Time for reflection

Sitting at home rehabbing a knee injury has given me some time to reflect on my life as a guide and fly fisherman. This season was really good for me as I had an increase in business of 300% and enjoyed some special days on the water. All of this bodes well for my future as I continue to grow my business and learn better ways to help my clients become the fly fishers that they seek to be.

Fall fishing has been going off locally and all venues are fishing well. I am unavailable to guide until my knee heals but I cannot recommend Jon Baiocchi(www.baiocchistroutfitters.com) highly enough so if you are in need contact him. Jon is super knowledgeable about Lake Davis and the Middle Fork Feather River,he is a patient teacher as well as a superb fly tyer!

Time to tie up some new leaders and refill some of the flyboxes and get the knee ready for steelhead!

Enjoy this lovely fall and get out and fish!

No More Plastic Bottles

I am proud to introduce my new stainless steel water bottles that will replace all plastic bottles on my guide trips. We, as a culture, need to reduce our reliance on the use of plastic water bottles, so I am affecting change where I can. These bottles are free to my clients and I was going to charge a nominal fee to non-clients,but after further thought they are free for the taking to anyone!

Fall is here and I have ventured north for my first steelhead trip of the season. I spent 2 days on the Trinity swing prime water with my new Sage 6110 Z-Axis switch rod. Pretty nice rod that casts well, but I didn't get to feel how it handles an adult steelie.Though it totally dominates smolts!!

With plans to meet Brian Slusser (Four Seasons Fly fishing 530 386 0525) for a drift on the Klamath changing due to his continued success with clients on the Rogue, I made the 4 hour drive to Grants Pass,Or. We did a short drift below town where I landed 2 half pounders and two coastal cutthroat, but no adults. Brian hooked two adults that he couldn't keep on. Zac Kaufman, head guide for Morrison's Lodge ( 800 826 1963) was also fishing with us and he landed a beautiful coastal cutthroat. The fish were there,but we weren't connecting with adults.

The next day Brian and I fished below Hellgate Canyon at a spot called Carpenters Island. Big beautiful pocket water that was fun to fish. I was confident that we would find fish this morning but alas no adults were hooked.The Rogue is a large river that has perfect steelhead water and is ideal for Spey fishing. I am heading back that way next week for a few more days.

If anyone is looking for a guide for the Rogue, I highly recommend Brian Slusser! He is super knowledgeable, a great teacher and can put you on fish in a mudpuddle! He still has some available dates left this month before he heads back to the Truckee so if your interested in tangling with Rogue steel give him a call;530 386 0525.

A Visual Ode to Steelhead

Feels like Fall

Got a chance at a few hours of personal fishing on the Truckee river the other day.I recently purchased a Skagit head for my 10' 6# single hander and wanted to try it out.The Truckee was the perfect destination to launch single handed spey bombs and swing a few runs.

The weather was a bit unsettled with rain showers and cool air temps.Felt like a good steelheading type of day.The first run I fished had a consistent current and swung very well.I had 4 grabs in this run but only hooked up with a log in mid current.I worked my way through another couple of runs that were ok but not exactly good swing water without any grabs,pecks nudges or bumps.

After working my way past a couple of white water sections I began swinging my way through a boulder strewn run.A couple of casts down my line came tight to a fish.As it rolled on the surface I knew I was into a nice fish.Then it ran right at me.I just reeled in keeping at tight line to the fish as it got closer..Not much of a fight so I grabbed the leader and led the fish into the shallows.Nice Fish!!

After a quick photo shoot I measured the fish at 22" and then released the gorgeous brown back into the river.I continued to swing my way downstream but had no other grabs.Satisfied with the new line and the one fish I called it a day and headed back to the truck.

This fall looks to be good for fishing with more water than most years and perfect water temps.Get out and fish!!

Back in the Saddle

Time flies when I am having fun!Hard to believe that today is the first day of class for the fall semester.Should be fun!

So ends my most succssful summer as a guide and begins my fall season.Lake Davis will get most of my attention but I will also be spending time swinging flies for steelhead on the Trinity River.My availability to guide is mostly limited to weekends(Thursday-Sunday), I will have some midweek trips available.So school becomes my main focus for now.

I am also judging interest in Pyramid Lake for the upcoming season.If anyone is interested in fishing for trophy Lahontan Cutthroat Trout let me know and I'll get my guiding permit for the lake.Pyramid's season opens Oct 1 and prime fall fishing is through November.

Thanks to those of you who have helped me have such a great summer guide season and I look forward to fishing with you again!

The Dog Days Of Summer

August is upon us and the dog days of summer are starting to appear.Normally this would make for challenging fishing conditions but because of the tremendous winter this year water conditions are near perfect.

This past week my office was Nelson Creek and the Middle Fork of the Feather River.Nelson Creek is a rough and tumble spring fed creek that flows into the Middle Fork Feather. Wild rainbows abound averaging 10-12" with a few larger 14"+ thrown in for good measure. The fishing isn't easy but there was enough top water action to keep my clients busy all day.



Most attractor patterns work here, with a red humpy being the most productive.There were a number of very small golden stoneflies hatching and a few mayflies as well.Caddis hatches in the evening are getting the fish to be a little less selective.

The Middle Fork Feather has been the biggest surprise this August as water temps are still in the low to mid 60's and the fish are crushing Little Yellow Sallies with great fervor.Tom from Newark Ca had a great morning recently moving over 30 fish and hooking about 15 in a short 4 hour half day. We didn't change the fly once as we were getting crushed on almost every cast in some of the riffles!

I have also been spending time guiding on the Truckee and Little Truckee Rivers in the past month. Brian Slusser of Four Seasons Fly Fishing(www.flyfishingtruckee-tahoe.com) has had me helping him teach his 2 day fly fishing schools.These schools are a great introduction to the sport of fly fishing and give us time to delve into the nuances a little deeper.Brian is a great guide and all around great dude!If you are interested in fishing the Truckee area I highly recommend Brian!

With only 2 weeks before classes start I am enjoying this fine summer that we are having.Soon my focus will shift to my continuing education and guiding will be restricted to weekends.As fall returns and water temps fall we should experience some great fly fishing!

Craig's Trout Battle II