New Beulah Platinum Series Spey Rods

I was able to get out on the local sewer the last couple of days and test out Beulah's new line of Spey Rods. The rods are all 4 piece and come in three sizes from 11'7" 5 wt, 12'6" 6 wt, and 13'2" 7 wt. These are medium-fast action rods that are very crisp and extremely light in the hand. These rods are finished in a deep grey/charcoal finish with clean wraps and some of the most beautiful cork on the market. Not only do these rods looks good, but they cast great!


This mornings trial run was with the 13'2" 7 wt. and a Beulah Tonic head and a 10' 150 grain tip. This was an extremely smooth casting setup that was very light in the hand and threw a ton of line. I would say this line is a bit on the light side for a Skagit setup and I much preferred an Airflo Compact Skagit 540 that I tried later on. The 540 loaded a bit deeper into the rod and I would say that a 570 head is not out of the question. As for Scandi style lines this rod matches up well with a Beulah Elixir Spey 7/8. Add a 14' poly leader and you have a summer/fall setup that will throw a country mile.

The 12'6" 6 wt. is a sweet little stick that will cover a variety of situations on small to medium sized rivers. This rod has enough backbone to land a strong summer or winter steelhead and is light enough to have fun fishing for half pounders. This rod matches up well a Beulah Elixir Spey 6/7 for your summer and fall fishing. For winter fishing or situations when you need to throw bigger flies or get down deeper, an Airflo Compact Skagit 450 is a perfect match. While I have not tried a Beulah Tonic on this rod yet, I can bet there is one that is a great match for this rod. This is a perfect rod for rivers such as the Deschutes, Grande Rhonde, Rogue, Trinity, and Klamath.

While I have not spent much fishing time with the 11'7" 5wt, I was able to cast this rod a little bit this summer on the North Umpqua. This rod is fun to cast and will be perfect for trout, half pounders, and smaller summer steelhead. A Beulah Elixir Switch 5/6 is a great match for this rod that will fish well on rivers like the Rogue, Klamath, and Trinity. I can't wait to spend more time with this rod swinging flies for trout and steelhead on the Lower Yuba in the next couple of months.

These new Beulah Platinum Series spey rods will be available soon and if you would like to give one a test drive, feel free to contact me. Happy holidays and go for the grab!

Jason Hartwick

A few images from the Summer/Fall 08' season

Trinity River Wild Summer Steelhead

Tail



Steelhead Bailout. Why Not?



Hen closeup

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

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

Steelhead Bailout

I had the pleasure of fishing with Rob Elam of Propel Biofuels last week. I knew it was going to be a couple great days of fishing with Rob when we meet Wednesday morning and he was wearing a Vote Steelhead Bailout hat! In Rob's words...."With Congress bailing out so many companies, why not bailout steelhead? Think of all the things we could do to improve wild steelhead runs throughout the Pacific Northwest with a Billion dollars." I think your on to something Rob. I couldn't agree with you more! VOTE STEELHEAD BAILOUT.

Johnson's Steakhouse, a great place to dine while fishing on the Trinity!

When you are up in Weaverville or just passing through on your way to fish the Trinity River, make sure you stop by Johnson's Steakhouse for dinner. Johnson's Steakhouse is in their second year of business and in my opinion has the best food in town and has a great sports bar with two flat screen TV's to watch your favorite game. They are well known for their steaks that include top sirloin, rib eye, Fillet Mignon, and their prime rib. Two of my other favorite dishes have to be the Bourbon seared pork chop and the Chicken Tetrazini. If you are looking to just grab a burger, I recommend the Barbecue bacon burger.

The restaurant is open Tuesday thru Saturday for dinner. Mondays, the bar is open for Monday Night Football and has homemade chili to go along with your favorite beer. The bar is a great place to have a beer and talk fishing. Will Johnson, one of the owners, is a great steelhead fisherman and spey caster who loves to talk steelheading with anyone who comes into the bar.

Johnson's Steakhouse is located just off the main street on Glen Rd. at the Trinity Alps golf course. This is a great place to have dinner or just hang out at the bar and BS with a few other fisherman.

Jason Hartwick

Finally...rain!

November is here are so are the storms we have been waiting for here on the Trinity River. This has been a welcome change from the warm sunny chamber of commerce weather we have had. Not that I am complaining about bluebird skies and warm days but the river has been so low and clear the fishing has been really tough the past week. That has all changed now as river has gone from 400 cfs to over 2000 cfs and blown out in the lower reaches. The river has now started to drop and is in good condition on the Junction City area. This should pull in some fresh steelhead and salmon.

This past week I was fortunate to fish with Keith Kaneko of Angling on the Fly. Keith is an excellent spey caster and was bombing out some tight loops and long casts, covering the water extremely well. Despite the tough fishing, Keith had a couple of good solid pulls and also landed a couple of nice half pounders. Keith also had the chance to try out a Beulah Elixir Switch 7/8 line for the first time and was very impressed with it. He paired this line with a Sage Z-Axis 7110-4 switch rod and it was a fantastic combination. Beulah's Elixir lines are extremely easy to cast and can help one speed up the learning curve when beginning to spey cast. The added bonus is the fact that these lines can cast heavy poly leaders and bigger flies as opposed to many other Scandi style lines on the market.

This next week we should see some excellent fishing after the water drops and clears a bit. Water temperatures are still great and we should see many more fish on floating lines and even a few come to the skated dry. Go for the grab!

Jason Hartwick