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...

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.

Guides Day Off

Well, I finally had a day off today so I decided to do a little fishing. Two runs, two fish. The first a small Jack Salmon on a #8 Duck Turd. The second, an acrobatic hatchery steelhead that came to a #8 silent assassin on a floating line.

The Silent Assassin will soon be available thru Idylwilde Flies in their 2010 catalog. Also, check out my other patterns, the Duck Turd, Skinny Spratley, and October Hilton that have been top producers on the Trinity/Klamath systems the last couple of years. Yes, I know, shameless self promotion! But the royalties are much needed for new tying materials to come up with new winter patterns for 2011!

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