Early Summer

 My how time flies. Tonight I graduate from Feather River College after 2.5 years of study there. What a momentous occasion!

I haven't had much opportunity to fish until recently. I have been concentrating my time on the Middle Fork Feather River and it has been fantastic. Swinging soft hackle flies in the riffles has produced tremendous action on fish to 17" with most in the 12" range.

Good hatches are taking place daily. Little yellow sallies and caddis are the most dominant right now, but I started seeing Golden Stones yesterday and there are also march browns, bwo and PMD,s around as well.

Flows are perfect and the crowds have been light and wet wading is the way to go on the hotter days.

Get out and fish!

Pyramid Spring 2012

I have just returned from a long sojourn to the emerald waters of Pyramid Lake Nv. This year is unlike any that I have experienced out there. Tough fishing conditions were the name of the game with some days yielding a handful of grabs and others providing consistent action. Stories abound as to why the fishing is as tough as it is but I have no real answers. All I know is it is not what we have grown accustomed to. The nice thing is crowds are light and most beaches are ghost towns.

Onto the good news...I got this 8.5 # buck on my last night at the rocks at Pelican.

Usually I don't spend a whole lot of time on the rocks, but this year I found it to be a good place to fish and warm up in the afternoons. I caught fish there midging but it was never red hot action for me.


Even though the fishing was not very good, the friendships forged in the wind and waves of the big lake will be carried with me a life time. I am itching to get back to the stark beauty and fiesty cutthroat.

Early Spring

Winter has had a poor showing this year in the Northern Sierra and spring has been trying to force its welcome head into the door. Looks as if we might get some snow this week but it feel as as if it may be too little too late.

Lake Davis has a full pool at this time so it should be ok for the early season, but I would expect it to be pretty low come fall. The rivers will be tough to judge but expectations of any runoff must be tempered with the fact that there is barely a snowpack at this time.

The good news! Pyramid Lake should start picking up anyday now for trophy Lahonton Cutthroat. Some very large fish have been caught from shore the past few weeks and this should continue for a while. Check out this new website put together by Rob Anderson and Doug Oullette about Pyramid. A ton of great info can be found here. http://pyramidlakeflyfishing.com/

Pray for snow, but if it doesn't come get out fishing early and often!

A Small Piece of Heaven

The New Year found me fishing a few rivers on the North Coast chasing the elusive grey ghost. While it was great to get out for 8 straight days of fishing, the conditions were less than ideal for fly fishing. Low and clear conditions had me trying to stay in front of low flow closures and trying some smaller tips and flies. I wasn't very successful in hooking fish on this trip, but I had a couple of cool moments.

On the first river that shall remain nameless, I hooked the only adult of the trip on the first morning. It was a weird hook up as the fish grabbed while I was stripping in to recast. A small fish by coastal standards, but it was still a hooked fish. Later that first day I had a bobcat wander out onto a gravel bar 100 feet or so below me. He looked around nonchalantly and then jumped from a rock to a willow branch and melted into the shoreline vegetation. There was no time to get the camera out for a picture.

I did get a pic of the fresh bear tracks on the beach near my camp on a stroll to look at the river mouth. I didn't realize that there were bears in this part of the state. Now I do!

Three days later I had an epic 1/2 hour when I had 5 grabs in one run hooking 3 fish and landing 2. They turned out to be fiesty half pounders that absolutely were a riot to catch.


The best part was hearing the waves crash on the beach a mile or so downriver while fighting a mini silver bullet. Then I was told that the river had been closed due to low flows. So I moved on.

These guys were my fishing partners on a small coastal stream near Redwood National Park. Twenty two elk watched from the levee as I cast my way down a run. What they must have thought of the crazy human standing in the water waving a small tree in the air. While I caught no fish here, the elk made my day and possibly my trip.

This was my camp for the final two nights of my adventure. Located next to Hurdygurdy Creek, a tributary to the South Fork Smith River, this camp site was the most serene I have had in a long time. Listening to the creek sing me a lullaby as I drifted off to sleep was sweet.

I didn't come tight to many fish on this trip but I was able to find a small bit of peace in the dancing of the flames of the many campfires that I drank beer by. Just a small piece of heaven.

Merry Christmas!

With a lack of snow, people are looking for other things to do in Tahoe over the holidays. The fishing on the Little Truckee is surprisingly good right now. Ken from El Dorado Hills landed this nice rainbow yesterday on a #18 rubber leg pt fished on 6x tippet. It was a pretty nice day on the water and we had a chance at a large brown but couldn't get him to eat. I have a few days available next week before I take off on a steelhead adventure on the North Coast. Come on rain!

A fishing report

After what seemed like an eternity I actually got out and wet a line. This semester at FRC was more demanding than I would have liked and I had to put my guide service and personal fishing on hold. I read fishing reports religiously and lived vicariously through friends posts on Facebook...and I almost went insane! While I was very happy for my buddies who were getting after it this fall, it was hell not having the time to fish or guide for that matter.




As the semester was winding down, I finally bit the bullet and went to the Trinity River to fish for steelhead. I made my way to Pidgeon Pt where I like to camp and got settled in. It was raining lightly and in the mid 50's...pretty nice steelheading weather. I rigged up my Sage Z-Axis 6110 switch rod for the next morning and drank down a couple of Steelhead Extra Pale Ales by the campfire.


The next morning I fished the camp water for no luck. It took me a bit to get my rhythm, but eventually the meditation like cast, swing , step washed away the stress of school and I felt like I was where I needed to be. I spent the day swinging flies through a few favorite runs without so much as a tap-tap. The rain was off and on throughout the day and before it got too late I decided to return to camp to dry out and warm up. Bruce showed up in camp later in the evening and we proceeded to swap lies and drink more Steelhead Ales than was necessary around the campfire. Bruce and I have been steelheading together for a few years now and each time we get together it is always a good time!

We fished the camp water in the morning where Bruce lost the only fish he hooked. We decided to head up river to fish and explore a little. Pressure on the river was light and we got into a run that I hadn't fished in a few years. A few casts in my line comes tight! After 3 jumps and 2 solid runs I get the fish into shallow water to land it. A decent 25" hatchery fish. I blow the photo op and only have this pic as proof.


I didn't have another grab and Bruce had to take off that afternoon so I fished my way back to camp and more beer and campfire.

I fished for a few hours the next morning before driving home to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with my family.

The next week would fly by and I made my way back to Pidgeon Pt to meet up with my longtime fishing partner Greg. Greg and I met at Pyramid Lake years ago and have spent lots of time on the water together. We haven't been on the Trinity together for a few years so it was a great opportunity to fish this awesome river again.

Greg was first to hook up that morning at a spot that I had explored the week before.

A colored up hatchery buck of about 25". The best part is he picked the pocket of two guide boats that had just fished through this spot!


My chance came later as I hooked and landed a nice hatchery hen at the same spot that I got one the week before.

This fish ate a green butt spey fly that I had been carrying in my box for a couple of years. Pretty sweet! It was very satisfying to get a fish on a spey fly that I tied.

Did I say it was cold? This trip was clear and cold with freezing fog and ice in the guides in the morning. So we chased the sun in the early afternoon to try and warm up.

Greg landed another nice fish at the spot he caught one the day before.



On our final morning it was so cold that my reel was frozen and I had to spend 10 minutes to get it somewhat operational. I had to continually pull line off the reel to keep it working. Unfortunately when I hooked a fish a bit later I was unable to keep it on as my reel froze on its first run. Man that sucked,but what can you do

It was great to get in a few days of fishing and now the semester is at an end and I should have a bit more time to spend on the water. Yay!!

How Time Flies!

Hard to believe that I have been so consumed by school this semester that I haven't updated this blog since September. My fishing and guiding time has come to a screeching halt as my whole focus has been on school and college football.

Fishing update...the weather here in the Sierra has taken a turn towards winter and with it the fishing has slowed on the local lakes. Davis and Frenchman's are still producing but water temps are falling quickly and I wouldn't be surprised to see ice on them in the near future. The Truckee has been very good this fall and a fellow guide landed a 30" brown last week over that way. Pyramid has been excellent as of late from a tube. A friend who lives there has had numerous 30+ fish days this fall and he caught a 12# hen last week on a midnight cowboy.

For you steelheaders the Trinity has been fishing lately with fish being caught both nymphing and swinging. I hope to get up there soon, but it may not happen this year as school nears the end of the semester and my projects and classes take all of my attention.

On the football front my Trojans have been better than I expected with a record of 7-2 crushing Notre Dame and losing to Stanford in triple overtime. It has been an exiting season to say the least!

Finally, my trusty Tacoma threw the front bearings last night and I am now without wheels for a few days. Sucky to say the least...

Enjoy the fishing options that are available and with any luck I'll see you on the water!