2010 Winter Season comes to a close

Our 2010 California Winter steelhead season has all but come to a close. While many of our rivers are still open till March 31st, fishing has slowed and very few bright fish are showing. It's hard to believe how fast our winter season went by. While we had some good fishing, this years water conditions made fishable days on some of my favorite rivers few and far between. If we could have had an extra 8-12 days of good weather during "prime time," I hate to think how many bright natives we could have hooked. That's winter steelheading though, we rarely get ideal conditions. The following are a few pics from the 09-10' winter season. More pics can be seen on the website in the next few days...

The Release

It's really exciting to know that starting March 1st there will be no take of wild steelhead on the Smith and the rest of California for that matter. The Smith was the last remaining fishery that allowed for the take of wild steelhead. Hopefully we will all be seeing a lot more of this in the future...

California Coast Report

This last week saw some good fishing conditions on a few of our California North Coast rivers. On and off rain helped stabilize water levels and keep the rivers that nice steelhead green color we all like. While fishing was not red hot, it was what you would expect for swinging for coastal winter steelhead. Hard fighting, chrome fish! I will let a few of the pictures do the talking...






With a good sized storm approaching and the predicted river levels significantly rising, we should see another good push of fish and good fishing once the rivers drop again. The season has just begun and we still have some great fishing ahead of us. Mid January through February are prime time on California's North Coast rivers. I still have some dates available and will continue to email those on the call/email list when I have open dates and fishable conditions. For more information or to sign up for the call/email list, email me at speybum@gmail.com

JH

The Grab

Winter steelheading is by no means easy. Usually the weather is cold, its raining, and you cant feel your hands as you strip in your line to make the next cast. We anticipate that grab, the moment that makes an anglers heart skip a beat! This is what many die hard steelheaders look forward to, long days and cold nights with dreams of that 20 lb chrome buck that just might grab our fly on the dangle.

Last night was one of those nights when it was hard to fall asleep with so many thoughts running through my head. Are there fresh fish pushing in the system? Is it really going to be worth the 3 hour drive? What run should I fish first? Should I fish a 3" long black string leech or a 1.5 Mahoney? One thing was for sure, I was anxious to get to one of my favorite not to be named coastal steelhead rivers.

On arrival I was shocked when I stepped out of the car to 60 degree sunshine and very little breeze. Its the end of January and I am fishing for winter steelhead in a short sleeved shirt. I know it sounds crazy but welcome to California! While mid 60's temperaures are abnormal in January, winter steelheading in the sunshine is not. Typically, if it is raining the rivers are quick to rise and discolor and you might get lucky to have a day or two of fishing before they blow out. I cant say that I was overly excited by the weather because high pressure and bright sunshine are usually not a great recipe for good steelheading. But when the fish are in, I guess it really doesn't matter.

After a few minutes of deliberation, I tied on a 1.5 Mahoney, one of Dec Hogan's fine creations. A classic feather wing spey, this fly glows in the water under bright light. I was confident I made a good selcetion. I steeped into one of my favorite runs with no one is sight. Shocking considering the weather and the fact that this is one of the few rivers that has enough water in it to fish. I worked half way through the run when my line began to slow and I felt a quick jerk, dropped my loop and nobody home. I made the same cast again with no grab. I fisnished out the run with no other grabs but was certain there were fish around.

I made my way to another favorite run that looked to be a bit on the low side but what the heck, there just might be a fish on the soft inside seam. It was a nice swing through most of the run but the swing on the bottom end was a little slow for my liking. I was thinking that there was not enough current or depth from here on out to hold a fish. I was going to give myself a few more casts and then head for another spot. Just as the fly finsihed its broadside swing my line just stopped. I dropped what little loop I was holing in the in my right hand and the line went tight. Immediately, the fish came to the surface and splashed. It looked big but I wasn't feeling its weight yet. As soon as I took a turn of the reel the fish took off down river cartwheeling two more times as I neared my backing. This fish was big! Each time I tried to gain line, the fish would make another quick run. Just as I thought I could not gain any line on this fish it decides to turn and run upstream. I reeled as fast as possible but could not keep up. After a few seconds of reeling as fast as possible, the line went limp and the steelhead won the battle. While I was a little disappointed, just feeling that grab and seeing that fish fight that hard was well worth it. As I sat on the bank and pondered for a moment, I couldn't help but smile and think, "There is nothing like the grab!"

Jason Hartwick

California Winter Steelhead Update

Sorry it's been so long since my last report. In the last couple of weeks we have seen no rain and our coastal rivers that have been dropping and clearing extremely fast. That being said, most of our North Coast rivers had a few days of ideal flows and water conditions in the past two weeks. We have not seen big pushes of fish yet but the ones we have connected with have been chrome bright and full of piss and vinegar. If we could get some rain here in the next week or so, I anticipate bigger pushes of fish to move in and fishing to be great in February.

California's North Coast Winter Steelhead

California's North Coast rivers offer a great opportunity at hooking winter steelhead on the fly in a beautiful surrounding. Many of these rivers run through some of California's largest redwood forest and provide an amazing backdrop when fishing for winter steelhead. Rivers such as the Eel, South Fork Eel, Van Duzen, Mad, and all host good returns of wild steelhead and offer the chance at hooking the steelhead of a lifetime. While most winter steelhead in these rivers average 6-8 lbs, fish in the 14-20lb range are hooked each year. The down side of fishing these North Coast rivers is that they tend to blow out rather easily when we get rain and can take anywhere from 1-3 weeks to come back into fishable shape. When they do drop into shape the fishing can be great as many fresh fish will pour into these systems after a storm. Some rivers clear quicker than others and can provide fishing for a lot longer period of time than say the main stem of the Eel. The South Fork Eel is one of those. We tend to spend more time of the SF Eel than any other system because it clears quicker and stays in shape longer.

Because of this I usually do not book trips too far in advance. What I am going to do is put together a call and email list of those intretsed in trips on the coast and or specific rivers one would like to fish. I will give you 3-7 days notice of when a system will drop into shape and a fishing forecast. This will allow us to have good fishable conditions and not have to worry about a certain date being blown out and having to rebook. That being said, if you do want to book a date so that it is reserved that will work as well.

These rivers are a great place for swinging flies on spey rods for chrome bright winter steelhead. We utilize spey and switch rods on the 10'6" to 14' range and skagit style fly lines with heavy sinktips to target these flies. This style of fishing is not for the faint of heart and typically requires casting skagit style lines with 10-12' of T-14 and flies in the 2-6 inch range to target these winter steelhead.

For those interested, please send me an email with a contact number to get a hold of you when these rivers begin to fish. Our time frame for fishing these rivers in from mid December to March 31 when most fo the rivers close to fishing. Thank you and happy holidays. Go for the grab!

Jason Hartwick