more. We were up against the bank and I had to watch my d-loop to keep it from hitting the trees that we were backed up against. While I swung the fly, Steve shared his opinions on presentation and when to set the hook if I get a nibble. As mostly a trout fisherman, I have a hair trigger reaction to any grabs. That doesn't cut it with steelhead, it will take some major brain washing to get me to back off and let the steelhead take the fly.





We stepped down the river quite a ways. I got a few grabs, but didn't hook up with anything. An hour or two later, Steve walked back upstream as I continued to fish the last 50 yards. He came back with the jet and we went to the next spot.

I learned quite a bit about how steelhead move through the river and why. Not just where they hold, but the path they take while traveling and why they stage in one spot or another. No matter how many books you read or how often you fish, it is nice to have someone lay it out for you as you're motoring up/down the river. The fact that we were in a jet boat, really drove the point home.

I don't know how many river miles we covered that day, but we were all over the place. I fished in all sorts of runs with varied terrain at various depths. Steve also gave me some casting and running line managing tips. Although we were using floating tips, he showed me some different mends that can get the fly down several feet in the deeper runs.

I hooked a few fish throughout the day. However, I didn't get any big ones. I think most of the fish were sea-run cutthroats. Although, some of the grabs felt much more like steelhead. However, I wasn't able to get one. No matter, that is typical steelhead fishing for you. Steve taught me a lot about where to look for fish. Frankly, some of the spots he put me in, I would of surely passed by if I were on my own. I have and will use what I learned on my usual steelhead waters around home.

If you are ever in Washington and want a great steelhead guide, I don't think you can go wrong with Steve.

Trip Report: Lower Stanislaus

Finally, back to my favorite haunt, the Lower Stanislaus. It was to be another hot day, at or near 100.

The day started off rather slow. In the morning, I was swinging various soft hackles in groups of two. I caught a couple of fish somewhere around 12 inches as I scurried the rocks in the deep pools. As the fish seemed to have lock jaw, I moved downstream to some areas I had never been. I actually didn't think access was possible, and never attempted to go down that far. However, it ended up being pretty easy at these flows and I found a spot with some fish that were actively feeding. I hooked a few, but they were able to rid the hook in short order.

I decided to move back upstream towards the dam and perched myself on a rock to cast all the way across stream for the biggest swing possible. At the time, I had a soft hackle in front, and a larger steelhead fly in back. I decided to do something I don't normally do, and it turned out to be an almost revelation.

Generally, the idea when swinging flies is to get them to swing as slow as possible. Potentially start with a dead drift so they can get some depth, then lower the rod tip through the swing to slow it down as it makes the trip back across the current to your side. For some odd reason, I decided to actually do short little strips. My theory was, that I'd fish that steelhead fly like a streamer through the deeper water. It had long spey hackles on it, and I figured the pulsating of those hackles would get a fish to bite.

Not long after doing this, to my surprise, I hooked a fish. He bit clear across the river, and I brought the 15 incher to hand. The whole time, I was thinking, I can't believe he went after that stripped size 4 stealhead fly.

However, when I picked him up, I noticed that he actually ate the size 12 soft hackle! Since when do fish go after a stripped soft hackle? I've been fishing soft hackles for years and years, and this is something that I rarely did! (Mainly because, the times I did it, it just didn't seem to work.) This proved key later in the day.

Another hour or two went by, and I had moved to another spot downstream. Which will remain nameless. By now, it was the hottest part of the day. Fish are supposed to be hunkered down. However, they weren't. They were keying in on a hatch and fish heads were exploding out of the water left and right. I mean, they were everywhere! I didn't know there were this many fish in the river, let alone in this one little spot. In any one instant, I could see two dozen fish breaking the surface. It was amazing. I have never seen anything like this on the Stanislaus. Come to think of it, I may of never seen this before, period! To make it even more incredible, were the size of these fish. These weren't dinks. They were decent sized of 15-20+ inch. At one point, I actually climbed up about 15 feet to get a good look and the water was filled with trout of all sizes. Hovering at various depths. Munching bugs on the surface and below. Incredible!

Needless to say, I was excited. I hurried to rig up some small soft hackles that somewhat matched size and color of what they were eating. Nothing! Not a single bite! I could actually feel fish hitting my fly line as they busted their way to the surface. However, no one was going after my flies.

Okay, okay, I had the wrong flies on. I changed it up. Same thing! I changed again and again. This went on until I had gone through literally, 15-20 different flies. I was deflated. They were so keyed in on the hatch, that they ignored everything else. And I couldn't get close enough to that food source.

I sat there staring at the fish exploding through the surface. Teasing me, and surely laughing at me. I actually walked away from this incredible hatch and went elsewhere. I caught a couple of fish in another area, but I couldn't get over that sight back in the last pool. So, I went back and tried again. Nothing, nothing and more nothing. It was hours later and these fish were still absolutely everywhere. They were gorging like there was no tomorrow (the hatch literally went on for hours during the middle and hottest part of the day!)

I started reflecting on the day and remembered that time I caught the fish by stripping a soft hackle. Since nothing else was working, I decided to try it again. I cast out into the hordes of fish and started doing quick short strips. WHAM! I caught a fish! What the??!

He was 15 inches and fought hard. When I took the fly out of his mouth, I realized he ate a size 10 soft hackle. Very much larger than the bugs that they were eating. Huh, whatever! I finally caught one of these guys.

I let the guy go and cast/strip again. WHAM! Even bigger guy. Two casts and two fish. Is this coincidence? After releasing him and casting a third time, I didn't make it 3 for 3. However, in the next hour, I caught at least 20 fish. All of them were around 15 inches, wild, and full of fight.

What is the moral of the story? When you think you know something, you really don't. I would of never tried stripping those soft hackles if it weren't for that steelhead fly I tied on earlier in the day. Now, I have a new trick up my sleeve. And you can be sure I'll do it again.

This turned out to be one of those epic days of fishing. Not only did I catch a boat load, but learned something in the process. This happened a couple of years ago on Cherry Creek, and I know how seldom these days actually come along. It won't soon be forgotten.

Trip Report: Yuba

It was another hot day on the Yuba. Temps were probably near or above 100 degrees. Not so bad as long as I stayed near or in the water. Fishing was pretty good, however, in typical Yuba fashion, nothing mind blowing.

I arrived around 6:30am and was fishing above Hwy 20 not long after. Within the first couple of hours I had caught a couple of trout in the mid teens on soft hackles swung through the current. I spent more time than usual in only a few areas, trying to get some fish to bite on various flies, but it just wasn't turning on. No fish were rising and they must have been hunkered down in deeper holes.

By mid afternoon, I parked myself at the island just above the Hwy 20 bridge. I had 10ft of T-14 sink tip and an intruder style fly with barbell eyes. The setup cast well with my 12'6” spey rod and I was trying to entice the larger fish that were in the pool deep below. For the longest time, I didn't have any bites, but finally had a rather large fish come from the depths to latch onto my fly. It was more exciting than usual, because I saw the whole thing. He was slowly pacing the fly as I was stripping it in, and when it was within 15 feet of me, he roared upwards and engulfed it. I'm not sure how big he was, because he only stayed attached for about 10 seconds. However, he gave up a good fight and broke the surface a few times to frantically rid himself of the hook. My estimation was that around 22 inches. He had no problem attacking that 4 inch intruder.

This trip was last week, and honestly, I'm having a hard time remember the details since I've been on another river between now and then, memories are faded. If I remember correctly, I hooked a few more fish before nightfall. Sometime in the late afternoon, I met up with a friend who caught a few fish of his own too.

Near dark, we almost reached the parking area along the dirt path, luckily, before it was too late, we saw a rather large rattle snake in our way. We paused as he scurried off. Man, I do not like snakes! This guy looked to be 3 or 4 feet long and was almost impossible to see. Glad no one stepped on him.

Fly #50: A couple of winged steelhead patterns

Starting off with a flashy wing, this steelhead fly is tied on a size 8 salmon hook. Dubbing is arctic fox with oval tinsel ribbing. The tag is silver tinsel. Generally, I'd use this during high or off color water. Or in some cases, when nothing else seems to be working.


The second fly is made up of much more muted tones. I'd use this on clear water. However, if the water is really low, I'd probably opt for a fly that is more sparse than this.


I decided to use hare's ear for dubbing. I don't do this very often on steelhead flies. Not sure why, it really has great buggy qualities that would attract trout or steelhead that have been in the rivers for a while.

Fly #49: Blue Spider Steel

A recent re-stocking of tying material included some blue hackle. While I'm a big fan of neutral tone flies, patterns very similar to this have caught both trout and steelhead.


I firmly buy into the thought process that presentation is far more important than fly choice. If you are targeting trout during a hatch, you may want to roughly match it. However, when a hatch isn't on, you can catch fish on just about anything if you make it move the right way.

Fly #48: Feather Wing

In order to prepare for Fall, I've been tying a few steelhead flies. The one you see below was tied on a size 8 salmon hook. Flies similar to this have been very successful in the Central/Northern Californian steelhead waters.


Generally speaking, I have more confidence in flies with natural tones. Besides working on steelhead, this will also catch trout and if you're not careful, squawfish! :)

Still Kicking

I've been busy with other things, so this blog hasn't been updated a whole lot lately. There are a backlog of flies ready to be photographed and soon to be fishing reports.

I promise to have something worth reading/looking at in the next couple of days. You'll shortly see some Yuba, Feather, and Stanislaus reports. In early September there will even be some steelhead reports from my trip to Washington.