A few pics from recent guide trips

Quick update

I am in the middle of my best month ever as a guide and am loving every minute of it. I have been working mostly in the Truckee area and we are hooking fish every day...landing them is a different story! Fishing has been good, flows are perfect on most waters and there are places to go to get away from the crowds.

I'll post pics as soon as I get a moment to play catch up.

Get out and enjoy this fine summer in the Northern Sierra!

Ahhh Summer!

Finally started wet wading this past week as summer showed up in full force.Started off on a scout trip to the North Yuba with Brian Slusser(Four Seasons Fly Fishing). The water is still running high but the water temps are in the upper 50's and the fish are looking up.We caught fish on big searching patterns(Turk's Tarantula and Stimulators) as well as high sticking little golden stones in the pocket water. There are little yellow sallies, golden stones and caddis hatching on the North Yuba right now and fish are holding in the shallow riffles and pocket water.


Next up was a great session on the MF Feather where I concentrated swinging soft hackle flies in the riffles and hooked over 20 fish in a few hours of fishing. These fish were aggressively taking the swung fly and it provided for a very enjoyable afternoon of fly fishing. There weren't many bugs on the water, but the flows are perfect and water temps are ideal for wet wading.

Now for the shitty part of the day...I found this mess left by some inconsiderate people at my favorite run along the MF Feather above Two Rivers Soccer Camp.





The MF Feather was designated a Wild and Scenic River in 1968 and is considered one of the most beautiful rivers in the entire state.To willfully leave behind garbage pisses me off to no end.The fact that I cleaned up one mess left at this same site 10 days previous to the discovery of this one leads me to believe it was made by the same folks.Please carry out your garbage and respect the earth that we call our home!

Here is a message I left for the litter bugs.

Anyways, the fishing is good to great depending on the day and the river.Get out and enjoy this fine summer here in the Northern Sierra!

Butt Lake Hex Hatch

I had an opportunity to fish the Hexagenia hatch last week at Butt Lake and I was not dissapointed.








I caught this 23" brown on a nymph pattern that I tied based on one I found in an older Umpqua Feather Merchants catalogue. This fish hit like a freight train and the fight was what I have been looking for all summer.

This Hex cripple was found near shore just before the hatch started in earnest.These are BIG bugs and the fish just hammer on them. Unfortunately the hatch is short lived, but it is something to behold!



I fished for two evenings landed a total of 3 fish. One on each of the patterns tied for this trip including a foam bodied dun pattern and a foam emerger.I hooked four other fish that I lost or broke off and missed as many other grabs.I am itching to get back before the hatch ends, but I don't know if it will be possible. If not, there is always next year!

Busy, busy, busy...

Summer has finally arrived and with it I have had a busy past few weeks guiding.I've been all over the place and have been finding some nice fish for clients.


From the Truckee to some smaller creeks and a few lakes we've been having a blast fishing high off color water with hungry fish!

Lake Davis is providing some fantastic dry fly fishing during the callibaetis hatch and as a bonus, the damsels have returned.

The MF Feather is still running high but the fish are eating and mayflies, little yellow sallies, caddis and golden stones are on the menu.A few very large browns have been caught over the past week on streamers as well.

Get out and enjoy this fine summer!

Middle Fork Feather Report 6-20-11

After a few calls from clients about the status of the MF Feather I decided I needed to see how she looked in person as I have been concentrating my efforts elsewhere as of late. The estimated flows below Sloat (1900 cfs) were less than encouraging, but the river looked good although high as I drove over the bridge at Blairsden. The color was typical for this freestone river, tanin stained from agriculture runoff in the Sierra Valley, but visibility was about 3' and there were a few bugs out.I saw little yellow sallies, PMD's, caddis and a lot of small midges. Fishing near where a snowmelt swollen creek enters the river I found a nice pod of rainbows feeding on PMD's.

These lovely wild rainbows were in the 10-12" range with a couple pushing 14" and were confidently eating comparaduns and parachute adams fished on the surface.I also had takes fishing a PMD emerger and a Quigly's Cripple, but the fish were mostly interested in the duns.


Friend and fellow guide Jon Baiocchi, reports that the last two hours before dark have been money with fish rising in the tailouts for PMD's Golden Stones and caddis flies. This is just the start to what is shaping up to be a great summer on the MF Feather River and I expect solid fishing throughout the season as the runoff subsides and the bugs starting hatching in ernest.

Carpenter Ant Fall

By the time you read this it may already be over with, but the annual carpenter ant fall is in full swing at Davis.The fish are looking up and if you use a stealthy approach and a hunter mentality the rewards are fantastic! I landed 2 of 6 hooked yesterday on a big ol' foam ant pattern on the surface including this chunky 3 pound fish. The fall will only last a few days or so, but these fish will remember ants for a bit longer.Get some!