Blog Change

Just a heads up to everyone that we are slowly transitioning our blog over to a new site. This is going to allow us to do a little more with photo and video work as well as having some new people contributing to the blog. We have it started but will take a few weeks to get things going in the direction we want. Check it out at http://steelheadonthespey.wordpress.com

Go for the grab1
JH

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

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

Find what work's for you...

One of the biggest challenges in the two handed game is finding a properly matched fly line for your fishing needs.

Guiding two-handed spey fishing and working in a fly shop part time, the biggest question that gets asked is the same one over and over again! What is the best line for my spey rod? Sometimes this can be tougher to answer than one might think. Let me first start by asking you a few questions to make this easier for both of us...

Where do you like to fish?
What time of the year?
Do you like a lighter load or a deeper, heavier load?
Do you like a more traditional longer length line or shorter shooting head line?
Do you want this line to be extremely versatile or excel in a specific area?

The reasons for these questions is that right now in the two-handed market there is a lot to choose from in rods, reels, and lines. While there are very few "bad" spey rods being built these days, there are spey rods that will feel/cast like shit when they improperly lined. The biggest key is finding the Spey line to fit your needs.

Let's now jump right into the various types of lines available to the consumer.

Old School, aka Long Bellies and Traditional Spey Lines:
These are the lines I learned to cast with almost 10 years ago. These are a more traditional spey line with head lengths in the 52-85' range. Great for casting flies longer distances on large rivers. They require a lot more back casting room and do well with flies in the #1/0-#10 range. Good luck with a big string leech or intruder though! These lines are popular on summer/fall steelhead rivers like the Deschutes, Clearwater, Thompson, and Klamath rivers. These lines have evolved a bit over the years and are now a little better to cast. Here are a few popular ones for anglers to consider in the 7-11 weight range.
- Rio Windcutter(old standby)
- Rio Powerspey
- Airflo Delta and Delta Long
- CND GPS
- Nextcast Winter Authority and Fall Favorite

Scandinavian Lines:
These lines are shooting head style lines that have a lot of taper to them. They range in length from 28-44' and are designed to have good turnover with small to medium size flies. These lines gained popularity in Europe and in the last few years have made a big splash in North America on rivers like the Deschutes, Trinity, and Klamath. These lines are easier to cast than traditional spey lines but not quite as easy and forgiving as Skagit lines. Here are some popular Scandi heads in the 5-9 weight range...
- Airflo Compact Scandi
- Beulah Elixir
- Guideline Powertaper
- Rio AFS
- Vision Ace

Skagit Lines:
Here's what I think can be some of the most versatile fishing lines on the market. A line for all season and all conditions. Skagit lines were designed to throw large flies on heavy sink tips in the Pacific Northwest. What many don't know is that if you take a lighter skagit head, add a 7.5-10' floating tip that is equal in grain weight to the skagit head you would use to throw sink tips and big flies, you get a great line for summer/fall dry line fishing. For example, if you throw a 450 grain skagit head for sink tip work, you would want the total length of your skagit head plus floating tip for summer/fall fishing to equal 450 grains. Skagit heads vary in length from 20-34' and can fit switch/spey rods from 5-12 weights. The following are some of most popular skagit lines on the market at the moment.
- Airflo Compact Skagit
- Beulah Tonic
- Rio Skagit Flight
- Rio Skagit Short

All of the aforementioned lines are great for the two handed rod. Some will excel in certain situations where other will struggle. The key is to find the right line for your casting style, where you like to fish, and the time of year you like to fish. Or, if you are looking for one line to do it all, then I would certainly recommend a Skagit line.

JH

Evolution of the Skagit line

When some people mention Skagit lines, the first thing that comes to mind are heavy sink-tips, big flies, and winter steelhead. This is true, and was the only way I thought of Skagit lines until the last couple of years. Skagit lines are a great fishing tool on both Spey and switch rods and more people than ever before are using them year round.

I myself, have gravitated towards Skagit lines for almost all my steelheading be it spring, summer, fall, and winter. In the summer and fall months I just swap my sink-tips for a floating tip and 12-15' tapered leader and am ready to fish. Part of the reason for fishing these lines in the summer and fall months has to do with the number of anglers and pressure many of our steelhead rivers now see. I have had to learn and fish new water to try and escape some of the pressure "traditional" runs and riffles see throughout a given day. I find myself fish smaller, tighter spots that don't allow much backcasting room, forcing one to get the fly out there with a very limited to almost non existent back cast. The shorter, quicker load of a skagit line allows one to do this. The second major factor has to do with guiding first time Spey casters into steelhead. Skagit lines allow one to learn and understand the basics of the two-hand casting a hell of a lot quicker than any other line out there. What once cold have taken two weeks for one to learn a single cast, now only takes an hour or less. It simply allows many of guides to guide their clients into fish a lot quicker and easier.

The last couple of years have seen tremendous growth in the spey fishing world. More and more anglers are getting into the two handed sport which has placed an emphasis on technology, teaching, guiding, and fishing. Learning to spey cast with a two handed rod is now easier than ever. When I first started spey casting we were using 14-15' 9 and 10 weights with Windcutter lines. It took me nearly a month to feel confident enough to tie and fly on and fish a run without have to worry about hooking myself in the neck. Not that these outfits were bad, they just took a lot more skill and practice to learn the spey casts. As Spey casting grew, so did rod and line technology.

In the last 5-6 years we are seeing a growth in the use of the Skagit lines. There is a big reason for this, Skagit lines make casting and fishing two handed rods much easier and more enjoyable. Skagit lines were designed by the likes of Ed Ward, Mike McCune, and Scott O'Donnell on the banks of the Skagit/Sauk rivers while trying to find a line that was able to cast big flies on heavy sink tips. Little did they know, that the design of this line would make a huge impact in the world of steelhead fishing.

Rio was one of the first company to design a Skagit taper. These lines were 27' in length and varied in grain weight, 350, 450, 550, and 650 grains. Soon there was a demand for more lines and Rio introduced more lines varying in 50 grain increments. Not long after, Airflo and Scientific Anglers followed suit and Skagit lines gained in popularity.

While many of these lines were great for the 13'6"-15' rods, many were having to modify lines to match some of newer, shorter, lighter Spey rods on the market. In the last couple of years, manufacturers have begun to design Skagits that were better suited to today's shorter lighter rods. Airflo was the first company to introduce a line of Skagits designed to match almost any Spey/switch rod starting at 360 grain @ 22.5' and going up to 720 grains @ 28.5'. Soon Beulah followed with the Tonic that ranges from 22.5 - 27' and match switch rods as light as 5/6 up to 9 weight spey rods. At the same time Rio launched their line of Skagit Shorts designed for switch and small spey rods. Rio's Skagit Short range from 275 grains to 525 grains and are 20' in length. As the popularity of Airflo's Compact Skagit grew, Rio soon followed suit with their new Skagit Flight than range from 425 grains @ 24'to 750 grains @ 31'. Now there are almost too many choices out there for an angler to choose from. This just shows the growth and popularity and Skagit and Spey casting.

While there are many options out there to choose from, it is extremely important to make sure you get the proper line for your Spey/switch rods. The other thing to remember is that not all line recommendations will work for you. Many anglers prefer different loads in their rod while casting. Some prefer a heavier, deeper load(more grains), while others like a lighter load(less grains) and cast more off the tip. If you have had any two-hand casting experience, you should have an idea which you might prefer. That being said, if you are a beginner and have not spent any time with a two-handed rod, it is best to get a recommendation from a reliable source and go with a line that is "middle of the road" as far as grain weight it concerned. Many fly shops have employees that Spey fish and can give an angler a good line recommendation. There is also a decent amount of god info on the internet but be careful not to always listen to the internet experts, aka(speypages forums). Shops such as Kiene's Fly Shop have some excellent and knowledgeable Spey information and can provide the correct Skagit line recommendations.

JH

Idylwilde Day at Califronia Fly Shop

Idylwilde Day at California Fly Shop yesterday was a great success. A big thanks to all the folks at CFS and Jason Lozano for putting together this great event. For a day with less than ideal weather, we had a good turnout of people there to learn more about fishing, tying, and Idylwilde's new patterns for 2010!


Hogan Brown tied some cool trout flies and did a great presentation on tying and fishing flies for trout. Very informative and I really enjoyed his talk about mayflies, both tying and fishing 'em. Kevin Price tied and talked about Bass. Kevin has some really cool, new bass patterns out with Idylwilde this year that many of us are looking forward to fishing this upcoming spring. Mikey Weir tied some trout flies and had a lot of interest in his Hoppicater pattern. He also did a little preview for his Mongolia video. I was only able to see a couple minutes of it, but it is something to look forward to! I did a little presentation on fishing the rivers of California's North Coast and tied a few flies.


This was a great event and hopefully we can put together more Idylwilde days. Idylwilde has some of the most innovative tiers in the industry and by far the best tied flies. Remeber, Idylwilde Flies feature Premium Skunk Repellant!

JH

Winter Tying Materials

With winter steelhead season nearly here, I have been tying up a storm getting ready for the ghosts of winter to arrive. Over the years I find myself using more and more synthetics because they allow for tying a fly with a large profile without casting like a wet sock. Many are also tying and fishing flies upwards of six inches and while I rarely go this big, keeping your flies sparse and using synthetics can add movement and make casting much more enjoyable. Here are a few materials I have geeked on lately...

Foxx (Craft) Furr
This stuff can be used in many different ways and can be wrapped, spun, (or dare I say it) bunch tied. It comes in way too many colors and does not bleed. I have been having fun spinning it in dubbing loops and substituting it for marabou.


Polar Chenille
This is nothing new, but has all the good qualities in a steelhead tying material. It's lightweight and has a little flash and a lot of movement. I like to wrap this through the body of many flies instead of hackle.


Flashabou and Angel Hair
Both are offered in a variety of colors and add movement and flash for more steelhead appeal.


Then there are always the natural materials that I can't do without.
Arctic Fox Tails
Lady Amherst Tails and Tippets
Ostrich
Marabou(I am starting to like the barred stuff but wish the stems were a little longer!)

I know I am forgetting some, but these are just a few that came to mind. Would love to hear of any other cool stuff you out there like to use as well.

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!

Random Thoughts....The Grab

It's what we long for. Many hours of fishing or as I like to refer to it sometimes as "casting practice," in hopes that a steelhead will grab our fly. We can go days without a grab. Sometimes thinking it will never happen. Fishing some of the best water you have ever seen. Asking yourself too many questions. Are the fish here? Do I have the right fly. Is the bite off? If so, why? Then comes a time when you cant do anything wrong and next thing you know, by the end of the day you have hooked four steelhead. What did I do different? How did I hook more than one? Questions we ask ourselves even on good days.

It's called steelhead fishing. And the reason many of us do it is for the grab! For those who don't care about the grab and are only interested in catching as many fish as possible, well I'm sorry. You don't know what your missing. Once it happens, you will it want more! The grab doesn't come easy. You have to put your time in. Steelhead are often called the fish of a thousand or ten thousand casts. Sometimes you get that grab on the third cast and other times it comes on the 13, 191st cast. When it happens, you'll know. Your heart may skip a beat or the rod almost gets yanked out of your hand. Either way, you keep coming back for more. More abuse, because last time I checked it has been three days and I need a fix, how bout you?

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...

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

North to Oregon!

I will be leaving today for a 9 day trip up to Oregon. August 24-27 we will be hosting a 4 day camp trip on the Deschutes thru Deschutes Angler Fly Shop. With record dam counts and good numbers of fish entering the Deschutes it could line up to be a good trip. We will also be fishing the North Umpqua and maybe even the Rogue on the way home. Stay turned for a trip report the first week of September.

JH

'Upstream Battle' Removing the Klamath's Dams and saving Wild Salmon and Steelhead

This is an inspiring short video clip from Ben Kempas about Native American tribes and the impact of PacifiCorp's Klamath River dams. This would be the largest dam removal in history and could help restore the declining runs of wild Salmon and Steelhead on the Klamath River.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mSrgbvko_o

Rivers of a Lost Coast

I was able to attend a viewing of Rivers of a Lost Coast this past Wednesday at the Crest Theatre in Sacramento. I was fortunate to attend the show with a few fellow employees of Kiene's Fly Shop that were part of the making of the movie, Chuck Campana and Joe Shirshac. It is pretty cool to know and here stories from these two old time California steelheaders.

What a great documentary! All I can say is WOW! Justin Coupe and Palmer Taylor did a hell of a job putting this movie together. It was better than I could have imagined and I cant wait to get a copy when it comes out on DVD. Having Tom Skerritt narrate the movie along with the classic footage and photographs make this a very special documentary for California salmon and steelhead fishing.

A few minutes into the movie and I had chills running down my spine hearing how much California's coastal fishery had an influence on salmon/steelhead fishing throughout the country and how quickly it was lost. This shows how important conservation and protecting our natural resources are. In the coming weeks I will be posting a few articles on conservation and what we as anglers can do to make our fisheries better. Please stay tuned!

Jason Hartwick

Guides Weekend Off

So far the 2009 winter steelhead season on the coast has been a bit of a bust. Not that we have had the best conditions for fishing but when the water and weather cooperated I would have expected the fishing to be a bit better. While we did have some good fishing in January, February and March have been a tough!

I was able to sneak away from the shop for a couple of days and headed north for a relaxing weekend which of course included some winter steelheading. Spent some time on two rivers I do not fish all that often, seeing the usual jaunts have not been producing like they have in the past. Will Johnson joined me and we did some serious hiking on the first day on a smaller coastal river. We had the river all to ourselves and fished some great water, same results!


Seeing little results the first day we ventured a few hours in a totally different direction. This wasnt exactly a short drive and we ended up only fishing half od a day in off and on showers. A few of the smaller tribs were beginning to muddy up a bit and the river was on a slow rise. With a few hours of light and a rising river, Will and I fished fast. In search of that perfect piece of water that might contain the presence of that wild 15 lb chromer all us steelhead junkies are in search of. We both fished down one of the better runs on the river with no pulls. Will headed downstream and I went upstream. I stumble upon a slow moving pool I would not normally fish because it is pretty slow moving and looks to be 6-10' deep. What the hell, I am not finding any fish in any of the usual spot, might as well try something different. The first couple of swings are slow and deep but the current looks to get better the further down the run. Next cast, the fly gets a better swing and just as the fly comes off the faster seam into the slower water, WHAM! Fish takes to the air, give a few headshakes and comes undone. Whata ya know, I lose another winter. Pretty typical for me this season! Though I didn't feel too bad as it looked like it was a downstreamer (aka snake).

Alright so there are some fish around! Strip in and re cast a little further downstream from where I had lost that last one. About 5 casts later, I get jerked so hard it literally ripped the rod out of my hand. Yeah, I know, I here this phrase a lot too but couldnt think of anything original or that was G rated. Fish comes right to the surface and jumps multiple times while instantly taking me near my backing in slow moving water. This was no snake, and appeared to be a thick winter buck. After a 5 minute fight or so I had the buck near the bar but each time I would try to beach him he would peel off another 40' of line. Finally, I think I have him and have the leader in the guide. As I go to tail him, he bolts back towards the pool and hook pulls. Normally I would have been content with the fishing getting off because we are going to let him go anyways but this lightly colored buck looked to be in the mid 30" range and 13-15 lbs. It would have been nice to get a pic of him seeing this was a mid teens fish in a river that typically sees 4-7 lb fish on average. Tragic! If Dave or anyone else that knows that story, this was my crumbler!

F#$% it! Might as keep working down the pool. To shorten this saga a bit, I ended up hooking and landing another snake that went arial a few times and ripped a little line. Fooled me at first but as I tailed her and released her quickly, she was 27-28" and no more than 5 lbs. Wow, what a run! Every once in a moon made of spare ribs does that ever happen. Moral of story. I was one lucky SOB for the day and we all should fish some slower water for winter fish. Not those riffly rus and tailouts, summer runs love.

Sorry for the long write and no fish pics. Snake pics are not allowed!

Jason Hartwick

American River Spring Steelhead Special

As March approaches we typically begin to see some spring steelhead or supercharged half pounders in the American River. These fish respond well to a swung fly and will even take dry flies on the surface as the weather warms and the caddis begin to come off. Most of these fish average 16-20" with fish up to 6 lbs. Many of these fish have just arrived in the river and are extremely bright and full of fight.


I will be offering a spring special for those interested in fishing for Spring steelhead. The focus of these trips will be swinging flies on single or two handed fly rods with floating lines or light sinking poly leaders. The trips will run about 3 hours in either the morning or evening. We will target a few of the prime runs where these fish tend to hold. Cost is $75 for one angler and $100 for two anglers. This is a great way to refine your techniques for swinging flies for steelhead and learning about spring steelhead fishing on the American River.

Jason Hartwick