Winter on its way

Fall steelheading is drawing to a close and while there are still some late fall fish pushing in, early winters are right on their heels. Last week saw our first encounter with a bright early winter as well as some halfpounders and a few chunky summer/fall steelhead in the mix. Water temps have dropped and the rivers continue to rise and drop making fishing a little hit and miss. We have pretty much switched over to tips and some larger than usual patterns seem to be doing the trick. I have a handful of days left on the mid-lower Trinity and then switching modes to winter steelhead. With plenty of rain, snow, and wind the last week I am ready for some early winter chrome to push into many of our North Coast rivers. Happy Thanksgiving!

Truths of a rising river...

There are a few things that happen with a rising river...
1. Stale fish perk up
2. New fish move in
3. Flows go up
4. The river blows
5. River drops
6. Fish are happy
7. This happens all over again 5 days later


In the last 8 days we have seen around 7" of rain in the Klamath/Trinity basin. Fishing picked up and was good until the rivers blew. It then dropped into shape and no more than a day later we get more rain. Rivers rise and now on the drop. I anticipate good fishing this next week. We should still have some good numbers of half-pounders around and some new big November freshies moving into the system. November can be a great time to hook up with one of those big late fall runs or even the bright early winter run steelhead.



Go for the grab!
JH

Steelhead Report

Been on the water the last ten days now and have seen a variety of fishing conditions on both the Klamath and Trinity rivers. Fishing has been very hit and miss but we are finding fish most days. If you fish hard throughout the day, especially during low light periods you should be able to find a fish or two that are willing to move to a swung or skated fly. Hot flies the past week have been October Hiltons, Silent Assassins, Undertakers, and muddlers.

We are in need of a weather change to get rid of this high pressure that seems to be making fishing a little tougher. Temps are suppose to cool and even a chance of rain here soon. This should suck more fish into the system and perk up the ones that have been around for a little while. The next 2-3 weeks should see some of the best fishing of the season.


John Putnam with 1 of 4 he and is brother in law hooked the other day.


A hard pulling hen that fell to an October Hilton


October Sunset on the Lower Trinity

Fall steelheading in full swing

It's go time! In the past week or so, big numbers of steelhead have moved through the lower Klamath and Trinity. Willow Creek weir counts the last 5 days have been well, REALLY GOOD! The Trinity has seen some good fishing in the past few days with some very nice fish coming to both swung wet flies and skated muddlers. The fish are moving upriver rather quickly and in some good sized pods. Find a pod of fish and you are most likely going to hook more than one! Low light periods have still been best, so look for shade through the morning and again in the late afternoons. Fishing is only going to improve throughout the next month. We will have another report and hopefully some video in the next few days.




Go for the grab!
JH

Trinity River Spey Schools

Steelhead on the Spey Guide Service will be partnering up with Lance Gray and Company to host two spey schools on the lower Trinity River. These schools will focus on spey and switch rod casting and fishing. The school’s curriculum covers rods, reels and lines. The instructors will show you how to setup your rods to your advantages for different situations based on real hands on instruction during the school. We will cover flies, sink tips and poly leaders. The students will have the opportunity to use and explore other equipment. We also encourage the students to bring their own equipment to learn with and for us to tune up. Curriculum also includes reading water, locating holds and determining which technique should be used to make a cast to that fish.
This two day school is for four students. The school will give students one on one instruction with three different instructors.

Dates for the schools are –

December 11 & 12, 2010 Full
December 18 & 19, 2010

Cost is $450 for the two day school with lunch and equipment provided. If you have any questions, feel free to email us at speybum@gmail.com

JH

New Spey and Switch Rods from Sage

Sage has just announced that they are introducing new TCX switch rods and VXP spey rods this fall. The TCX switches are going to be offered in 5-8 weight and are all 11'9" in length. They will be very well suited as longer switch rods or as I just like to say, SHORT SPEY RODS. From what I hear these rods are very smooth with a lot of power in reserve. They are going to make great rods for shorter skagit and scandi heads.

Sage is also going to be replacing the popular VT2 series speys with the new VXP spey rods. They will be offered in a 12'9" 6 weight and 13'3" 7 weight. This new series will be at a similar price point to the VT2 rods but with a redesigned blank and better components. If they are anything like the VT2's they will pretty much cast themselves! Both new VXP models will be great rods for steelhead fishing throughout the Pacific Northwest. Really looking forward to putting some time into the 6129!

Looking forward to playing with some of these new toys this fall on the lower Trinity and Klamath rivers.

JH

Reports

California

I have heard a few nice reports coming from the Trinity for summer steelhead. The water is slowly dropping and around 750 cfs from Lewiston. These summer fish are headed for tributaries so I would focus ones efforts on the mid-lower river. Early mornings and evening are going to give you the best shot a a chrome wild summer run. I would fish anything from a skated muddler or dry fly to October Hilton's, Duck Turds, Silent Assassins, and Undertakers. Good numbers of fish are already showing on the Klamath and Trinity and we anticipate great fall fishing. I have some October dates still available for prime time fall steelheading on the Lower Trinity and Klamath Rivers. Email if you have any questions or to book a date.


Alaska

Fishing up here on the upper Nush has picked up. With more salmon entering the system everyday we are seeing better trout fishing. The egg bite has picked up in the last couple of weeks and the mouse and streamer fishing has been great! Thus far the hot streamers have been a natural BellyDancer, Hickman's Egg Stealing Sculpin, and Silvey's Sculpin. About the only mouse I have been fishing all season is Mr. Hankey but if I had another choic, the Morrish Mouse would be a close second. Will post some pics shortly. The only thing we could use now is some sunshine and warm weather. I have had enough overcast and rainy days until December!

JH

A small detour to Trout and Salmon fishing in Alaska

Haven't really done a good job of keeping up with posts this spring. A combination of work and getting ready to leave for Alaska has keep me busier than expected.

In the next four months this blog will detour away from steelhead and focus on my journies guiding for trout and salmon in Alaska. I will be working for Dave and Kim Egdorf at Egdorf's Nushagak Wilderness Camp. I am pretty stoked about this opportunity and it will be fun to chase trout with big streamers and mouse patterns. I will be in Alaska from June 2nd till about September 28th. Upon return I will start guiding the lower Trinity and Klamath rivers on October 5th.

Depending on how good of a satellite internet connection we have at camp, I am hoping to do a weekly post with pics on guiding/fishing in Alaska. More photos can also be viewed on my flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/42959397@N08

JH

Steelhead on a Sea Run Brown Fly?

With relatively tough fishing on the Trinity River this past week, one of my clients Rudd Corwin, a veteran of fishing for sea run browns in Argentina each winter wanted to give one of his sea run brown flies a try. What the hell, steelhead will just about take any fly when in the mood, so lets give it a try. The EMB is certainly not eye catching but has a little flash and movement, certainly making it steelhead worthy. Not more than 20 casts into the run, Rudd hooked and landed a strong buck on a floating line and EMB. Sea run brown flies do work on steelhead!

Fishing with Jeff Bright

I was able to spend a couple of days last week with Jeff Bright on the lower Trinity River. For those of you who don't know Jeff or have not visited his website, Jeff is one of the most passionate steelhead fisherman I have ever met. He hosts trips each year to the Dean River, the Skeena River system, and the Deschutes River. Places many of us only dream of! Jeff has also spent a lot of time on the rivers of California's North Coast, especially the Trinity. It had been a while since Jeff had last fished the Trinity and I was thrilled to get to spend a couple of days with him.

We fished long and hard and managed to land a couple of fish the first day including a brilliant hen going 30" on the tape. The second day started out tough, but ended with a bang. In two runs, Jeff managed to HOOK four steelhead on his shadow hilton, but all four came unbuttoned. Three fish came out of one run and after losing all three, Jeff has a new run named in his honor "Jeff's Silver Sombreo." Something that will not soon be forgotten!

Through the course of two days we managed to fish some amazing water, take some cool photos(at least Jeff did), and talk all things steelhead. To check out some of Jeff's photography and his hosted trips visit his website at www.jeffbright.com

JH

Andy Guibord Photography

Last week I was fortunate to spend some time on the the river with Andy Guibord and Ryan Miller. Andy is one of the best striper fisherman in the valley and is also an employee at Kiene's Fly Shop. He also has quite the eye when it comes to taking photos. Here are a few shots he took last week out on the Trinity River. You can check out more of his photography at http://andyguibord.zenfolio.com/

Steelhead Weather Part 2

It finally happened, the Trinity River blew out late this morning from just above Junction City down to the mouth. The river in Willow Creek and Hoopa doubled in size overnight and is still climbing at 1500+ cfs. The good thing is the big part of the storm is gone and we are just seeing some light showers now. The river should crest at any time and begin to drop shortly. As soon as it begins to drop and clear we should see some fresh fish pushing up the river and good fishing for the next couple off weeks.

On a more positive note. I spent the last couple of days with Ryan Miller and Andy Guibord. We had some good fishing until the river blew. All fish have been very bright and are a blast on light spey and switch rods. Here are a few pics from the last couple of days...

Steelhead Weather

Just a quick update. I have spent the last couple of days on the Trinity River with good friends Ryan Miller and Andy Guibord. Fishing has been good as we have connected with a few fish each day, all of which have been dime bright and full of spunk. We also received a ton of rain last night and all day today. Towards the end of the day, the river came up more than a foot but still had decent clarity. As I write this it is raining hard again and I would not be supprised to wake in the morning to a blown out river. Will have to wait and see. Pics to come....

JH

A few pics from the past week...

Here's a few fish pics from this past week. There are some nice fish in the system and very little angling pressure. The next several weeks should provide some of the best fishing of the year on the Lower Trinity River.

October is almost here....

and i hope that it is going to bring cooler weather than we have had up here on the Trinity in September. It has been too damn hot, which has made the steelhead fishing a low light game for the last couple of weeks. Every once in a while we have hooked a fish mid day but almost all our action has been first or last light. Water temps are still in the mid to upper 60's and once they drop, the fish should become even a little grabbier!

This past week saw a few big pods of salmon and steelhead move into the river. Most steelhead were of the hatchery variety but Rick Anderson managed to land this beautiful wild buck on a floating line.

The same day Jim Zech managed a nice fish on a skated muddler.

The following three days Rudd Corwin landed his first ever steelhead on a spey rod swinging flies. One of the hottest steelhead I have ever seen hooked in the lower Trinity. Rudd managed to land two steelhead and a handful of bright half pounders. A successful trip for his first time swinging flies on the lower Trinity River.

While fishing is not quite as hot as the weather, we have had steelhead to the fly 5 of the last 6 days. A good push of half pounders has shown as well and are also adding to the mix. In the next couple of weeks, we will see big pushes of steelhead into the Trinity and this is the best time to chase these fish on skated dries and swung wet flies. The grabs are exhilirating and the fish are hot. I only have a few dates available in the next few weeks which should see some of the best floating line steelheading on the year!

JH

Lower Trinity Report

Sorry for the delay. Been having some issues with posting photos here on the blog. Some of you may noticed a couple of test photos put up here earlier in the week. Most of the photos have been looking washed out. Any ideas? If so, drop me a note. Until then, you will have to do without a few photos for a little while.

This past week saw good fishing on the lower stretches of the Trinity. The high water releases from the Hoopa Boat Dance a couple of weeks ago brought in a good slug of steelhead and a few salmon. In past years we have seen this push of high water bring in a mixture of hatchery and wild fish but this year we have been seeing more wild fish to the fly. All fish landed we chrome bright wild steelhead in the 3-5 lb range and full of spunk! With the water being low and clear, skated dry flies and small wet flies on floating lines have been the key.

One of the highlights of the week for me was watching from a high bank, a steelhead take a skated muddler. The fly passed in within three feet of this fish on three separate drifts only to take the fly on the third drift when it looked to be right on its nose. Another cool thing is that this fish took a skated fly off the surface at about 10:30 with the sun directly in its face. Just goes to show that the most aggressive fish don't care about the the sun!

Fishing is only going to get better from here on out as we will start to see bigger pushes of fish in the next two months. The next 40-50 days is prime time fishing on the lower Klamath and Trinity rivers for classic floating line fishing for summer/fall run steelhead. To stay up to date with current reports, available dates, and trip specials, sign up for our newsletter at the bottom of our homepage www.steelheadonthespey.com

JH

Trinity River Report

Just back from two days on the lower Trinity river. Fishing was respectable for the hot days of mid August. As usual with this time of year, there are a decent number of wild summer run fish available. In two days on the river we saw good numbers of chrome bright steelhead but many were reluctant to take a fly. Part of this can be attributed to extremely warm water and air temps, giving anglers a small window of opportunity first thing in the morning until the sun hits the water. Water temps ranged from 68 in the morning to upwards of 73 degrees in the late evening.


The good news is that we managed a couple of grabs first light with one good hook up. Unfortunately we were unable to land this chromer but it put on quite the fight, jumping twice as it screamed downstream before coming unbuttoned.

It is shaping up to be a great fall on the Trinity. With good numbers of wild summer run fish in the system and many more wild and hacthery steelhead moving into the Klamath river, we should see some great fishing from now through November. Go for the grab!

JH

Red Wine Summer Fly

The Red Wine Summer fly is just another variation of any standard skunk or hairwing steelhead pattern. Hairwings are simple flies that are both easy to tie and provide a good silhouette in the water. Another bonus is that the white wing makes this fly easy to follow from a high bank, allowing one to see if a steelhead follows the fly. I tied this particular fly for the Deschutes River but it has been a very effective fly for summer and fall steelhead pretty much everywhere I have fished. Last fall , this fly accounted for numerous steelhead on both the Klamath and Trinity rivers.

Pattern Recipe:
Hook: TMC 7999 #4-8
Tag: Small flat gold tinsel
Tail: Golden pheasant red breast feather
Body: Claret seal or Angora Goat
Rib: Small oval gold tinsel
Collar: Purple saddle or schlappen
Wing: Pearl krystal flash under polar bear or bucktail or kid goat
Head: Red Danville 6/0 unwaxed

One of the key things to remember when tying this fly is to keep it thin and sparse. This allows the fly to have maximum movement and swim naturally. Give it a try and hopefully you too will find similar results...

Go for the grab!
JH

A few images from the Summer/Fall 08' season

Trinity River Wild Summer Steelhead

Tail



Steelhead Bailout. Why Not?



Hen closeup

Fishing Report

Sorry for the lack of reports the last few weeks. The season is winding down on the Trinity with very few fresh fish showing which has made for some tough fishing. Last week Rob Elam was able to hook three adults landing two in two days of fishing along with a few half pounders. Rain might help the fishing a bit but it looks like just an average year for steelhead on the Trinity. The good news is that we are still seeing good numbers of wild fish which bodes well for the future of the Trinity River. If we get a good push of fresh fish on the Trinity in the next week or two I will keep you posted.

On the other hand, I have spent a considerable amount of time on the Klamath in the last few weeks. The fishing has been pretty good with most days seeing one or two adults to hand along with some nice half pounders. Most fish have been caught on floating lines and small wet flies but with the air and water temps cooling I would look at fishing a sink tip from now on. The upper Klamath near Iron Gate is seeing good numbers of steelhead in the 16-22" range and are very aggressive towards a swung fly. For those looking to get a late fall fix, this is the place to be until mid December.

Next on tap is coastal winter steelhead. My favorite time of year! As soon as we get some more rain we will see fresh steelhead enter our North Coast rivers. These early season fish are extremely aggressive and are a blast on the swing. For those interested in winter steelhead trips please send me an email so I can put you on the winter steelheading list of those interested in trips when the rivers drop into shape. I will send an email out to those interested about the details of those trips around the first of December. Until then, Go for the grab!

Jason Hartwick